Best Freebie? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 09:29:07 am
content: Quite recently I was at an event and visited the Mouser stand and picked up a 'pen'.... but when I got it home I discovered that it was not just a pen but also a flashlight and a laser pointer.... awesomeSo what's your best freebie?PSI like the DigiKey ruler too...

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 09:45:24 am
content: My life?

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 10:31:17 am
content: Ordered some pencil leads from Cultpens the other day and got a free Staedtler liner and some Haribo Star Mix. Was pretty pleased with that. I'm a simple person.

author: igendel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 12:18:33 pm
content: I had a couple of PCBs manufactured in China, and since it was around Christmas they sent me a blinking Rudolf soldering kit, a pen, some Chinese-calendar stickers and a decorative sock with Santa or something, which my kids liked. All combined it was probably worth around the same as the PCBsThe best freebie so far, though, was unintended. As part of a bigger order I bought a professional, relatively expensive soldering tip from one of the big dealers, and got five units instead of oneHopefully no one lost their job because of this!

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 12:55:28 pm
content: The one that involves a couple of ladies of the night?Just kidding. Why buy the milk if you can get the cow for free? Or, uh, something along those lines.

author: tsman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 01:30:51 pm
content: Hmm. Best is probably Altera who gave me one of their university FPGA boards. They asked if it was for personal usage which it was and they gave it to me for free.Quote from: igendel on June 11, 2018, 12:18:33 pmAmazon sent me a load of Samsung micro SD cards by mistake along with my order. I emailed CS as their warehouse staff have a crap enough time at work without also losing items. CS said they'd investigate but then replied a week later to say that no, they didn't send me anything extra by mistake. I considered the cards a free gift from Amazon at that point. They were only 8GB basic EVO cards but plenty for random things like Raspberry Pi.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 02:48:44 pm
content: A small ASIC mining board I won in an online "contest". That was over a year ago and it's still making a good profit. The real highlight was how I used it to make the world a better place and get recognized by my friends.Other than that, discarded IT hardware often contains useful parts, even if it's long obsolete.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 02:59:39 pm
content: Quote from: tsman on June 11, 2018, 01:30:51 pmLet's assume they were in the mess on someones desk and got sweeped into the box to get rid of.

author: tsman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2018, 03:30:13 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on June 11, 2018, 02:59:39 pmThey've mistakenly packed + shipped thewarehouse barcode scannerbefore

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2018, 04:31:51 am
content: I didn't even realise you could mine for ASICs? Although if it is cryptocurrency mining, I'm not sure how that makes the world a better place.I like my free Maxim pen, hes a rubbery touch screen poker at the end and it writes nicely.

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2018, 04:34:56 am
content: In 2000 I was a pioneer. I was one of the first to use online dating (something you didn't talk about back then, like listening to ABBA). My to-be wife was on the same site. We were both in our free trial period and connected. So I can say, "I got my wife off the internet for free."

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2018, 04:41:42 am
content: Quote from: aargee on June 12, 2018, 04:31:51 amIt's all in how I used it. Very energy efficient, carbon neutral mining. About 60 times as energy efficient and nearly twice as fast as a 1080Ti at mining high N Scrypt coins.

author: VK5RC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 12, 2018, 04:58:34 am
content: Flown interstate, put up at a 5 star hotel, free food and wine, but the really best part was a really good two half day conference, I would have paid for it all, it was that good.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2018, 06:09:17 am
content: Intel once sent me a free Pentium processor.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2018, 12:23:34 pm
content: A complete refurbishing kit for my old Weller TCP202D soldering iron that I bought in 1979. The iron wore out - burnt contacts and other issues. That iron had sentimental value, so I wrote to Weller asking for the parts cost to refurbish it in 2005. They sent the lot in the mail for free with a nice letter.Such great service is rare these days.These days I use a JBC iron. The Weller is a backup.

author: @rt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 04:28:43 am
content: A Leak TL-12 Plus... but it’s cause me to hunt for another, probably for the rest of my life, to make a stereo pair.