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A Navajo weaving of an integrated circuit: the 555 timer

(www.righto.com)
356 points defrost | 1 comments | 06 Sep 25 20:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.2s | 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. segfault99 ◴[07 Sep 25 02:35 UTC] No.45154875[source]▶
The world would be a much sadder, drearier place without the 555. That's the nostalgia part out of the way.

Really it's such a useful almost universal lego block of a component that it's hard to imagine it going away anytime soon. Sure microcontrollers are as cheap as chips these days, but you get a lot more with them. Do I need to say that sometimes more is less? Can think of scenarios where you absolutely don't want to see a chip containing firmware/code which needs auditing and locking down.