People complain about thin computers these days... but this, right here, is the core of the issue: we need thicker ICs, only then will we finally get back our much missed "luggable" computers. No more electron tunnelling, electro migration, super scalar nonsense. We need good ol' fashion sturdy, reliable, hand drawn ICs.
Giant 555 Timer
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Re: Giant 555 Timer
#12Since the original 555 was developed in 1971, I'm wondering if the inventor[1] or Signetics, the company where he worked, would have made a similar physical mock-up in those days before electronic circuit simulation software existed.
[1] Apparently it was a single electronics engineer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Camenzind
Re: Giant 555 Timer
#13What a great project Idea! I have often looked at the internal schematic of the 555 and wondered if it could be made with discrete components - now I know that it is possible :-)
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Re: Giant 555 Timer
#14This is awesome. I built a metronome from a Forest Mims book and parts I bought at RadioShack back in the day, so it's nice to see the timer in all it's glory. One of my biggest surprises when I reported for duty on a submarine in the early 80's was that most of the electronic systems were discrete components.
https://www.radioshack.com/products/getting-started-in-elect...
Re: Giant 555 Timer
#15Further gold in the comment section:
>Eh can be done with a single 555 timer…
Re: Giant 555 Timer
#16Feel free to double check my math, but a modern M1 CPU with its ~16 billion transistors would be about 380 million times bigger (imagine a square ~1.7 miles on a side)
Re: Giant 555 Timer
#17Feel free to double check my math, but a modern M1 CPU with its ~16 billion transistors would be about 380 million times bigger (imagine a square ~1.7 miles on a side)
It would take an electric signal about 40ns to travel from the center to one corner and back, and a signal certainly needs to do more than that in a clock cycle, so the physical limit on its operational frequency would be well below 25 kHz. If you want comparable computing power to a regular M1, you'd need to build a tower of them at least 100,000 high. On the plus side, you could build a city on the stack and no one would need heating in the winter. The cluster should be powerful enough to coordinate the traffic lights. Synergy!
Re: Giant 555 Timer
#18Feel free to double check my math, but a modern M1 CPU with its ~16 billion transistors would be about 380 million times bigger (imagine a square ~1.7 miles on a side)
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Re: Giant 555 Timer
#19Since the original 555 was developed in 1971, I'm wondering if the inventor[1] or Signetics, the company where he worked, would have made a similar physical mock-up in those days before electronic circuit simulation software existed. [1] Apparently it was a single electronics engineer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Camenzind
Probably, although by then you could get op amps and flip-flops as ICs. A 555 timer is two comparators, a flip-flop, an inverter, and a power transistor. If you have those building blocks, you can make one easily.
Re: Giant 555 Timer
#20Related is EvilMadScientist’s surface mount 555 kit: https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/922
They also make a fully discrete kit: https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/652
Both versions of the kit use all discrete components.
The difference is that the kit GP linked has surface-mount components, while the one you linked has through-hole components.
I built the through-hole version a few years ago, and it was great fun to try some classic 555 circuits.
If anyone is unsure of their soldering skills, the through-hole kit would likely be the easier one to start with.
Evil Mad Scientist makes some awesome stuff.