>Well, duh, it's a 555.
>
> It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where a Sloman pod was placed
> next to Larkin while he was asleep... ;)
Meh, I rarely use 555s either. I prefer LM393s for such purposes -- more general, though the parts count usually ends up a lot higher. When you're packing parts on perfboard and folding up your resistors, it doesn't really matter.
In fact, one of the few places I actually used a 555 was the HV generator,
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where the *bipolar* chip's ample output current makes a good starting point for driving bigger transistors (hmm, those 1k's don't look very impressive though). Works a lot better than those shitty 2N3055 drivers plastering the internet.
As for this thread, my excuse: it's a school project, so it has certain requirements, like simplicity and "has to look nice to the guy who's grading it" (what could be better than a million 555's?). That, and it was late at night after a meeting, and you know how useful meetings are. ;-)
Tim