Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #00186
To: RoboDR@aol.com
From: "Paul B. Webster VK2BZC" pwebster@clinipath.com.au
Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 17:46:32 +1000
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Schmitt trigger
RoboDR@aol.com wrote:
> Is it possible to get a single Schmitt trigger inverter like the ones
> used in the microcore? Or is the lowest number u can get 6?
And this has spawned an *amaazing* discussion in some strange fashion!
Look, the simple answer is "Why on *earth* would you want to?".
It's like (though you might not know this ;-) Sabin polio vaccine only
coming in 10-dose vials, so if you use only one dose in a day, it only
keeps for 24 hours and you have to throw out the rest. So you say "Why
not make it in single or 2-dose vials?". Answer is - they could, but
since the vaccine itself is dirt cheap (by comparison at least), it'd
cost exactly the same, or *more* because they'd now have two in the
inventory. The cost is all in the packaging.
It simply is *not worth* building them in less than a six-pack. Using
(H)CMOS logic, unused gates consume *zero* power (as long as you ground
the inputs), so you just forget them. A SMD package is so small you
wouldn't want to use a smaller one (but could probably obtain it as a
raw chip if you needed to). Therefore the question has no real meaning.
--
Cheers,
Paul B.
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