The 2N3904 and BC 547 transistor is still available as a newly manufactured device after 60 years of their introduction.

The construction of the 2N3904 and 2N3906 in the mid.1960s represented a significant performance and cost improvement, with the plastic TO-92 case replacing metal cans. 2N3904 has been very popular in USA for general-purpose NPN low-power amplifying or switching applications. 2N3904 is a 200 mA, 40 V, 625 mW transistor with a transition frequency of 300 MHz, with a minimum beta, or current gain, of 100 at a collector current of 10 mA.

The BC548 is a general-purpose NPN bipolar junction transistor commonly used in European and American electronic equipment. It is notably often the first type of bipolar transistor hobbyists encounter and is often featured in designs in hobby electronics magazines where a general-purpose transistor is required. BC548 perfromance characteristics are VCEO = 30 V, IC = 100 mA, Ptotal = 500 mW and (gain-bandwidth product) ft = 150 MHz minimum (300 MHz typical).

The BC548 was released with, and often is found together in datasheets with, the BC547 (higher voltage) and BC549 (lower noise) devices, that correspond to the original BC107 and BC109 variants of the BC108. This group of NPN transistors share many specifications and characteristic curves, but differ in voltage ratings. BC547 transistor is a bipolar junction transistor that was originally developed by Philips and Mullard between 1963 and 1966.

2N3904: Why use a 60-year-old transistor?
https://www.planetanalog.com/2n3904-why-use-a-60-year-old-transistor/

“Note that the 2N3904 is not the only survivor of those early days. Others include its PNP complement, the 2N3906 and the 2N2222, to cite just a few of these dinosaurs that are still listed as active and available.”

“The reality is these classic devices are good but not great in any given parameters by modern standards.”

“When you need a basic transistor to drive a load such as an LED or small motor, these ancient devices do the job and do it cheaply.
They’re around 10 cents each”

“A similar scenario exists for op amps, those basic analog-circuit building blocks. While there are thousands of distinct op amps on the market, some of today’s top sellers are 10, 15, even 20 years old.”

“Have you ever deliberately selected a much-older device for a circuit function in order to reduce various aspects of uncertainty and risk? ”

Why is the 2N3904 transistor still up after 60 years
https://www.edn.com/why-is-the-2n3904-transistor-still-up-after-60-years/

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S.N. Shure founds the Shure Radio Company in Chicago, Illinois, marking the beginning of a legacy in audio innovation.

The name Shure has long been associated with quality, innovation, and a deep understanding of sound. Shure is best known of their microphones like SM57 and SM58.

Shure has consistently delivered audio products, becoming a trusted partner for musicians, broadcasters, audio engineers, and enthusiasts alike.

Among their many legendary products, two stand out as particularly influential: the Unidyne microphone and the M44 phono cartridge. Introduced in 1939, the Unidyne microphone revolutionized audio pickup.
The world-renowned SM58, a workhorse introduced in 1966, ia still found on stages across the globe.

Congratulations, Shure, on 100 years of shaping the sounds of our world!

See more at
https://www.shure.com/en-US/about-us/100years

To mark the occasion, founder Bill Gates has released the original code that launched the entire technology company — the Altair BASIC interpreter. According to Gates, it was “the coolest code I’ve ever written.”

The source code is now available at the celebration page at https://www.gatesnotes.com/microsoft-original-source-code

In 1975, a young Harvard student named Gates and his friend Paul Allen were intrigued by an article in Popular Electronics magazine that introduced a new microcomputer called the Altair 8800.

They saw that personal computers could be a reality — if only someone would write software for them. They contacted the Altair’s manufacturer, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Gates and Allen thought promised to deliver a ready-to-use version of the popular BASIC programming language. There was just one problem — they had never even seen an Altair computer in person, let alone wrote any code for one. Gates and Allen worked for two months, almost without sleep, developing the program on Harvard’s PDP-10 computer, simulating the operation of the Altair’s 8080 processor. The result was a 4-kilobyte interpreter.

This Altair BASIC was Microsoft’s first product – and the beginning of the software giant’s journey.

Sources:
https://www.vintagecomputer.net/altair-poptronics.cfm
https://www.gatesnotes.com/microsoft-original-source-code
https://hackaday.com/2025/04/03/a-very-trippy-look-at-microsofts-beginnings/
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/17361-microsoft-laehti-liikkeelle-50-vuotta-sitten-basic-tulkista

The BASIC programming language turns 60 article says:
“Sixty years ago, on May 1, 1964, at 4 am in the morning, a quiet revolution in computing began at Dartmouth College. That’s when mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz successfully ran the first program written in their newly developed BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) programming language on the college’s General Electric GE-225 mainframe.”

Little did they know that their creation would go on to democratize computing and inspire generations of programmers over the next six decades. Prior to BASIC, programming languages like Fortran, Algol, and COBOL were used. But they were so complex that they were primarily used only by professionals. Kemeny and Kurtz saw a need for amateurs who were not dedicated computer engineers to be able to use computers as well. Their journey to create a more user-friendly language began in 1956 with Dartmouth Simplified Code (DARSIMSCO), followed by the Dartmouth Oversimplified Programming Experiment (DOPE). The lessons learned from these projects informed the development of BASIC, which started in 1963.

The original version was of BASIC created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College in 1963. The emergence of microcomputers in the mid-1970s led to the development of multiple BASIC dialects, including Microsoft BASIC in 1975. BASIC was available for almost any system of the era, and became the de facto programming language for home computer systems that emerged in the late 1970s and became popular in early 1980′s. I started my programming with BASIC in the early 1980′s.

BASIC declined in popularity in the 1990s, as more powerful microcomputers came to market and programming languages with advanced features became feasible to use and nontechnical personal computer users relied on pre-written applications.

Here are links to some online services that allow you to try BASIC programming:
http://www.quitebasic.com/
https://www.jdoodle.com/execute-freebasic-online

Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/the-basic-programming-language-turns-60/

Fifty years of TTL
https://www.embedded.com/fifty-years-of-ttl/

Alert reader Caron Williams notified me that 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of TTL (transistor-transistor logic) . Wikipedia says that although TTL was invented in 1961, TI released the 5400 family of IC’s in 1964, and that the 7400 series in plastic came out two years later. Since TTL is practically synonymous with the 5400 and 7400 series, why not offer 50th birthday congratulations?

Remember that the IC was invented just a few years before TTL came out. Other kinds of logic were commonly used, like DTL (diode-transistor logic) and RTL (resistor-transistor logic).

Exactly which day Cerf and Kahn’s manuscript was received by the IEEE editors is not clear (it was either November 4th or 5th, 1973).

Cerf and Kahn’s paper was published in the May 1974 edition of IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol Com-22, No 5 May 1974 [1].

Happy 50th birthday TCP/IP!

#internet #tcpip

References:
[1] “A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication”, https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/papers/cerf74.pdf

Now anyone seeking a connection with both Pong and the Apple II can have one of their very own if they have enough money because [Al Alcorn]’s Tektronix 465 oscilloscope is for sale. He’s the designer of the original Pong and used the instrument in its genesis, and then a few years later, he lent it to [Woz] for his work on the Apple II.

This oscilloscope made history! Used to design both Pong and the Apple II.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62_WDBjZGGs

USED TO LAUNCH THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION, TWICE: This oscilloscope was used to design Pong, the birth of the video game industry, and the Apple II, the first personal computer with hi-res color graphics. The present oscilloscope is a remarkable artifact, having played a critical role in launching two of the most consequential products in the history of the digital revolution.

It was on 19 June 1993 that the FreeBSD name was chosen for the project born out of 386BSD. The first official release of FreeBSD though wasn’t until November 1993.

https://www.freebsd.org/

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms. It is derived from BSD, the version of UNIX® developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It is developed and maintained by a large community.

In 1979 he started a little company called 3com.
Ethernet was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1983 as IEEE 802.3. Ethernet has since been refined to support higher bit rates, a greater number of nodes, and longer link distances, but retains much backward compatibility. Over time, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies.

The Matrix phone to the iPhone – and that unforgettable ringtone: 50 moments in 50 years since first mobile call
https://news.sky.com/story/the-matrix-phone-to-the-iphone-and-that-unforgettable-ringtone-50-moments-in-50-years-since-first-mobile-call-12845390
To mark 50 years since the first mobile phone call, here are 50 moments that got us to where we are.

50 years since first mobile phone call – BBC News

50 years since first cellphone call, engineer looks back at milestone

NASA announces crew for first trip back to the moon in over 50 years
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/nasa-announces-crew-for-first-trip-back-to-the-moon-in-over-50-years/
Three men and one woman have been selected for NASA’s next planned flight to the moon. For the first time ever, the crew of astronauts headed for the moon include a woman and a Black man. Mark Strassmann reports.

The barcode turns 50 years old – a new one is coming
Viivakoodi täyttää 50 vuotta – uusi tulossa
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2023/04/03/viivakoodi-tayttaa-50-vuotta-uusi-tulossa/

The bar code, developed to speed up product logistics, just turned 50. They are scanned more than 10 billion times a day and are used by numerous commercial and industrial companies to increase the efficiency, reliability and transparency of their operations. A new generation barcode version is also coming.

The barcode behind the invention of logistics, introduced by the GS1 organization in 1973, has also largely changed the way we shop. The business sped up significantly when, instead of typing the prices, the products could be scanned quickly at the cash register.

Today, the barcode symbol is already on more than a billion products, and products are identified with it in 150 countries. The “beep” at the cash register is known all over the world precisely for the automatic reading. And while all barcodes may look the same, the power lies within them.

At the end of 2020, GS1 started the transition from traditional barcodes to new generation barcodes together with key players in the grocery trade. More than 20 countries and territories, including the United States, China, Australia and Brazil, have already implemented successful pilots. In Finland, GS1 has started preparations for the introduction of the GS1 2D code.