John Payson wrote:
> <snipped>
> |  Thought that occurs to me is that Microchip could burn this bit on ALL
> |devices - /JW or not - in a UV erasable area, and then require that you
> |erase the /JW device before first use, at which point you can tell (once
> |that bit erased) whether you have a JW or a OTP part.  (Flash parts
> |could be confusing in this situation, except the part NUMBER tells you
> |they're flash parts, rather clearly <G>)
>
> Requiring that /JW parts be customer-erased prior to use in order to
> take advantage of this feature seems unduly annoying, especially with
> parts like the PIC14000 which have useful information in the EPROM.

  Good point, I haven't played ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H worked with the 14k
parts yet.  <G>

> As for the part number indicating that a part is "flash", it'd be nice
> if Microchip could include an indication of the part number in a read-
> able part of the customer area.  Unfortunately, a die change would be
> needed for that to work with /JW parts so that probably isn't going to
> happen.  Still, a bit in the factory area that indicated the part was
> "flash" might be a good thing, since trying to program an ordinary part
> with the "flash" algorithm will in many cases slag the part (turning on
> programming for 10+ms is a bit too much I think).

  Factory area makes total sense to me, 2 bits should be available, I
hope?  I'd think we developers CAN tell the difference between Flash &
non-flash parts, though, on good days anyways, if we tell the programmer
which part we're programming, is this necessary or just a would be
nice?  (I'm sure you're using some part that I'm not thinking of <G>)

  Mark