Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
. But they no longer make some of the chips that were used in that machine, so if one of those go, it's goodbye to the Thunder.

It's surprisingly possible to obtain such chips. There are two sources. One is that when chips are going obsolete, companies make a "last time buy" of as many as they think they may need, but they then go on to design the chip out of their product. Once they've done that, they often release much of that last-time stock back onto the market, so chips that were unavailable bcoume available again. They may release another tranche when they stop support for the product.

The other is recycling. A surprising number of components are recycled from old equipment and end up back on the market. Those should be identified as recycled and some can be tested. That's always a risk, though.

octopart.com can often help.

Most ICs will go on for years provided the power supplies behave.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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