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Boards on the way!
04/10/2024 at 08:50 • 5 commentsI'm super happy to announce boards are now on the way - I'm also a bit scared they won't work, but at least in theory they should work.
And if they do, that will officially make them the cheapest 21V EPROM programmer on the planet @ < 10$ 🎉👾Anyway, here's how they're supposed to work:
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Slow and steady wins the race
03/30/2024 at 19:24 • 3 commentsThings are moving along and I managed to program both a W27C512 and a M2732A - the latter requires a 21V programming pulse, so if we can program that, we're probably ready to get a move on with a PCB.
6502 assembly code has enough routines to check ID's, erase EEPROMs (including 14V erase), and program with either 1-255ms programming pulses or 100us.
I'm confident the hardware works, so now it's just a matter of committing traces to a PCB. Spending a lot of time getting the layout right, at the moment.
I have a sponsorship lined up for PCBs and components, so the first 100 or so will be available cheap or really really cheap.
Oh - and I also messed around with undoing my new 21V EPROM programming skills. Have a look if you haven't seen the video.
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Registers! >>> Speeed boost!
09/12/2023 at 11:13 • 1 commentSchematic has been updated and pushed to Github. Instructions added here.
Switching from shift registers to plain registers and muxing the data bus we should get a pretty good speed boost. Thanks to @Ken Yap for the upgrade idea!
I've yet to finish routing the PCB but the concept is ready for some actual testing.
Time to stress test it on a breadboard! :) -
Status update! #self.replicate
08/07/2023 at 22:26 • 0 commentsThe project started a few months ago as a forum thread on 6502.org
The project has taken a bit of shape, I've made the initial schematic and started designing the PCB. Before finishing the PCB the project needs a bit more time on the breadboard.
The idea is sound and deserves the work to be put in - even if it ends up being a bit slower than the commercial programmers. Cheap and easy to make is the goal!
Arduino seems like a reasonable platform to write some code for, but on the other hand it might be a lot of fun to make the #65uino self-replicating by letting it program it's own ROMs - especially since it has no problem reading out the whole ROM that's currently in the socket - but maybe thats more a log for that project :D
I'm aiming at 1/8th the price point of a commercial programmer(in parts) - we'll see if that's possible.
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We need a cheap ROM burner!
08/07/2023 at 21:49 • 0 commentsFrustrated with the fact that you can easily get a bag full of W27C512 EEPROMs for single digit $'s, but you need a 70$ programmer I decided to make this!
It's supposed to plug into a host dev board, like a #65uino or other dev board and should program a wide range of electrically erasable (or just erasable) ROMs.
I'm not sure how much I'll have ready for the 2023 Hackaday Prize, but it's still a good excuse to get some open hardware out the door!
P.S. Software not included for now