[Coco] Smart IO interfacing on the CoCo

[Neil Cherry]

On 4/25/20 1:55 PM, RETRO Innovations wrote:
> On 4/25/2020 12:35 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:
>> The real question, Jim, is: If you proto a design and it works well, will it still be
>> available a year from now for a 3rd run of 50?  Lots of this stuff gets replaced by
>> newer, glossier versions everytime you load the washing machine with last weeks
>> underwear.  We have, or did have, 5 year laws, but they seem to be routinely ignored.
>> Have they been sunsetted? IDK.
> 
> I think your comment is more directed to Allen, but I will say that I designed a unit
> with an AVR8 based ATMEGA1281 in 2004 and I am still able to source those parts new
> from Microchip (who bought Atmel a few years back) without a "Last Time Buy"
> commitment.  I think PIC has been reasonably good as well, at least for the PIC14/16/18
> line, not sure about the 24/32 lines. That said, I've had to redesign the same unit
> because it's a CoCoSDC-like drive for another platform, and 3M (who made the SD
> connector) EOLed it.

First let me add the ATMEL is now owned by Microchip. And Microchip is well known for not
EOL chips very much unless the have a replacement (excpetion the PIC17xx). But they do
make the old chips pretty expensive.

I don't know if this will change or if this applies to the ATMEL side of the house.

-- 
Linux Home Automation         Neil Cherry       ncherry at linuxha.com
http://www.linuxha.com/                         Main site
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Author of:    	Linux Smart Homes For Dummies