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