AVR-Chat

On Aug 14, 2009, at 5:11 PM, Graham Davies wrote:

> Atmel claim to have never obsoleted a "pinout".  What I understand  
> this to mean is that if they obsolete a part, there is another part  
> that will drop right into its place.  For example, the ATmega16 and  
> ATmega16L are being obsoleted but you can just use an ATmega16A in  
> the same place and you're back in business.


That works in some situations but there are many where one absolutely  
must have the original part, not just a pinout or code compatible part  
else the entire design must be requalified.

Am thinking of anything safety critical such as anything gas operated.

Especially so if you are doing anything that might be considered  
tricky such as a furnace ignition on the same PCB.

I know of a shop that uses millions of PICs per year for this very  
reason. They got tired of RCA changing the masks of the 6805's they  
were once buying.

--
David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net
========================================================================
Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.