XPost: alt.slack, alt.slack.goathead   
   From: snipeco.2@gmail.com   
      
   phoenix  wrote:   
      
   > Doc Hammerslack wrote:   
   > > At Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:55:04 -0600, phoenix  wrote:   
   > >   
   > >> Sn!pe wrote:   
   > >>> mixed nuts  wrote:   
   > >>>   
   > >>>> On 1/7/2026 13:01, Sn!pe wrote:   
   > >>>>> phoenix  wrote:   
   > >>>>>   
   > >>>>> [...]   
   > >>>>>> Phototransistors are not really transistors in function IMO, I   
   > >>>>>> prefer to think of them as light-sensitive diodes. However,   
   > >>>>>> considering them transistors can help explain what a transistor   
   > >>>>>> does to the unfamiliar. When light hits the phototransistor, it   
   > >>>>>> allows current to pass.   
   > >>>>> [...]   
   > >>>>>   
   > >>>>> Back in the day, I scraped the paint off of a 0C71; it made a   
   > >>>>> pretty good phototransistor, so I'd take issue with that.   
   > >>>>>   
   > >>>>> I grew up with discrete components so none of what you write   
   > >>>>> is news to me   
   > >>>>>   
   > >>>>   
   > >>>> I bought a sack of 2N229 geraniums back in 1956 from a lot radio   
   > >>>> parts store and made some amplifiers with 'em. They worked good   
   > >>>> but ft was about 300 kHz which ain't that great. Then I got an   
   > >>>> account with Evans Radio where I could get all kinds of stuff and   
   > >>>> switched to RCA and Fairchild Si planar parts like 2N2102 and life   
   > >>>> got magic   
   > >>>>   
   > >>>   
   > >>> Back in ~'62 when I joined the local radio club, they had a stash   
   > >>> of NPN 2N706a rejects.  Only ~25% were completely dud, another 25%   
   > >>> sub-par and the remaining half were just slightly below spec.  I   
   > >>> was given a fistful of them to play with.  Among other things, I   
   > >>> built a two metre converter in a two-ounce tobacco tin using them.   
   > >>>   
   > >> Liar!   
   > >   
   > > "The courteous way, the MANNERLY way to say that," he intoned quietly,   
   > > "is to say 'that turns out not to be the case'".   
   > >   
   > >   == ==   
   > > Okay, that's another reference that % probably knows:   
   > >   
   > >     "Wrong," said Renner.   
   > >   
   > >     "The tactful way," Rod said quietly, "the polite way to   
   > > disagree with the Senator would be to say, `That turns out not to be   
   > > the case.'"   
   > >   
   > > That's from a Niven/Pournelle book, I believe _Hammerfall_.   
   > >   
   > Huh?   
   >   
   > The term "Hammerfall" relates to two distinct concepts associated with   
   > "Niven": the catastrophic impact event in the novel Lucifer's Hammer by   
   > Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, and an unrelated novel by C. J. Cherryh   
   > in her Gene Wars universe.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer   
   >   
   > In the 1977 apocalyptic science-fiction novel Lucifer's Hammer by Larry   
   > Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the day a massive comet strikes Earth is   
   > referred to as "Hammerfall". The novel explores the catastrophic events   
   > following the impact...   
      
      
     --Grok   
      
   --   
   ^Ï^.   Sn!pe, itinerant wading bird.       My pet rock Gordon just is.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)