Oh, Happy Day!

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Tue Feb 12 22:18:22 2002

Well, I'm not sure of what the differences are, but I have a SuperPro, i.e.
the ORIGINAL Superpro. The original product, the one I actually ordered and
paid for, was a UNIPRO, which, as it turned out, didn't work very well at all.
I pointed out all the parts that their device didn't program properly, and,
somewhat apologetically, they replaced it with this SUPERPRO, which, BTW,
isn't perfect either, but which certainly worked much better than the UniPro.

I also got the "SuperGen" software, which was a very costly add-on, enabling
the user to program his own algorithms, which is not a terribly useful tool in
and of itself, since the device manufacturers seldom allow that informatin out
the door except under close NDA, but it does allow you to add to the TTL/CMOS
testing capability, and, if you're a real glutton for punishment, testing of
processors, etc.

SInce the programmer is about a decade out of date, if you want to try this
software to see if it works for you, with your SuperPro-L, I can fix you up, I
think. It's really frustrating to find that they don't have a test procedure
for your favorite TTL/CMOS parts. Just take a look and see whether you have
the ability to test a 74LS597 or something of that ilk. Try to test a 74LS590
sometime ... That software will fix the shortfall if you figure out how to
use it. The manual is only marginally helpful.

Dick



----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Merchberger" <zmerch_at_30below.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 7:18 PM
Subject: Oh, Happy Day!


> Much to my wife's chagrin, I just found a new toy...
>
> I'd posted to a couple newsgroups & another email list on my continuing
> search for a decent *affordable* PAL/GAL/EPROM/Flash programmer, and
> someone suggested I check online vendors for refurbed "obsolete" items. I'd
> done that before with no luck, but that renewed my interest of looking
> around, so I googled a little more, and stumbled across a homebrew
> electronics FAQ:
>
> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/homebuilt-comp-FAQ/
>
> which had a nice long list of hardware vendors who sell just these kinds of
> things, at *way* too much money. But, I persevered, and when I got to the
> *last* web address on the list, low & behold... Paydirt!
>
> http://www.xeltek.com/
>
> They sell their refurbed programmers at muchly reduced prices, and had a
> decent stock of them, to boot! I needed one that was parallel port capable,
> as my main PeeCee & my laptop at work use expansion slots that aren't ISA.
> I got their Superpro L, 40-pin programmer & 74xx series logic tester for
> $185, plus SH&I rounded it to $200 and a few pennies...
>
> I couldn't resist clicking on "add to cart" and "checkout" - they take
> PayPal for payment as well as Credit Cards -- around 1400 hrs EST. I got a
> receipt email about 20 seconds later... and 3 hours later, another email
> that it's already been shipped, with a tracking number! :-)
>
> Yiippee!!!
>
> So, to make sure this stays on-topic (as 90+% of what I'm using this for is
> programming stuff for classic computers) if anyone has (or knows where to
> find) the datafile to program a fresh GAL to fix a gray Tandy Multi-Pak
> adapter (26-3024, IIRC) for CoCo3 usage, I'd be happy to burn new GALs for
> anyone needing them for cost of GAL & shipping. I have a Multi-Pak that
> needs updating, and I dunno if anyone else has this ability (or cares)
> anymore...
>
> Just one thing left to find... an SMD rework station for around the same
> ($200) mark... (again, so I can make boards for my CoCos...)
>
> (The same site has a sale on their SMDeasy station - $349, but that's still
> a wee bit out of my price range... time to save my pennies...)
>
> Well, just had to share my good fortune with y'all...
>
> Roger "Merch" Merchberger
> --
> Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers
> Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig.
>
> If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead
> disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.
>
>
Received on Tue Feb 12 2002 - 22:18:22 GMT

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