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Propeller Spotted in Fry's — Parallax Forums

Propeller Spotted in Fry's

Sal AmmoniacSal Ammoniac Posts: 213
edited 2010-07-28 20:52 in Propeller 1
I was at the Concord Fry's (a large chain of electronics mega-retailers in the Western U.S.) this weekend and spotted the DIP version of the Propeller packaged individually right alongside the other Parallax items that Fry's has stocked for some time now (Ping, GPS, USB-to-Serial, etc.) This is the first time I've seen the Propeller chip itself at Fry's.

The price is $12.99, which is 50% more than the direct-from-Parallax price, but it's still nice to see the Propeller getting shelf space at Fry's. Is Radio Shack next?
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Comments

  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2010-06-01 19:38
    Gee, it's about time [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-06-01 19:41
    I think they should start putting the Demo boards out there as well! Of course, they've had the Hydras in stock so long the boxes are getting worn out.

    I bought one just because I felt so bad about it sitting there!

    Bill
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2010-06-01 21:55
    I was always amazed that you could buy tooth-paste and solder-paste in the same store.

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  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,399
    edited 2010-06-01 22:06
    Tomorrow our Josh Donelson is going to Fry's Electronics to help them make some more decisions about stocking the Propeller line.

    Last time I was at Fry's corporate offices I got a chance to sit in the "vendor tank" waiting room. The guy next to me had a big box of blow-up earth balls and the lady across the way had some kind of figurine doll to pitch to them. All of us were waiting to present our proposals to the buyers.

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  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,399
    edited 2010-06-01 22:08
    @jazzed: so, which are you using to brush your teeth?

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  • SeariderSearider Posts: 290
    edited 2010-06-01 22:09
    I don't recomend that you purchase a Prop from Fry's online. I did during the prop shortage and they shipped it, packaged like it was a domino or something indistructable. It was in a magazine size envelope with NO protection for the pins. As you can imagine, the pins were all smooshed.

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  • MicrocontrolledMicrocontrolled Posts: 2,461
    edited 2010-06-01 22:17
    I've heard various complaints about Fry's packaging the Props badly.
    Say, Ken, do you think that you could get Radio Shack to carry DIP Propellers? They carry other Parallax goods and there are more of them around then Frys. I think it would be a good business move if you could talk them into it.

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  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,399
    edited 2010-06-01 22:39
    @Microcontrolled: our RadioShack buyer recently left for a new job and my current contact is being a bit non-responsive. To be honest, anything that's short of mass consumer technical interest [noparse][[/noparse]i.e. cell phones] is a "hard sell" to RadioShack corporate these days. The back half of the store with components is not interesting to them anymore. Yet I shall still carry the torch and do my best to show them how to inspire their customers once again with products that help inventors and stimulate creativity instead of those that thieve away our inspiration (TVs and related consumer stuff). But, even as you can see from a distance at least two (RFID Reader and TSL230) of our five sensors are being sold on closeout.

    I'll carry forward and try again!

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  • MicrocontrolledMicrocontrolled Posts: 2,461
    edited 2010-06-01 23:29
    Yea, everyone wants consumer stuff now. But really, if it wasn't for RadioShack, I would have never gotten started in programming and wouldn't have found Parallax for a long time after I was already into some other type of programming. Radio Shack needs to carry more electronics and Parallax equipment, as even in the last few years the parts sections have dwindled to 1/4th the original size. Even the local electronics store that isn't part of the chain has cut back big. Seriously, if you do not know where to look, you will never be able to get what you want out of the electronics field. Just my 2 bytes.

    Micro

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  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-06-01 23:46
    So, Ken, I think you solved your own problem. You need to build a "consumer" friendly robot that is run by a propeller. Sell it in Radio Shack and make sure the entire hacker community (not just us good guys) knows about it. Design it so that the main board... let's call it a "Demo Board," is easy to use with other projects. But have a default load of the software that is useful to them... something like a robot that hooks to your TV and plays games with you.

    Heck... that could be the next Furby... but hackable! I think it should be called the Penguin! No... that's already taken... how about the Penguin II! (Having it powered by the Prop II would be nice! :-D)

    Bill
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2010-06-01 23:52
    Very funny Ken[noparse]:)[/noparse]

    When I was in the Navy I once woke up at 5AM and accidentally brushed my teeth with Head & Shoulders from a tube.
    Pretty bad way to start one's day, but longer term it taught me more about attention to detail than boot-camp did.

    I remember seeing Ping, etc... in those Radio Shack component drawers; what a waste. Fry's was burned badly by having too much TTL inventory ... it hung around in their stores for years. Clearly, they all seek lower hanging fruit.

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  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,452
    edited 2010-06-02 00:05
    In the 1970's the Lake Forest Plaza was the largest shopping mall in the southern US, and the Radio Shack within it was the busiest Radio Shack in the USA. I was in there all the time -- lived about 3 miles away, and my Dad was a physicist. I remember the day they put PBOX kits on deep discount must-go sale. I bought about 20 of them and still have a lot of the parts. (Anybody need a 100 KHz crystal?)

    Around 1989 I was shopping at a different mall in Metairie when someone tapped me on the back. It was the guy who used to manage that Radio Shack, and he recognized me. We sat and talked for about an hour, and got caught up. He was selling life insurance. He said he had to quit RS because he was sick of important decisions being made by people who wouldn't recognize a Radio Shack if they stumbled into one by accident while looking for a pay phone.

    It has, of course, only gotten worse since then.
  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2010-06-02 00:43
    Ken beat me to the commts about a few items being on clearance. That usually is the death call for those components. The last time I went in to get the RFID's, the salesman was "Deer in the Headlights" and I had to show him where they were in the parts bin. I suspect RS will be cleaning more areas out for phones, routers, HDMI cables and such.

    I would like to commend the Parallax sales force in getting into Radio Shack in the first place. I was looking for something else in RS about 6 years ago and came across the What's a Microcontroller Kit. Having worked with 4004, 8008, 6800, 8080, and Z80's back in the 70's and 80's and done assembly language on the CoCo 6809, I was again intrigued. My life had taken a turn and took me away from the hardware development, so I bought the kit, and I have been here ever since.

    So Radio Shack is the reason you guys, (and gals), have to put up with me.

    Jim

    PS I still see the WAM hung proudly on the pegboard.
  • blittledblittled Posts: 681
    edited 2010-06-02 01:09
    It was Radio Shack that got me started on electronics. Back then RS had a whole wall that was a pegboard with almost every 74 TTL series chip, SPO256 (which I still have) and many other parts. Too bad they went to a Circuit City mentality. If they would go back to their old way of doing things especially with Parallax parts I bet the number of Prop users would double!

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  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,399
    edited 2010-06-02 01:16
    If I write a book about Chip I'd be sure to discuss the role of RadioShack in driving some of his interests. Some of the notable influences include:

    - buying TRS-80 computers, large bass woofers, components and stereo equipment
    - sorting through closeout tables of 8-tracks
    - picking up the Mimms books and 100-in-1 kits
    - buying and taking apart their strobe light systems
    - watching my dad get the free batteries as part of the "battery card" weekly giveaway (I think you could choose one battery per week, or "buy one, get one free")

    We spent a fair amount of time in their store in Carmichael, CA, usually in between paper routes, fireworks and BB gun experiments.

    I'm reading similar stories above about buying a What's a Microcontroller? kit at RadioShack. It's fantastic to know that so many people have been inspired by that kit. It's also not on their "discontinue" list, by the way.

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  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2010-06-02 01:18
    Unfortunately margins on a 7400 chip and an iPhone are a lot different.

    As far as small parts, if I can wait a week or two to put together an order to Parallax, Digikey, or Mouser, it's almost cheaper than getting it at The Shack nowadays.

    Jim
  • MicrocontrolledMicrocontrolled Posts: 2,461
    edited 2010-06-02 01:46
    I would rather pay more for a part like a PING sensor if I knew that I could get it local and not have to wait. Some projects need immediate parts, and it's worth paying for. I also have the Forrest Mimms books and they are what advanced me into working with timing circuits and logic gates.

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  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2010-06-02 01:54
    I agree with paying a little more for something you need right away.

    Get all Forrest's books! They gave me a good boost through my initial electronics traning back in the 70's.

    Jim
    Microcontrolled said...
    I would rather pay more for a part like a PING sensor if I knew that I could get it local and not have to wait. Some projects need immediate parts, and it's worth paying for. I also have the Forrest Mimms books and they are what advanced me into working with timing circuits and logic gates.

  • ihmechihmech Posts: 179
    edited 2010-06-02 02:28
    I'm also pretty disappointed with Radio Shack. My grandfather and Radio Shack was why I got into tinkering with electronics. My grandfather used to own a TV and Radio repair shop in Marion, IN. This was back in the days of tubes. How times have changed!! I am now 30yrs old and when I was about 12yrs old, I asked my mom to take me to Radio Shack...I think I needed a light bulb or something...can't remember. I was looking around and happened to pick up "Getting Started in Electronics" by Forrest M. Mims, III. and that was it...I was hooked! I didn't have enough money for the book, so I ran out to the car and begged my mom to come in with me and check it out. She bought me the book and its resting on my desk next to me as I type this. Its well worn, but I still use it!

    My favorite local Radio Shack was about a 40x40 metal building and it was 3/4 full of components and such! Oh what memories....they eventually sold thier building and moved over by Walmart in one of those "malls". Now its all cell phones, other junk, and those four insulting gray componet cabinets. I went to three different stores looking for simple inline headers...every store had the same stock as the others and no headers!

    I wish I had known about Parallax back in the 90's. I can't imagine where I would be now if I had. I've only known about Parallax for the last two yrs. But what fun it has been!! I am alway happy to tell people about Parallax and tell them how much fun this stuff is. My wife has a hard time understanding why I can sit at my computer all day trying to write code and fail constantly. I just smile and tell her I learning and having fun. [noparse]:)[/noparse] I enjoy thier products so much, it makes me want to work for them! Although, I don't want to move that far and don't think I would be much use to them. LOL

    Keep up the good work Ken and all of you at Parallax!!
    God Bless

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  • ihmechihmech Posts: 179
    edited 2010-06-02 02:32
    I agree with Microcontrolled...I needed an optical isolator IC and could not source one locally.· So, I made my own out of an IR LED, a·IR phototransitor, and a little black heat shrink tubing.· So, I would gladly pay a little more if I could buy it locally.
    Microcontrolled said...
    I would rather pay more for a part like a PING sensor if I knew that I could get it local and not have to wait. Some projects need immediate parts, and it's worth paying for. I also have the Forrest Mimms books and they are what advanced me into working with timing circuits and logic gates.

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  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2010-06-02 02:33
    Speaking of margins, my brother is in the retail hardware business. He avers that the highest margin items in the store are fasteners. I can't help but to imagine that the same applies to discrete components at RadioShack. Hardware store fasteners are merchandized in little drawers, and so are RadioShack components -- in bigger drawers but at the same huge percentage markup. But when you gotta have it, you gotta have it, and my local RadioShack has plenty of my hard-earned cash to prove it.

    The major difference is that hardware store fasteners are merchandized in bulk and stocked by contracted vendors. RadioShack's components are blister-packed in space-inefficient point-of-sale units, even though they're no longer hung from display pegs, and stocked from their warehouse in Texas. This leads to gross inefficiencies by comparison. What would really be great to see is hardware store-style bulk merchandizing of electronic components.

    I suspect another part of the reason hobbyist products are being downplayed is because of the typical RadioShack salesperson's lack of basic electronics knowledge. They might know cellphones inside and out, because that's what they use every day. But an NPN transistor? Forget it! RadioShack's new mantra could well be, "You have questions? We used to have answers!"

    The problem with RadioShack's new emphasis is that they're just going after the low-hanging fruit. But so is everyone else, and it's going to kill them in the end.

    -Phil

    Post Edited (Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)) : 6/2/2010 2:39:29 AM GMT
  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2010-06-02 02:44
    Amen brother!
    Jim
    ·
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) said...
    But an NPN transistor? Forget it! RadioShack's new mantra could well be, "You have questions? We used to have answers!"


    -Phil
  • Brian RileyBrian Riley Posts: 626
    edited 2010-06-02 03:49
    Ken Gracey (Parallax) said...
    I'm reading similar stories above about buying a What's a Microcontroller? kit at RadioShack. It's fantastic to know that so many people have been inspired by that kit. It's also not on their "discontinue" list, by the way.

    WAM at Rat Shack is exactly what got me back futzing with micros a half dozen or so years ago! Thanks, Parallax!

    cheers ... BBR

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  • Brian RileyBrian Riley Posts: 626
    edited 2010-06-02 03:55
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) said...
    RadioShack's new mantra could well be, "You have questions? We used to have answers!"

    ..... naaahhhhh ... It's "You have questions? We have dumb looks!"

    cheers ... BBR

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    cheers ... brian riley, n1bq, underhill center, vermont
    The Shoppe at Wulfden
    www.wulfden.org/TheShoppe/
    www.wulfden.org/TheShoppe/prop/ - Propeller Products
    www.wulfden.org/TheShoppe/k107/ - Serial LCD Display Gear
  • CameronMCameronM Posts: 57
    edited 2010-06-02 04:40
    Then it's·"Would you like to buy a cell phone?"
    Brian Riley said...
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) said...
    RadioShack's new mantra could well be, "You have questions? We used to have answers!"

    ..... naaahhhhh ... It's "You have questions? We have dumb looks!"

    cheers ... BBR

  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,399
    edited 2010-06-02 04:57
    @Sal: I went to Roseville, CA Fry's Electronics tonight to look for the Propellers. Couldn't find any Propeller chips, but I did buy two toggle switches and four in-ceiling speakers for the Parallax conference room. The speakers were a very boring purchase, to be honest.

    Where did you find the Propeller chips in Fry's? Were they near the other Parallax kits, or over by the individually packaged ICs?

    Thanks,

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    Parallax Inc.

    Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.
  • Nick McClickNick McClick Posts: 1,003
    edited 2010-06-02 06:18
    @ken - sounds like they were with the kits and next to other Parallax stuff. In some stores, kits are pretty close to components, tools, etc. @ my local Fry's, they're separated from the components, solder equipment, etc.

    All this talk about Radio Shack reminds me of an old Onion article. I can forgive them for their confusion, though - electronics retailing has been pretty tough these past few years (CompUSA, Circuit City).

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  • heaterheater Posts: 3,370
    edited 2010-06-02 07:01
    Julian Day - CEO RadioShack said...

    "Even the name 'RadioShack'—can you imagine two less appealing words placed next to one another?"

    What?! Am I so old? No, he just does not get it.

    "Radio" - In the article he says this is some kind of old fashioned WWII word and "don't we live in the digital age". Well excuse me, there may not be so many "hams" around any more but "radio" is alive and well. The term "wireless" is the in-thing now a days. As in WIFI, wireless mouse etc etc and is very much digital. Never mind mobile phones, remote controls etc etc.

    Aside: "Radio" is even the more modern word, dating from 1907 vs "wireless" from 1894.

    "Shack" - Well I guess that is American for "shed" and as we all know every man needs a shed. Or a garage or a basement. Some place where a man can do his own thing and think his own thoughts in peace and quite. Away from the wife and kids. A place that can be a mess or noisy if need be. I place to explore his creativity, make stuff, make a mess, whatever, without restriction. Need not be anything to do with radio or electronics.

    Perhaps they should rename themselves "WirelessShed".

    Now in the article he mentions they have their stores in the malls. Here is the clincher. You see the only reason a man will go to the mall is to accompany the family on their endless search for fashion items and shiny things. But lo there is RadioShack and the promise of boredom relief with toys for boys.

    In Scandinavia there is a chain of hardware stores, Class Ohlson, full of nails, screws, tools, computer parts yes even electronic components. They have learned this lesson. They put every store smack bang in the middle of the malls surrounded by fashion stores. A place of refuge and boredom relief for husbands, boyfriends and sons why their girls are gorging on expensive trinkets.

    My Swedish friend who's into marketing calls it "day care for husbands".

    To keep this all on topic. it would be great if Class Ohlson stocked up on Props and bots and stuff alongside their LEDS, resistors, cables etc.

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  • Toby SeckshundToby Seckshund Posts: 2,027
    edited 2010-06-02 08:39
    The thing that I always loathed was the way that a larger company would move into town with a vast array of high end components right the way downto nuts and bolts. This would kill off the little component "corner" shops and the the large corporate would decide that you only need helecopters and speedboats. We had 4 small shops in Bristol that got swamped by M*****s, I bet it was the same over most of the UK.

    It was the same for Hardware shops, Q&Q did for the "Four Candles" too

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  • eod_punkeod_punk Posts: 146
    edited 2010-06-02 11:43
    Around here at work we say: "You have questions, we have cell phones."

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