Author Topic: What logic and digital chips to get ?  (Read 3358 times)

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Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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What logic and digital chips to get ?
« on: June 13, 2019, 06:55:31 am »
I only have a few types of CMOS 4000 chips and old version 7400 series, and not many of any of them. I'll make a full list later. I have some decade counters, cd4026, ripple counters, NAND, AND, OR, hex inverters,

I don't have any ADC or DAC chips that I know of, they seem expensive too. I have an Ardino that I'll learn again sooner or later.

I have some random collection of MP3 players, radio's, DVD players, TVs, printers, etc that I've scrapped and horded, and so have a handful of small RAM chips, eprom's, processors, multiplexer's, modern CMOS and new 74 series, and whatever all else. Mostly SMD parts.

I have a full big set of basic 2 pin crystals for timers. I have copper clad boards for high frequency stuff.

So for hobby projects I want to get add some more logic chips and digital stuff in general. So fire away chip names to add to the list ,thanks
« Last Edit: June 13, 2019, 07:04:21 am by lordvader88 »
 

Offline cur8xgo

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2019, 03:32:46 pm »
I only have a few types of CMOS 4000 chips and old version 7400 series, and not many of any of them. I'll make a full list later. I have some decade counters, cd4026, ripple counters, NAND, AND, OR, hex inverters,

I don't have any ADC or DAC chips that I know of, they seem expensive too. I have an Ardino that I'll learn again sooner or later.

I have some random collection of MP3 players, radio's, DVD players, TVs, printers, etc that I've scrapped and horded, and so have a handful of small RAM chips, eprom's, processors, multiplexer's, modern CMOS and new 74 series, and whatever all else. Mostly SMD parts.

I have a full big set of basic 2 pin crystals for timers. I have copper clad boards for high frequency stuff.

So for hobby projects I want to get add some more logic chips and digital stuff in general. So fire away chip names to add to the list ,thanks

After a couple decades of collecting logic chips..what I've learned is that ORGANIZING the chips in a way where you know what you have and can browse easily and get the chip you want fast is at least as important as your selection.

Chips are cheap and easy to get. But if they are all stuck on anti static foam floating around in a grab bag that you have to spend 15 minutes looking through just to see if you have something..they are all basically useless

 
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Offline rstofer

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2019, 04:57:08 pm »
And in this age, what use are discrete logic chips?  I have a BUNCH of chips and haven't used any in years.  If I have a logic design, I'll use a CPLD or FPGA.  Among other things, this eliminates hours of wire-wrapping.  Yes, I have a cut-strip-wrap gun but I haven't used it in many years.  Too much Low Scale Integration (LSI) will drive you nuts.  Furthermore, I can save room for feature creep without needing board space or sockets.

Then there is the low probability that my wire wrapped circuit actually does what it needs to do.  Yes, it will do what I told it to do but I didn't necessarily understand the problem.  A few lines of HDL will solve that issue!

If the design lends itself to a firmware solution, I'll use an Arduino or even an ARM chip.

Low level chips just aren't used much unless it is to build a specific Internet project.  I might buy what I need but I wouldn't stock any.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2019, 05:24:58 pm by rstofer »
 

Online Zero999

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2019, 07:02:55 pm »
You don't really need discreet logic nowadays, so there's no point in having a massive stock. There are times when it can be useful though. The 74HCT parts can be useful for translating from 3V to 5V logic, so some 74HCT14 will be handy.
 

Offline bsudbrink

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2019, 07:54:36 pm »
After a couple decades of collecting logic chips..what I've learned is that ORGANIZING the chips in a way where you know what you have and can browse easily and get the chip you want fast is at least as important as your selection.

Chips are cheap and easy to get. But if they are all stuck on anti static foam floating around in a grab bag that you have to spend 15 minutes looking through just to see if you have something..they are all basically useless

Amen brother!  I'll add that some electronic list... spreadsheet or just a simple text file makes them more useful still.
 

Offline garethw

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2019, 08:23:54 pm »
I bought a few logic gate ICs and TBH I haven’t really used them. However, the Schmitt trigger inverter is a very useful one to have. 74xx14.


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Offline james_s

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2019, 08:43:51 pm »
I would suggest only buying the ones you need for a specific project. If you just want to learn in general then get a few NAND gates as you can make any other gate from those. Then some counters, serial and parallel shift registers and a latch.

Really though for all this basic logic stuff a simulator like Falstad circuit simulator is about as good as the real deal.
 

Offline bd139

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2019, 08:58:25 pm »
Honest advice here: DO NOT BUY ANYTHING UNLESS YOU NEED IT. Plan a week ahead. Order just what you need to complete an objective. Don't be afraid to throw discrete components and things in the trash either.

I have literally just spent two years clearing out about 100kg of component stock I've collected over the years because I nearly tipped over the line. I'm down to literally nothing now and I buy on demand. I've only kept some weird shit that's virtually impossible to get hold of on demand and some very basic discrete jelly beans. Why:

1. It causes mental burden lurking there which is depressing.
2. If you're not careful you turn into a crazy batshit hoarder obsessive about holding on to it all. I dropped a DMM off at someone's house near me about 2 years ago I sold on ebay. The guy had drawers on all walls in a 3 bedroom house, including the hallway and part of the kitchen. His wife had left him because of it and he had devoted his life to filing and cataloging crap. Sure he could find a 2W carbon comp 510K resistor or an obscure tube like "that" but there were at least a million components in there that were going to end up in a skip and years of his life gone. He admitted he stopped doing projects because when he got older it became a burden to look after it all.
3. You can never find what you want anyway unless you super-organise it and you turn into Mr batshit above.
4. You have to catalogue it all which becomes a consistency issue and a chore.
5. You probably aren't going to use all the items so it's a false economy plus if you don't buy 2000 of each value shitty hair legged resistors from China, you can afford a few good ones. Same with ICs etc. I used to shudder at paying 10 GBP for an IC but if I hadn't got 11 tubes of 74ls04's I could afford to just buy the damn thing and shrug it off.

Find a cheap supplier who does small quantities, write up what you need, buy the parts, do it and then clean it away.

Edit: apologies for sounding like a crazy person  :-DD
« Last Edit: June 13, 2019, 09:00:27 pm by bd139 »
 
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Offline cur8xgo

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2019, 09:38:10 pm »
Honest advice here: DO NOT BUY ANYTHING UNLESS YOU NEED IT. Plan a week ahead. Order just what you need to complete an objective. Don't be afraid to throw discrete components and things in the trash either.

I have literally just spent two years clearing out about 100kg of component stock I've collected over the years because I nearly tipped over the line. I'm down to literally nothing now and I buy on demand. I've only kept some weird shit that's virtually impossible to get hold of on demand and some very basic discrete jelly beans. Why:

1. It causes mental burden lurking there which is depressing.
2. If you're not careful you turn into a crazy batshit hoarder obsessive about holding on to it all. I dropped a DMM off at someone's house near me about 2 years ago I sold on ebay. The guy had drawers on all walls in a 3 bedroom house, including the hallway and part of the kitchen. His wife had left him because of it and he had devoted his life to filing and cataloging crap. Sure he could find a 2W carbon comp 510K resistor or an obscure tube like "that" but there were at least a million components in there that were going to end up in a skip and years of his life gone. He admitted he stopped doing projects because when he got older it became a burden to look after it all.
3. You can never find what you want anyway unless you super-organise it and you turn into Mr batshit above.
4. You have to catalogue it all which becomes a consistency issue and a chore.
5. You probably aren't going to use all the items so it's a false economy plus if you don't buy 2000 of each value shitty hair legged resistors from China, you can afford a few good ones. Same with ICs etc. I used to shudder at paying 10 GBP for an IC but if I hadn't got 11 tubes of 74ls04's I could afford to just buy the damn thing and shrug it off.

Find a cheap supplier who does small quantities, write up what you need, buy the parts, do it and then clean it away.

Edit: apologies for sounding like a crazy person  :-DD

What you say here is true..and many, many times, I have seen this hoarding of components first hand. Nothing more depressing than a filthy garage filled with dusty parts that never got used in anything at an estate sale. Do NOT be that guy.

That said, after years of working both professionally and on my own projects in electronics, I would definitely have been crippled in the following activities without a reasonable stock of parts:

-prototyping
-repairing
-experimenting/learning

I have limited myself to a certain fixed volume of space in which I can store engineering objects, and this has worked okay. I've also sub-limited that space into fixed volumes for things like resistors, switches, wire, vectorboard, logic IC's, transistors, etc..all the "categories" have their own fixed box. I have not collected more than these fixed areas and I do like to throw stuff away when possible.

Looking back, having a WIDE assortment of the following has paid off and I use these parts the most from my immediate stock:

-through hole and SMT resistors and capacitors
-through hole potentiometers
-transistors (bipolar and mosfets most importantly, through hole and SOT-23)
-diodes (low Vf schottkys, small and big power silicon, sot23)

Having SOME of the following has been important, although a wide assortment was not needed

-basic logic like NAND and schmitt trigger inverters, CMOS wide supply range is very handy
-switches (toggle, pushbutton, AC capabale)
-relays
-voltage regulators
-LED's and photodiodes
-inductors and transformers

And the following have proven over the years to not really be that important:

-microcontrollers/processors (usually projects involving these need a specific part number and/or package and having some random one on hand isnt useful)
-obscure logic
-uncommon transistors
-smt parts that would not be useful for quick usage because of extremely small size or dense footprint (tssop parts are not fun to hand solder, SO or bigger is still useful though)
-displays (projects using a display arent in a rush and choosing a specific display is probably more efficient)



 

Offline hamster_nz

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2019, 09:58:09 pm »
I've added the 74xxx page from the latest Jaycar Electronics catalogue - have a look through and see what you might use.

However.... Even though I can walk there at lunchtime I have never purchased any of these. Every bare IC I have purchased in the last 5 years has been specialized - e.g. a low resistance MOSFETs, audio DAC, 24-bit ADC, CH340 USB serial bridge, special LDO regulators... they have also all been exclusively SMD, as through hole is so not worth it.

If starting again and wanting to breadboard with I would get some SMD parts and put them on DIP carriers. That way I have parts that I can use should my breadboard turn into an actual PCB.

If you really pushed me, I would say stick to 74LS series, get some of the basic 2-input logic gates, some hex NOTs and buffers, a few counters and a few different sort of Flip-flops. As everybody else says you will never really use them once you have learnt what they do, so don't get too many!

PS. Companies used to build supercomputer CPUs using just three different chip types - NAND gates, Registers and memory. See
https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/courses/compsci703s1c/archive/2008/resources/Russell.pdf



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Offline bd139

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2019, 10:00:21 pm »
You can build anything with 74LS00's and they're dirt cheap on Tayda (think they are hitachi).
 

Offline bsudbrink

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2019, 10:07:03 pm »
I should note, I collect/repair/restore "vintage" computers.  To me, "vintage" is 1970 to 1981.  So I do "hoard" chips and other components from that time period.  Gathering lots of TTL logic is probably not necessary for people without that or similar interests.
 

Offline schmitt trigger

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2019, 12:04:40 am »
Likewise here, but my hobby is related to glass electronics ( vacuum and gas filled tubes).

Since these are already in short supply and some devices are essentially non existent, the temptation is VERY STRONG to hoard some. I have to think really hard whether it is actually feasible that I will use them in a reasonable timeframe.

But if you are contemplating LSI ICs, please follow the recommendations above, before it’s too late and you get “The Disease.”
« Last Edit: June 14, 2019, 12:06:40 am by schmitt trigger »
 

Offline 0culus

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2019, 12:12:27 am »
YMMV, but an argument for keeping a reasonable stock of parts other than for repairs is that you can throw together prototypes on a whim. I am kind of that way...I'll decide to try some circuit on a lark and it can kill the muse if I don't have the right part on hand and have to wait for an order. Definitely don't have a garageful of stuff you'll never use though! Small quantities....
 

Offline wilfred

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #14 on: June 14, 2019, 12:52:59 am »
If you have to buy one part you may as well buy all of them. I always struggle to get to the free postage threshhold so that's the way to build a stockpile of parts. Buy spares of what you are using.

You're not going to have everything you need and you're not going to use everything you buy. That has to be a fundamental law of the universe.
 

Offline Alex Eisenhut

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #15 on: June 14, 2019, 01:28:25 am »
No point in storing jelly bean parts beyond what you need for the current project. I threw away lots of useless parts and shrank down from three to one storage cabinet.

I only keep 74LS and small DRAMs for my Commodore stuff. That's it.

Also esd foam has a finite life span. Some of the crap I had for 10 - 20 years also became useless as the foam disintegrated on the pins and corroded them.

Tells me I didn't need those parts, except as a trophy. So out they go!
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Offline Dabbot

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #16 on: June 14, 2019, 02:37:30 am »
You might find a small collection of shift registers and (de)multiplexers of use to expand the I/O of your microcontroller:

74HC151 - 8-line to 1-line data selector / multiplexer
74HC154 - 4 to 16-line decoder / demultiplexer
74HC164 - 8-bit serial in parallel out shift register
74HC165 - 8-bit parallel in serial out shift register
74HC594 - 8-bit serial in parallel out shift register with output registers
74HC595 - 8-bit serial in parallel out shift register with tri-state outputs

The serial in parallel out shift registers are a popular choice for multiplexing 7-digit / dot matrix displays.
 

Offline Jwillis

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #17 on: June 14, 2019, 07:54:00 am »
You can get assorted 4000 series and 74HCxx series kits from Amazon or Ebay fairly inexpensively .They can range from a few bucks to around 30 dollars and have the most used popular chips in the kits.And come in either TTL or CMOS for both series.
 

Online brabus

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #18 on: June 14, 2019, 09:33:10 am »
I used to hoard components as well, until I started doing this thing once a year: The Giveaway!

I post photos of stocks of components (a bunch of OpAmps, power transistors, passives, transformers, you name it) on my local forum, literally giving it all away to students/makers/tinkerers in my area.
That damn BC547 makes a lot more sense sparkling fire on a breadboard instead of aging in my drawer!

People are usually extremely grateful for that, and my garage looks clean again. :-)
 
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Offline HB9EVI

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2019, 11:17:24 am »
I have half an assortment box with 74HC/T parts; most commonly I have need for 74HC04 and 74HC74, but also for others when I resume working on my Z80 board from time to time.
I still like working with logic chip out of convenience.

Since I like prototyping randomly at any possible electronic topic - computer-, ham- or audio related, I have a proper stock of jellybean components and some more particular chips; certainly what is used most is the storage box with 0805 Cs and Rs - which I prefer over wired components.
 

Offline KL27x

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #20 on: June 14, 2019, 07:57:06 pm »
Keep in mind, most modern electronic components have very little inherent value. The reason the large distributors can sell the parts for what pittance they do is because they have and can deliver ALL of them on demand. They have a web store what lets you find them and also show you lead times, number in inventory.

Buying parts you don't need is entropy. You are destroying value. You're letting the air out of the tank. You're taking these parts from a distributor who has everything sorted and stored and ready to go in a way that gives it value to other people and companies. And you're putting them into a home lab. Why? Perhaps because you learned one way to skin one particular cat, and now you're stocking up on stuff with some vague idea that you will encounter a lot of these specific cats what need skinning, that you will actually be interested in skinning them, but that you need the ability to skin them TODAY without waiting a few days.

That super low per that Digikey sells the part for at 10,000+ units? That includes some margin for them. Remove that margin. When the parts are sitting in your house, they are worth less than that. A lot less. You're paying Digikey for the value the company adds through their own effort and payroll and infrastructure. And they do that more efficiently than you ever will.

You're never gonna have enough of everything. You can't reach a cricital mass where you never have to order a random part. Well, not until you run your own component store complete with several employees or you are a hoarder getting eviction notices. In either case, you won't have time to use your components.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2019, 08:57:22 pm by KL27x »
 

Offline typematrix

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #21 on: June 14, 2019, 10:01:30 pm »
Re hoarding or bulk buying

There is great temptation to buy in bulk and  buy kits and things,
eg "When it is one buck for one piece or 2 bucks  for  5 pieces"
and as   a result we end up with too many components.
I usually gather the excess once a year and sell it off as a batch/kit on local ebay. Its very difficult to sell small individual second parts
, and time consuming and annoying unless its something like an arduino or module.
Once you buy something,  thats it, make something out of it or its going in rubbish bin or rotting in a parts locker.
You can sell it again but not for much

I was thinking that a website that allows electronic hobbyist to buy and sell and swap parts with each other
would be a real cool idea like bricklink for lego enthusiasts.
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogTree.asp?itemType=P&itemBrand=1000


« Last Edit: June 14, 2019, 10:05:36 pm by typematrix »
 

Offline wilfred

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #22 on: June 15, 2019, 01:11:51 am »
Perhaps because you learned one way to skin one particular cat, and now you're stocking up on stuff with some vague idea that you will encounter a lot of these specific cats what need skinning, that you will actually be interested in skinning them, but that you need the ability to skin them TODAY without waiting a few days.


A very clinical analysis. But I specifically want to comment on "vague idea". That's what I refer to a "dreams". We all have them and we all need them. The key is to arrive at a point of balance where you stoke your dreams but let go of the vague ideas.

Thats not at all easy to do which is why so many of us (me included) accumulate parts. It is something different to order 5 of a part you are using because you might get a dud or zap one or whatever.

I can't resist "free shipping".
 

Offline james_s

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #23 on: June 15, 2019, 01:21:49 am »
It really depends on the part. If it's something like a microcontroller, IC socket, trimpot, LED, that sort of thing then buying extra often makes sense. The same part is likely to find use in any number of projects, some items like LEDs and voltage regulators will be used in almost every project. Common resistor values like 1k, 4.7k, 10k, etc are handy to have on hand, likewise some common values of electrolytic capacitors.

Doesn't make sense to buy a lot of excess parts of more esoteric nature but quite often I'm able to put something together using only parts I have on hand, if not the final project then at least a prototype or proof of concept. I find it invaluable to have a stock of parts, but that doesn't mean amassing a huge hoard is a good idea.
 

Offline Doctorandus_P

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Re: What logic and digital chips to get ?
« Reply #24 on: June 18, 2019, 12:11:55 am »
Simple logic chips are indeed hardly worth hoarding.
About 30 years ago I desoldered several thousand of them, and nicely sorted them and put them in drawers.
They're still there.
I may have used a handfull of them over those years.

Nowaday's you're much better off with getting a few nice microcontrollers or maybe even FPGA's.

uC's are so much rmore versatile.
 


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