David Lions wrote:
>
> 1. What about a 'battery-backup' pin, so you could keep the file
> registers alive while the rest of the device was powered off.
>
> 2. In addition to this what about a real-time clock, that could also run
> while the rest of the chip is off, using two pins for a crystal.
>
> 3. If no battery-backup pin, how about more chips with on-board data
> EEPROM? It's so useful, how hard is it to put it on all chips?
>
> 4. How about just making a standard 14bit core, with full program
> memory, full RAM, 8 UARTS, 8 PWM, 16kB data EEPROM...etc.  The core
> could be placed in any package with any pin count.  The connection of
> I/O to individuals pins would be by multiplexer bits set during
> programming.  The common core would be mass produced, all that needs to
> be specified is the pin count and package type.  A similar thing would
> happen for 12 bit cores, and so on...
>
> This would allow for such wonderful concepts as 3 UARTS on a 12C508 (8
> pin) package.  Why should a 40 pin device have a UART but not an 8 pin?
> How is pin count related to the features available?
>
> 5. A few more MHz on the clock.

Check out Motorola's new generation "coldfire" with PLA type stuff on
board ! , this is THE next logical step.

Regards,
Graham Daniel.