On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:14:00 -0800, notme wrote:

Apparently Peak-Atlas are marketing a (massively) upgraded version of their
3-terminal component analyser, it has a USB port for connection to a PC (I
think it may actually do curve tracing).

http://www.anatekcorp.com/atlasdca75.htm


Wonderful example of something inexpensive now that would be difficult and
expensive 25 years ago.

?-)

"josephkk" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:14:00 -0800, notme wrote:

Apparently Peak-Atlas are marketing a (massively) upgraded version of
their
3-terminal component analyser, it has a USB port for connection to a PC
(I
think it may actually do curve tracing).

http://www.anatekcorp.com/atlasdca75.htm


Wonderful example of something inexpensive now that would be difficult and
expensive 25 years ago.


There was a hobby magazine project published somewhere at least 2 decades
ago, similar type of thing as the DCA55 - it was pretty much someone
thinking up something impressive to do with a HD44780 LCD module.

IIRC it was mostly SSI/MSI - unfortunately I can't remember what magazine it
was, or whether a PIC based version was ever released into the public
domain.

On Sat, 02 Feb 2013 05:25:57 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Fri, 1 Feb 2013 16:55:24 -0000, the renowned "Ian Field"
wrote:



"Jan Panteltje" wrote in message
...
On a sunny day (Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:17:42 GMT) it happened Jan Panteltje
wrote in :


OK, but that is actually an integrated circuit.
Just mis-labeled 'transistor'.
:-)

PS,
some of us here will remember RTL logic.
That was pretty much like that, but more transistors to make gates, and
output R too.
Integrated circuits.


My first job was component level fault finding on Olympia desk calculators,
they contained about 4 boards of DTL - a 5th board at the back was
critically sensitive MOS shift registers. The boards were about the same
area as S100, but wider & not so high, the front board had about a dozen
nixie tubes.

I must've just missed out on RTL by not all that long, it was only just
becoming scarce in component catalogues of the day.

When I was a kid RTL became very available in surplus surface-mount
packages (called "flat pack"). Probably some big military change-over.
DTL didn't seem to last long.

Spacing was tight for attaching fly wires.. looks like it was
relatively coarse by today's standards- maybe 1.27mm pitch like
today's SOICs.

Oh my, middle 1960s to early 1970s, my teen years and a bit. Lead spacing
of 50 1/1000 inch; half a tenth of an inch. Saw a lot of it in the 1970s
in the US navy. Hand solderable with some care. Funny thing, a lot of
the boards i repaired the leads were welded originally.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany