I apologize for the slow updates as of late, but I have some big news that I would like to share with you:
MightyOhm is moving to Austin, Texas!
While the move should be pretty much transparent to anyone reading the blog, there will be a lot going on behind the scenes in the next few weeks. Most significantly, orders placed after July 9th will not be shipped before August 1st. The move will continue to take time away from the blog as I figure out how to move an electronics lab across three states. Don’t expect too many posts in the next few weeks!
I am sad to be leaving San Francisco (and the many friends I have made in this wonderful city), but I’m eager to explore a new city, meet new friends, and make Austin my home. Once I get settled, I would really like to meet some other electronics geeks in the area. If anyone who reads the blog lives in or near Austin, please send me an e-mail or comment below to say hello!
That reminds me: Does anyone know where to find surplus electronic parts in Austin? If you do, please post a comment here or add it to the wiki. As soon as I unpack, I’ll be looking for local substitutes for Silicon Valley’s HSC and Weird Stuff.
That’s all for now. Time to pack up my soldering iron and oscilloscope!
Welcome to Austin:
I am an electronics geek too. Been living in Austin for 5 years now. Love it more than DFW area. McHoward electronics was an awesome place to pick up electronics components…until they shut down late last year.
But if you are looking for a place where you can find dis-assembled hitech systems from the semiconductor industry, hit up ebay and search for “athomemarket” username. The company’s name is “CDNsystems” out at leander (NW austin). They buy huge equipment from the semiconductor companies (i guess mainly from applied microsystems), strip them and sell off the pieces. I have ended up with great stuff like stepper motors, drivers, oscilloscope motors and whole bunch of electronic components. I found that if you pick up locally, there’s usually no fee. Another similar one is “liquis” near round-rock/i-35
Austin is Great. Just as soon as I get out of the Congo I am going back. When you say “surplus electronics” does that include junk pile used stores? Austin’s got that buy the boat load. There is a compy store in north austin off of lamar and palmer going south on lamar (I think… ). It sort of specializes in ripping off poor souls that are just looking to get something that runs internet explorer, but they also have lots o old network junk and such (large assortment of ancient processors). Its fun to dig through their goods. Frys and altex are fun enough. But there is nothing that compares to HSC. There is some convenience in jobs and such having NI and company around Austin. I dunno if this is your style but there is good times in the dumpster diving of some companies. I don’t get my puma’s in the dumpsters these days, but still there is that. Hope you enjoy it, what brings you to the promised land?
Don,
Surplus junk piles are always fun to poke around in. I’m usually less interested in computer stuff and more interested in electronic equipment and components. A good example is Apex in Los Angeles: https://mightyohm.com/blog/2009/03/los-angeles-area-surplus-tour/
The move to Austin was attractive for a few reasons, but I think that it was proximity to family on my wife’s side and the lower cost of living that really made it happen.
Welcome to Texas! I live north of Dallas and miss the surplus shops from the Silicon Valley. The one bright spot is going to be if you need new parts. Mouser is just south of the Dallas metroplex, so you may be able to get ground orders overnight if you order early enough in the day. Good luck finding a surplus shop!
Darrick,
Thanks! I’ll continue to order from Mouser – the faster shipping here is great news. I’ll also let you know if I find any surplus resources around Austin.
Too humid – yet what a great city Austin is! I just bought 3 Siemens HS60’s from a facility in Austin. Hope you enjoy your your time there – we’re New England based. We’ll look you up next time down there.
Thought I would share this “Moved to Texas” story I saw a while back.
Dear Diary: June 1st:
Just moved to Texas! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! It is beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I love it here.
June 14th:
Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an Air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a sun worshipper.
June 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.
July 10th:
The temperature hasn’t been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least, it’s kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.
July 15th:
Fell asleep by the community pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ole sun in a climate like this.
July 20th:
I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now smells like Kibbles and ****s. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ole Mr. Sun strikes again.
July 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it’s hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.
July 30th:
Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can’t even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?
Aug. 4th:
It’s 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.
Aug. 8th:
If another wise a** cracks, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!
Aug. 9th:
Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when sat on the seats in the car, I thought my ass was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass . . . Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.
Aug 10th:
The weather report might as well be a da*n recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It’s been too hot to do **** for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn’t it ever rain in this damn state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can’t live in this damn heat.
Aug. 14th:
Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? “Hot enough for you today?” My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas. What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?? Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.
Duane, do you have the source of that story? I want to make sure I never get near that person and their horrible luck.
The cat part got to me.
I saw it circulate in email about 10 years ago – I just googled “Texas baked cat”.
Having lived in Austin, I was almost in tears by the end of the story.
Duane,
That is too funny. Thanks for sharing, hopefully my story will have a better ending!
At least no exploding cats.
Austin is a fantastic city ! I lived there a few years ago and really miss it. Just make sure your air conditioner works because it can get hot and humid (but not as bad as Houston).
Best thing is – Lake weather 10 months out of the year!
Congrats Jeff! I moved away from Austin a few years ago and miss living there. It’s a great city. In fact, there’s a large art community that could probably use the expertise of an electronics person such as yourself. If you need any tips on places to go, I can suggest a few I’m sure.
Thanks Chris! I’m hoping to meet cool people and work on lots of projects here, so that sounds great!
First order of business. Get out of the city and get some Saltlick BBQ (in glorious Driftwood TX). While it seems like you already know some people down there, if they haven’t taken you yet, they’re hiding something. Namely BBQ.
Salt Lick – check. Got that taken care of last week, pretty shortly after I arrived. 🙂
Make sure your AC actually works when you move in 😉 I had to spend more than one week during summer time without functional air conditioning when I was at UT ages ago. Also stay hydrated at all times. Compared to SF it gets a bit warm there.
Well, I’m here now, and the AC seems to be working! You are right though, it is HOT!
What is this moisture that seems to be coming out of my forehead? I never used to experience this in SF!
Welcome to Austin!
Unfortunately, not much in the way of hobbyist electronics stores here. I get most of my parts online, nowadays. Fry’s is fair for components, it has about 4 aisles worth. Occasionally I get lucky there when I have a need for a part immediately, but usually come away disappointed.
Eric –
Good to know. Fry’s here has a couple aisles of components, but they almost never have the one I want. Sounds like it’ll be the same in Austin.
I heard that there used to be a surplus shop in town called “Howard M C Electronics”. Apparently it closed a while back. What a shame!
MC Howard was a great place — it closed earlier this year. They had both surplus electronics as well as new stock. But it was by far the most reasonable place to buy parts in Austin. Having said that, if you don’t care about saving too much money. You can always buy from Mouser (near Dallas) choose Fedex Ground and 9/10 times have it the next day.
It sounds like a great adventure for you. We’ll miss you in SF.
Thanks for all the fish.
Robert
Thanks, Robert! We’ll miss you too!
Does not Austin also have a Fry’s?
I visited a couple of years ago
Yes, they do, but I have not been there (yet).
It is pretty amusing to read the reviews. Typical Fry’s.
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Fantastic news Jeff, you’ll be real close to David from uCHobby, and I live a little ways up in Dallas 🙂
I’ll have to keep an eye out for David. I have seen his site before. It seems like we are into a lot of the same things!
Somedays I swear half the guys I graduated school with landed in Austin. Not a bad city. Too hot for this New Englander, but not bad.
Good luck.
Thanks Bubba!
Welcome to Austin! I lived there for 13 years and will be moving back from New York next year.
As for surplus electronics… pickings are a bit slim. Altex has a lot of components, but mainly oriented around IT and networking. Logic Approach in South Austin and Discount Electronics in North Austin. Of course, there’s Fry’s in north Austin too.
If you don’t mind an occasional drive to Dallas, there’s http://www.sidewalksale.com/index.html — I found some great stuff there in the mid-90s.
Ben,
I’ve seen Altex, was not super impressed with their selection of components. I’ll check out the other places you mentioned. I haven’t seen the Austin Fry’s yet, hopefully it is similar to the ones we have here.
@chrisindallas gave me a couple places to check out in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. I’ll definitely check out the sidewalk sale as well, it looks like fun.
We’ll have to meet up when you return to Austin in 2011!