HYDRA at Fry's Electronics!
AndreL
Posts: 1,004
If you live in the USA then you are probably familiar with or have heard of Fry's electronics. Anyway, those of you that are lurking on this forum thinking about buying a HYDRA they are now in fry's electronics all over the USA (33 stores I think). So you can go into the store, take a close look at the box, read it, check it out up close.
Andre'
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Andre'
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So the marketplace for educational or fun toys like this is smaller. I wonder if there are any edgy toy stores that I have missed. There is Toys R Us of course, but they are 90% consumer oriented, but they do stock many educational toys and kits, so they are a possibility. But, what would be great is something like a "hobby town" for electronics that had 1000 locations.
Andre'
--Chris
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My computer, http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=630466
Andre'
Good going on getting it into Fry's that is awesome!! I also wish there were some other nation wide store that sold electronics for the hacker/experimenter/etc.
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Timothy D. Swieter
tdswieter.com
One little spark is all it takes for an idea to explode
But in all honesty, have you ever been to a store where the sales people aren't full of sh$t?
Every Apple Store I've been into, the sales people (not the tech gurus) seem to know their products or, if they're not sure, they admit it and will find out the information or refer the customer on to someone who does know it. It's a model that others should adopt.
Later Guys,
Oliver
Andre'
We alway's have a couple Hydra's in stock as well for the folk in Australia
Got some books and CD's as well for people that just want those items.
Ronald Nollet
Parallax Australia distributor
It was before my time, and maybe it was just that the business wasn't any more profitable for them than it is for Radio Shack now, but I have always heard that Radio Shack is responsible for killing off all the competition in electronics components stores - Heathkit, Lafeyette, etc. The void will now never be refilled because selling over the internet (Jameco, Digikey, etc.) is the way to go now. It is just that sometimes you need just one small part right away, and mail order doesn't work that way. I don't hate Radio Shack because of their clueless sales staff or preposterous price markups on a dwindling selection of parts; what I hate is the fact that I don't have any other choices.
Post Edited (Dennis Ferron) : 7/18/2007 8:19:50 AM GMT
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/even_ceo_cant_figure_out_how
Andre'
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
(the implications of that often don't seem to matter)
I'm not sure the hobby scene has died. I know a growing number of people wanting to do stuff. I think it's just changed and evolved and Radio Shack, just didn't rise to the challenge.
My local store was always great, until the last round of changes. They didn't know that much, but were helpful as they could be. I'm ok with that.
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A typical restaurant worker or gas station attendant works SO HARD and there are so many people in this world that have so much and do so little for it. That's the trick I want to learn! 20 hours a day I work since I can remember, its grueling...
Andre'
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And I have an app that deploys around the world. That's cool and all, but potential customers that would otherwise buy, build, use all kinds of cool electronics stuff NEVER take that route since they can get into computers and get instant gratification from web stuff. Otherwise, parallax and nurve would both be billion dollar companies [noparse]:)[/noparse] Knowledge, electronics, etc. are a hard sell these days. The only thing we can do is FIND every single last hobbyist, and hacker and make sure we are all in the same place, so things like these forums, etc. are good since we can find each other. But, back in the 70's and 80's when I was going to school, all I had to do was look next to me in any seat and the guy was a programmer and into electronics [noparse]:)[/noparse] In fact, half the students I went to high school with were sons of half the CEOs of the start ups in silicon valley, it was the in thing. How many teenagers do you think sit at home and build computers from scratch or program in ASM? They just dont do it anymore, they are more concerned with selecting their fav 5 on their cell phone and making home videos to upload to youtube, its a sad state of affairs [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Andre'
Still, I think the scene is growing. The MAKE magazine is excellent and features many projects, easily done by someone of average means and methods.
All I know is that I'm getting back in and have only the regret I didn't start this process sooner! It's just too damn much fun. The practical implications are significant as well.
The 70's and 80's were damn fun times, IMHO. Miss that, but we do have the forums. Good points Andre' [noparse]:)[/noparse]
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Andre, you're preaching to the choir. I'm the oldest of five siblings, and I've been trying to get my youngest brother into hobby electronics, or at least programming. He's full of ideas about inventions but it's nerve wracking to listen to him because the things he speculates about are so off base from what is physically possible in the real world. I thought, if I could just get him interested in actually building a few real projects, he'd have a better grounding in what's possible and what's not, and maybe channel his . Separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. But I can't seem to get him interested in actually building anything that requires you to apply yourself.
Is this just the same old thing the last generation always says about the next generation? "Why, boy, in my day we walked to school in the snow! Up hill! Both ways!"
That may be part of it, but I see a growing disconnect between the general population and a rational understanding of physics and technology. As things move further and further away from the realm of what you can do by yourself with a handful of discrete components and a soldering iron, so too to people in general seem to be losing the ability to comprehend that everything we do today started with that. Arthur C. Clark said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. It seems that there is another side to that at work here: as technology advances, people in general seem to be adopting an ever more magical (superstitious), medieval view of science and technology.
It's not just that most of my generation/the generation after mine know different things, it's that the things they learn about seem to be more superficial. Especially as computer scienstists, we're taught that abstraction is an unequivocal good thing; that's not always true. It's a trade-off and sometimes abstracting away the hard details is a net loss.
My approach is to simply keep building these systems, try to get everyone in the same "room" instead of spread out. Hopefully, that way we can continue to make it a business and keep making products.
Andre'
A few years later they did indeed "dumb down", and became the "Mac Donald" of the electronic component shops. That was not appreciated by their customers, and consequently they all went bankrupt and disappeared.
The other, older and smaller, shops with better service had all survived and are still here today, although lately web based shops such as Digikey and Farnell hurt them more and more.
Still, they survive, primarily because on a saturday you can go there and buy that single transistor you need to finish the hobby project you are working on.
A couple of years ago I went to North Carolina for my job, (to assist in FCC testing one of my designs) and per chance I stumbled upon the idea to visit a Tandy shop, for nostalgia's sake.
It was horrible! The shop "assistants" almost physically "attacked" me with their questions "if I needed help... what did I want... etc.". As a result I was out of that shop in a flash!
Maybe this is a common thing in the US, but here it is seen as a very rude way to try to push a sale, in the Netherlands a shop assistant ignores you and just waits for you to signal him/her you need help. I know foreigners that come to Amsterdam are a bit puzzled about this, they think that shop assistants are "lazy", or "do not want to help", but the reverse is true. You can go into a shop, look around un-harassed, and only if you need advise you signal/ask a shop assistant, if you don't see anything you want, you just leave the shop without any questions asked. Its simply a cultural difference.
Mahjongg
A good friend and I were talking about this last week. Andre' I'm in that demo, and you are spot on. Any of us, computing and or building, during that time, grok some things younger people simply don't. As a kid, I built things with tubes, transistors and hacked on 8bit computers. There seemed to be lots of us! Nobody thought twice about it. We spent time outside too, camping, surviving, exploring. We both discussed TV and games today. Less is likely more --which is why I do the retro thing.
I've personally noted a shift toward buying one's way through troubles. Recently, I had a trannie go out in my car. I did what I've always done; namely, go buy the book, take a tool inventory and have at it. Most everyone I know said it was not worth it... (maybe so, but I know I always have time when dollars are short) Most of my peers grew up doing similar things. It was expected --at least where I lived.
Now it's spend, spend. I get the feeling a whole lot of people just don't DO anything.
We all might end up some kind of dark wizards someday. I know I showed some assembly code to a younger friend in the business. Was wanting to share some excitement about the prop. Response: "who needs that?" Ugh.
We also might well be happy we are doing what we are doing because we may well find our devices no longer serve us. (legally, that is [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Thanks go to everyone here for sharing something wonderful. Frankly, a something I had nearly forgotten. (kids do that) This stuff is like music though. Once bitten, the craving never quite goes away.
There is the follow on stuff too. Assuming, the legal environment remains a sane one, there might end up being a more substantial market for custom --or just highly differentiated gadgets that do things people want instead of what others choose to permit.
On stamina and interest, I think wage pressure and other political factors repress this in us too. I'm having to fight for my time on this stuff. Work and family pressure is high. (both due to some of my choices in my case, but still I think it's not too far off the mark for a lot of people.) I end up doing a lot of hotel room stuff on business travel. Why waste the time? For me, this will pass and improve, so it's not a showstopper in the longer term.
No biggie, but it is annoying when people look at the goodies and think badly about it. I'm somewhat reluctant to bring this up, but...
I've been questioned for carrying around some electronics! (this happen to you guys ever?) The first time was in an airport. The whole experience shook me actually. No big spools of wires, sharp tools or anything like that. Usually I carry something like a Ramsey kit, or the Demo Board and some game controllers or other bits I want to work with.
I've also been shunned for "hacking". And it's tame stuff! (not real cracking, not illegal either) Like SSH tunneling to avoid a lame hotel firewall, hit the home machine and access files and or client machines, maybe do e-mail that's private and or just robust. (all of which I either had contracts in place for doing as part of a service obligation, or was simply using my home network in a secure manner) One place turned off the room Internet for downloading a Linux distribution via bittorrent! (last year, Missouri)
This ever happen to any of you guys? I'm an ordinary looking person, and I've no record. Just your average geek, with some people skills. This is a disturbing trend and might be part of the problem, or perhaps I was just unlucky.
It's hard to shake the growing feeling that knowing how to do things --as if this is somehow a dangerous thing is being discouraged or marginalized. This was not true for me growing up. It seems that way now. Perhaps it's just the lower numbers, perhaps it's fear. I do know I've not changed in an significant way, so something else has.
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Oh well....
Andre'
Re: Pacing. I put the blame on that right square on public corporations. The drive for quartely revenue makes a lot of things short sighted. In this, the Internet is just an enabling technology. Where I work now, we've made some lifestyle choices and have traded some dollars for some peace. End result is we have some seriously intense times, but we have quiet times too. Not a bad tradeoff. It's a tough balance. Could be better --lots better.
Some things about the net are worth it. Access to information and ability to gather and share are the two biggies. These do make me happy at least. Not having it makes people think more. Having it, if one continues to think, is a really great thing. My favorite Internet time was just pre-web. One still got all the info and sharing bennies, minus all the Smile. Was like BBS, but more potent and with more people. When the web first hit, a friend and I went to some university computers and browsed "the net". There were perhaps a few hundred major sites at the time we first jumped in to check it out. Ordered pizza and just surfed it, until we had seen most of the good stuff. From there *BOOM!*. By the time I put together an online capable computer, a few months later, I didn't even recognize the place. The rest is history of course.
I've always thought it would have been such an enabler to have that as a younger person, but maybe not. We have short attention span issues and a lotta lazy thinkers. Perhaps having it too easy does harm.
Re: Just enough money. Yep. I'm in that grind right now. I will say this. I'm on a 5-10 year plan to eliminate that aspect of things. What one needs and what one wants can be managed. It's highly likely to be possible to set ones personal expectations such that this is not so much of a problem. As a kid, I had little to no money. Ended up building or fixing those things I wanted. Learned a ton as a result. I'm headed back there. More fun and far less dollars, and I just don't need some stuff, I'm being told I need.
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The internet is a mixed blessing for me. I find myself wasting countless hours reading "mental junk food", and I often think that if I could just roll those hours up into something useful I could have finished a project, or written a novel, or something. But the thing is those are all things that require active focus, whereas my wasting time on the internet is just mindless point-click-read.
I grew up in a small town without internet access (as in, the place is so remote, the internet literally DOES NOT REACH that town; there is not even local dial-up or cell phone towers). I was surrounded by farmers, red necks, etc., and I was completely alone. There was no one else doing this kind of geeky stuff. I spent a lot of time working things out for myself - instead of being able to just look up the equations for 3-d math, for instance, I had to derive them all myself based on nothing but grit and determination. I didn't even have trignometry at my disposal! (Not taught at my small school until my senior year, and the one thing I wanted it for, rotation matrices, was given very little attention.)
So I spent those years "living inside my own head". I figured out some things on my own that I might have simply looked up on Google nowadays. But I still think that with the internet, as long as you don't waste time with mental junk food, it is a net gain because it connects you with knowledge and with people like the ones on these forums.
The way Radio Shack is cutting back on its electronics components leads me to the conclusion that the only way to deal with this is just to have such a large selection of components in my junk box that if I need an unanticipated extra transistor or zener diode, that I can provide it out of my own junk box. The problem is money - I can barely afford to order the parts I do need, let alone the parts I MIGHT need. But when I do get some money, I intend to hit up Jameco or Digikey for a large selection of just general parts, so that I'll have whatever I could possibly need.
It would be nice if I could connect with other people in person so that we could all share our supplies, borrow and loan out parts as necessary. That's the one thing the internet can't do for us. At least we can share source code, which is nice, but if I have an extra chip that I'm not using that you might need for your project, I can't unfortunately send that down the modem. That's one of the things you miss out by not having someone located near you physically, even though they may be accessible through the forums. Another thing is that engineers are notoriously lax about documenting their projects. In order to show someone something over the internet, it can only be done by creating an article + documentation about it, which is always a good thing, but there are probably plenty of cool projects built that never get this treatment. If one had a group of geeks located physically close, you could show these neat things to them. For instance, a friend of mine built an electric bicycle. Since I know how few of us there are around and how little feedback we often get, I made sure he understood that I thought what he built was very cool, and that I appreciated the engineering work that went into it. His reply almost brought a tear to my eye: he told me I have been the only person he's shown it to who actually thought it was interesting. He said many of the people he showed it to did not understand what it was, and that of those who did "get it", they universally opined that he was wasting his time: why didn't he just buy a manufactured scooter? why didn't he just drive a car? why build anything yourself?
A couple months ago, I set about learning the propeller (I'm a transplant from the PICAXE group) and started with just simply hooking a couple bright red and blue LED up, and have then flash alternatively at various speeds. (It was tempting to grab a nine-volt battery and make the project portable to see what kind of trouble I could get in. [noparse]:)[/noparse] My boys and wife thought I was nuts to be so thrilled over simple blinking lights. This is a generation of animation that looks real, so unless I could have suddenly burned a hole into the wall across the room, no-one was buying. (Funny how destruction seems to be a constant in the universe isn't it?)
One of the hardest lessons I've been attempting to teach my boys (early teens) is pleasure that comes from building something yourself. (video games, electronics, toys, etc) I'd always rather have something I made instead of having it made for me, for reasons of personal pride, and the joy of seeing something work. (Hence my building of my own Hydra. (Buy one! Trust me it's cheaper!!) But how do we teach that to a generation of instant gratification?
I hate to say it, but to attract the next generation, it'll have to do instant messaging and myspace out of the box... (Not sure If I'll be interested at that point.)
Oldbitcollector
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The comments and code above are proof that a million monkeys with a million propeller chips *could* write Shakespeare!