Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> OK. So you'd wire them both up in essentially the same way?

You're getting a bit past my expertise, but yes, physically there's 
three connections with the same functions on each. Electrically, of 
course, there's different voltages, switching times, etc.  It's like 
asking if you drive a camper essentially the same way as you drive a VW bug.

Note that you also wire up vacuum tube triods in "essentially the same 
way", so I'm not sure how helpful that answer is. ;-)

> Is there any major overall difference in operating characteristics?

Well, yes. I thought I'd been clear on that. They take different 
voltages and handle different currents and so on.

> So why is it that (say) a simple NAND gate involves 8 transistors, 3 
> diodes and 25 resistors? That doesn't make any sense to me... Logically 
> it looks like any possible 2-input gate should require 1 or 2 switches 
> and nothing else.

To make a switch, you have to either switch to + or to -, so that's at 
least two switches right there. I.e., you need two transistors, one to 
amplify the + voltage, and one to amplify the - voltage, using CMOS FET, 
just to make a NOT gate.  Depending how you do it, it may take diodes 
and resistors and such.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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