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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!tikal!cholula!persci!bill
From: bill@persci.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.arch,net.micro
Subject: Re: "If I had a chip that..."
Message-ID: <245@persci.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Jul-85 10:30:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: persci.245
Posted: Fri Jul 19 10:30:49 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jul-85 04:19:40 EDT
References: <834@turtlevax.UUCP>
Reply-To: bill@persci.UUCP (Bill Swan)
Organization: Personal Scientific, Woodinville WA
Lines: 28
Keywords: net.digital
Xref: linus net.arch:1368 net.micro:9846
Summary: 

>Are there any parts that you've seen in IC manufacturers data books or
>spec sheets that are real hot, but not out yet? 

Yeah. And some not-so-astounding ICs, too! I got badly burned by TI about 3
years back. I needed an RS-422 (differential) transceiver for a *cheap*
(hardware < $20) local-area network interface I was designing for a little
microcomputer company, and found a marvelous 8-pin DIP transceiver from TI
that fit the bill perfectly. It was even in a three-year old catalog and *not*
labeled "preliminary", with a complete set of specs. The quotes from
TI?/the distributor? were low, so I designed it in. (..time passes..) Time
to buy some parts. The distributor can't get them (fast enough, they say), so
we call the factory. Many (transferred) phone calls later, we get a marketeer
who says that they have shut down the line right now, but will start it up
again in a few months. (..more digging..) We finally get a high mucky-muck in
TI, who says he knows where some parts are, and will send them to us so we
can get our prototype networks running. The parts arrive, 10 of them, labeled
"1", "2",...,"10". Very curious. We call TI.  It turns out that they scrounged
through their engineers' desks to send the entire world's supply of this part,
the only 10 ever made! Remember, this was a three-year old data catalog (we
found the part in their latest book, too!), not marked "preliminary", and with
complete specs!!

We quickly changed the design to use two 14-pin DIP driver/receivers, available
from several sources!!

There's a lesson or two in here, somewhere..
-- 
Bill Swan 	{ihnp4,decvax,allegra,...}!uw-beaver!tikal!persci!bill