"I went and looked over the '932 data sheet and read about the SPI section. The data sheet is indeed a concise piece."

"Concise" is, of course, being politely. :)

"But via the Keil web site I found the '932 USers Manual which is a bit more filled out with details."

Yes, that's actually what I'm using and have erroneously been calling the datasheet because the actual datasheet is pretty useless to the point of me not referring to it for anything.

"After reading through this I could see no special issues regarding the SPI port. The value of 0xF7 going to the control register looks like that is what would put the part into a simple master mode."

That's my take on it. One could argue that this isn't rocket science and doesn't need much space in the datasheet/user manual. But when the thing just doesn't seem to work and I'm already uneasy about what I truly "know" about the part (since they mysteriously changed the default I/O port behavior as compared to typical 8052-compatible parts) I'm left feeling like perhaps there's something else they're not telling me or is buried somewhere in the user manual waiting to be discovered.

"So the "rest of the story" remains a mystery until Paul Harvey decides to cover this part on his radio program."

Yes, and I was going to hear Paul Harvey on my drive home tomorrow--but since I won't be driving home I'll have to trust that if someone hears Paul talk about SPI on the P89LPC932 that they'll let me know. :)

Regards,
Craig Steiner