932A1 vs. 932 as Device

[Philip Garman]

I noted that a couple changes occured between the original 932 and the 932A1.  Is the bootloader backwards compatable? (IE: still accept TX and RX sent data).  Since our hardware configuration connects TX and RX still, should we be using the old 932 and NOT the 932A1 for the device?

[Andy Ayre]

You should always select the correct device in Flash Magic. The LPC932A1 device is shown and you should select that rather than the LPC932 if that is what you are using. Most of the protocol is the same and the hardware interface for the pulse entry method is identical, however the boot vector may have changed. Using the wrong device might render your devices unable to return to ISP mode.

[Philip Garman]

I realize that the appropriate device should use the appropriate programming option.  However, I'm wondering if I MUST update hardware.

The original ISP used 5 pins (Vdd, Vss, TxD, RxD, and RST).  This part was replaced with the 932A1, which also uses 5 pins, albeit different ones (Vdd, Vss, P0.4, P0.5).  NOTE that the data pins did get changed.

I would think Philips would have wanted both parts to be backwards compatible or else customers would have to change their hardware to use these two new pins.  

Is it possible that the HARDWARE pins are somewhat backwards compatible with the minor update to the LPC932?

Philip

[Andy Ayre]

The LPC932A1 datasheet (20 July 2004), section 8.27.8 "In System Programming" states that the following five pins are used: VDD, VSS, TXD, RXD and /RST.

I think you are confusing ISP with ICP. ICP uses P0.4 and P0.5 and is a different protocol to ISP. Flash Magic works with ISP and requires an ISP bootloader in the device. ICP is implemented at a lower level and does not require a bootloader. However in order to use Flash Magic with ICP you need an ISP to ICP bridge. The LPC932A1 implements both ISP and ICP so you can choose the method you want.