[kwlug-disc] Orion Electronics

Sun Jul 15 17:57:50 EDT 2018

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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>>
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