Dear Kai,

That was a nice summary on MGP ( massive ground planes).

Yes the PCB guy does say that it increases the effort to shift most traces to one side to accomodate a MGP. Anyway now I will not let him go that easily - I dont think he reads this forum - but if he does so much the better !

Actually such small but very valuable tips gradually have upgraded the basic design and quality of the PCBs that I am able to realise - Thanks to all of you giants and your suggestions. The major changes I can cite are :

* NO MCU without a reset controller.
* All RS232 com with only a MAX 232 even if it can be achieved with discrete components.
* 100n caps for all IC power traces and as close as possible to the chip.
* The advantages of going ISP.
* Conformal coating for all PCBs.
* Improved coding with plenty of relevant comments based on reading some good samples here.
* Plenty of de-bugging tips even in the absence of tools like logic analyser.
* The multitude angles that a problem can be approached and not the only one that you "believe" is correct...

The list is endless. This forum is without doubt the best place for 8051 and its followers.

Raghu