Farshid, Peter,

Apologize in advance for windy post.

Very neat story, told well. Great ref Farshid!

Peter,

I still am surrounded by Databooks, fewer every year. They are rapidly becoming memoriabilia.

I like machine readable Data; i cut, paste, re-order, summarize, and index into my own documents. Really saves time. In two ways; succinct reference, and a lot of retention after having done this.

I came to the '51 when i was using 80188 and 8048.

My first thought was the 8051 as an "elevated" 8048. Still had funny clk machinery. Did integrate the "wish list" of peripherals. Also upwardly mnemonic compatible.

As you remember, the data was comprehensive. Also, unlike the 80188's i had, they performed as published.

With all the integration, the first job was bit-banging a 14-bit downlink data format into ANSI serial for input to a Burroughs main frame. A single chip solution.

This "organizationally" amortized better than simply burning different "proms" for the Burroughs serial data link adapter.

The contemporary "8052" platforms are an "embarassment of riches". There is a model to do, just about, what ever is need done.

I've had some frustration as low power came last in capabilities.

Until the last few years you had to "rig" an 8051 into ultra low power using the clk or stop execution with power down to get lessen the power requirement to where you have "bragging rights".

regards,
p