Imagining an ancient theological order with ranks based on color coding...
amelius · 2h ago
Yes, my question is: did the weaver have any questions?
kens · 58m ago
Marilou Schultz asked me to suggest some chips that would make good weavings, and I suggested the 555, among other chips. She also had questions about the different colors and textures in the chip. She notices a lot more about the colors than I do; I look at a chip in terms of functionality and connectivity and don't pay attention to the colors.
sophacles · 2h ago
Any question I have starts with "tell me a lot about the Navajo people"... so no questions for here. Just want to say: good article.
kens · 1h ago
I went into a lot more of the Navajo history in my previous article [1] so I didn't repeat it in the new article. The quick summary is that the Navajo suffered a century of oppression, were forced off their land in the Long Walk, and had their sheep slaughtered in the 1930s in the Navajo Livestock Reduction. In the 1960s, the Navajo had 65% unemployment, $300 per capita income, and lacked basic infrastructure. Various groups looked to industrialization as a solution, so Fairchild opened an IC manufacturing facility on Navajo land in 1965, employing 1200 Navajo workers and becoming the nation's largest non-government employer of American Indians. The plant was generally considered a success, but in 1975, Fairchild had business problems and laid off 140 Navajo employees. Things went downhill and a radical group, AIM (American Indian Movement), took over the plant with rifles. The armed occupation ended peacefully after a week, but Fairchild closed the plant and moved production to Asia.
This is beautiful. Thank you, Ken, and thank you, Marilou, for sharing :)
drob518 · 40m ago
The 555 timer is iconic. Just iconic. I wonder how many billions of them have been shipped over the years?
subharmonicon · 53m ago
Saw an exhibit with some of her work, I think in Albuquerque. Was surprised/delighted to see weavings of circuits.
IIAOPSW · 2h ago
This is so cool. So if they used twists of steel wires or similar as string for the white parts, they could have a functional circuit.
xvedejas · 2h ago
They'd still need the electrical components, such as the transistors and passive components
zem · 1h ago
alan dean foster's "cyber way" is a somewhat thematic sf novel
charcircuit · 1h ago
The continued popularity of this chip confuses me. I don't understand why it didn't get forgotten decades ago as microcontrollers became common place. Though compared to the Pentium talking on older designs is likely faster to make, so I wonder if he markets himself to an older audience who is nostalgic for these ancient chips.
artyom · 1h ago
You may be right about nostalgic reasons, but as a freshman during the emergence of microcontrollers, I've asked the same question to and old professor, in the sense of "why discrete digital electronics is still widely used?".
His response still resonates with me today: a military grade 555 would work in extreme conditions (e.g. heat), would last pretty much forever, would consume virtually no power, and will still cost you a penny.
Sometimes that's exactly what you need. Reliability, durability and cost trumps the power of programmability.
snickerbockers · 44m ago
Well even if we assume there's a suitable 8-pin microcontroller which doesn't cost more than the 555, merely loading the firmware onto the microcontroller is going to add significant cost and complexity to the manufacturing stage. Also the microcontroller would be far more sensitive to power supply inadequacies because its state consists of much more than a capacitor and a flipflop.
moron4hire · 1h ago
Because it's fun and there are many readily available DIY designs that use it.
manoDev · 2h ago
This is the kind of thing that can start conspiracy theories of time travelers :)
sho_hn · 2h ago
My immediate thought was "Nazca lines of a 555? Yes".
[1] https://www.righto.com/2024/08/pentium-navajo-fairchild-ship...
His response still resonates with me today: a military grade 555 would work in extreme conditions (e.g. heat), would last pretty much forever, would consume virtually no power, and will still cost you a penny.
Sometimes that's exactly what you need. Reliability, durability and cost trumps the power of programmability.
I have a Displate of a 555 in my little maker corner someone gifted me once: https://eikehein.com/assets/images/makercorner.jpg