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One of our Maker is over in Shenzhen and did a fantastic write up of the electronics district, SEG Electronics Market -
"Ten years ago, Akihabara was the place to be for the latest electronics and knick knacks and components. I'm convinced the new place to be is the SEG Electronics Market in Shenzhen (although to be fair I heard there is a competing market in Korea that's supposedly even better-the Japanese test-market their stuff there even before they try it in Akihabara!).
...Stacks of power supplies, varistors, batteries; ROM programmers. Atmel, Intel, Broadcom, Samsung, Yamaha, Sony, AMD, Fujitsu, every variety of chip. Some of them clearly ripped out of used equipment and remarked, some of them in brand new laser-marked OEM packaging.
...Chips that I couldn't dream of buying in the US, reels of rare ceramic capacitors that I only dream about at night. My senses tingle, my head spins. I can't supress a smirk of anticipation as I walk around the next corner, to see shops stacked floor to ceiling with probably a hundred million resistors and capacitors.
...This is Digikey gone mad." - Link.
i remember feeling the same my first trip to akihabara buying pentium tech manuals off a lady old enough to be my gran in the marketplace.
if only the usa had stuff like this.
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Uh, wow.
The closest I've come to this experience is a hamfest. On occasion you'll run into a guy or two who rip parts and sort them out for you, or they have bins of new connectors or loose passives and whatnot. Nothing like the article above, but still an enjoyable outing and an opportunity to hang out with other folks who can appreciate the joy of it.
However, I can say without reservation that having a market like this in Manhattan would prove extremely useful these days. It beats having those last minute PICs overnighted when you get a custom request.
Bill
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I spent many weekends at the Seoul Electronics Market in Korea, that place was massive! It was a makers dream.
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