Limited Stock

Texas Instruments SN7417N Vintage TTL Hex Buffer Driver Open Collector DIP-14 Arcade Logic IC

ICs / Integrated Circuits • SKU RFB00524

$5.95

Vintage Texas Instruments SN7417N TTL hex buffer/driver integrated circuit in a 14-pin DIP package. These original Texas Instruments examples are marked EL SALVADOR with production marking 7901A and represent late-1970s-era TTL semiconductor stock.

The SN7417N contains six independent non-inverting buffer/driver channels with high-voltage open-collector outputs. It was designed for interfacing standard TTL logic with higher-voltage circuitry and for controlling higher-current loads such as indicator lamps, relays, peripheral circuits, and other external devices.

The device operates from a 4.75V to 5.25V supply and provides open-collector outputs rated for up to 40 mA sink current with a minimum 15V output breakdown capability. Because the outputs are open collector, an appropriate external pull-up is required for normal logic operation.

Applications extend well beyond arcade equipment and include vintage computers, computer peripherals, industrial controllers, communications equipment, instrumentation, test equipment, printers, relay interfaces, lamp drivers, control systems, and general 5V TTL digital electronics.

The Texas Instruments SN7417N is NOT obsolete. Texas Instruments continues to classify the exact SN7417N 14-pin PDIP device as ACTIVE production. These examples are desirable primarily because they are original vintage Texas Instruments production rather than because the underlying 7417 function has been discontinued.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

The SN7417N belongs to the original 7400-series TTL generation that formed the foundation of countless digital systems during the 1970s and 1980s. Before modern highly integrated controllers became commonplace, equipment often contained many individual TTL chips performing buffering, switching, decoding, timing, interface, and control functions.

The 7417 was especially useful because its six non-inverting open-collector drivers allowed ordinary TTL circuitry to control external circuitry that could not be driven conveniently by a conventional logic output. This made the device useful in industrial controls, computers, instrumentation, communications hardware, peripheral equipment, lamps, relays, and many other digital systems.

The 7417 also has genuine vintage arcade history. It is documented on the Midway Space Invaders arcade PCB at location F5, where the device is associated with circuitry affecting the UFO hit sound. The 7417 also appears in other early arcade-era logic hardware, making original DIP devices useful stock for restorers troubleshooting period game boards.

This is not an arcade-exclusive chip. Its importance comes from its broad use throughout the TTL era, making it useful for arcade restoration as well as vintage computer, industrial, communications, instrumentation, and general electronics repair.