New 1702A EPROM Programmer

[Martin Eberhard]

If anyone's interested in a brand-new 1702A EPROM programmer, take a look at the message I posted at the Yahoo Altair site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altaircomputerclub/message/2599

I've designed and built a nice little programmer just for 1702A's, since none of the 'universal' programmers that I've seen can program 1702A's. I made a few extra printed circuit boards, which I am selling as a kit with manual and programmed PIC.

If you're interested, let me know.

Martin

[B Degnan]

Martin,

The programmer kit arrived today, I will keep you posted.

Thanks

Bill

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[Martin Eberhard]

Hi Bill,

Glad to hear it arrived.

I have revised the firmware since I sent you yours, with the following changes:

1. Fixed a bug with the ER command: with version 1.03, if you read only part of the EPROM, the ME1702A will read too many bytes. No big deal - it is rare that you might want to read a portion of an EPROM anyway. (Reading an entire EPROM into the buffer works fine with vers. 1.03.)

2. Added code that uses the A/D converters to measure the power supply voltages, and check them against worst-case bounds during reading and programming. The A/D converters are not precise enough to determine if the unit is correctly adjusted, but this should catch a gross error caused by a component failure, etc. and stop further damage.

3. Added code that tells you the checksum of the buffer, and also added a command that allows you to checksum an EPROM

4. (This is the most important improvement) I finally figured out how to recognize that an EPROM is installed backwards - so I added code that checks to see if the EPROM is backwards before programming. (attempting to program a backwards EPROM will cause a transistor or two to fail in the ME1772A.)

5. While I was at it, I added code that checks to see if the range of EPROM that you are programming is blank. If not, I print a warning, and give you the option to continue with programming.

So... You can either:

1.  Live with rev 1.03
2. Buy another programmed PIC from me at $3.00 plus shipping (I'll toss in a new manual that covers these changes)
   
3. Mail me your PIC and I'll reprogram it (probably with postage, this is about the same cost)
4. get yourself a PICkit 3 and I'll send you the files...

Let me know.

Cheers,
Martin