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Bob Widlar, who started at Fairchild, was my childhood hero. I literally last week built a power supply with a µA723, a 1967 Fairchild originated part (although
by cjsuk 9y ago
Bob Widlar, who started at Fairchild, was my childhood hero. I literally last week built a power supply with a µA723, a 1967 Fairchild originated part (although mine was an SGS Thompson clone) because it's still pretty damn well one of the best parts out there even after 50 years. Good times. I wish I was born a lot earlier than I was if I'm honest.
Bob Widlar, for reference, was quite a character: http://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/what-s-all-widlar-stuff-anyhow http://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/what-s-all-widlar-stu...
- eternauta3k 9y agoYou mean there has been no progress in the last 40 years?
- cjsuk 9y agoNo. Just what they did 50 years ago is pretty damn good. On the linear regulator front the only progress has been low dropout.
- dang 9y agoThis breaks the HN guidelines, which say: Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Could you please re-read them and follow them when commenting here? We'd appreciate it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- dahtguy 9y agoSame, but I'm pretty damn happy being born when I am. The insane amount of material that's on Digikey is just way too useful now. I have a nice poster of the "Every Idiot Can Count to One" quote at home, think it's a bit too aggressive for work =)
- lvoudour 9y ago> Bob Widlar Sometimes I hear a name all my life because of an invention/discovery, but somehow in my brain it's dissociated from the actual person because I know nothing about them. And when I finally do, I get this nice fuzzy feeling. That happened again with Bob Widlar (Widlar current source was the trigger) for whom I knew nothing about, not even his first name, but I was happy to learn that he was such an interesting person. thanks