I bought a bag of integrated circuits (IC) from eBay — it is about 1/2 a pounds and contains all kids of TTL, CMOS, Semiconductors, etc. And the “etc” is very interesting.

eBay seller — https://www.ebay.com/sch/oblagon/m.html

I’m going to go through as many of them as I can and put them on a breadboard, review the datasheet, build up a test circuit, write some Arduino code, and see what I can make them do.

Some of these I will also hook up to my oscilloscope and give them a few tests.

I’m doing this because I love to learn new things and find old ICs fascinating. While these ICs may not be practical anymore with our microcontrollers, it is still a lot of fun to learn how they work, what they were used for, and what we might be able to use them for in the future.

Episode 00 – Introduction

In the introduction video, I will explain where I got the bag of ICs, what the plan is, and I will talk about a few of the ICs that look interesting.

Episode 01 – D-Type Flip-Flop

Have you ever heard of a D-Type Flip-Flop? This is one of the base components of the old 8-bit computers. While not very relevant today, they were a key component in making the first computers function.

Episode 02 – OR Logic

A number of the chips in the grab bag are 74-logic. Micro-controllers have made 74-logic a bit dated, but they are still pretty cool to explore on a breadboard. This video I go over various OR digital logic chips including 74HCT32N, MC10107P, and MC74HC86N.

More coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube to never miss an episode.