BigEd wrote:
Empirically, this can't quite be so - I would think many people have just wired up a reset button and found it to work. If perhaps once in a while reset doesn't work, it would be natural and almost unconscious to press it again.
What I think you must mean, then, is that you yourself would be inclined to include such a chip, and you recommend that others do, in the case that they want a very reliable reset. You could perhaps say that it's a good idea to include such a chip.
I say this because I believe we don't need to encourage over-engineering, and we don't benefit the community by insisting that every project should be built as industrial grade.
Sorry Ed, but I'll have to disagree with you on this one. What you're suggesting is a flawed design path I don't agree with, e.g..
1- If it works most of the time, then it's fine... nobody should need anything better
2- Giving mediocre advice is acceptable
3- Doing things properly (called engineering) in your view is over-engineering... and not necessary
When someone new shows up, especially with limited or possibly no actual experience, encouragement is great thing. Giving them proper hardware design advice is another.
Based on your comment, every Commodore home machine was over-engineered, as all had a decent reset circuit. Personally, I found most Commodore machines to be on the skimpy side of proper engineering, mostly for cost reasons.
Doing things in a half-*** way can work under a limited set of conditions, but when it doesn't or is intermittent, a new user will tend to get more frustrated and might even give up, especially if the collective advice given here promotes poor design, engineering or build techniques.
A new user could also get confused and think that the software is the problem, which could also lead to a waste of time and more frustration.
Including proper design/engineering into your hobby does NOT make it industrial grade, not even close!