Conitec Galep-4 EPROM programmer reduction in support

• Conitec Galep-4 EPROM programmer reduction in support
  Posted by perdrix on 18 Jan, 2018 17:49
• I recently had a problem that the Galep-4 would not read the first byte of an FM18W08 correctly (the FM18W08 is Cypress' follow on to the Ramtron FM1808) it always returned x'66' when the device was configured as an FM1808.
  
  I believe that problem may occurr because the "Time to power up" of the FM18W08 is 10mS, while the FM1808 is ready to "Rock and Roll" after 1uS.
  
  I contacted Conitec about this as I knew they had a history of providing support for new devices without charge.  The support person said he'd need to speak to management about new device support for the Galep-4.
  
  I'm  sorry to report that a few days later Conitec came back and told me that they would no longer do new device support work for the Galep-4 free of charge.  The impression I got was that it would be charged on a time and materials (plus profit) basis.
  
  Luckily my Dataman programmer worked a treat!
  
  Cheers
  Dave
  
  
  
• #1 Reply
  Posted by philpem on 19 Jan, 2018 08:02
• To be fair to them, the Galep4 is a parallel port programmer they've been making for... maybe ten years or more?
  
  They still do "device on demand" for the Galep5: http://www.conitec.com/english/dod.php
  
  I've sent them requests for bugfixes and device additions but I'd have to go back through my emails to find out what the outcome was. I think I'm running a Galep5 though (it has a USB port, so it can't be a 4)
  
  If new device support is a factor, Elnec were pretty good at that while I was still using my PRePROM-02aLV. They were pretty responsive to bug reports too -- I found an EPROM which had the wrong ChipID in the database (an 8 transposed for a B in the hex code) and I had a workaround next-day, and a full fix with the next software release. I might be wrong but I recall something changing with regard to licensing which pushed me toward the Galep and not a Beeprog.
• #2 Reply
  Posted by perdrix on 19 Jan, 2018 10:06
• Hi Phil,
  
  I'm not castigating Conitec about htis - just letting folks know - it was pretty much inevitable that they'd reduce the support level at some stage ...
  
  Dave
  
• #3 Reply
  Posted by tridentsx on 19 Jan, 2018 12:27
• 
  I was going to get a conitec-5 programmer, before I bought I asked about support for 68HC711e9 and they said no we will not support this device or implement it in future. So I didnt by the conitec programmer.