ABSTRACT:

I wasn't (quite) born half a century ago, but some of the changes from then until now are quite astonishing. I remember well as a child my delight at receiving a Tandy electronic digital clock kit as a birthday present. I was over the moon. It took me a few hours to solder the kit together. Yes, those were the days when you didn't need expensive submillimeter accuracy equipment to solder. After some help fixing a bad solder joint, I had my first digital clock. I think the kit cost $50, and it derived its timing from the 50-Hz mains supply to the clock. (It used a green fluorescent digital display, so battery power was impractical.) The cost, size, accuracy, and power consumption these days would be a joke, but it took a place of pride in my room in my younger days, and in fact did its job very well.