[kwlug-disc] Orion Electronics

Sun Jul 15 18:49:05 EDT 2018

Hell's yeah, I am with you on that note, just wanted to provide some
context for what a place like Orion meant since the 80s.

Today's Orion is very much a"rip-off" as it has been since the 80s, but at
least today, we all have a choice to spend our dineros elsewhere(which I do
most wholeheartedly) when I have a choice to wait a for a bit.

i do love the rich history of KW from an electronics, IT and DIY
perspective -- Conestoga College and UW played a huge role along with the
various pop-up shops which have since gone by the wayside. I do like the
fact that KW Surprise and Orion still remain even though they quite
different that the animals they were some years back.

I have done a number of local businesses in the last 38 years, one has to
hold one's nose when setting prices and extolling the virtues of one's
products or services.

Basically, small biz lie and lie and lie some more to survive; it is
soul-destroying, at least for me.

Some, like my remaining companies dwindle to a small core like a bonded set
of atoms having relations with a fixed client base. Talking about a
"freeing" existence!

I cannot believe that Orion's owner knows that freedom or can participate
in that freedom, I would wager he is stuck where he is, fixed revenue,
fixed client base, he needs to keep on hitting hard with the price to
survive.

Thanks,

Ron Singh

On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 5:57 PM, Chamunks <chamunks at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm all for trashing local business if they're taking you for a ride.  I
> have fond memories of being a youngin working on PCB kits with my Dad in
> grade 3/4[ish?] making little alarm things etc that we got from Orion.
> Also my first TV was purchased with a Toonie I had available in my change
> jar down the street it was a black and white little tv on a swivel stand
> and it only had a dial for 13 channels.  We bought a coaxial to RF adapter
> and a TV channel box thing so I could watch cable on it eventually.  I
> think my dad thought it was absurd so he eventually bought me a 20"(ish)
> color tube TV so I could play my Nintendo in my room in color :P I bought
> the little black n white so I didn't have to share my consoles with my
> sisters, very different times.
>
> On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 4:18 PM Ron Singh <ronsingh149 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> A heartbeat ago, 1979 and 1980, I spent my summers working for Orion.
>>
>> My job initially was to determine what was salvageable in a
>> nasty/crusty/moldy basement filled to the ceiling with boxes of sockets,
>> semiconductors, passive components, transformers(small signal and power),
>> ICs all acquired by Joe K.(the owner of Orion) from various assembly shops.
>> The parts were surplussed out due to being stale-dated or out-of-spec or
>> simply obsoleted.
>>
>> Next up, sort, test, bag and tag and display. Joe set the prices,
>> ostensibly list prices from various catalogs. Ironically, I would end my
>> summer shift at 5PM at orion, walk across the street to 327 Breithaupt
>> Street where a fledgling company called KW Surplus resided. I would go do
>> an evening shift there from 5 to 9.
>>
>> I would describe to Joe what some of the US catalogs were pricing their
>> bits at(my fav was Jameco) and what KW Surplus had similar prices at.
>> I hate the idea of anyone charging list prices and made my view known,
>> but alas, it fell on deaf ears.
>>
>> I was seduced by the job(where, weirdly enough, I set my own salary) and
>> learned a lot about the semi industry, the local eng/mfg shops, especially
>> NCR and Electrohome.  I ate a constant diet of analogue parts, wound my own
>> toroids, bend sheet metal to make audio amps, knurl alum stock to make
>> knobs at Waterloo Collegiate High School, draw up my own PCB layouts, run
>> to Waterloo Electronics to get some Ferric Chloride to etch my boards, and
>> stuff with parts. Orion played a huge role in me being to do all this,
>> albeit at a price even with a 25% employee discount.
>>
>> in '79/80, it was innovative for anyone, much less a visible minority to
>> be hired simply because I went in and ask for a job.
>> Anti-brown sentiment was very rampant between 74-82, at least for me and
>> I valued Joe taking a shot at me doing whatever I want and letting me set
>> my salary.
>>
>> Before I showed up, he was just starting a "Computer Showroom" to
>> showcase the Sinclair Z80-based computers, I added the Apple ][ Plus
>> clones, the BMC IF-80(I think) CP/M all-in-one and some sort of a
>> US-sourced SBC running CP/M but with bit-mapped graphics(!).
>>
>> I could write a few chapters on KW Surplus and Orion from that time when
>> the PC market was just starting out, totally cowboy country where we made
>> our own rules negotiated the broad surface of DIY audio tech,
>> electronic/electrical components and that upcoming thing called personal
>> computers. These 2 companies provided a remarkable service to folks into
>> electronics, DIY, personal computers. I truly value them greatly for that
>> service.
>>
>> Today, I go to Orion 3-4 times a year to grab a connector that I
>> absolutely must have right away, nothing more. Freaky still seeing Joe and
>> his ex-wife doing exactly what they were doing 38-39 years ago! I get stuff
>> from China if I can wait, I get stuff from Digi when I need parts right
>> away. I get cabling from Newark, but they are a real irritant for me to
>> work with as I have zero patience for vague ETAs. Most times, they are my
>> only choice though due to stock being available.
>>
>> About K Surplus, something I just remembered -- nothing like getting an
>> open-frame long-persistence phosphor 12" green tube from KW Surplus and
>> trying to marry it to a 80-Column card in an Apple ][ Plus spitting out
>> 80x25 but at the wrong refresh rate, haha. Huge fun and learning to be had
>> doing machine language  for Motorola 68xx chips back then.
>>
>> So yeah, today, Orion ain't all that no more;
>>
>> back in the day, they were already spendy,
>>
>> today, the price delta is even more exacerbated thanks to online shopping.
>> Orion is for emergency needs to for a place to grab a product sku and go
>> buy it online(I'm totally guilty of this).
>>
>> I feel Orion's pain, they were able to be the big cheese for a while back
>> in the 70s and 80s, Their computer biz was essentially cut off at the knees
>> thanks to a guy from Hong Kong and yours truly(Waitronics, PC Factory and
>> Group 4 Technologies). I am sure Joe(Orion) simply recognizes that he will
>> never have client expansion or sales expansion, so the only thing left is
>> to pretend one is a "boutique" and price one's commodity accordingly.
>>
>> OK, I am getting the "look", I need to go tend to my beef ribs(failed
>> Hindu here), sorry about the stream of...
>>
>> A poll(if you dare): how many people on this list engaged in
>> dumpster-diving at NCR on Weber and Electrohome(Wellington) on those
>> "special" days, back those decades ago? Other than me of course!
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Ron Singh
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 11:57 AM, Chamunks <chamunks at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I switched over to Sayall years ago after both hearing and experiencing
>>> the price issues they have, being way out of control.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 6:06 PM CrankyOldBugger <
>>> crankyoldbugger at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> has anyone been in Orion on Lancaster lately?  I was in last week and
>>>> it looks..  different..  but on the plus side, they now have an improved
>>>> website: https://www.orionone.ca/
>>>>
>>>> Maybe I caught the store when they were in a transitional stage, but
>>>> they had maybe 20% of the inventory I saw there the last time I was in.  It
>>>> almost looked like an Apple store.
>>>>
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