Quieting Noisy Resistors

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/02/21/quieting-noisy-resistors/

LERs (light-emitting resistors)

https://piefed.zip/c/NiceMemes/p/856766/lers-light-emitting-resistors

"[A] small cohort of teenage computer enthusiasts from the Princeton, N.J., area flaunted a clever work-around: They borrowed an acoustic coupler—a forerunner of the computer modem—and connected it to a nearby pay phone. With this hardware in place, the youngsters dialed in to an off-site minicomputer.

The teenagers called themselves the RESISTORS, a retronym (they picked the moniker first and then matched words to the letters) for “Radically Emphatic Students Interested in Science, Technology, Or Research Studies.” The trade publication Computerworld gave the RESISTORS front-page billing—“Students Steal Show as Conference Opens”—and noted how the group drew a “fascinated crowd” of computer professionals. A reporter even suggested that the RESISTORS represented the vanguard of a small-scale social movement as the teens sought to engage with their counterparts from “underprivileged areas of Trenton” and introduce them to personal computing.

In the modern history of computing, a story about a small cohort of teens “playing” with computers might seem tangential. But the previously untold history of the RESISTORS highlights the fact that, years before there were machines called personal computers, some people regularly accessed computers for activities unrelated to their professional lives. Motives varied, but entertainment as well as the display of technical prowess mattered. Just as important, the story of the RESISTORS expands our sense of the hobbyist community beyond later and better-known groups like the Bay Area’s Homebrew Computer Club."

https://spectrum.ieee.org/teenage-hackers

#Computers #ComputerHistory #Hacking #NewJersey #Princeton #Resistors

I can safely say that it's been a while since #DigiKey sold #resistors in pre-packed bags of 5 with included card labels. As their own brand. Made in Taiwan.

Or called themselves "Digi-Key Corporation".

More seriously, I found a bag of #components left over from my senior year of school, when we did our big final project. Mine was a computer-controlled slot machine. Components were seriously expensive then; I organized a group buy with 4 or 5 of my classmates through "Digi-Key", partly because they were cheaper than the local suppliers (see previous story about the "Two Weeks Ten Bucks" guys), but also because we could get quantity price breaks on stuff that was common between our #projects, like the 1 kΩ resistors. IIRC, the resistors cost about $0.30 each in the 5-packs, but the bag of 200 was *way* cheaper - about half that, I think.

These were ordered in 1997, so almost 30 years ago. In addition to #vintage resistors, I found ZTX549 PNP #transistors (still in stock at DigiKey today!), MJE2955T #PNP transistors (also still in stock!), 3 different brands of 741 #opamps, including made-in-Japan and made-in-Malaysia #NEC, TI ones from Taiwan and the Philippines, as well as #TI TL081CP and LM318P from Taiwan. Also a bunch of 74-series logic #chips and some weirder stuff, like a #Motorola MC14412, which is essentially a 0-600 bps (~baud) modem-in-a-chip.

So if you need some vintage components, hit me up 😉

#TexasInstruments #electronics #SupplyHouse #FoundAtHome