Chas Gilmore joined the Heath Company in 1966 as a design engineer in the company’s Scientific Instruments group and worked at the Heath Company on and off for more than two decades, eventually becoming VP of product development, marketing, and sales. This article includes portions of an interview I conducted with Gilmore in October. It covers the heyday of pre-computer Heathkits in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 2: The 1960s through the mid-1970s"As is often the case, I’m amazed by how so many things seem to be interrelated and interconnected. I’m sorry… I feel an aside coming on… I cannot help myself… just saying “interconnected” reminds me of the book “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” which was written by the late great Douglas Adams.
As you may recall, Dirk is an unconventional … Read More → "There’s Exciting News on the Multi-Modal AI SoC Front"
If you came of age in the 1960s or 1970s and then later became an EE, chances are you’re more than casually acquainted with Heathkit. Many engineers started their budding careers by building one or more kits made by the Heath Company. I certainly did. When I stumbled across a brief interview with Chas Gilmore, who joined the Heath Company in 1966 as a design engineer and … Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 1: Early Days"
I’m a digital logic design engineer by trade. In this uncertain world in which we live, I find comfort and take solace in the fact that you know where you stand with a trusty 0 or 1 in the digital domain. By comparison, I view the wibbly-wobbly analog arena as being inherently unsure, undecided, and uncertain. You never know what to expect with an analog signal.
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Charles (Charlie) Sporck, a former CEO of National Semiconductor, died in October. He was a true semiconductor pioneer – a contemporary of Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore – who started working at Fairchild Semiconductor as a production manager in 1959 when he knew virtually nothing about semiconductors. Sporck’s claim to fame is transforming National Semiconductor from a failing enterprise into a chip-making powerhouse and analog IC leader during the 1970 … Read More → "In Memoriam: Charlie Sporck, Former CEO of National Semiconductor"
