Date   : Mon, 09 Feb 2004 11:06:37 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: EPROM programmers/copiers?

On Mon, 2004-02-09 at 10:08, Matt Callow wrote:
>  --- Richard Kilpatrick <oldcomputers@...> wrote: > My
> girlfriend just offered to buy me an EPROM
> > programmer/copier. What's 
> > the most suitable device and how much do they cost?
> > 
> > I found a couple of things on eBay, but being somewhat
> > braindead about 
> > these things, I have no idea if they're any good for what I
> > want - 
> > copying elderly EPROMs to back them up before they die :)
> > 
> > Richard
> > -- 
> I bought a MQP 200 Programmer from yahoo auctions a few years
> ago for 25 quid. It works fine for beeb EPROMS or backing up old
> ROMS. It has a serial interface, so I guess you could even drive
> if from a beeb, although I use an old DOS PC.

Mine's an Elan programmer that also does PAL chips, same sort of setup
though. I've not tried programming with it yet, but it's been great for
getting data off ROMs - it came from another collector for the princely
sum of zero pounds. As with yours it has a serial interface for control
and data transfer (although all control can also be done from the front
panel)

Only downside is that I don't think it knows about anything bigger than
a 27256 device, but it's fine for old 80's micros. It has a couple of
populated cartridge slots which hold all the device data, but of course
finding any newer revisions than those that I have is not exactly
likely...

> (But wouldn't it be easier to copy the EPROMS directly from the
> beeb using a sideways ROM copy program?)

I imagine Richard's in the same situation as me though, and has a few
non-BBC machines lying around too. Plus I wouldn't chance anything acked
up on a BBC floppy, so once they're on the BBC the still need to be
transferred somewhere and onto more reliable backup medium.

Upshot is, yes old programmers can be fine for this sort of work - and
cheap too - but they don't come up that often :-(

cheers

Jules