jai

[Brian Scott Haskett]

On Thu, 5 May 1994 Steve=Ravet%Prj=Eng%PCPD=Hou at bangate.compaq.com wrote:

> I would like to make a suggestion:  I think the topic of electronically 
> controlled ignitions fits in well with efi, and would like to see that topic 
> covered here as well (mostly because that's the first thing I would like to 
> add to my car).  Please no flames, but perhaps a yea or nay response to see 
> what the general consensus is.

Sounds fine to me.

> In article <1gc6-pr at dixie.com> hotrod at dixie.com writes:
> >[The EFI system is pretty simple.  A dallas semi DS5000 hybrid supplies 
> >all the smarts.  This is a pretty amazing part.  It contains an
> >8052-like processor, ram, "rom" (battery-backed ram), timers, watchdog
> >timer and some other goodies in a double height 40 pin dip.  It has
> >3 8 bit I/O ports and a serial port.  Best of all, you program it
> >records into the serial port.  when the END record is received,
> >the chip reboots and starts running the program as if it were in
> >ROM.
> 
> The main advantage I see here is that no eprom programmer is required.  In 
> fact, if you have a laptop of some sort, you can compile/reprogram without 
> ever leaving the car.  The built-in I/O ports are nice too.  And there are 
> plenty of 8052 compilers/assemblers out there.

That sounds good-- the part about no eprom programmer.  Many of us don't have
access to all kind of fancy electrical stuff, and the cheaper we can keep the
whole thing the better.  I like the idea of being able to change the program
on the fly without having to burn chips and such.  I would like to do some
data analysis with a laptop, though, and I think that whatever hardware we
chose should allow for easy transfer of collected data via serial port.   I
don't know a whole lot about the hardware side of this, but is that a genuine
concern?   

The main reason that I mentioned a laptop in an earlier post is because
	1) they are readily available
	2) parts are cheap
	3) used laptops are cheap
	4) it's very easy to find an modify software on a laptop

Of course, using a laptop to control the EFI would not be desireable once
the system is completely set up and everything is running good.  Telling the
passenger to be careful of the box under his feet isn't too practical. :)

-Brian