It seems I’m doomed to have to wait and maybe wait some more for this Robotis kit I’m after.

After failing at RobotShop.CA through what they now claim is company policy (i.e. after payment is sent you must supply old bank records otherwise they can not ship), I looked around for another supplier.

And wouldn’t you know it? I made the order through their web page, asked for 2-day FedEx, selected Paypal, made the payment and then their web page crashed.

I’m now pretty sure (theorem of advanced Murphology) my order has not been received but — naturally — Paypal were happy to ack another 1k usd had been removed from my credit card.

If this doesn’t end in tears, I’ll be happy to give the supplier concerned a "+" recommendation. But from recent experience, the odds seem to be against it.

I have 4 orders for various kits outstanding at the moment. And only 1 of these seems to respond via email. And they seem to be stuck because the particular kit is only made on a 1-off basis on Japan for those crazy enough to want one.

On the plus side, Inex — the makers of my Robo-11 tank — seem happy to help try and get the controller back on its feet. I still only suspect I’ve managed to wipe the on-chip flash with the secondary boot program and, if so, replacing the 6811 should do the trick.

Inex seem happy to send a couple chips, maybe for free since I pointed at this web page.

In any case, I’ve ordered a few 6811s from an eBay shop in PA, USA. They seem to be second-hand and are probably not all that cheap at 10 usd each. The guy has a neat trick with his Paypal button, which makes eBay think he’s operating Paypal but, in reality, asks the customer to send a money order to his PO Box.

I was somewhat shocked the 25 usd money order cost 8 aud to buy and a couple more to send.

As I keep saying, "instant" transactions in the information age… who invented that?