-=> George White said to Greg Mayman
 -=> about "BAG OF CHIPS" on 02-05-04  22:51.....

 GW> And one manufacturer who would supply 5 different diodes for the same
 GW> number, depending on which factory it came from...
 GW> They ranged from the very good (glass encapsulated) through the usual
 GW> to the rubbish (plastic which wasn't properly protected).

Yes, I've seen that kind of thing.

But the one I'm thinking of was a selection of completely
different types. One manufacturer used this number for small
signal diodes, another used it for power rectifiers, and so on.

It happened in the early days when registration of the new 1N-
types was done at many different offices across the country, and
communication was most likely only by snail mail.

It was a low number, it may have been a 1N21. But it is a long
time ago and my memory of it is hazy.

I do remember that when I heard about it, I checked in the
D.A.T.A. book and sure enough there were all the different types
listed against their respective makers.

 GW> They couldn't guarentee supply from the good factory, or even the
 GW> acceptable factorys, so we wouldn't use them (we were talking
 GW> reasonably large volumes, >100k parts/year).

That sort of service is quite impossible! Was there no
chance of finding an alternative type from a more reliable
source?

 GW> I'll disagree with that! :-) The simplest way is with an RS-232 line
 GW> receiver like the 1489/1489A. Quad inputs, _NO_ external components
 GW> needed, only uses the logic +V rail. Spec to +- 30 V on the input.

No, what he needs is one that goes from uniploar to bipolar. The
1489 receiver chip converts bipolar into unipolar.

The 1488 quad RS232 transmitter is the one to use. Of course it
inverts the signal, but that need not be a great problem.

  ,-./\
 /     \ From Greg Mayman, in beautiful Adelaide, South Australia
 \_,-*_/    "Queen City of The South"    34:55 S  138:36 E v

... Hmmmm... Now where did I park my Hard Drive
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