I have been looking for an 8051 family micro-controller that came in a full 40 pin DIP package, operated at 5 VDC, had at least 64K of FLASH based program space, and had TRUE In System Programabillity (not the 'pretend to be ISP' or 'ISP capable if you can get it programmed in a parallel programmer with a boot loader program first' offered by Winbond / Nuvoton).

I believe all of the devices I list below also come in/came in a PLCC 44 package.

All's I came up with were some out of production Atmel parts that some distributors in China I've never heard of and am not sure I should trust claim to have, and a few others.

The Winbond / Nuvoton products are not hobbyist friendly as they ship from the factory totally blank - totally blank as in NO DEFAULT BOOT LOADER. You must first program them in a parallel programmer system because Nuvoton does not see the need for them to be shipped pre-programmed.

Ohhhh perhaps I can pay Nuhorizons or Arrow Electronics (Nuvoton distributors) $25 a part (for the dozen or so parts I want) to program them with the boot loader that a Nuvoton Field Application Engineer sent me - calling if their 'standard boot loader'. [ He probably should have added, 'this is the boot loader we'd pre-program into these parts if we had the slightest bit of intelligence' ].

These are the parts I found ... Anyone know of any I may have missed ? I really need it in a 40 pin DIP package, and want to run it at 5 V, and need at least 64K.


Atmel AT89C51ED2 - out of production
AT89S8252 - out of production

SST SST89E516RD

NXP P89V51RD2

Nuvoton W78E516B - Bogus ISP feature
W78E365A - Bogus ISP feature
W78ERD2A - Bogus ISP feature
W78E/L516A - Bogus ISP feature
W78L365A - Bogus ISP feature
W79E/L632A100 - Bogus ISP feature
W77E516A100 - Bogus ISP feature
W77E/L532A100 - Bogus ISP feature

Dallas DS89C450 - fast fast fast but pricey



So, do I seem a bit annoyed with Nuvoton ? I thought I found a good part with the Dallas DS89C450 (its machine time is probably the fastest ever for an 8051 - 33 nS), then I saw the price from Digikey - $22 apiece. Then I thought I found a good second choice in the family of Winbond / Nuvoton parts. They have a 4 stage core - giving you a machine cycle time of 100 nS at their top rated frequency. Then a just happened to stumble on a message at another forum - they are NOT ISP capable in their virgin state. The next best part I can find has a machine cycle time of 300 nS. But hey, I can program using an ISP method right after getting it out of the package from Digikey/Mouser.

And the data sheets come in English !