12 Nov
2022
12 Nov
'22
5:40 p.m.
On Sat, Nov 12, 2022 at 5:18 PM Chuck Guzis via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
MCUs make a lot of very complex stuff simple. A tape
controller that
would have required a couple of large PCBs now can be put on a
filing-card size pcb--and most of that is connectors.
You've hit a raw nerve there. I've recently being doing battle with an
old-ish tape controller board that has a microcontroller with internal
ROM and 3 ASICs amongst other things on it. I'd much prefer a cardcage
of boards containing simple components.
I do not understand this desire to miniaturise everything.
Almost anything
electronic sold today has an MCU in it--even a lithium cell.
And that is why I hate modern electronics and buy very little of it.
One thing that a small MCU has over a 555 is that it can be programmed
once and you can be assured of its frequency stability. No fooling with
pots and caps to get the thing to work the way you'd like.
Now wait a second. I've not come across a simple microcontroller with
a crystal in the same package. If you're going to use an external
crystal, then I can do that too, with a couple of divider ICs.
If you use the internal clock option of the microcontroller, it can
drift. If I use R's and C's on a 555 I can choose ones with the
stability, temperature coefficient, etc that I need.
I'm certain you'd be tickled to see your beloved HP 9800 series box
re-imagined in TO5 germanium point-contact transistors and relays.
Isn't that called an HP9100.Much the same functionality as an HP9810,
but discrete transistors. Some of them are germanium (albeit junction
ones). And yes I do love it.
-tony