Using a TL866II+ EPROM Programmer on a Mac

The software that comes with the programmer is Windows-only and I use a Mac. So I needed to install the excellent minipro software instead.

Minipro

• brew install minipro
• Connect the device to the Mac with the supplied USB cable. I used a USB-A hub connected to the Mac's USB-C port and it seemed to work fine.
• Follow the excellent cheat sheet style tips here on how to use minipro.

GUI front-end for minipro

I installed a gui frontend for the minipro program called MiniPro GUI.app. It makes it easier to remember the various options.

=> MiniPro GUI.app

Update - installed latest minipro from source

Installing the latest version got rid of a nagging issue with minipro complaining about the ROM version in the programmer. It also includes some updates to the program and makes it much less chatty if you make a mistake with the options.

• brew uninstall minipro
• Follow the instructions for MacOS on the minipro gitlab site, with one small change:

• For me, git clone git@gitlab.com:DavidGriffith/minipro.git did not work. Instead, I used git clone https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/minipro.git, as indicated in the instructions for other platforms. Other than that, it installed perfectly.

Gigatron computer

Erasing a UV EPROM (like the one from my gigatron). I followed the suggestions from a YouTube video and bought a "PhoneSoap" device from Ebay for $12 including shipping. This is a device that floods your phone with UV to sterilize it. It took 2-3 10 minute cycles to erase the EPROM. This is probably because I did not pay attention to his suggestion to flip the device upside down and place the EPROMs directly on the bulb.

=> Using a PhoneSoap device to erase UV EPROMs

• For the Gigatron EPROM, this command tests whether it is blanked: minipro -b -p "M27C1024@DIP40".
• minipro -z -p "M27C1024@DIP40" will test for pin contact.
• minipro -p "M27C1024@DIP40" -w dev7.rom will program the EPROM with the listed rom.
• minipro -p "M27C102@DIP40" -m dev7.rom will verify the EPROM against the rom file.

Plank-6502 computer

There are three chips that need to be programmed for the Planck-6502 project.

=> Planck-6502

Programming the ROM

These are the commands that I used to successfully program the ROM.

minipro -u -p "AT28C256" -w fos-planck.bin -v # -u is unprotect; seemed to require

minipro -p "AT28C256" -m fos-planck.bin # compare with file on disk

Programming the ATF22V10C

minipro -u -p "ATF22V10C" -w Computer.jed # -u is unprotect

minipro -p "ATF22V10C" -m Computer.jed # compare against disk file

Programming the ATF16fV8

This also shows more options that can be used with minipro. Refer back to the excellent cheat sheet for more.

=> Minipro cheat sheet

minipro -d "ATF16V8B" # Identify device; use -p not -d for remaining commands

minipro -p "ATF16V8B" -z # Test that pins are correctly inserted in programmer

minipro -p "ATF16V8B" -b # Check that chip is blank; this does not seem reliable for some reason.

minipro -u -p "ATF16V8B" -w Processor-16V8.jed # write to GAL

minipro -p "ATF16V8B" -m Processor-16V8.jed # compare chip against file on disk