AVR-Chat

At 06:39 PM 3/30/2005, Graham Davies wrote:


>--- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, Dave VanHorn <dvanhorn@d...> wrote:
>
> > ... if there's no operational
> > difference, why would the customer
> > differentiate?
>
>I'm kind of surprised to have got to this point in the discussion. I
>thought my point would have been taken and now I think I'm just going
>to state the obvious and nobody will remember how we got here and what
>the hell I'm going on about.
>
>The reason you care about design quality is that you can trust it. A
>poor quality design may work most of the time for some people and all
>of the time for most people.

I know that. Remember, I do this sort of thing for a living too.
But, when the customer is looking at the web page, deciding which to buy, 
you need to give him something to hold on to, to make the right decision.

I have gone to the point of adding lead weights in some products to make 
their perceived value higher.

The issues you are talking about are all things you discover (or not) after 
the purchase decision has been made.

>But, when you get into a tight spot you
>want to be able to trust your tools. You want tools that are designed
>to work in every reasonable situation. You want a JTAG interface that
>keeps on working if there is a lot of noise on the supply and does not
>inject noise into a circuit that is sensitive to supply noise. You want
>the interface to produce absolutely no EMI and to be insensitive to EMI
>when the test system generates it. The Atmel JTAG ICE probably meets
>these criteria. For $300 it should. If you don't want to pay $300, you
>might still prefer a good design to a shoddy one.

For one, I wasn't aware of these differences before I bought my olimex 
units, or all other things being equal, I would not have gone that way.
Put the data on your web site!  Show both boards, and explain the differences.
Have someone test the operating voltages and noise immunity. (it's better 
if it comes from a third party)
I'd be happy to review your unit, if you like, or I'm sure there are others 
who are able and willing.