> In the 70's I used a card that was available for the apple 2+
> computer that
> not only tested ic's but identified them. always thought that it
> was a good
> idea but have never seen anything like that for a PC. Does anyone know of
> one?

        Unfortunately that sort of thing will really only work on a particular
family of chips. For example, all TTL chips (74 series) have Vcc and Gnd in
the same spot, so identifying which chip is which is relatively easy. If
however you plonked in a 16F628 things would break down rather quickly.

        Generally IDing a chip isn't that hard, provided it is a relatively popular
chip, a quick look at the board will tell you where power is, the presence
of a crystal or some other device will give away some other important pins,
and it's use in the circuit will usually narrow it down to only a few
candidates. TTYL

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