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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: 0s | 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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moron4hire ◴[07 Sep 25 00:17 UTC] No.45154095[source]▶
Because it's fun and there are many readily available DIY designs that use it.
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1. segfault99 ◴[07 Sep 25 02:38 UTC] No.45154890[source]▶
Back in the day you'd go into an electronics store and there'd be books containing just 555 circuit recipes. Not to mention the magazine articles.

And every EE student back when we tied onions to our belts must have had a lab assignment to spec out a PLL using 555 and bits and bobs and then measure transient responses, temperature stability, etc.