Dontronics Closure

[Don McKenzie]

Dontronics Closure

Hi all,

I believe I was the second company on the web selling Electronic kits, beaten only by my friend Peter Crowcroft (DIY
Electronics HK), who passed away in 2006.

I know I pioneered a lot of new Internet concepts such as online payments that are commonplace today. The Commonwealth
Bank of Australia treated me like an alien initially.

I assisted the Australian Tax Office with the introduction of the GST tax laws, as they had no idea what the web was
about, and didn't comprehend the variety of global transactions that could be done.

I will be closing Dontronics down, and have a tentative closure date at this stage of the 30th of June 2018.

At 75 years of age, it is really getting beyond me. After being in business since 1964, I have to shut down as my two
daughters don't have an electronics background, and have other business interests they wish to pursue.

I wish to get rid of all stock by this date. Many items are currently heavily discounted.

In the last two years, I have greatly reduced the range and stock levels on products, so I don't have large stock
levels. I have a lot of connectors and header pins, etc., that would suit microcontroller projects and am open to offers
on bulk orders on these.

Cheers Don...


--
Don McKenzie

https://www.shop-dontronics.com

[Trevor Wilson]

**Damn. I was hoping to obtain a refund on my printer buffer kit
(unused) I purchased from you a few years back.

In all seriousness: Enjoy your retirement. And thanks for your
contributions.

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

[Don McKenzie]

Thanks very much for the kind words Trevor.

As there had been no response to my message, I was about to suggest I turn the lights off after I shut the door.

I'm glad someone is still tuned in.

[Trevor Wilson]

**Well, I presume (hope) that you will continue your contributions here.


--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

[Don McKenzie]

On 17/02/2018 7:10 PM, Trevor Wilson wrote:

>
> **Well, I presume (hope) that you will continue your contributions here.

don't know if there will be much now Trevor. I will still be tuned into this group, I must admit.
Bit hard to give it up.

Most of my efforts now will be supporting my two daughters (now in their 50s) with their income producing web sites.
At least I still have a mission in life.

[Trevor Wilson]

On 18/02/2018 11:03 AM, Don McKenzie wrote:
> On 17/02/2018 7:10 PM, Trevor Wilson wrote:
>
>>
>> **Well, I presume (hope) that you will continue your contributions here.
>
> don't know if there will be much now Trevor. I will still be tuned into
> this group, I must admit.
> Bit hard to give it up.
>
> Most of my efforts now will be supporting my two daughters (now in their
> 50s) with their income producing web sites.
> At least I still have a mission in life.
>

**Good for you. Keep exercising those brain cells.


--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

[Clocky]

I read this group sporadically, there isn't that much activity these
days after all.

Anyway, thank you for your service to the electronics community and good
luck in your retirement.

[news16]

On Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:15:31 +1100, Don McKenzie wrote:

> Dontronics Closure
>
> Hi all,
>
> I believe I was the second company on the web selling Electronic kits,
> beaten only by my friend Peter Crowcroft (DIY Electronics HK), who
> passed away in 2006.

Congrats. Meanwhile the kids worry about competing with Amazon.
>

[Don McKenzie]

On 18/02/2018 1:27 PM, Clocky wrote:

> I read this group sporadically, there isn't that much activity these days after all.
>
> Anyway, thank you for your service to the electronics community and good luck in your retirement.

Thank you very much Clocky

[Don McKenzie]

No, if you can't beat them, join them :-)


BTW
The 50% off coupon is "TBS" for these URLs.
https://www.shop-dontronics.com/usb-converters/usb-rs232-chinese-adapter-cable.-(1.8-meter-cable)-usb-rs232-chn
https://www.shop-dontronics.com/maximite-accessories
https://www.shop-dontronics.com/usb-to-ttl-cables

When they are gone, they are gone.

[news16]

On Mon, 19 Feb 2018 10:15:58 +1100, Don McKenzie wrote:

> On 18/02/2018 2:00 PM, news16 wrote:
>> On Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:15:31 +1100, Don McKenzie wrote:
>>
>>> Dontronics Closure
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I believe I was the second company on the web selling Electronic kits,
>>> beaten only by my friend Peter Crowcroft (DIY Electronics HK), who
>>> passed away in 2006.
>>
>> Congrats. Meanwhile the kids worry about competing with Amazon.
>
> No, if you can't beat them, join them :-)

You didn't!. I was one, of probably a number of people,that taught therm
they had to have a warehouse/distro centre. Their customers would order
books off me when they were waiting weeks for Amazon to fulfill their
orders. It was nice while it lasted, but my supply chain folded. so
farewell.

[Don McKenzie]

On 19/02/2018 12:13 PM, news16 wrote:

>>> Congrats. Meanwhile the kids worry about competing with Amazon.
>>
>> No, if you can't beat them, join them :-)
>
> You didn't!. I was one, of probably a number of people,that taught therm
> they had to have a warehouse/distro centre. Their customers would order
> books off me when they were waiting weeks for Amazon to fulfill their
> orders. It was nice while it lasted, but my supply chain folded. so
> farewell.

My wife was one of their first OZ customers, and got an early kindle, now on her third. Still gets books from the
states. They still get lost and have to be resent. Most of the stuff she reads isn't in stock in Australia.

My eldest daughter is an affiliate for the US market with general products, and this is starting to build up nicely.
She says OZ is getting crap products, and although they don't have affiliates in oz yet, she won't sell to Australians
as she reckons we will be getting the cheap Chinese rubbish.

[Perry]

Good on you Don. IIRC you started out with mechanical totes machines or
something similar. You've covered a lot of ground.


You should visit Dave Jones EEVBlog forum and join up there.

I'm certain you'd be welcome and be a good source of knowledge and
experience for others to draw on! Make sure to pick a user name that
allows us to ID you.

Best of luck.

[Don McKenzie]

On 19/02/2018 10:32 PM, Perry wrote:

> Good on you Don. IIRC you started out with mechanical totes machines or something similar. You've covered a lot of ground.
>
>
> You should visit Dave Jones EEVBlog forum and join up there.
>
> I'm certain you'd be welcome and be a good source of knowledge and experience for others to draw on! Make sure to pick a
> user name that allows us to ID you.
>
> Best of luck.

Thanks for the kind words and tips Perry.

Yes, I actually worked on Australian designed and built electro mechanical tote machines that were built in the 1930s.
see: http://www.dontronics.com/my_early_tote_years.html

[Perry]

I wondered where I'd read about that!

[Bob Parker]

Hi Don,

By sheer coincidence I just realised that I can access newsgroups from the NBN via Google (my new ISP has no news server). Sorry to hear that you're winding up Dontronics. I've bought a few things from you and had some interesting discussions over the years.

Good luck in your post-Dontronics future!

[Don McKenzie]

Hi Bob, yes good to hear from you again, and thanks for the business over the years.

I had some very good years, but can't keep going forever. We are catching up on family and doing a bit of traveling
these days.

I hear that Maplin in the UK is going under. Lots of customers owing money, and they can't find a buyer.

I never gave anyone credit, so I can walk away from this business fairly easily.
By the same token, I never owed anyone money. I think I was virtually unique from this point of view.

[Ian Field]

"Don McKenzie" <5...@2.5A> wrote in message
news:fenb83...@mid.individual.net...

Apparently Maplin has just gone down the gurgler in the UK.

[geogr...@gmail.com]

Hi Don,
Just wanted to say, I still have my DT001 Rev C board (1997) and a bunch of its accessory boards. I learned a lot from assembling and programming them.
Good luck and thanks for all you've done.
Best regards,
Tim

[Don McKenzie]

Hi Tim,

thanks very much for your kind words.

It is very pleasing to hear feed back on my efforts over the years.

I remember when this Newsgroup platform started, (for me around 1993) and yes I was able to advertise right here. It was
not only well received, but most welcomed. As the years progressed, it suddenly became spam, and I can understand why.
Of course it finally destroyed the newsgroup and brought them down to what they are today.

I founded many groups including the Australian Electronics web ring, and the very first AVR user group, about a month
after the first AVR 1200 device was released.

I estimate that I provided close to 4000 technical answers to people seeking information on Electronics in this group,
and the aus.computers group.

It was a lot of fun, but nothing is forever. Again thank you.

Cheers Don...

--
Don McKenzie

https://www.shop-dontronics.com

https://www.shop-dontronics.com/Dontronics-Box-of-Goodies

[Don Norris]

Hi Don,
I worked for ATL in the late 70s I think we meet in Brisbane when I installed second tape drives in the vans. I also had to fix a machine I had not touched but which had a dead DMR asserting on the NPG line. Always thought you guys were playing me!
Anyway, I had to go down to Gladesville to pick up something today, so I also went to have a look at the old family home (totally rebuilt). As that is not far from Meadowbank I decided to go and have look at the ATL building. I thought it had a heritage listing but no it is gone! The area we used for car parking down to the river, Nev Mitchell said would never be built on is now built out. Nancarrow Ave is like a canyon now, nowhere to park just like Hong Kong (yes I was dragged into the Shatin disaster).

Anyway All the Best in Retirement don.n...@hotmail.com

[Chris Baird]

>> Hi Tim,
>> thanks very much for your kind words.
>> It is very pleasing to hear feed back on my efforts over the years.

>> I remember when this Newsgroup platform started, (for me around
>> 1993) and yes I was able to advertise right here.

..and did not care what it cost to those of us on the pre-1994 Aussie
Internet were using long-distance dial-up, and actively ignoring the
non-commerical traffic rules on CSIRO and other networks to email
their accounts with novice-level gear like BASIC Stamps.

>> It was not only well received, but most welcomed.

Don also lied constantly. Especially in posts from people reporting
their orders were missing/RMA/etc.

A couple of absolutely clueless old guys on their new Windows box were
over the moon for their first internet contact, but the network abuse
had the rest of the aus.electronics newsgroup telling him to stop, and
every Australian provider deleted his accounts for violating their
AUPs from us reporting it. After that happened about 3 times, Don took
to an overseas to continue scraping email addresses and spamming
everyone.

Naturally, he lavished praise on the old guys; they were maybe
5% (but growing) of the newsgroups users, but enough to fake a
perception his scraping emails and spamming emails were okay and he
was like everyone's Internet Friend. Don did the complete "HA HA FUCK
YOU" to anyone who complained in email. He stills owes me about $90
for the bill I sent from his mailbombing of my long-distance UUCP link.

Dontronics was Australia's first 'Canter & Siegel'-spec spammer.

--
Chris
bushwire!werple!scorch!glencoe!cjb