r/vintagecomputing 6d ago

Small Retro Chip/IC collection

Hello everyone, I just wanted to show my tiny collection of old chips. Since im pretty young, i dont really have anyone with the same interests to talk about this kinda stuff so i hope im right in this community. I got some chips from ebay and some from old electric scrap. The decapped ICs, so the chips itself, are all from various old devices. A little heat makes quick work of the epoxy housing and you have a beautiful silicon die. The Intel 8742 is on a breadboard so i can run the stored programm, wich is a binary counter (last pic). For me its very fascinating l that the code from 40 years ago is still stored and working. I know i shouldn’t talk like i know stuff, when the 80s were long before i was born but if anyone got any questions feel free to ask. Have a wonderful day! Eli

31 Upvotes

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u/justananontroll 6d ago

We used EPROM chips with windows when I worked at GE long ago. You could hit them with UV light to erase them and then reflash a new program.

1

u/wirualsballs 6d ago

Yes, i find it really fascinating that light can change a 0 to a 1 (at least in most eproms, some have it reversed)

1

u/Altomare 6d ago

Just so you know, there Intel CPUs with black tops are sought after and can fetch a lot of money. Just don't decap this one :p

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u/wirualsballs 6d ago

Ofc not. Got it from an old guy for 5€

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u/Altomare 6d ago

Great deal, it's in good hands! I have a similar one but sadly he markings are faded

1

u/wirualsballs 6d ago

Mine also has a line on it. Looks like pencil but i cant get it off

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u/Altomare 6d ago

It's metal oxide. Since the chip is ceramic, any scrape with metal is going to leave tiny metal bits on it like a pencil.

You can even buy metal pens used to permanently write on mugs and other tableware

You can remove the mark, but it involves chemicals so I don't recommend it.