Chip makers commonly lie about a chip’s features. Well, maybe not lie exactly, but omit certain facts. You see, embedded processors with different features or peripherals often aren’t different chips at all. Vendors will produce a single silicon design but then package and market it as different chips. For example, one version might have two UARTs and Ethernet while another version has five UARTs and no Ethernet. Chances are, they’re really the same chip. Sometimes the “missing” features are disabled with a laser or by blowing a fuse. Sometimes they’re disabled with firmware. As often as not, they aren’t disabled at all, but just aren’t mentioned on the data sheet. Programmers have occasionally found “secret” peripherals that aren’t connected and aren’t mentioned in the manuals.So, if you’re a geek like me, head over to Embedded.com and take a look at the article.
Embedded Systems Programming has an article titled Silicon 101 by Jim Turley. It’s an interesting read about how microchips are made. Turley writes about a few things that even I didn’t know about, such as the marketing of sometimes identical chips as chips with entirely different feature sets.
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