LMTRA@SRI-KL.ARPA (07/24/85)
Return-Path: <info-micro-request@BRL.ARPA> Received: from BRL-VGR.ARPA by SRI-KL.ARPA with TCP; Sat 20 Jul 85 19:39:41-PDT Received: from brl-tgr.arpa by VGR.BRL.ARPA id a019156; 20 Jul 85 21:54 EDT Received: from usenet by TGR.BRL.ARPA id a006912; 20 Jul 85 21:50 EDT From: bill%persci.uucp@BRL.ARPA . . >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 . . <<There's a lesson or two in here, somewhere.. <<-- <<Bill Swan {ihnp4,decvax,allegra,...}!uw-beaver!tikal!persci!bill Yes, indeed..No large production orders, no production. TI is not in the custom chip business... Leon Traister (LMTRA@SRI-KL.ARPA) -------
bill@persci.UUCP (07/29/85)
In article <119@brl-tgr.ARPA> LMTRA@SRI-KL.ARPA writes: >>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! [...] ><<There's a lesson or two in here, somewhere.. >Yes, indeed..No large production orders, no production. [name] is not in the >custom chip business... >Leon Traister (LMTRA@SRI-KL.ARPA) Leon, the point I was trying to make was that this particular component was in their catalogs for three years, never labelled "preliminary", yet they had never produced more than 10 prototypes. Certainly after a couple years they could have decided that there was no market and pulled it back, yet until we actually started pulling strings to get the part, there was *no* indication from *anybody* there that this was anything other than a part in full production. Not from the distributor, not from their own marketing people! They even had full spec sheets (from 10 prototypes??), and quoted availabilities that were downright lies! If they had just told us up front that they were not making the component, fine. I would have been disappointed, but I wouldn't have designed the **** thing in, costing my company time and money. (Remember, we were a small 20-man uC company, with small ordering volumes, not a giant like IBM. Our orders would never have been really large, not enough to start up an IC fab line.) -- William Swan {ihnp4,decvax,allegra,...}!uw-beaver!tikal!persci!bill