William Donzelli wrote:
   1) The 7805 is
actually a Motorola MC7805CP, date
    code 7308 with gold leads.  Very hard to exactly
    replace. 
 Is that the big flat plastic package with the wide
 flat leads? 
 
Nope, purple ceramic.  The heat transfer plate is gold
plated too.
   1) I have a 12
volt DC supply.  12 volts seems to be
    within the VIN range for the 7805s whose data
    sheets I've now read.  Can I simply apply 12 volts? 
 Yes, but that regulator might get mighty hot! I would
 not do this for fear of cooking the poor thing. 
 
That's what I figured to start with, before reading the
datasheets.
   2) Could I
place a resistor in series between the 12V
    supply and the 7805 to drop the voltage at the 7805
    to somewhere around 8? 
 Yes, you could do this. Pick an appropriate power resistor,
 or use a big wirewound rheostat. 
 
At this point, I think I'll just wait till Monday and work
on other things.
   3) If I was to
"tack on" a jumper between VIN and VOUT,
    would that protect the 7805 and allow me to power the
    circuit with 5 volts? 
 I would not do this at all. 
 
I didn't think so.
Bill