Back when time was new and not all that carefully thought out a concept (not that it's any better now), the uL914 RTL dual 2-input NOR gate appeared in the world. Now, like most RTL ICs, they were intended to be put into computers and live out their lives happily making 1s and 0s without caring what eventually happened to them. The 1s and 0s, that is.
But then someone who had once again failed to attract a date for Friday night sat in his little corner - his World of Worlds - and made the discovery that the 914 was perfectly capable of being a linear device as well. At first he was mocked and scorned and the subject of drive-by shunning, but eventually others made the same discovery and our hero was forgotten because the others had funny letters after their names. On the positive side, he wasn't being mocked, scorned and the subject of drive-by shunning anymore. On the negative side, nowhere in the explosion of linear applications for the 914 was he given even the slightest bit of credit. (He went on to discover a few DTL logic ICs could also be linearized but that's for another time.) The demand for the now mighty uL914 caused Fairchild (who almost merged with Honeywell, the resultant of which to be named Fairwell Honeychild) to continue production well after the rest of the RTL line was dropped and the DTL and TTL lines were established.
The 914 was the core of a number of little projects I made, both audio and rf, and really was a blast to play with. I had around 100 of them sitting waiting to be put into something when I left the mainland and I should have found space to bring them (and the gazillion circuits I had on paper using them) with me. I didn't and I am a sad Kludgeperson as a result.
So ...has anyone seen any of these available in quantity anywhere? I'd love to get my grimy paws on a few to play with.
Best regards,
Kludge ... and, no, I wasn't that luckless guy. I couldn't be that lucky!