Texas Instruments Consumer Circuits Data Book 1978

I bought this book at Marzaglia fair 2024. I have never owned a data book, so this was a chance to fill that gap.

The index looks very interesting. You can see how many specialised integrated circuits were designed and, probably, produced. 

My eyes stopped on "Timekeeping Application" and "Game Chips". That's something today you can do with one microcontroller, you can even dare to squeeze the whole index of this book into a single firmware.

Zoom in on these two pages from the index (click on them) and see what you needed to build a not-so-complex application back in the 1970's.

For your convenience and for search engines, here is an OCR extract of the two images above.

CB TRANSCEIVER APPLICATION
SN76514N	DOUBLE BALANCED MIXER	399
TP0235	FREOUENCY SYNTHESIZER	408
SN76515P	DOUBLE BALANCED MIXER	414
TP55I04	PLL FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZERS	416
TP55114	PLL FREOUENCY SYNTHESIZERS	416
TP55106	PLL FREOUENCY SYNTHESIZERS	416
TP55116	PLL FREOUENCY SYNTHESIZERS	416
TP55116N	PLL FREOUENCY SYNTHESIZERS	416
TMS1022NL	CB CHANNEL CONTROLLER	427
TMS1023NL	C8 CHANNEL CONTROLLER (GERMAN BAND)	451
SN16880N	LOG. STEREO LEVEL DETECTOR/INDICATOR	452
SN16889P	LINEAR LEVEL DETECTOR/INDICATOR	456
SN16921NM	SCALE DRIVER IC	461
TIMEKEEPING APPLICATION
TMS3879NC	R.C.TIMER WITH TIME CONSTANT MULTIPLIER	465
TMS38348N	MOS/LSI CLOCK CIRCUIT	471
TMS1951NL	DIGITAL RADIO CLOCK	483
TMS1952NL	DIGITAL RADIO CLOCK	492
TM1191943NL	DIGITAL RADIO CLOCK	302
SN76825P	16/23 STAGE COUNTER CIRCUITS	514
SN76835P	16/23 STAGE COUNTER CIRCUITS	514
SN76810P	MONOSTABLE TACHODRIVER	520
TMS1121	UNIVERSAL TIMER	530
LOW COST GAME CHIP
TMS1965N1	6 GAME EUROPEAN SYSTEM	547
UNIVERSAL GAME CHIP
SN76423N	AUTOMATIC RANDOM ENGLISH	555
SN76424N	WALL GENERATOR	559
SN76425N	SYSTEM REGULATOR AND SYNC GENERATOR	562
SN76426N	DUAL CHARACTER GENERATOR	566
SN76427N	WALL BALL GENERATOR	569
SN76428N	VIDEO GAME LOGIC	573
SN76429N	HOKEY,TENNIS/HAND BALL GAME LOGIC	577
SN76430N	SYNC GENERATOR/COLOR GENERATOR VIDEO SUMMER	581
SN76431N	COMPLEX CHARACTER POSITION CONTROLLER	586
SN76440N	SPACE WAR GAME LOGIC COMPLEX CHARACTER	590
UNIVERSAL GAME CHIP
SN76432N	HOKEY/TENNIS/HANDBALL CHARACTER 592
SN76442N	RACE CAR/ROCKET SHIP/UNIVERSAL MAN CHARACTER 597
SN76443N	COMPLEX CHARACTER GENERATOR 598
SN76444N	ROCKET SHIP/HOKEY/TENNIS 599
SN76445N	GUN FIGHTER/UNIVERSAL MAN CHARACTER 600
SN76446N	EXPLODING ROCKET CHARACTER 601
SN76449N	EXPLODING HELICOPTER CHARACTER 602
SN76460N	ZERO TO WIN AT 20 DIGITAL 603
SN76462N	SCORING 603
SN76483N	SPACE WAR OBSTACLES GENERATOR 608
SN76484N	SPACE WAR SWITCHING LOGIC 612
SN76477N	COMPLEX SOUND GENERATOR 615
TELEPHONE APPUCATION
TMS3833NC	ADAPTATEUR POUR CLAVIER TELEPHONIOUE 625
TMS3851N	C-MOS LOGIC CIRCUITS 631
TMS3858N	TELEPHONE KEYBOARD ENCODER 634
TMS3EI46NC	PUSH BUTTON TELEPHONE DIALLER 652
TMS38.59N	PUSH BUTTON TELEPHONE MEMORY 662
TMS387I NC	PUSH BUTTON TELEPHONE ADAPTOR PULSE DIALING SYSTEM
TMS3872N1	TELEPHONE FREOUENCIES GENERATOR 681
TMS3872-1NL	TELEPHONE FREOUENCIES GENERATOR 681
TMS3831N	TELEPHONE KEYBOARD ENCODER 689
TMS3878N	FREQUENCY DISPLAY 698
MICROPROCESSOR/MEMORIES
TMSI000NL	ONE CHIP MICROCOMPUTER 711
TMS1000/1200C	ONE CHIP MICROCOMPUTER IN- C-MOS 725
TMSI000	SERIES MOS/LSI ONE-CHIP MICROCOM. DATA MANUAL 743
TMS1024	MICROCOMPUTER I/O EXPANDER 787
TMS1025	MICROCOMPUTER I/O EXPANDER 787
TMS1117NL	MICROWAVE OVEN CONTROLLER 790
TMS1976NL	CAPACITIVE-TOUCH KEY BOARD INTERF. CIRCUIT 815
TMS2501JC, NC	64X5X7 STATIC USASCII CHARACTER GENERATOR 857
TMS4103JC, NC	64X5X7 STATIC USASCII CHARACTER GENERATOR 858
TMS4710JL, NL	COMPLETE ASCII CHARACTER SET GENERATOR 5X7 CHARACTER. 8X8 BLOCK 859
TNIS4027-30	NH 4096 BIT DYNAMIC RANDOM-ACCESS MEMORY 868

 

 

Free coffee on Lufthansa flights (Summer 2024)

If you are going to fly with Lufthansa this Summer 2024 you might be able to secure a free coffee onboard. I discovered this by chance and it might work with other companies that have a frequent flyer program.

I enrolled in Lufthansa's Miles and More program for fun, in case it might give some advantages in case of delays or whatever. It's free, so why not?!  The only difference I noticed so far is that your boarding passes will have "M" or "M/M" printed on them.

When you enroll, if you accept to receive their newsletters you get 500M (and you can unsubscribe, of course). Then you install their frequent flyer app and they give you 500M more. And of course after flying with them you get more miles, depending on some algorithm I haven't studied.

Real frequent flyers with lots of Miles can redeem them from a selection of brand-name products. But Miles can be exchanged for onboard food and refreshments as well.

It turns out that a tea "costs" 800M while 1000M secure you a cup of coffee (a value of 3.5€, almost as much as you would pay in a German airport).

For Summer 2024 they have a promotion that gives 2000M when booking and flying with them. So I ended up with 3000M after my "go" trip.

There is one caveat: they serve food and drinks on flights longer that one hour operated by Lufthansa (but you collect Miles on partner airlines too). Also Miles are not credited in real time, so prepare everything few days in advance.

The hostess knew I could redeem miles but was not sure how. Here it is for you. You tell them what you want and that you will pay with Miles. She will scan the card code (it's in the App!) AND ask for a debit/credit card to guarantee the transaction. In case Miles are not enough the remaining amount will go on the card. 

Have a nice Summer 2024 from ik1zyw blog!

 

PS: next post will be again in-topic with electronics, radio and old stuff to be repaired.

Friedrichshafen Ham Fair mystery

Both in 2023 and 2024 I had a strange encounter in the flea market area of Friedrichshafen Ham Messe.

There is a guy from Far East (China, Japan or Korea) that buys large early valves, not even in the greatest shape. He seems to be picking them by some characteristic that is not the part number.

He came at the same stall where I bought two dekatrons. Since I noticed him also last year, I have waited he finalised his purchase and tried asking what he does with them. All that I got was "sorry I have no time" and he ran away. The seller told me she had asked him before and never got through.

Has anybody else noticed him? Do you know what could be his project?