At 2003-02-01 16:03 -0800, Syd Levine \(AnaLog\) wrote:
>A couple of years back, I used to look for chips using PartMiner, but I
>think they went to paid subscription.  In any event, I cannot get their
>webpage up.

Partminer is the chip broker part of their business and
Freetradezone is their datasheet service (CapXpert
bought or licensed from IHS). You have to take a
paid-for subscription to have access to datasheets of
obsolete chips. Their brokerage services are paid for
out of their profit of course.

http://www.freetradezone.com/
http://www.partminer.com/ - this links to the other site

In order to use their datasheet database you have to
register.

Partminer/Freetradezone has sponsored my Chipdir very
generously for several years. In fact, I think my site
inspired them to start something similar as the Chipdir.
I had breakfast with the CEO/owner of Partminer in
autumn 1998 in Amsterdam to discuss their advertising
deal and he was very pleased with all the new potential
customers he was getting through the Chipdir. That was
when Partminer was still quite small.

>I tried the scarce chip search thing at ChipDir, but it returns an error
>saying my browser is not showing a proper referral page.

I have just sent you a private message about this,
but it's not a secret: We hire that service from
ICsource and they require that all requests are
send from a form on one of my sites. At the moment
that is set to be xs4all.nl. They want to make
sure that non-payers don't use the service.

Your problem is probably that you're behind a
firewall that filters out the referral page.

>Where can I look for scarce chips these days?
>The kind of thing that pops up different sellers
>and even prices?

If you have money to spare you can take a paid-for
subscription from NetCOMPONENTS (another advertiser
in the Chipdir). They also allow OEM's as members,
but it's quite expensive when you're a small OEM.
(It's about $45 per month, if I remember correctly.)

Another problem is that real brokers tend to boycot
services like these that cater directly to OEM's,
so they don't submit their stock to them. Via
Netcomponents you are therefore more likely to find
distributor (so non-obsolete) stock than via a real
broker.

As regards pricing: Most stocks aren't priced. It's
a question of negociations between your broker and
the broker of the OEM with the left-over stock.

If you can't solve your referral page problem you
can also send your requests directly to my partners
at [EMAIL PROTECTED] I have worked with them many
years already and have never had a complaint about
them yet. Please also consider that they shield you
from trouble with other brokers. Be careful when
doing direct business with Asian brokers for example.

Good brokers are usually a member of the ERAI
(Electronic Resellers Association International)
which keeps track of brokers that haven't fulfilled
their obligations. On ICsource brokers can also
comment on each other.

Thrifty Components who also responded to your emails,
is also an ERAI member, see:
http://www.thriftycomp.com/ (left bottom corner)


Greetings,
Jaap

-- Chip Directory
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Author: Jaap van Ganswijk
  INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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