THAT Ordered

published 2025-09-04

By Christopher Howard

I finally ordered my THAT (The Analog Thing) analog computer from Anabrid. They confirmed that they had received the parts, and had started assembling the units, so it was safe to place my order. The cost of the unit — shipped to the USA, was $548 USD + $35 USD S/H.

One obstacles was that I did not realize that my NetSpend pre-paid card, which I needed to use for the purchase, has a whopping 4% additional fee on international purchases, which came out to $23.32 in this case. I'm curious if that is unique to NetSpend or if regular bank debit cards all have that. Anyway, after my first attempt to place the order failed, I had to reload the card again to get the extra money available for that, which meant another $3.95 fee. Rather annoying.

I don't have to use my NetSpend card much, as most of the online items I purchase are from Amazon, so I can just buy Amazon gift cards with cash. Anabrid did have a wire transfer payment option but I think my bank charges some large fee for wire transfers ($20?)

Anyway, my THAT is finally ordered. I'll need to get some RCA<->BNC adapters so I can hook it up to my oscilloscope, but it looks like I've got a local source for those.

I'd like to get my own copy of Professor Bernd Ulmann's analog computing text books, but I don't have enough money saved up right now. Also, I happen to know that "Analog Computing" is getting a third edition some time in this next year. I have sometimes been able to borrow "Analog Computing" through ILL, but it is hit or miss whether or not it will be available.

Copyright

CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed