US Sources for old ICs

[Brent Hilpert]

Paul Koning wrote:
> There's at least one company that builds SMT to DIP adapters, so you
> can plug SMT packaged chips into DIP prototyping systems and the like.
>
> Of course manufacturers don't want to use DIPs.  They are electrically
> inferior.  For that matter, they are also obsolete -- if they made DIP
> packaged chips they would certainly be very low volume products.

I get a kick out of the back-to-the-future aspect of SMT packages,
considering the lineage/similarity of SMT to the flatpak IC cases
(TO-85,91,etc.) of the early '60s, which predated DIPs.

Across the history of ICs, DIP packaging begins to look like a
25-to-30-year sidebar.