Ye Olde Gigatron and Gigatronski
Posted: 09 Aug 2020, 09:05
Hi all,
The Gigatron was designed to run with old TTL chips. The kits were supplied with modern, CMOS type chips, but the goal was to keep it TTL compatible. Marcel had already started sourcing some old TTL components, most notably an old 70ns SRAM. I've taken over that task, which has led to the creation of what I call "Ye Olde Gigatron". (And yes I know "Ye" was pronounced "The" and the word "Olde" does not exist.)
Not counting the clock and the 75HC595, all the ICs are old. The newest IC on there is the RAM, which is from 1991. All the rest is pre-1990, so over 30 years old!
I've thrown in a mix of stuff:
- 54LS, extended temperature range ("mil-spec")
- 74, standard TTL
- 74S, Schottky
- 74LS, Schottky low-power
Ye Olde Gigatron is a bit unstable and it consumes a whopping 1.2Amps. It requires a good power supply so I used my lab power supply. Also the clock did not work at first. The 74HCT04 provides a clock booster and that started ringing so I had to add a resistor. The clock circuit will not work with Schottky components, so I left in a 74HCT04. A 7404/74H04/.. will not work in a Pierce oscillator design.
The components used are:
6x 74163 (National Semiconductor, 1972)
4x 74157 (Stewart Wagner, 1975)
4x 74153 (Fairchild, 1976)
2x 74283 (Fairchild, 1978)
1x 74S240 (Signtics, 1979)
2x 74S153 (National Semiconductor, 1980)
2x 74S153 (Signetics, 1981)
2x 74S138 (Fairchild, 1982)
3x 54LS377 (Texas Instruments, 1982)
1x 74LS273 (Motorola, 1983)
1x 74LS244 (Signetics, 1984)
1x 74LS153 (Raytheon, 1985)
1x 74LS244 (Signetics, 1986)
1x 74LS32 (Motorola, 1986)
1x 74LS139 (Fairchild, 1986)
1x 27C1024 (ST Microelectronics, 1988)
2x 74LS273 (Texas Instruments, 1989)
1x 62256 (Micron Technology, 1991)
If somebody has older components than this, let me know
The Gigatron was designed to run with old TTL chips. The kits were supplied with modern, CMOS type chips, but the goal was to keep it TTL compatible. Marcel had already started sourcing some old TTL components, most notably an old 70ns SRAM. I've taken over that task, which has led to the creation of what I call "Ye Olde Gigatron". (And yes I know "Ye" was pronounced "The" and the word "Olde" does not exist.)
Not counting the clock and the 75HC595, all the ICs are old. The newest IC on there is the RAM, which is from 1991. All the rest is pre-1990, so over 30 years old!
I've thrown in a mix of stuff:
- 54LS, extended temperature range ("mil-spec")
- 74, standard TTL
- 74S, Schottky
- 74LS, Schottky low-power
Ye Olde Gigatron is a bit unstable and it consumes a whopping 1.2Amps. It requires a good power supply so I used my lab power supply. Also the clock did not work at first. The 74HCT04 provides a clock booster and that started ringing so I had to add a resistor. The clock circuit will not work with Schottky components, so I left in a 74HCT04. A 7404/74H04/.. will not work in a Pierce oscillator design.
The components used are:
6x 74163 (National Semiconductor, 1972)
4x 74157 (Stewart Wagner, 1975)
4x 74153 (Fairchild, 1976)
2x 74283 (Fairchild, 1978)
1x 74S240 (Signtics, 1979)
2x 74S153 (National Semiconductor, 1980)
2x 74S153 (Signetics, 1981)
2x 74S138 (Fairchild, 1982)
3x 54LS377 (Texas Instruments, 1982)
1x 74LS273 (Motorola, 1983)
1x 74LS244 (Signetics, 1984)
1x 74LS153 (Raytheon, 1985)
1x 74LS244 (Signetics, 1986)
1x 74LS32 (Motorola, 1986)
1x 74LS139 (Fairchild, 1986)
1x 27C1024 (ST Microelectronics, 1988)
2x 74LS273 (Texas Instruments, 1989)
1x 62256 (Micron Technology, 1991)
If somebody has older components than this, let me know