I took a logic design course in college. Part of the required kit was a collection of TTL logic gates. I lost mine, and I’d like another, but frankly, I don’t remember everything that was in it.
While I know it might not be much use in the Arduino era, a pile of logic gates seems like it’d make for a great learning tool. It’d also save most beginners (myself included) the hassle of figuring out which variant to order from a place like DigiKey…
I agree logic gates would be good maybe with some ALU’s, registers, and all That stuff! Also what about CMOS gates to that are compatible with TTL, ECL, etc.
How about a selection of small and medium size CPLDs that operate at 3.3 and 5V and the hardware to program them? Sparkfun already has the higher-end FPGAs covered but some, say, Xilinx 9500XL and Coolrunner CPLDs might be nice too.
I’ve got a small block of foam covered in both CMOS and TTL logic gates. I never even used them in the Digital Logic course I took in college. They had us use an FPGA with a snazzy GUI that allowed you to build up the circuit.
In fact, I haven’t used those DIP package in probably 3 years. Even then I probably only used two or three of them.
Cool… first post. I think have some basic logic gates would be a good idea to. They would not cost that much and is a excellent place to start for a digital electronics newbie. You could also carry a few counters, flip flops and latches. You could even make a kit that has a collection of a few different chips and perhaps a small tutorial. You can make some pretty cool things with a couple of logic gates.
Just to play devil’s advocate, I have to say that the last time I really used discrete logic gates was about 6-7 years ago. It was during a 2nd year EE course where we had to build a 4 bit processor. Granted we also had to use eproms, sram, and some PAL (programmable array logic - precursor to cpld’s sort of) but the bulk of it was discrete logic gates. Since then, I’ve thought about using them twice in a project, but once I started to look into the voltage/family compatibility nightmare that these things can be (74, 74HC, 74LS, 74 huh?) I remembered why I liked coding this sort of thing in a simple micro.
I think Microchip had the right idea with their pic10 family - use these like they were discrete logic, and if something changes in your project you can re-program them.
Well I like logic gates better for some reasons! When you program a microcontroler there could be syntax errors or you’re data gets lost but with logic gates you don’t have to worry about that because logic gates just respond to voltages. Also some microcontrollers are too slow while ECL gates are super fast. Most microcontrolers need a specific voltage to operate usually 2VDC to 5VDC and take up a lot of current but most CMOS gates operate on 3VDC to 18VDC can use merly mili-volts! So microcontrolers are better for like spi, i2c data but gates are better for smaller data and logic translation. I was also hoping Sparkfun gets logic gates so I could build a project that simulates a nuron cell and scince most microcontrolers can’t take a negetive voltage directly, that makes need to use simple logic gates spicificly a inverter!
Look up a component called a ‘memristor’ it’s supposedly only been discovered recently, but was proposed back in the 70’s. From what I understand it’s a resistor that remembers the aggregate sum of current that has crossed through it, or something along these lines - much more neuronish than an assembly of logic gates according to the article I saw in an IEEE magazine.
Cannibal:
Look up a component called a ‘memristor’ it’s supposedly only been discovered recently, but was proposed back in the 70’s. From what I understand it’s a resistor that remembers the aggregate sum of current that has crossed through it, or something along these lines - much more neuronish than an assembly of logic gates according to the article I saw in an IEEE magazine.
That is so cool that a resistor remembers the aggregate sum of current. Thanks Cannibal, I’ll look into this!
Cannibal:
Look up a component called a ‘memristor’ it’s supposedly only been discovered recently, but was proposed back in the 70’s. From what I understand it’s a resistor that remembers the aggregate sum of current that has crossed through it, or something along these lines - much more neuronish than an assembly of logic gates according to the article I saw in an IEEE magazine.
It wont work for me but it would work great for memory and learning applications.
Come on no one wants a single logic gate!?! There are billions of different applications logic gates can be used for!
I can pick up a lot of common logic gates at the local store, I only shop online for bulk deals and stuff I can’t find locally. Are you sure you can’t find your logic gate locally?
Yeah, I have no local electronic stores in East Lyme, CT except Radio Shack but they don’t carry logic gates and all there componets are overpriced!
I usually stick with a selection of basic logic gates from the 74 low-power shottky series. (I actually picked up my initial set from some college lab) I know that electronic goldmine (goldmine-elec.com) has a great selection of logic IC’s at low low prices (actually it’s just a great parts site all around) The great thing about these chips is that they are rugged, cheap, don’t use a terrible amount of power, and they are resistant to static.
of course a whole pile of logic gate is equivalent to a couple lines of C/assembly in a micro, but to each their own 
Cyrusm:
I usually stick with a selection of basic logic gates from the 74 low-power shottky series. (I actually picked up my initial set from some college lab) I know that electronic goldmine (goldmine-elec.com) has a great selection of logic IC’s at low low prices (actually it’s just a great parts site all around) The great thing about these chips is that they are rugged, cheap, don’t use a terrible amount of power, and they are resistant to static.of course a whole pile of logic gate is equivalent to a couple lines of C/assembly in a micro, but to each their own
Yeah, I have no college lab set because I am 13 years old but e-goldmine sounds interesting and I will cheek it out!
Digikey will also sell tiny quantities.
I’d suggest getting a heap of 2-input gates and a smaller heap of flops, and go to town. I, too, got a smallish pile of gates when I was 13 years old, and had a fun time with them. You can build any logic function you like with a large pile of inverting gates (there’s a moderately famous computer built entirely out of 3-input NORs). If you get Ye Olde DIP Packaged logic, you can use them with breadboards and not have to worry about the joys of soldering and resoldering with your happy fun-time gate assortment.
Today’s trivia: my gates were in TO-series packages and ran on 3.6V. Bonus geek cred for anyone who knows which logic family that describes.