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Radio Shack levels the display! Yes!! — Parallax Forums

Radio Shack levels the display! Yes!!

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
edited 2012-11-16 11:35 in General Discussion
Finally.. It looks like Parallax has an online display equal Arduino display!

http://www.radioshack.com/uc/index.jsp?page=researchLibraryArticle&articleUrl=../graphics/uc/rsk/USContent/HTML/pages/microcontroller.html&noBc=true

Kudos to all involved! This is excellent!

OBC

Comments

  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-15 16:03
    The Radio Shack at 99 Summer street in Boston finally started stocking this stuff. I saw my first quick start board and thought it looked pretty spiffy compared to the Arduino next to it. The built in buttons and LED's are a nice selling point.
  • bsnutbsnut Posts: 521
    edited 2012-03-15 23:55
    I bought a 4x16 display in College Park, MD store and they also had the XBee and the Quickstart board.
  • piguy101piguy101 Posts: 248
    edited 2012-03-16 06:54
    I had an interesting experience at Radio Shack when I returned a TERRIBLE multimeter. I brought the meter to the store and asked to return it, the guy behind the counter said ok, but he would need just to check it out first. He opens the box with the meter inside and took out the meter. The leads to the meter were in a separate bag, so he took those out too. Now here comes the funny part: The leads both had a cap at the end of them, one cap in the side that goes in the meter, and the other cap on the end of the lead, so there were four caps altogether. The guy doesn't notice the cap on the leads and starts to push the lead in the meter. He pushes, then pushes a little harder, finally, because the lead with the cap on the end wouldn't go in the meter, he started to put all of his weight on the meter to put the lead in. I quickly tell him of the caps on the end of the leads and takes off both caps and puts the leads in the meter. He then put both leads in the wrong holes in the meter---one in the amps jack and the other in the volts jack! I tell him he has the leads in the wrong holes and I fix it. Remember how these leads have caps on the ends that you use to measure with? There is just plastic showing on the ends of the leads and the guy asks, "Does the electricity go though the plastic?" I tell him of the caps on the end and he takes them off. The reason why I returned the meter is because the current part of the meter was broken, the volts part worked fine. He says that he would then check the current part of the meter, and he pulls out a large battery from behind the counter and sets the meter to current. He almost blew the fuse of the meter if I wouldn't have told the guy to use a current limiting resistor. Unsure what a resistor was, the guy never got to check the meter. That is my experience at Radio Shack, and also why I hate going there.
  • RiJoRiRiJoRi Posts: 157
    edited 2012-03-16 07:35
    piguy101 -- Ya just gotta remember that you are talking with a SALES-person, not necessarily a TECH-person. I knew a guy who worked for RS a LONG time ago. He could sell earthquakes to Californians, but had trouble figuring out which end of a screwdriver to use.

    I think I would have said, "Here, allow me," after the first part of the fiasco. Anyway, I think he should have just replaced the item, not verify its inoperability in the field.

    --Rich
  • piguy101piguy101 Posts: 248
    edited 2012-03-16 12:01
    RiJoRi, it was an interesting day, but you made a good point.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,452
    edited 2012-03-16 15:55
    You've just got to remember Radio Shack's sales pitch: "You've got questions, we've got blank looks."
  • $WMc%$WMc% Posts: 1,884
    edited 2012-03-16 21:04
    A real Hobbiest would not ask for help at RadioShack!
    '
    Would you ask for help on a Big Screen TV at Walmart?
    '
    A real Hobbiest will know what they want at RadioShack and how to find it with out the sales staff.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2012-03-16 21:14
    piguy101 wrote: »
    ...That is my experience at Radio Shack, and also why I hate going there.

    That is similar to my experiences there, but that's also why I love going there: for the entertainment value!

    Seriously, when it comes to electronics, it's one of the few places where I can revel in the illusion that I'm not a total moron.
  • RS_JimRS_Jim Posts: 1,768
    edited 2012-03-18 07:36
    I have been with the shack for over nine years now, and the company doesnot care that I can talk to the hobbiest about their needs. I was demoted from manager to sales associate because my cell phone sales were not the greatest. A friend of mine moved me with him to two different stores because of my knowledge background. last time upper management complained about me not selling phones, he reminded them that I had brought his store an average of 160 tickets a month with my knowledge. Stores all over the north end of town send me all of their customers that elicit the blank stares. As a manager I was frequently criticized for hiring people who knew what they were talking about in electronics.
    RS_Jim
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2012-03-18 07:56
    RS_Jim wrote: »
    ... the company doesnot care that I can talk to the hobbiest about their needs. I was demoted from manager to sales associate because my cell phone sales were not the greatest. ...

    That sucks. Any chance things will change now that they're supposedly trying to move toward actually helping hobbyists, et al with the Prop, etc. ?
  • 4x5n4x5n Posts: 745
    edited 2012-03-18 08:07
    ElectricAye wrote: »
    That sucks. Any chance things will change now that they're supposedly trying to move toward actually helping hobbyists, et al with the Prop, etc. ?

    Sadly I doubt there will be much change at the shack. The stores around me only seem interested in selling me a cell phone and the lousy rechargable batteries they carry. At one point one of the sales drones tried to convince me to pay off the 1.5 years I had left on the contract for my iphone and buy one of their phones! The only way I could get him to leave me alone was to promise to give it serious consideration!
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2012-03-18 08:48
    Several Radio Shacks were closed in my area two years ago.. Fortunately the one I have left is managed by an older gentleman who has some basic electronics knowledge and general handyman skills. While he's no expert in the materials I'm interested in, he's no dummy either.

    He told me that his store participated in a class recently about the new microcontroller stuff. They were told people would come looking for those items who would know more than they did, so just be able to point in the correct direction. :)

    OBC
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2012-03-18 09:44
    Oldbitcollector (Jeff) wrote: »
    ...

    He told me that his store participated in a class recently about the new microcontroller stuff. They were told people would come looking for those items who would know more than they did, so just be able to point in the correct direction....

    That looks to me like a tragic loss of opportunity. While customers might be used to seeing sophisticated toys, etc. packaged in slick plastic shapes (Hecho in China Trucks, dinosaurs, etc.), many are not used to seeing "raw" robotics roaming around a store or bleeping at them from the store front window. I'm guessing that such raw-looking robotics would be an attention-getter if for no other reason just because of the novelty. If kids and adults could see this and then learn they could make their own gadgets, and if the RS employees could give them a head start, I would think it would be a great sales strategy. I'm guessing such a store needs a certain critical mass of products and knowledgeable employees, though, so a certain ambience is established. I cringe anytime I hear somebody say that kids should be more involved in technology only to find out that what they mean by "technology" is how to use "social media" and iPhone apps. Some people are worried the next generation is becoming the Why Bother generation because they just aren't doing anything, maybe aren't allowed to do anything, or just don't have something more to do than pick through their Facebooger pages.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-18 15:27
    The two brothers who run the local old fashioned hardware store are always curious when I come in asking for something unusual. I was recently looking to make standoffs and brought my Board of Education for size matching. He immediately asked in a friendly way what it was and what I used it for. When I told him I was building a new robot he asked if I could bring it in sometime.

    Now this struck me as so different from most of the Radio Shacks I go to. When I get parts there's not a hint of curiosity. The exception is the Fresh Pond one when one particular clerk is working.
  • lardomlardom Posts: 1,659
    edited 2012-03-18 21:07
    It does not bother me that the sales people don't know much about microcontrollers. I'm just glad there's enough of a market for RS to stock them. For a while I hoarded pcb terminal blocks until I was confident they would keep them in stock.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-09-11 23:53
    Bennett2100,

    Welcome to the forum.

    What are you? Man or chat bot or spam perhaps?
  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2012-11-16 10:46
    The Radio Shack in Lancaster, Ohio has some Parallax items now.

    About equal amounts or Parallax, Arduiono, and Seeed items.

    I killed my Propeller Platform USB somehow today. It still runs the code that is already loaded, but SimpleIDE reports propeller not found now...

    Grabbed a Quickstart to get things moving again.

    C.W.
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2012-11-16 10:55
    C.W.,

    I'd check:

    - USB connector
    - FTDI chip

    Regards,

    Bill
    ctwardell wrote: »
    The Radio Shack in Lancaster, Ohio has some Parallax items now.

    About equal amounts or Parallax, Arduiono, and Seeed items.

    I killed my Propeller Platform USB somehow today. It still runs the code that is already loaded, but SimpleIDE reports propeller not found now...

    Grabbed a Quickstart to things moving again.

    C.W.
  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2012-11-16 11:21
    Bill Henning wrote: »
    C.W.,

    I'd check:

    - USB connector
    - FTDI chip

    Regards,

    Bill

    Bill,

    For now it's going in my "fix it later pile". I tried it on two machines, they both see it and assign a port, but no joy with SimpleIDE.

    The new Quickstart and my C3 work fine on both machines.

    C.W.
  • jdoleckijdolecki Posts: 726
    edited 2012-11-16 11:35
    They are still way behind the Micro center in Downers Grove ,Illinois.

    They have packs of resistors,leds, wire, transistors and stuff I was in there last weekend and they were putting up more stuff.

    they are really going all out. I will post a picture later.

    I bet they have a better selection of components than RS does now.
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