What's with all the A/D stuff in the old magazines

[Will Senn]

It seems like every issue of the User Notes talks about another AD (analog-digital) hardware solution. What's with the fixation - do I need an AD, what is an AD, what's it for?

[Hans Otten]

A microprocessor, then and now (Arduino's!) is made for controlling the outside world and many sources and targets are analog and not digital.

So analog to digital and digital to analog conversion is an important part of the solution.

Many of the first users of KIM-1  were electronic designers, with a digital logic background but new to programming.

Even the KIM-1 has analog to and from digital conversion built in: the audio cassette interface.