> Good point. I do use the simulator. Just that the
> main operation of this app is to perform different
> functions based on the input signal's period.
> Periods are long and this is always awkward to
> simulate. Better to do in hardware, but I didn't
> fancy doing repeated erasing with 1 hour erase
> times or whatever. :o)

Most UV EPROM erasers erase in 20 minutes or less.  Mine can erase 4 chips
in 20 minutes.  As long as you have enough UV chips to keep the eraser busy,
you have an average throughput of one clean chip every 5 minutes.  I usually
get at least 8 chips when using UV erasables, and have never overrun the
eraser.  In other words, on average it takes longer than 5 minutes to burn a
chip, test it, figure out what you need to change, make the changes, and
rebuild.

> I've been spoilt with 16F84 and my ICSP protoboard,
> i'm used to code/program/test cycles of
> a minute or less. Yeah, I know, buy an ICE.

Yes, I think the ICE-2000 is a great tool that is well worth the investment
if you are in a situation where time is money.  However, I've never gotten
the modules for the 12C508A although I've probably done 5 to 10 projects
with those chips.  Given the limited memory, the program has to be simple.
I debug with the simulator and everything usually works the first time when
I burn chips.  Multiple iterations after that are usually to change
parameters like time constants, not to debug the logic.

I bet you can use the simulator to test your logic regardless of the long
periods.  Step thru the initialization and then watch it go into a wait loop
or whatever.  You can then diddle the internal state so that it thinks it's
been waiting a long time, then set a pin high or low.  You may also be able
to debug it with much shorter periods unless this changes the logic for some
reason.  It's usually not too hard to make it run thru each of the linear
code sections.

By the way, your test cycles with UV chips will be faster than with flash
chips because the UV chips program faster.  All in all I prefer doing
iterations with UV chips over flash chips.


*****************************************************************
Olin Lathrop, embedded systems consultant in Devens Massachusetts
(978) 772-3129, olin@embedinc.com, http://www.embedinc.com

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