i notice the modern devices clones use a resonator also.
i have a boarduino and have a problem using a max72xx that does not happen on my arduino NG and seems to be related to the serial input i have feeding the boarduino. im basically sending the arduino bytes that it uses to light up appropriate rows, leds, etc.. when i have the boarduino generated patterns itself its fine. but when i have it parse the serial data i end up with 'noise' on the display. like its occasionally missing or inserting extra commands into. this goes away when i swap it for an arduino NG.
i noticed it uses a resonator instead of a crystal and am wondering if i bought a 16mhz crystal if there was anything preventing me from swapping the resonator for it? is there a reason they are using resonators? it seems like crystals cost about the same.