At the moment I'm delving into building a Replica of the Apple 1. I've been able to track down a lot of ICs but I'm stuck on the 2504... This one is known to be hard to find.
What is the best solution at the moment to take as a replacement for this IC?
Thanks in advance.
You can use am2804pc
In post #1, Dr. Whoozy wrote:
"I've been able to track down a lot of ICs but I'm stuck on the 2504"
Uncle Bernie answers:
This is a common problem in the Apple-1 scene. It's not that these ICs are gone, but nobody other than the small Apple-1 crowd uses them, and for everybody else they are obsolete since almost half a century, which is a lot when it comes to semiconductor technology.
There are huuuge numbers of these 2504, 2513, 2519, ICs still in stock at certain places and only if we build 10 times the number of Apple-1 clones currently in the world (I estimate 500...700 to exist as of today) their stock will be depleted and the "well" will be dry.
The issue is not the parts not sitting there, the issue is greedy usurers who don't want to sell them at fair prices, or policies of IC brokers that you must buy ALL of their stock at once if you want these rare parts nobody else needs or wants. These sellers do not understand the absolute singularity of the Apple-1 cloning phenomenon.
I've posted more on this topic in this thread:
https://www.applefritter.com/content/replace-2504-1404-am2804pc
And believe me I'm at the pulse of the market all the time. I have ICs for further 50 of my famous Apple-1 IC kits in stock but I need to plan what comes after that, so I keep everything on my radar.