Heh, I have had this cartoon pinned up over my workbench for a couple of years now.
Ahh, the old 555. Lots of fun. It’s gone the way of the dodo, though. I recently stuck a 50MHz ARM processor into a design because it was cheaper than adding glue logic. Last year I did a design review on a piece of industrial equipment that used an ARM to handle eight logic I/O pins–because three optocouplers (to isolate a serial link) plus the ARM was cheaper than eight optocouplers!
When it’s cheaper to substitute a 32MB state machine for glue logic, it’s a whole different world…
Randy
So that’s what applied science in electrical engineering looks like. I never knew.
Second the “processor cheaper than glue logic” remark, though in my case I used a Tiny AVR to replace a dual analog timer and a couple of gates. Not only cheaper, but it added a lot of flexibility for the future.
If you really like the 555, Evil Mad Scientist has a kit! http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/652
I’m doing some stuff with the LPC1114. I’m not real fond of the ARM architecture. Too C oriented. But it has some very nice timers on it.
Neil
Simon-
I’m not fond of ARM either. But boy is it cheap. And when I pass the design off to the engineers that have to maintain it, they’re highly unlikely to know any language other than C.
Comments
6 responses to “One Of My Favorite Circuits”
Heh, I have had this cartoon pinned up over my workbench for a couple of years now.
Ahh, the old 555. Lots of fun. It’s gone the way of the dodo, though. I recently stuck a 50MHz ARM processor into a design because it was cheaper than adding glue logic. Last year I did a design review on a piece of industrial equipment that used an ARM to handle eight logic I/O pins–because three optocouplers (to isolate a serial link) plus the ARM was cheaper than eight optocouplers!
When it’s cheaper to substitute a 32MB state machine for glue logic, it’s a whole different world…
So that’s what applied science in electrical engineering looks like. I never knew.
Second the “processor cheaper than glue logic” remark, though in my case I used a Tiny AVR to replace a dual analog timer and a couple of gates. Not only cheaper, but it added a lot of flexibility for the future.
If you really like the 555, Evil Mad Scientist has a kit!
http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/652
I’m doing some stuff with the LPC1114. I’m not real fond of the ARM architecture. Too C oriented. But it has some very nice timers on it.
Simon-
I’m not fond of ARM either. But boy is it cheap. And when I pass the design off to the engineers that have to maintain it, they’re highly unlikely to know any language other than C.
Neil,
It is my hope to change that. I should be announcing in the next month or so.