I've just been given a new project to work on, and I'm searching for a
microcontroller that will get the job done.  In the fantasy world this
microcontroller would:
- Have infinite I/O
- Consume no current
- Be in-circuit reprogrammable
- Be given away for free (better yet, I'd get paid to use them)
- Have infinite memory, (RAM, ROM, and EEPROM)
- Have performance measured in the giga FLOPS

If any of you have such a microcontroller let me know.

All kidding aside, the project requires in-circuit reprogrammablity, and long
battery life.  At present I have identified a requirement for 39 I/O general
purpose digital pins, and one low resolution ADC.  Most of the I/O is not well
suited for I/O expanders.  I could probably get away with 8K of instruction
space, 256 bytes of data space, and 2 bytes of non-volatile data space for
storing configuration information.

A PIC16LF877 with two more 8-bit I/O ports would be great.  I've tried to come
up with a reasonable way to use a the PIC16LF877 with I/O expanders.  It can be
done, but processing time would increase immensely.  Plus, when feature creep
shows it's face, and I need additional I/O, I'd have to scramble even harder.

I've been looking at TI's MSP430F133.  It seems capable, cheap enough, and there
is room for upward migration in the family.  I'd appreciate hearing about any
good or bad experiences that people have had with this or any other MSP430 part.

Also if you know of any other microcontrollers that might be suited for my
requirements, I'd like to hear about them.

-Mike

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