The level of "freeness" varies with manufacturer. Used to be that almost everybody gave them away completely free without shipping charges. Nowadays, many manufacturers are starting to charge shipping (and sometimes $10 handling as they have Digi-Key fulfill the order), mostly due to hobbyists using the system and increased transit costs. Most of the time, these manufacturers don't mind hobbyists using the system in terms of giving away the free chips, but fronting the shipping when they'll never see a volume order apparently gets to be a bit expensive.
I find that in many cases, it's cheaper to combine everything I need onto a single Digi-Key or Mouser order to save S&H rather than go with the freebies, but it depends on the cost of the devices and the number of manufacturers involved (and their policies).
In some cases you may get a call from a sales rep asking for your application and EAU. They're usually OK with being told "hobbyist purposes", though don't expect any support in that case, obviously. If you happen to be in a position where you could spec similar devices for business purposes where a volume order (even through a distributor) might actually occur, you can sometimes use that to place the order through a sales rep and get the S&H covered, but don't count on that for hobbyist purposes.
Places I know of that still give 100% free stuff (no S&H):
*TI
*Maxim/Dallas
*Analog Devices
*National
*Atmel (though you may have to go through a rep)
[Note: It's been a while since I sampled from some of these, so they may charge S&H now as that policy is becoming common]
Places I've had no luck getting samples:
*Fairchild Semiconductor (recently - they were pretty good about 4-5 years ago)
*Molex
There are several others that provide samples for S&H only.
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Topic: Free Electronics Stuff (Read 2119 times)
