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A Navajo weaving of an integrated circuit: the 555 timer

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356 points defrost | 1 comments | 06 Sep 25 20:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.229s | source
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charcircuit ◴[07 Sep 25 00:09 UTC] No.45154051[source]▶
The continued popularity of this chip confuses me. I don't understand why it didn't get forgotten decades ago as microcontrollers became common place. Though compared to the Pentium talking on older designs is likely faster to make, so I wonder if he markets himself to an older audience who is nostalgic for these ancient chips.
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1. artyom ◴[07 Sep 25 00:26 UTC] No.45154150[source]▶
You may be right about nostalgic reasons, but as a freshman during the emergence of microcontrollers, I've asked the same question to and old professor, in the sense of "why discrete digital electronics is still widely used?".

His response still resonates with me today: a military grade 555 would work in extreme conditions (e.g. heat), would last pretty much forever, would consume virtually no power, and will still cost you a penny.

Sometimes that's exactly what you need. Reliability, durability and cost trumps the power of programmability.