Using a NAT9914, with TI transceiver ICs, any solution to TI's EOL of SN75161B, SN75160B

[Rich_1234]

I'm currently using the NAT9914 in conjunction with Texas Instruments' SN75161BDW and SN75160BDW transceiver ICs.
Recently, Texas Instruments issued a Product Change Notification (PCN) announcing the end-of-life of GPIB IEEE-488 transceiver line. What alternatives exist to replace these transceivers? I'd appreciate any information on possible options.

[rolfk]

---

@Rich_1234 wrote:

I'm currently using the NAT9914 in conjunction with Texas Instruments' SN75161BDW and SN75160BDW transceiver ICs.
Recently, Texas Instruments issued a Product Change Notification (PCN) announcing the end-of-life of GPIB IEEE-488 transceiver line. What alternatives exist to replace these transceivers? I'd appreciate any information on possible options.

---

The chips you mention are still in Active mode on the TI side. And I couldn't really find any document in their document section that would state that they are going to be discontinued.

[Rich_1234]

I attached TI's PCN alert that provides the EOL with LTB notice.  

PDN Number: 20230516001.3  -  Description of Discontinuance: Texas Instruments, Incorporated (TI) is announcing the discontinuance of select RS485
devices.

Note: TI's recommended replacement "SN65C1167" has been confirmed by TI support as NOT a compatible replacement.  

[rolfk]

When I check the state on the TI site, it now correctly mentions a last buy status for the BN and BDW variants of these chips. However it still states that the BDWR variant is in active production. I also can't find the BDWR variants on your EOL list you attached.

Since the BDWR is the reel based package form of the SOIC-20 chip, that may be indeed not what you want to buy anymore as your company probably does not want to keep 2000 chips of each on stock. It would seem that TI basically is going the path of many other manufacturers, getting rid of direct sales to smaller end users who don't buy full reel packages. Distributors like Avnet/Farnell/Element14, Digikey or Mouser are supposed to be the purchase partners for such users from now on.

[Rich_1234]

We received an important update from Texas Instruments (TI). They've confirmed that the entire fab site for the specified DIE is now terminated, and all related packages (Reels included) are declared End of Life.  There's a discrepancy between the official PCN notification and the list of available parts shown on TI's website. TI acknowledges this mismatch, explaining that the website's information is currently inaccurate and will take some time to be updated.  

Reply from TI:
1. The parts that are shipped in a reel ("R suffix") are the same material  that is is shipped in a tube (sans "R" suffix)  - they should be EOL'd as well; I will check internally why they didn't show up on the PCN because to my understanding they should be there.  The site has a delayed response from issuance of PCN and reflection on TI.com - that's why it isn't shown on TI.com

2. We don't have a great replacement for this device - the one suggested probably won't work in most applications and there would most likely need to be redesign to support other devices. 

3. I'd highly suggest you reach out to your local field representative as they will be better equipped to handle supply questions and help you secure some of the material that we have as I am not really able to help on the supply side of things. If you don't have an assigned field rep - the best option is to secure as much inventory as reasonable for your application to buy time for a redesign. I 100% understand this is far from an ideal scenario - but this just hasn't been an investment area for us for a long time so we don't have great alternates to support this standard anymore. 

[rolfk]

Some delay between EOL declaration and proper status update on the website is of course possible but that should not be months but at most days. But inconsistencies in what is still available and what not, really sounds bad. If not even TI can track down all related part numbers that are affected by such a production site shutdown, who in the world can???

And I'm afraid NI won't be much help here. For them GPIB has been a legacy product for quite some time. Considering that GPIB is what made NI actually the company it is nowadays, this is quite dramatic, but it's the way of things. It has been replaced by other interfaces such as Ethernet and USB for a long time, and those are simply cheaper and more ubiquitous for quite some time even if the actual technology involved is really more complex.

I wouldn't be surprised if you soon receive an EOL from NI for their NAT based and maybe even TNT based chips. They definitely increased the price ridiculously in the last few years, probably preparing an exit strategy by signaling to everyone to look for alternatives as it simply gets to expensive to add to a product, and then to discontinue the products because of lack of sales volume.