I would totally do that, too. Sadly, by the time the chip gets to my door, the one that came three thousand kilometers from China is still $2, but the one that came a few dozen kilometers from Mouser has cost me $28.

(I understand the reasons for this, and I'm not complaining about them, I'm just pointing out why it feels to me like not a big deal to buy a 65C02 or three from China even knowing that I might receive entirely the wrong chip. Most of these parts I probably wouldn't be buying at all if I were paying ten times as much for them. As it is, I play with the toys a bit and, if I can't get one working, I just enjoy what I've learned and move on to something else.)

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Curt J. Sampson - github.com/0cjs

It's a little bit like a lottery, where if you get a losing ticket you can get your money back!

Of course. Actually for the W65C02 there is an official UK supplier that will sell them to you for less than Mouser and their shipping it less from the UK than Mouser (or our official Canadian supplier) will charge locally.

If you want an R65C02, then eBay or Ali Express are really your only choices. US sources though are not an option here in Canada. They almost invariably want $20 US for shipping (although MUCH cheaper alternatives are available). Who knows why, but it definitely pushes the economics to ward taking a chance with a highly rated far-east supplier - which, as I said, has worked well for me.

Location has a lot to with it I guess.


Which essentially takes all the risk out of it.

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Bill

slightly related... just noticed AliExpress has started collecting state sales tax on USA orders... interesting...

Im italian,so mouser makes the expedition 67 euros....same thing for jameco....where can i buy at an affordable price for europe?

Another thing!i found at the sunday used market 18 z80 and a 4004 for 5 euros!.What can i do with them?

Search for Grant Searle's minimal designs - he does one for Z80 as well as one for 6502. I'm not sure what you can do with a 4004 - I believe they only work with special memory and I/O chips:
http://4004.com/4004-announcement.jpg

4004s are quite rare now. It could be worth much more than you paid for it.

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Andrew Jacobs
6502 & PIC Stuff - http://www.obelisk.me.uk/
Cross-Platform 6502/65C02/65816 Macro Assembler - http://www.obelisk.me.uk/dev65/
Open Source Projects - https://github.com/andrew-jacobs

Considerably more.

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Bill

Z80 projects and web sites

www.z80.info

RC2014

Junkbox VZ

There are more if you search for them

If you want something where you can get a ready made PCB, search for ‘Sinclair ZX80 clone’ or ‘superfo harlequin zx spectrum clone’

Mark