![]() Jim Williams has an article, too, “A Coprossessor-Based Fast Logarithmic Computer.” The logarithms are created by the well-known trick of putting a diode in the feedback of an op amp. The article is written by Dave “Smoke and Mirrors” Dwelley. The logo is similar, but the company name is “Unreal Technology.” Dated April 1, 2003, VOLUME XIII NUMBER 1.5, the issue has topics such as “SMBus/I 2C Clarifier Improves Quality of Serial Bus Data.” The part supposedly can take text with gibberish and convert it to a Joyce Kilmer poem. I have a pdf copy of what looks suspiciously similar to a Linear Technology design newsletter issue. With the prankster nature of analog folks, its no wonder that April 1 st is a high-holy day. Bob Widlar’s brother Jim, at the 2018 Analog Aficionados party in Silicon Valley. Williams told me the whole floor could hear Lamond’s shouts when he discovered the subterfuge.Ģ. Since the clock ran slow, it would make Lamond late to appointments and such. 2), to install the socket where Lamond had his desk clock plugged in. ![]() It was around this time that analog geniuses Jim Williams and Bob Widlar figured out how to make a wall socket that converted the 60-Hz line frequency to something less. A friend told me that the IC designers were so upset at this treatment that they all threatened to walk out en masse if Lamond kept up his strict tardiness rules. He used to stand at the entrance to the campus and take names of anyone who dared be even a few minutes late. He was notorious for expecting punctuality of his engineers, as if they should punch a clock in the morning. Pierre Lamond, a manager at National, also had that manufacturing mentality. He transported the sheep in the back seat the 30 or so miles from Morgan Hill. Bob Widlar poses with the sheep he staked to the lawn at National Semiconductor. You don’t need a fancy lawn to manufacture semiconductors.ġ. Charlie was the manufacturing guy at Fairchild, so he tended to have a factory sensibility. National was founded by Charlie Spork, among others. National had announced it was cutting back on lawn maintenance to save money, and Widlar thought he should make a statement regarding excessive cost cutting. Sometimes the prank made the papers, as when Bob Widlar bought a sheep and staked him on the lawn at National Semiconductor (Fig. Many of the early analog electronic greats were inveterate pranksters.
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