74LS32 Quad 2-Input OR Gate IC (DIP-14)

Where an AND gate requires every input to agree, an OR gate fires the moment any single input goes high, which is just as fundamental a building block for hardware digital logic design. The 74LS32 packs four of these OR gates into one DIP-14 chip, useful for combining multiple alarm or trigger conditions into a single output signal, building basic hardware state machines without a microcontroller, and rounding out a parts bin's set of fundamental logic gates alongside AND, NAND, and inverter chips. Paired with the 74LS08 and 74LS00, it gives a builder the core gate types needed to implement most basic combinational logic directly in hardware.