> My PICSTART PLUS has two things you so far have omitted: LEDs: one for
> POWER, one for ACTIVE. Most of the time, these are not needed. But then at
> some point, when things are going wrong, they immediately tell you "turn
on
> the power, dummy" or "the powers on, look elsewhere for your problem".

I suppose a power light could be useful.

> Plus
> the ACTIVE led tells you when it's completely safe to plug/unplug a target
> device.

I use a Picstart+ also, but don't find much use for the active light.  You
can get the same information by looking at the screen.  Still, it's just one
resistor and one LED to add.

> Come to think of it, an led that sits on the dataline from the PC
> also tells you that your PC is working insofar as getting data to the
> programmer.  This sort of thing helps the debug process when things aren't
> going right.

I can feel the creeping featuritis settling in.  The host software can tell
you just as well if it is communicating properly.

> The other comment is just wondering whether pulldowns are needed on the
> '628 output to keep the 13 volt drivers off during power up.  Devices
> 'shouldn't' be inserted before power of course, but sometimes the power
> gets cycled (ac line brownouts, etc.) so maybe this is a useful idea.
Maybe
> not.

I think it is.  Good point.


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