9 ms·

I don't know how old you are, but the 741 was obsolete in the 1980s. It sticks around in EE textbooks because it's such an easy way to demonstrate problems with

I don't know how old you are, but the 741 was obsolete in the 1980s. It sticks around in EE textbooks because it's such an easy way to demonstrate problems with op-amps... high input current, low gain-bandwidth product, low slew rate, etc. I think your jellybean op-amps would more likely be TL072, LM358, or NE5532.

dragontamer 6y ago
Old, beaten up textbooks from the corner of my neighborhood library was talking 741 back in the 2000s, when I was in high school and started dabbling around with electricity more seriously. Maybe it was fully obsolete by that point, but high school + neighborhood libraries aren't exactly filled with up-to-date textbooks or the latest and greatest. I remember that Radio Shack was still selling kits with 741 in them, as well as breadboards and common components... 12V wall-warts and the like. Online shopping was beginning to get popular, but I was still a mallrat who picked up components and dug through old Radio Shack manuals into 2005 or 2006. It was the ability to walk around, and see those component shelves sitting there in Radio Shack that got me curious about the hobby and start researching it. I do wonder how modern children are supposed to get interested into hobbies now that malls are less popular (and electronic shops like Radio Shack are basically disappeared). ------------ I don't remember what we used in college. I knew that I was more selective and understood the kinds of problems various OpAmps had back then. Also you're not really rich enough to invest into a private stockpile of chips, and instead just use whatever the labs are stocked with in college. LM358 is the jellybean that I keep in my drawer today. If you're curious. Old habits die hard though, I still think 741 as the jellybean even though it really is obsolete today.
- ChuckMcM 6y ago
  I've got a tube each of 358's and 1458's (dual version) in my parts supplies. But my microwave stuff is finding them lacking.
bavell 6y ago
+1 for LM358
- cogman10 6y ago
  That's the one my text book often referred to.
- monocasa 6y ago
  Yeah, I got about a hundred of them for $5 total when my Radioshack went under. Very jellybean.

dragontamer 6y ago

Old, beaten up textbooks from the corner of my neighborhood library was talking 741 back in the 2000s, when I was in high school and started dabbling around with electricity more seriously. Maybe it was fully obsolete by that point, but high school + neighborhood libraries aren't exactly filled with up-to-date textbooks or the latest and greatest. I remember that Radio Shack was still selling kits with 741 in them, as well as breadboards and common components... 12V wall-warts and the like. Online shopping was beginning to get popular, but I was still a mallrat who picked up components and dug through old Radio Shack manuals into 2005 or 2006. It was the ability to walk around, and see those component shelves sitting there in Radio Shack that got me curious about the hobby and start researching it. I do wonder how modern children are supposed to get interested into hobbies now that malls are less popular (and electronic shops like Radio Shack are basically disappeared). ------------ I don't remember what we used in college. I knew that I was more selective and understood the kinds of problems various OpAmps had back then. Also you're not really rich enough to invest into a private stockpile of chips, and instead just use whatever the labs are stocked with in college. LM358 is the jellybean that I keep in my drawer today. If you're curious. Old habits die hard though, I still think 741 as the jellybean even though it really is obsolete today.

ChuckMcM 6y ago
I've got a tube each of 358's and 1458's (dual version) in my parts supplies. But my microwave stuff is finding them lacking.

bavell 6y ago

+1 for LM358

cogman10 6y ago
That's the one my text book often referred to.
monocasa 6y ago
Yeah, I got about a hundred of them for $5 total when my Radioshack went under. Very jellybean.