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Some old school instruments showing how it's done (HP 3325A and Fluke 8506a)

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joeqsmith:


--- Quote from: SilverSolder on February 25, 2021, 02:49:14 am ---No, I stopped at the disassembly part (and quickly ran out of Aspirin).
--- End quote ---
That's too bad.  I'll have a look after I read up on the 8080.


--- Quote from: SilverSolder on February 25, 2021, 02:49:14 am ---...In other news, I downloaded the TL866ii software and noted that it actually still has all the high voltage chips in its database (i.e. the same chips as the previous models), opening the possibility for adding an external Vpp supply for 21V and 25V chips, it seems.

--- End quote ---
:-DD  I put mine back in the box.  Even if I invested time to improve the hardware, the software is just too limited and I really don't like how unreliable it seems to be depending how fast you run commands.   Now that you have that new programmer, what do you think of it?   I may end up buying a decent new one again.   

SilverSolder:

I would say it is a quality item, but I only have TL866 to compare it with!  :D

There is a list of the chips the little guy supports here:  https://www.batronix.com/files/pdf/BX32PBarlino-II-DeviceList.pdf


Batronix have also made a pretty cool feature on their web site:  type in a chip, and it tells you which programmers support it (even if not their own!)...   Probably only covers current models...
https://www.batronix.com/shop/programmer/chip-support-search.html

joeqsmith:
It's odd that even for our little 4-bit part, there are few options listed.  It looks like for it to handle the old Altera, Xilinx CPLD and serial proms, I would need to up my game.   I still have some old project that use these parts and am thinking that if I am going to spend the money, I want to support all of my past projects.   

Thinking of the 4-bit part,  I should have added the W3 jumper.   Remember when I talked about U24 having the A13 pin routed to possibly support a larger part rather than a NC?  Well, as we can see, this jumper was added to support that feature.   The memory map is still linear.  U24 still acts as the boot ROM.  Everything else is just moved up.  It's good when things make sense.

I wonder if any of their meters ever took advantage of this larger part. 

U24 0x0000-0x3FFF    PROM, 27128, 16K 3FFF
U23 0x4000-0x5FFF    PROM, 2764, 8K 1FFF
U22 0x6000-0x67FF    RAM,  D4016C-2,  2K, 7FF
U24 0x6800-0x6FFF    E^2, X2804AP,  2K, 7FF

SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: joeqsmith on February 25, 2021, 02:37:25 pm ---It's odd that even for our little 4-bit part, there are few options listed.  It looks like for it to handle the old Altera, Xilinx CPLD and serial proms, I would need to up my game.   I still have some old project that use these parts and am thinking that if I am going to spend the money, I want to support all of my past projects.   

Thinking of the 4-bit part,  I should have added the W3 jumper.   Remember when I talked about U24 having the A13 pin routed to possibly support a larger part rather than a NC?  Well, as we can see, this jumper was added to support that feature.   The memory map is still linear.  U24 still acts as the boot ROM.  Everything else is just moved up.  It's good when things make sense.

I wonder if any of their meters ever took advantage of this larger part. 

U24 0x0000-0x3FFF    PROM, 27128, 16K 3FFF
U23 0x4000-0x5FFF    PROM, 2764, 8K 1FFF
U22 0x6000-0x67FF    RAM,  D4016C-2,  2K, 7FF
U24 0x6800-0x6FFF    E^2, X2804AP,  2K, 7FF

--- End quote ---

I noticed that Fluke used the same controller board in the 5100 series of calibrators - maybe it needed more space for code in that application?

Those calibrators are big and ugly, and only 4 1/2 digit, so probably not something to get super excited about...

joeqsmith:
Yeah, that thing is a tank but it may be another source for parts.  I bet you're right about the use.  My manual is fairly old and has the jumper.  I suspect they planned for it's use right from the start. 

I wonder if at that time the 16K parts were on shortage.   For our meters, they could have set the jumper and put all the firmware in a single PROM and left U23 unpopulated.   With the low volumes and high cost, doubt it mattered much but would be interesting to know some of the history from the designers.   

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