At 22:47 -0500 2/2/04, Kendall Hannon wrote: >what is a DIP switch? It's amazing what engineers take for granted.
DIP stands for Dual Inline Package. It's a plastic or ceramic molding that holds a silicon chip. There are two rows of either 7 or 8 pins spaced by 0.100 inches and 0.300 inches apart. They were first used circa 1960. Older printed circuit boards are full of them. Someone invented a switch which could connect, or disconnect, opposing pins on a DIP. One uses a stylus or a ball point pen to move the 7 or 8 switches changing the way a printed circuit board works. Of course it was dubbed a DIP switch. They are notoriously unreliable and subject to corrosion and dirt. A few hundred operations and they will break. Many engineers think DIP represents a personality trait. The technique now is to use rows of pairs of gold plated pins which are programmed with jumpers that users can move around. >DIPSW1 (00000100) and DIPSW2 (1100) The third switch from the right is on in DIPSW1. The third and fourth switches are on in DIPSW2. -- --> There are 10 kinds of people: those who understand binary, and those who don't <-- -- Compact Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Compact Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/compact.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/compact.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
