Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Giant 555 Timer

hackaday.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–45 of 45 posts

Re: Giant 555 Timer

#41

Post by firethief »

retrac wrote: post #37
firethief wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> The cluster should be powerful enough to coordinate the traffic lights. This probably says more about how bloaty modern software development is, than the capabilities of your hypothetical macro-M1. You wouldn't need a cluster. Just one should do. The entire traffic light system of San Francisco ran on a few PDP-8 controllers, once. About as fast as the macro M1 at 25 kHz. (Even at 25 kHz, with parallel execution, i…

Well I assumed it would be an electron app because getting it done with a shedload of giant 555 timers wouldn't be as funny :)

Re: Giant 555 Timer

#42

Post by krallja »

Stratoscope wrote: post #20
krallja wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 mak…

Oops, yeah, you’re absolutely right.

Re: Giant 555 Timer

#43

Post by Fatnino »

mwattsun wrote: post #28
dceddia wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other day, an HN post showed RadioShack.com has changed hands and the home page is all about a new type of crypto. Just checked, still is. I’m surprised that RadioShack link still works, including the Add to Cart and Checkout buttons! Maybe the new owners are keeping the old e-commerce side alive?

I was wondering that too. I did some road trips in 2020 and was surprised to run across a functioning RadioShack in Montpelier, Idaho [1] so it's not dead. There's even a Tandy Leather store in Portland [2]. According to Wikipedia, the eCommerce portal is a going concern along with 500 franchises [3] and the branding, which is now owned by Tai Lopez and Alex Mehr who are taking into crypto-currency. The Radio Shack s…

Fry's is done. All stores closed.

Re: Giant 555 Timer

#44

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

mwattsun wrote: post #28
dceddia wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other day, an HN post showed RadioShack.com has changed hands and the home page is all about a new type of crypto. Just checked, still is. I’m surprised that RadioShack link still works, including the Add to Cart and Checkout buttons! Maybe the new owners are keeping the old e-commerce side alive?

I was wondering that too. I did some road trips in 2020 and was surprised to run across a functioning RadioShack in Montpelier, Idaho [1] so it's not dead. There's even a Tandy Leather store in Portland [2]. According to Wikipedia, the eCommerce portal is a going concern along with 500 franchises [3] and the branding, which is now owned by Tai Lopez and Alex Mehr who are taking into crypto-currency. The Radio Shack s…

I thought they were all gone by now, but just this last Saturday, I drove past a Radio Shack store in Farmington, MN!

Wonder if they actually still have components or it's Yet Another Cellphone Store!

Post reply on HN