Help with eprom programmer

That's the plan. I'm going to sell the burner in favor of a wellon vp-290. I figure I shouldn't waste any more time with dead technology anyway.

 

You haven't specified what chips you want to burn, but maybe a TL866CS is suitable for your needs? USB, has drivers for Windows 7/8 (both 32+64 bit), quite cheap, but is limited to EPROMs with 40 pins or less.

 

27C801

 

That is on the supported device list of the TL866

 

I'm not sure if I want to go the cheap route again. The TL866 seems pretty solid, but limited too. The Willam GX-4X or the Wellon VP-290 are more substantial machines.

 

Exactly. They're $100 or so, you can get adapters to handle a huge number of parts, and they handle virtually everything someone who wants to destroy a bunch of carts to make repros would want! It handles virtually all old EPROMs you'll get your hands for for NES carts, it supports the 16bit EPROMs for the Genesis, and if you can manage to get the damn thing to cooperate it'll program those crappy SNES TSOP flash chips for drop in replacements.

By the time you're hitting the ceiling on it you'll be finding out that fancier programmers are $500+ and that you'll want to save your pennies for a $1000-2000 programmer if you're hardcore about this sort of thing.

 

Exactly, that sounds perfect. I'm just a lone hobbiest looking for something to tinker with. If I ever need a real piece of quality hardware I just contact Helder

 

I offer EEPROM/EPROM/flash/PIC/whatever flashing services but it can be a real PITA to find out the part you've been shipped loses charge in transit. Best to do it yourself unless it's a one off project.

 

What do you mean with "dead technology" ?

I have a dirt cheap parallell willem running just fine using a dirt cheap PCI parallellcard.. And its in a decent enough
machine, my main workstation. And its not running Windows either.

The same card also works fine with my (modded) commodore drives for insanely quick disk imaging/etc.
Watch out for the shitty "PRINTER PORT" USB and PCI cards tho, they will never work.

The easiest way is not always the most beneficial way when it comes to this hobby, in my humble opinion.

 

Solid advice. I think I may have just gotten the wrong card and/or cable.

 

I agree with Sonny and APE about the GQ-4X. Great programmer. True USB and adapter's aren't expensive if you compare them to the prices of the official Xeltek and Elnec ones.

I know you said in your posts that you have a small budget, but if it ever expands, the another option (But can be risky) is you can get a Xeltek 610p for around the $250-$300 price range from aliexpress (vs. $600-$700 from the official US webstore). They might be clones though or were just sold cheaper in China and they are flipping them, but the 600p i bought from aliexpress worked well for the most part. Use cheap aftermarket universal adapters for any SMD IC programming you might need in the future ($10-$20 for most), and have a wider range of supported devices in case you ever need it. Just in case something goes wrong though as it can happen when buying from china, buy at your own risk.

Another reason for the "Buy at your own risk" and the "Worked for the most part" comment is that i had a problem with the 600p (Predecessor of the 610p). While it programmed everything well, Saturn BIOS chips, DC BIOS chips, PAL/GAL devices and the sort, i had a problem with programming a certain EPROM that would cause my programming software to lockup everytime i tried to program that EPROM so i had to resort to using my GQ-4X. The reason I'm mentioning this option though, is these bugs might be fixed with the 610p but again, at your own risk if you pick one of these up.

I switched to the BeeProg2C now though recently because my 600p didn't support the MX29F1610MC-10 (Dreamcast VA0 Chips) and wanted to get into NAND devices. Long story short is, i had a problem prgramming them with the 600p even though it's listed in their "Supported devices" list and then when i contacted Xeltek, they said it wasn't supported and i can upgrade to the 6100. Kill your business 101 right there.

 

What Windows you use? Vista 32/64? How does it identify the port on the pci-parallell card?

What you maybe need is http://www.benryves.com/products/remappediodll, or the 64bit one at http://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2010/10/sivava-willem-eprom-programmer-on-windows-7-64-bit/

See the information at the above links aswell..

 

I ended up buying the GQ-4X, but thanks for the info!

 

I prefer the TL866 to the GQ-4X (I have owned both, as well as my beeprog+ I currently use).

The willem is much more buggy, however it does support a few more chips you are likely to use in the retro gaming area.

 

x

 

The GQ-4X seems much more friendly for new hobbiest. I got the adapter too so hopefully I have all I need for my small projects.