Jump to content

Frotz

Members
  • Posts

    146
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Contact / Social Media

Profile Information

  • Custom Status
    On a clear disc you can seek forever.
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    California

Frotz's Achievements

Chopper Commander

Chopper Commander (4/9)

6

Reputation

  1. I'm looking into the idea of using some sort of shim to allow a tl866-II Pro to program higher-voltage EPROMs using the open source minipro program.
  2. For you Linux users, you can easily compile Radioman's firmware updater for Linux (and maybe BSD as well). I sent in an update for the README.md file to https://github.com/radiomanV/TL866 that explains how.
  3. I did some more tests and concluded that the problem lies in the Linux multipro software. The Github issue on this is https://github.com/vdudouyt/minipro/issues/89for anyone who's interested.
  4. Thanks. I think the problem lies within either the TL866's firmware or in the Linux minipro software. I suspect trouble with the device database. We've found a few problems in there unrelated to this one.
  5. Would anyone with a known good programmer other than a TL866 (preferably something from the 1980s or 1990s) like to play with one of these questionable EPROMs? I'd like to get to the bottom of this problem and hopefully rule out bugs in the TL866 or the controlling software (https://github.com/vdudouyt/minipro).
  6. I have 15 ST-branded M27C256B UV-erasable EPROMs and a Minipro TL866 chip programmer. The chips came as used off Ebay. When I try to program these chips, I get this: $ minipro -p "M27C256B @DIP28" -w cleurom2.bin -S Found Minipro TL866A v03.2.80 Chip ID OK: 0x208d Writing Code... OK Reading Code... OK Verification failed at 0x200: 0xc8 != 0x00 I thought that this was due to this particular variation of the 27c256 requiring more current than the Minipro burner could provide. So I bought a cable that has two male USB type A plugs on one end and a female type A jack on the other end. I've used variants of this for older hard drive enclosures that needed the extra current. This didn't help in the slightest. All of them fail programming in exactly the same way. Erasure goes fine. I've programmed several 27c256 chips from Texas Instruments with no problems. What's going on here? Am I better off simply trashing these chips?
  7. Some of you may have heard of the P112 single board computer kit and have been wondering when more will be available. If you don't know what the P112 is, it's a single board computer that uses the Zilog Z180 microprocessor to run CP/M and similar operating system. There's a flavor of Unix for it called UZI-180. This is a kit, that is, you solder it together yourself. I've started a Kickstarter project to finance a new run of PCBs and parts. See http://661.org/p112/ to read about the P112 and download the user manual. A kit is $100 with $12 extra for shipping outside the US. This gets you the board with surface-mount parts soldered on, a boot ROM, two CDs full of stuff, and two serial port pigtails. I didn't want to make complete kits this time round because my costs for doing so have gone way up. Instead I have prepared a shared project on Mouser.com with most of what you'll need. Two parts need to be obtained from Digikey instead. The Kickstarter.com page is http://www.kickstart...rd-computer-kit. Feel free to email me with any questions.
  8. Cigarettes are like cheap malt liquor to the fine wine of a cigar or pipe

  9. Cigarettes are like cheap malt liquor to the fine wine of a cigar or pipe

  10. I figured out the "other node" business and put the Vectrex back together. The vector is crisp and bright. The buzz is much-reduced, still present, but acceptable. One significant problem that remains is that the picture shakes, particularly in the bottom-right (right where the reserve ships are in Minestorm). According to the service guide, the likely culprits are some ceramic caps on the power board, a ceramic cap on the CRT board, and an op-amp underneath the heat sink on the power board. I'm tempted to replace all of these. Has anyone here sucessfully done repairs on the stuff underneath the heat sink?
  11. That's the one. This text is clear as mud. Let's see if I have it right... Put the center conductor of the coax in the hole on the logic board where the audio signal was (going in from the TOP). Solder the shield to the leftmost pin of the volume pot (when viewing from the rear). Solder one end of the 14ga wire to the "same node where the audio cable was connected to.". Run the coax to the rear of the logic board, underneath, then out again on the left (when viewing from the rear) to meet with the backside of the power board. Solder the coax to the power board from the back. Solder one end of the 14ga wire to the power board at the hole labeled G2. What is this node that the audio cable was connected to? The only connections I see there are the signal (to which I solder the center of the coax) and a hole that doesn't connect to anything. G2 is clearly a ground. I can't figure out where the other end of the wire needs to go.
  12. The one where you also replace the audio cable running from the logic board to the power board with a length of coax.
  13. I finished replacing the electrolytic caps in my Vectrex and moved on to replacing the audio cable with coax to prevent buzzing. I'm having trouble with that part. How do you solder the coax to the underside of the logic board? The place where it needs to go is up against the on-off/volume pot.
  14. What happened to this effort? I'm in need of a test cart too. If I could find a source of cartridge PCBs and shells, that should do the trick.
  15. I was on the preorder list, but had to bow out for a brief emergency. Are you taking orders again?
×
×
  • Create New...