Electronics > Repair
Vintage chip Programmer : " Micropross ROM 3000U "
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Vince:

--- Quote from: Paceguy on October 31, 2022, 11:01:27 am ---Hi Vince,
 I would highly suggest that you contact Matthieu Benoit at matthieu.benoit.free.fr. He has much info on older eprom programmers and could be of help to you. I too have picked up a couple of vintage programmers and Matthieu has been of great help. I believe that yours is not a stand alone one and has to be linked to a computer. Good luck with your project!

--- End quote ---

Thanks a lot, will contact him for sure !!  :-+

Vince:

--- Quote from: pcprogrammer on October 31, 2022, 11:02:18 am ---
--- Quote from: srb1954 on October 31, 2022, 10:55:18 am ---It is odd that there is a CRTC display controller chip (MC6845) on the CPU board but I don't see a socket for a video monitor on the rear panel.

--- End quote ---

Good catch :)

Maybe the board has been used in other devices too, that did have a display. By the looks of it there are a couple of chips (dip6 and dip8) not mounted, that might be for the video output.

--- End quote ---

Yes I think generally speaking there must have been other versions of this programmer, because some stuff is unused or unpopulated.

- On the CPU board I notice an empty foot print right next to the code EPROM, same size. So maybe provision for an extra EPROM, more code to implement more features.
- Still on the CPU board, right next to the CPU there is an equally large foot print that's unpopulated. Looking the pads / traces pertaining to it, it's clear that it's meant to host a large backup battery eh ?
- on the back plane PCB, there are two ribbon cables plugged there, + the PSU connector.  But I also see 3 unused connectors : a small 2 pin one next to the one that feeds the PowerON LED at the front.
Then there is a 2 row header that most likely meant for a ribbon cables. Then a third header, single row this one, for God knows what.  Maybe for a video output !!  >:D

Vince:
OK, Googled a bit more. Still can't find anything about the programmer or any programmer they might have made, but at least I found some info about the Manufacturer itself, I am less in the dark.

The bad news : it IS indeed French ! So all hopes of finding documentation or anything, has just vanished into the aether !
Will contact Benoit anyway of course, but I see on his Website that despite him being French hence local to Micropross like me, and despite his very comprehensive collection of devices... he doesn't have a single bit of kit from Micropross, so not looking good !  :palm:

So, what Google found me, is an old article from a local/French business oriented journal, " L'usine Nouvelle ".

https://www.usine-digitale.fr/article/le-lillois-micropross-s-adosse-a-national-instruments-pour-se-developper-dans-le-test-de-paiement-mobile.N359819

Article explains that Micropross is a little French company, based in Lille (big city in the far North of France, near the Belgian border), that was founded in 1979 when I was 2 years old. The subject of the article, which is dated 2015, is to say that in 2014 Micropross, who gave up on chip programming H/W and moved on to the design of other types of test equipment, sold itself / partnered with a much bigger... and American.. company. None other than NI / National Instruments !  In 2014 they were staffed with only 47 people, made 16 Millions Euros Gross revenue and 92% of that was made abroad !
Honestly I don't quite see how a 47 company could have designed a programmer that complex, money wise, and in a time frame that made sense... so I suspect that in the '80s when they developed this programmer, that had a few more people around...

Also found their website. It's got its own "identity" but as you can see from the domain name it's indeed part of NI....
Here is the link to their "About us" page which explains them joining NI, along with a pic of their HQ in France:

https://micropross.ni.com/company/


OK so that's "something" I guess. Ni being a big company, if they care one bit about "customer" service, maybe they can help me out here.... nope, not a chance. At best they will redirect me to Micropross which, again at best, will be kind enough to reply to me, only to say "sorry obsolete product we have no documentation left paper or digital, it's all long gone, goo luck and thanks for your interest in our products ! "......

Will try anyway, on a "nothing to lose" basis !  >:D



Zoli:

--- Quote from: Vince on October 31, 2022, 09:47:52 am ---...
- It's got two serial ports at the back , DB25, for I/Os.
...

--- End quote ---
My suspicion: one serial is for computer communication, one for terminal communication; so it would be worthwhile to check for Tx activity on the ports during startup.
Paceguy:
Matthieu Benoit may not have anything on his site concerning Micropross, but he may know someone who could be of help to you. I believe that he has a fairly wide network of contacts with people who are into programmers.
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