Chip not available anymore – take a top product off the market?
There is an alternative for the Intel 80C187 processor. Here it is – a replacement, fully compatible concerning hardware interface, protocol and FPU properties.
The end of the Intel 80C187 processor came in 1996. Although it is in use in high quality and very successful products.
The available replacement circuit presents a way out of the fix between taking a successful product off the market and redesign of the electronics including adaptation of the application software. The old development tools may stay in the closet and the developers continue working on new projects as the software does not need to be modified one bit. Thus the replacement circuit avoids technical and commercial risks arising while modifying old systems.
There are two ways to integrate the replacement circuit into existing designs:
If the dimensions of the available piggy-back solution do not match, a mechanical adaptation of the expansion board may be considered alternatively prior to redesign of the original board for sensible numbers of units.
In any case no modification of the application software is required and a successful product remains on the market. This is the benefit of using the Intel 80C187 replacement circuit by Gesytec.
