in atmega8l-8pu ,what is 8pu?what is the significance of that?and also does 8l stands for low power operation?in atmega328p--PU....also what does pu means here?
but i still have a doubt...in datasheet it says for atmega8L-8PU we shud use 8Mhz crystal...but i used 16Mhz crystal and its working..so wats the point in that?can u explain???
Atmel sells the device guaranteed to work with 8MHz clock in the given voltage range.
Others have reported too that the device works with 16MHz but it works out of specs, no one can ensure that an internal section will not misbehave.
If you are experimenting then fine but would you use that for a commercial product?
It may overheat. Some peripherals may not work properly. It may malfunction. It may stop executing suddenly. It may act randomly. It may overheat and get destroyed. Or maybe nothing will happen. But since you're using it for a college project, why risk it? Run it at 8MHz. What compels you to run it at 16MHz? And if you must run it at 16MHz, use ATMEGA8-16PU. Better safe than sorry, don't you think?