Hunting a Replacement EPROM Programmer

Well I've been away for a little bit only to try and get back in the swing of things to find... my GQ-4X is as good as dead. As a result I am after a replacement! Although I guess it dying does explain the strange dumps I was having... *snicker*

Perhaps my issue was that I just didn't throw enough money at it. Haemorrhaging money usually fixes most things, right? Needs to do run of the mill programming with 8 and 16-bit chips (42 pin) and *maybe* PICs. I am a casual user - the same way I play Angry Birds and Bewjewelled on the old iPad.

Any suggestions? Hit me up with your favourites! Any and all suggestions are welcome!

 

From your description of usage, the TL866 is plenty?

 

Quite possibly! I do have one and it was looking promising until it didn't read my maskrom of Sonic 1 for the Mega Drive... which I thought was odd, these things don't require an adapter for 16-bit chips do they?

On dumping a Sonic 1 maskrom (40-pin), why wouldn't I be able to get anything out of it? Surely I'm just doing *something* wrong when I am reading the chip. I've selected 27C4096 (1mbit) as the chip type and all I get are FFFF FFFF, etc! Any pointers?

 

Well, well, well! I went with the Wellon VP-390, locally sourced which should be great for warranty if anything does go wrong!

Thanks for the help! I always buy more than I need in case I ever expand my horizons!

 

does the Wellon VF390 support more chips than the TL866?

 

Sorry, that was a VP-390. Damn phones and their autocorrect! Why is VF anymore correct than VP?!?! But to answer your question... around 21,000+ chips supported on the VP-390 vs 13,000+ chips supported on the TL866. I would consider this more a complete replacement for the GQ-4X than a replacement for the TL866. The TL866 has a great little feature set and I'll be sure to keep it by my side! I can't find a hard number on the GQ-4X supported chip number, I swear it used to be somewhere!

 

It also costs quite a bit more than the tl866. I looked at the vp980 or something like that back when I was in the market too.

Didn't like the software much though for the price it cost. Their support is also pretty non existent (like all Chinese made programmers), which isn't so bad when its only $50, but when you are entering pro grade costs I want mors support for adding devices etc.

 

Yep, definitely cost a bit more than the old GQ-4X, but once you factor in adapters it comes closer... but the biggest reason for going with the VP-390 was stock in the same country. Getting things posted to Australia works great, posting things out... errr not so much.

Out of curiosity, what has been the best software (and price of hardware) you've come across? Willem? TOP? Or something much more exquisite that I will probably never lay my grubby little hands on

 

Best software I've used is the elnec/Dataman stuff.

@Zer0-2k11 agrees too, he replaced his xeltek with one too.

And their support is pretty good, I've sent chips to them to be added to the software, found bugs reading/writing that were fixed within a day or 2.

 

I'll keep it at the back of my mind for when I evolve into a super programmer like you gents... or if I get some cash, lots of cash Thanks again for the feedback, it's good to be able to read 16-bit chips again.

Also you are spot on about the interface, it is nothing spectacular, even compared to the GQ-4X... but it works and that sovles my main issue!

 

Can I ask what happened to your GQ-4X. There's a guy on ebay selling them for $150 AUD locally. Postage from the US is ridiculous. Still not sure if I'm ready to spend that kind of money just yet. Maybe if I get better at soldering

 

It stopped being able to recognised at startup my the software. Tried it on a few different machines, same thing. Search me why it decided to die just after the GQ-4X4 arrived! Turns out I did look for a local GQ-4X4 but eBay zapped me a bunch of 4 wheel drive junk, looks like the little GQ was buried inside that

You'll get better! Everyone does! Unless they get old, then they get worse. Uh oh, I'm getting old! *sight degrades* *steady hand disappears*

 

Ugh. Willem are horrible. Leap are probably the best Chinese programmers - Dataman used to rebadge them but I'm not sure if they do now.

Data I/O are great, but the licence on the modern (running some way back) ones sucks and makes them reeeeeally expensive. Xeltek I've not used, but they boast the most devices supported at nearly 100,000. Elnec's more expensive units aren't far behind, and they're the best - although you're looking at 400-2,000 Euros. I don't like that they've started making their newer units so that you need more adapters for certain chips than you would have previously. Dataman have gone down a lot in my estimation of late, which is a shame as they're the distributor for Elnec in the UK (rebadged). I think most of their products are rebadges of someone else's stuff.

 

Found your trigger! I knew someone would pipe up!

Too bad I don't program chips for a living in some way, shape or form or I might be able to justify one of those beasts!

 

Okay thanks. Shame it died :/ Hope the new one lasts longer
Yeah the joys of getting old.

 

I guess it had a good two years, although I wasn't using it that often

 

I'm using TOP3000. Decent programmer. Interface is weak though but it gets the job done.

 

TOP3000, was the TOP3100 a relatively recent direct replacement? I've also decided to pick up another GQ-4X just because they are so nice. Now I have more programmers than slices of bread.

 

For all the money you have spent, you could have just watched ebay for a used dataman/elnec etc. The model the same as mine tends to sell for around 300 when they pop up.

 

Yep, you're absolutely right! I might give some of them away in a raffle perhaps? Or are raffles more for meat trays and boats?