At 09:41 AM 8/31/01 +1200, you wrote:
>> can trigger the suicide SCR (tm) and the chip will rapidly
>> self-destruct (melting of bonding wires or whatever). I believe
>> this is the situation that Microchip is alluding to
>
>A technical manual should do more than "allude" IMHO

You'll find the semiconductor manufacturers get very
cagey when there are problems. The liability issues are huge.
It used to be like pulling teeth to even get official errata.

Since the Pentium I floating point fiasco ca. 1994, things have
gotten better.

>I note that descriptions of Mclr on the F87x and F628 say
>that the pin has a noise filter (although the block diagram
>of the reset circuitry is the same for the 84/87x/628), which
>increases the time for a valid Mclr from 1us (F84) to 2us.
>
>Has the Mclr problem now been addressed then or is the
>filter not enough ? If a resistor is considered mandatory
>then couldn't it be added to the die ?

Good question.

On a similar, but non-PIC note, has anyone been following the
class-action lawsuit against Palm- the argument is that the
cradle (connected to the serial port, I assume) conducted static
to (IMHO poorly designed) motherboards, which failed. They want
millions from Palm. I could see arguing for the plaintiffs
pretty easily.. "and *why* Mr. Engineer did you leave out the
2 cents worth of resistors that would have protected the
millions of dollars worth of my clients valuable equipment that
they need to run their businesses.. etc. ad nauseam.

Best regards,

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..."            "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com
Contributions invited->The AVR-gcc FAQ is at: http://www.bluecollarlinux.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads