One religious opinion re the best way to deal with unused pins is

> ... to make all unconnected pins outputs and drive them low.

As religious opinions go it's one of the better ones.
It's easy and effective when everything works properly.
Some of the other religious options also have pros and cons.

Little endians* may suggest doing as above but driving all the pins
high. Specific implementations of some products may make that a less
good idea.Or not.

There is almost never a universal best solution to any problem. But
there are often some which prove to be very good ones most of the
time. Olin's falls in that category in this case. Always be aware that
some unexpected or unusual circumstance may occasionally make a
normally used best solution into a poor or even terrible one. ie
ALWAYS think through everything you do in a design, even if the result
is usually always the same. In fact, even if the result is ALWAYS the
same, so far.

But, in this case, leaving unused inputs floating will NEVER be
amongst the "usually best" or even the vaguely sensible solutions
available. Don't do it. Ever.



     Russell

* eggs, not registers.



> Some people will no doubt now chime in with all kinds of religious reason=
s
> to deal with unused pins differently, like adding resistors, never tie th=
em
> to power or ground, always tie them to ground, etc. =A0Don't worry about =
all
> the superstition-based electronics; it really is as simple as I said.
>
>
> ********************************************************************
> Embed Inc, Littleton Massachusetts, http://www.embedinc.com/products
> (978) 742-9014. =A0Gold level PIC consultants since 2000.
> --
> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> View/change your membership options at
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>

--=20
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
.