I'm ready to strangle the folks at Advin. I've been looking for a
reasonably priced device programmer for months and their brand had come
highly recommended. One of the key requirements was that it properly
handle small bipolar PROM devices.
Recently, a Pilot 143 came up on eBay. I wrote to Advin and asked them
explicity if it supported, e.g. 74S297 and 74S571. They responded by
telling me that the unit was so old that no device listing was available
and that the only way to tell was to download the software and see if
they were listed.
I did and they were. A week and $150 later, I was staring at a Pilot
143 in clean, functional condition. Imagine my surprise when I
discovered that it could neither properly read nor write the PROM
devices. Imagine my further surprise when the same technical support
folks who told me that the software was determinant NOW told me "..oh,
not all devices in the software are supported by the hardware and that
unit won't handle 74S PROMs". All of a sudden they DO have
supported-device data. Jerks.
I'm out $150 + shipping and still don't have the functionality I need.
So, onward and upward. Does anyone have experience with Andromeda
Research device programmers? This is a reasonably inexpensive unit
($290) that claims to support just about everything you could hope for.
Even better, they make the bare boards for the various adapter modules
available at dirt cheap prices, along with a parts list if you want to
build your own (example: the 74S bipolar module is normally $139 - board
is $39 and uses parts I have in the bin here).
Having been burned once, I thought I'd exercise due diligence this time
around. Anyone want a nice, clean programmer that will handle standard
EPROM and flash devices? Best offer over $100 (plush shipping) takes it.
Steve