<div dir="ltr">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.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 4:18 PM Ron Singh <<a href="mailto:ronsingh149@gmail.com">ronsingh149@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">A heartbeat ago, 1979 and 1980, I spent my summers working for Orion. <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">I hate the idea of anyone charging list prices and made my view known, but alas, it fell on deaf ears.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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. <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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. <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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(!).</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">So yeah, today, Orion ain't all that no more;<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"> back in the day, they were already spendy, <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"> today, the price delta is even more exacerbated thanks to online shopping.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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).</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">OK, I am getting the "look", I need to go tend to my beef ribs(failed Hindu here), sorry about the stream of...<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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!<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="m_-5554148363884858247gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Thanks,<br><br>Ron Singh<br><br></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote"></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 11:57 AM, Chamunks <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chamunks@gmail.com" target="_blank">chamunks@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">I switched over to Sayall years ago after both hearing and experiencing the price issues they have, being way out of control.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 6:06 PM CrankyOldBugger <<a href="mailto:crankyoldbugger@gmail.com" target="_blank">crankyoldbugger@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>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: <a href="https://www.orionone.ca/" target="_blank">https://www.orionone.ca/</a></div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div></div>
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