Hi, While much of what you mention make sense, I think that you are overlooking some things. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Abelian" To: Sent: Monday, June 17, 2002 11:45 AM Subject: [PIC]: Jtag and more > Hi to all, > > After carefully studding PIC micros I think this is what > Microchip should do. > > 1. move from OTP to Flash on all MCUs and have OTP version available > incase. As near as I can tell, they are currently doing this. > 2. add Jtag hardware in pic to have inexpensive debugging capability set > brake points etc. This is not necessarily a good idea for a production component. It's nice for the hobbyist, and the developenr, but the end user couldn't care less if it's there. Therefore, what is likely, to keep costs low, is if they do do something like this, it will be available as a development model. > 3. Convert boot loader software in hardware that you do not have to > program it boot loading should be part of hardware Once again, the end user doesn't care. It is not necessary. Only SMD MCU's ever really needed this, and with the advent of ICSP, even the SMD MCU's don't really need a boot loader anymore. > 4. add Digital to analog conversion hardware. D/A hardware gets HOT. And it sucks up power at an incredible rate. For a low power MCU, not exactly the best idea, which is, I expect, why they haven't done it. As far as I know D/A hardware on MCU's is pretty rare. > 5. have separate interrupt vectors not one for all That would definitely be a nice feature, and I think that they may be moving towards it. It looks to me like the '87x is designed to be forwards compatible with a future MCU that has 4 interrupt source, considering that it has the 3 empty blocks between the reset vector and the interrupt vector. > 6. in mplab add option to generate code like after choosing the part > "I2C" = on or off / serial port = on 9600 / it will generate the > code for it instead of keep looking at the data sheet looking for > registers. You could implement that yourself with macros if you really want the feature. > 7. have 2 independent PWM not 2 PWM with one timer running. Some MCU's have this. They're more expensive than PICs. Go figure. > 8. have 2 USART Once agian, some MCU's have this. Price is the difference. > 9. have SPI and I2C separate hardware instead SPI or I2C I know of at least one person who is claiming that it won't be long before MCU's come with an I/O FPGA so that you can configure whatever output devices you want. With that sort of thing, you could even change what I/O peripherals you had from reset to reset. > I am sure I will see some of this in the future > > Andre Abelian Some, yes, but most, probably not. The PIC series was designed, for the most part, to be a very inexpensive line of devices. They wanted to build for the common hobbyist that couldn't afford the the shiny new Motorola MCU. Most of what you want is available on the HC12. It covers at least 1,2,3(sort of),7,8 maybe 5 as well. I mention the HC12, because it sounds to me like you aren't really looking for a PIC. The HC912 (HC12 family) costs $20USD each in VOLUME like in the 1k region. They don't like to sell to individuals for some reason, and the MCU only comes in SMD format. Thus the difference in peripherals and core features. PICs have their place, and so do most of the other available MCU's, right down to the 10-pin 3x3mm 8051 clone. It just looks like you're not talking about PICs anymore. Just to summarize the HC12's features: Check here for a complete listing: http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/M68HC12B.pdf CORE: 68HC912B32 Features: 16-Bit CPU12 Upward Compatible with M68HC11 Instruction Set Interrupt Stacking and Programmer's Model Identical to M68HC11 20-Bit ALU Hardware multiplication and division Instruction Queue Enhanced Indexed Addressing Fuzzy Logic Instructions Multiplexed Bus Single Chip or Expanded 16/16 Wide or 16/8 Narrow Modes MEMORY: Flash: 32kBytes EEPROM: 768 bytes RAM: 1kByte PERIPHERALS: Timer: -8ch, 16bit I/O: -up to 63 pins (thats right sixty-three, no wonder I feel starved for I/O on the PICs) Serial: -SCI -SPI -2UART A/D: 8-CH 10-Bit PWM: -4-CH 8-Bit or 2 CH 16 Bit CAN: -2.0a -2.0b -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics