Top Ten ICs (was Re: [sdiy] Analog Design Book)

[R. D. Davis]

Quothe Colin Hinz, from writings of Fri, Oct 22, 2004 at 01:59:20AM -0400:
> Yes, that's right. These were the first ICs I bought, with my own
> paper-route money, back in 1979.

Hey, that's how I bought my electronics parts too back in the early to
late 1970's!  I had a paper route for eight years (well, eventually
two routes), and hate to think of how much of that money went to parts
purchased at Rat Shack (to quote someone from another mailing list, a
modified R.S. slogan: "You've got questions, we've got blank stares.")
Finding many needed project parts at R.S. and a local electronics
store was difficult to impossible; didn't know about hamfests back
then.  Mail ordered some parts.

Favorite sources of parts, however, were items that I disassembled,
such as old TV sets found on the side of the road... still have
assorted tubes from them.  Regret taking some things apart for parts,
however, such as a chart recorder, a 1940's or so DuMont oscilloscope
and some transistor radios that would now be collectors' items.
Anyone here need a 25" Zenith picture tube from the early 1970's?  :-)
Got that, and many other parts, from a roadside throwaway.  Still have
that CRT taking up space on a workbench; can't bring myself to discard
it since it might be useful for something, perhaps something SDIY
related, or to someone, some day.  Anyone here ever used a picture
tube in any sort of audio project having nothing to do with video,
just using the tube for some sort of interesting characteristics?  Now
then, can I get nominated for the SDIY Packrat Award for that?  It's
been sitting there for about 25 years!

> Funny about that. The first "actually working" circuit I built
> used two 555's. Didn't do much, except make a couple of LEDs blink.
> But it was *so* cool at the time.

Wow, your first IC project used a modern DIP IC!  My first IC project
used the approx. 1" square black and white IC, sans package---visible
IC components, on a Radio Shack 100 in 1 kit way back when. :-) Other
than that, my first IC other than that was some sort of amplifier chip
which was part of a Lafayette electronics kit (anyone here remember
the Lafayette electronics stores?).  Didn't get into digital chips
until around 1980.

> (The 555 isn't on my "first ten" list only because it was out of
> stock!!)

That chip is on my "always have some in stock" list (actually, I
bought enough back in the mid 1980's so that I still have some in
stock to play with).

-- 
Copyright (C) 2004 R.D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: an
All Rights Reserved            unnatural belief that we're above Nature & her
www.rddavis.org 410-744-4900    other creatures, using dogma to justify such
Uncle Fester for President!      beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.