Andrew Warren wrote:

>   Yes, BUT... If you have lots of data to write (which is the usual
>   reason for needing high-speed access to the EEPROM), you're
>   probably going to use multiple EEPROMs, and you can interleave
>   your writes to them in order to "pipeline" the slow write cycles.
<snip>
>   And... If you have eight of those chips (the maximum that one
>   pair of I2C lines can handle)...

Clever - yet another thing that had not occurred to me.
Why is eight the limit for a pair of I2C lines?


>   Actually, Mike, it takes a MAXIMUM of 10 ms from the end of
>   your "write" command until the write is actually complete.

I know it is a maximum spec - however, I typically just make sure
enough time has elapsed before accessing the eeprom again - and in
that case, I use the 10ms number.  Again, I can only comment on the
24LC01, but it does not have a convenient "I'm done writing" flag.
You need to keep sending the eeprom's address (assigned by Phillips!)
until an ack is received to know when it is ready for you.  This
certainly doesn't take much more effort than making sure 10ms has
elapsed, but in my application, there is the possibility of
another master being connected any time, so I like to minimize
bus traffic (just my preference).