[fahadshihab], a young tinkerer, shared his circuit design for a simple remote control using 555 timers. Using a 555 calculator, he designed a clock circuit that would run at 11.99 Hz.

Even today, for some applications it is hard to beat the ubiquitous 555 timer IC. It is cheap, plentiful, and reliable. What’s interesting about the 555 is it isn’t so much a dedicated chip as ...