Puida's Logic Gate Is a Solid-State, Configurable Device for Logic Education
Configurable logic board can emulate any two-input logic gate — and includes additional NOT A and NOT B outputs, plus an AND carry-out.
Pauli Suuraho's Puida is preparing to launch a board aimed at the education market, making it easier to get your head around the concept of digital logic: the Puida Logic Gate.
"Logic gates are widely used in electrical circuits to provide complex logic or function of a signal processing circuit," Suuraho explains. "There are many logic gates, for example; AND, OR, NOT, NAND. In order to learn and tinker with logic gates, you need to acquire each gate as an ASIC package or use some other harder-to-control logic devices, such as a microcontroller or FGPA. These make learning especially with breadboard cumbersome or impossible."
"When I was learning how a logic gate functions, there was always a disconnect between the logic gate schematic symbols, truth tables, and actual implementation (Integrated Circuits or transistors). [This] board provides easy visualization of what happens in the gate with LEDs, it is easy to wire in conjunction to series or parallel and do logic system experimentation."
Configurable using an on-board DIP switch, the compact logic gate is able to switch into any two-input logic gate while also offering additional NOT A and NOT B outputs plus a carry-out from an AND gate — meaning it can be used in binary adder circuits. Self-contained, the device needs no external microcontroller — just 3-5V of power.
For those interested in trying it out, though, there's a caveat: "Please note this device is a prototype," Suuraho admits, "which I have designed, hand-soldered, and tested personally. To get the price down, I would need to order manufactured PCBs with higher volume, which requires more demand."
The board is now available on Puida's Tinde store at $19, without headers.
