
The 555 and How It Got That Way - sohkamyung
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/10/the-555-and-how-it-got-that-way/
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exoesquitur
The 555 was great.

These days I usually just drop in a 6 pin microcontroller though. Less
external parts, cheaper, less environmental instability, much more operational
flexibility, and often I can have it perform several circuit functions. If I
go to 8 pins, woah, look out!

I do so much digitally now that I've "forgotten" 75 percent of my analog
stuff... Once in a while I come upon a cool analog trick though. Sad part is,
that usually the "super simple, bulletproof" analog solution with just 5 parts
usually ends up being more expensive in qc, bom, and board space that throwing
a million transistors at it.

It's a strange world we live in.

~~~
mikepurvis
Is this for a production device or like a hobby type thing? Reason I ask is
that I'm often resistant to adding auxiliary microcontrollers to things just
due to the extra hassle of maintaining, building, and distributing the
firmware for them. Like, even if it's a device with JTAG, that's still a
program-once-in-the-factory affair, unless you go the trouble of also setting
up an SPI bootloader or something on it.

I guess the counter argument is that a 555 circuit can't be reprogrammed
either, but it also doesn't have to be programmed even the first time.

~~~
trelliscoded
With analog solutions, the complexity gets pushed into designing the test
rigs, validating your component supply, thermal compensation, etc. Dealing
with firmware instead may or may not be a net win, but the bottom line is you
can change the firmware but you can't change the board.

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Stratoscope
If you're interested in these classic chips and know how to solder, you owe it
to yourself to build a Three Fives Kit:

[https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/652](https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/652)

~~~
scarecrowbob
That seems totally useless. I gotta get one. Thanks for sharing that link.

~~~
sdenton4
Don't miss out on the plush 555 circuit that they also sell:
[https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/else/663](https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/else/663)

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kqr2
Direct link to Hans Camenzind's (designer of 555 timer) free to download book
"Designing Analog Chips"

[http://www.designinganalogchips.com/](http://www.designinganalogchips.com/)

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klodolph
Note that while the 555 is definitely a classic, definitely an amazing and
useful chip, it puts large current spikes on the power supply and you would
probably want to use something else in new designs unless you’re feeling
nostalgic.

~~~
fipple
What’s the alternative? Is the Ne555 or is there better?

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mrob
Dave Jones' EEVBlog recently posted a video on cheap microcontrollers
(<0.03USD):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYhAGnsnO7w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYhAGnsnO7w)

Replacing a 555 timer is a very common job for this type of part. It will
typically have an internal oscillator, so it won't need the additional
components the 555 needs, reducing cost further. Even if you use something
more expensive like an ATtiny (cut down version of the microcontroller found
in Arduinos, so very easy to develop for) it might still be competitive
because of the reduced parts count and board space.

~~~
yitchelle
Hmm. The argument for using a microcontroller to replace a 555 is the increase
complexity, and risk. There is code to be written, programming process install
at manufacture etc. So it is not necessary cheaper if you at a level higher
than the BOM cost.

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PopePompus
This was the first IC I ever saw, when I was pulling apart busted electronics
equipment in the early 1970s. I understood why transistors had three leads,
but what the heck could possibly need eight leads?!?!?

~~~
xxs
And I thought the 7400 series with DIP socket were the odd ones...

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santix
And for a list of applications what better than Forrest Mims' handwritten
_Engineer 's mini notebook_: [https://archive.org/details/Forrest_Mims-
engineers_mini-note...](https://archive.org/details/Forrest_Mims-
engineers_mini-notebook_555_timer_circuits_radio_shack_electronics)

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swiley
Does anyone know what font that is (on the blue image)? It reminds me of the
one used on a Z80 book I have and I really like it.

EDIT: Found it! it looks like the bold parts are "microgramma" and the less
bold looking parts are "eurostile."

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kw71
I think it's all eurostile but different widths and weights?

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quickthrower2
How did people 'reserve' a chip name back then? It's pretty cool to get 555,
but what if some other designer wanted to call their chip 555 too?

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Yetanfou
As far as I know they just used whatever number they wanted, leading to
confusing situations where one producers ' 4736 (made up, no idea if this one
exists) would be a totally different thing from another's 4736. You'd keep
them apart by the manufacturer code, i.e. FOO4736 = 'double-width gizmotron'
while BAR4736='confufabulator (4ch)'. I used to leaf through catalogues
looking for 'interesting' circuits and came across quite a number of such
confusingly-named parts.

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gumby
I loved this part. It was the second chip my dad let me use as a kid (after
the 741) and IMHO he should have given them to me in the opposite order since
the 555 seemed more magical and fascinating for a child.

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kulu2002
Amazing. I remember 555 monostable and astable multivibrator and PLL were
classic school projects. First simulation in P-Spice followed by
implementation on bread-board.

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beezle
A "mere $0.75" in 1972 is worth $4.60 today, perhaps not quite the bargain the
article implies.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
Compared to other parts cost at the time, it certainly was.

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peter_retief
THe very first circuit I built as a hobbyist was with the 555 and even managed
to sell a fake car alarm, I think that was round 1990?

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captain_perl
Anybody know if he got any royalties from Signetics?

~~~
hazeii
You'll find some details in 'Camenzind Oral History'[0] around page 4 (seems
he got paid and it was a good arrangement, but there was no patent on the
555).

*[0] [http://www.semiconductormuseum.com/Transistors/LectureHall/C...](http://www.semiconductormuseum.com/Transistors/LectureHall/Camenzind/)

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baybal2
Hard to admit: people like Bob Pease and Hans Camenzind would not find any
much employment in today's industry even if they were back in their prime.

Work culture in America has changed since sixties.

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int0x80
why is that?

~~~
baybal2
A paradigm shift. How it was: "make the chip, sell it later." How it is now:
"sell the chip first, find out how to make it later if you did."

Companies now trust marketing/sales boys to know the market better than the
very people who made that industry.

In sixties, a CEO comes to an engineer and asks what will be the "next bug
thing" in one year term.

Today, a CEO comes to an engineer and tells him what will be the "next bug
thing" in one year term.

~~~
rjbez17
Well you also have to remember that companies came and went faster than
startups did. And consolidation happened quite quickly as well. Engineers made
cool things but only a handful of the companies found a hit, and rarely did
the same company consistently find the best. What ended up happening is the
bigger companies just started buying the small company that had the hit that
year. The old model was no more sustainable than the current model.

