ZX81 Homebrew Builders ..

[lezanderson]

Homebrew Builders: Sourcing ICs

Something slightly off-topic and probably of interest to anyone new to homebrew microcomputer building.

Sourcing ICS

There’s many places to source Integrated Circuits (Chips).Here are just a few.

Electronics Distributors :
Large (or Small) electronics distributors : Farnell, Digikey, RS, etc these are an excellent places to look for IC prices, especially newer ICs, old legacy stuff probably won’t be on these sites...also sometimes their prices can be eye-watering.

Ebay.
Most hobbyist/tinkers look on eBay, if you use eBay.uk.. then remember eBay.com usually has more stuff and can be cheaper. Also remember chips can be Pulls or NOS (New Old Stock) so check before buying and always check ICs as soon as possible when they arrive, just in case you get the odd Duff one !

Direct (eBay.com)
This is the method I often use to bypass eBay when I think that buying direct will save money. This just simply involves emailing a supplier asking for a ‘Best’ price for a quantity of ICs , they then quote a price. Sometimes you need to negotiate but you can save quite a bit in some circumstances.
Costing a Project

An important and much overlooked part of any homebrew DIY electronics or microcomputer project is doing a cost analysis. This is to make sure that you can afford parts and the final project is within a sensible financial cost. This may seem common sense, but many people start designing projects with components that are difficult or impossible to source,are very costly so most hobbyist couldn’t them, or so obscure no one knows how to program that IC ! So do your sums !