Do vintage computer users still need these types of parts? Are they valuable?

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waterwingz@reddit

Check the pins. After enough years that black anti-static foam breaks down and eats the pins. You can guess how I learned that the hard way.

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Those old 7474s are still wanted in the DEC PDP-8 world (as are any TTL logic chip without the "LS" or other letters in them) The registers were built from TTL, and mostly 7474 flipflops. Because they were built on the 7474, and not 74LS74 or other variants, the timing of the logic is pretty dependent on the much slower 7474. Replacing them with 74LS74 doesn't work (at least in my experience) and causes bits to get lost and dropped from registers because they're too fast.

You could check with the Rhode Island Computer Museum, I'm sure the guys there would love to have some more as spares.

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PDP-8A@reddit

Agreed. My user name checks out.

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parabellun@reddit

Sounds like a convoluted nightmare.

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takeyouraxeandhack@reddit

I volunteer at a computer museum repairing old computers and stuff like that and every month I spend $50-60 on parts like these 🥲

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Catlord746@reddit

74 series chips are alwayd nice to have.

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kwgnuemu@reddit

276-1801, that's an old Radio Shack sku number. Nice find!

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mcksis@reddit

That “original in box” Archer IC is priceless. Don’t ever open the package!

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DeepDayze@reddit

It was fun browsing the electronics aisle at a Radio Shack back in the day and seeing things like that on the peg rack. I've bought resistors and diodes there to repair my trusty old radio that I had many years. Good times!

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transientsun@reddit

The MCM6571 is kind of interesting, it's a ROM that would pair with a character generator and provide the characters (i.e. letters, numbers, symbols).

https://datasheet4u.com/datasheet-pdf/Motorola/MCM6571/pdf.php?id=920079

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hdufort@reddit

Was it used along with the Motorola 6847 or in separate setups?

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transientsun@reddit

Presumably intended for that since it's a Motorola chip, but I think it was agnostic to the paired character generator? It's just an 8K ROM pre-loaded with english characters, numbers and in the case of the 71, mathematical symbols. The character sets are shown in the datasheet, there's one with Katakana, but most had screen symbols (like arrows, little clocks) and various international accents.

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earthforce_1@reddit

741 OpAmp and 7400 series TTL! Thanks for the memories. I still remember the numbers for the quad latch and quad NOR gate. You could build some fun little projects with those.

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unipole@reddit

Just ran across my copy of the TTL Cookbook by Don Lancaster. Actually I'm often wishing for some discrete logic chips in that they can often provide a considerable simplification of designs.

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TG626@reddit

Glu logic as they call it is important. Anything I've made with an arduino has always had some sort of glu logic involved.

Yes you can eat up two I/O pins for two data lines, but often an AND or OR gate can be used and free up a port.

Sometimes you absolutely MUST do it or the number of ports required just to avoid a couple TTL or CMOS gates becomes absurd.

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unipole@reddit

I was using glue logic on North Star Horizons running CP/M in '81

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CRCDesign@reddit

Make a stop animation of them walking like a bunch of bugs.

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soyTegucigalpa@reddit

Tesla 9218 in image 6, what company was that?

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Superb-Tea-3174@reddit

The company is Tesla, not the American car manufacturer. I think they are eastern Europe. They also made vacuum tubes.

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TG626@reddit

Yes. Petty good ones too.

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imgyza@reddit

These Tesla ICs were made in Czechoslovakia before 1990’s. Tesla, established 1946 was a national group company in Czechoslovakia making all kinds of electronics

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Glidepath22@reddit

When you need a particular chip to do a particular thing, hell yes it’s valuable.

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BigCryptographer2034@reddit

I would check those, some out there are fake

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Zusuris@reddit

I don't know why this comment above got downvotes - fake retro chips is a real and common peoblem in the vintage computung market these days!

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BigCryptographer2034@reddit

I know it, I just watched a video in it, made me think of what the hell I have in some old oc’s in storage…they’ve been doing that for a longtime

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tomxp411@reddit

With the exception of some rare chips, most of the ICs I've seen go for a few dollars. The most expensive chip I've bought so far was probably the Z80 chip (that I ended up not even needing) for my ZX Spectrum 128.

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415646464e4155434f4c@reddit

I’ll give you $2 for those.

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GaiusJocundus@reddit

Yes we use them.

No they aren't valuable.

There are a handful of no-longer-manufactured chips that are valuable but I don't see any here. Mostly sound and video chips.

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maratae@reddit

Someone at r/synthdiy might like some of those.

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MattInSoCal@reddit

Nope, almost nothing there is usable for DIY synths.

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maratae@reddit

Gotcha

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2raysdiver@reddit

Looking at the ebay link, it looks like the packaged stuff is Radio Shack closeout stuff. It's not something you'd find in a computer, but stuff for fun projects, like making your own digital clock, or replacing parts in a radio. Some of the non-packed stuff is more of the same and some of it might be stuff you'd find on a card in a PC. It's been a long, long time since I played with stuff like that. It isn't junk, but it isn't worth hundreds of dollars, either.

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Unfair_Audience5743@reddit

YES. particularly older RAM chips can be a bitch to find replacements for. Not a ton of money, but you could certainly make a premium on each piece/small batch.

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StephenWelker1024@reddit

Most are logic chips, and operational amplifiers still used in hobby electronic prototyping. They are not that valuable, you can still but most of them new.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=logic+chip+kit+7400

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