Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle
General Chat => Technical Area => Topic started by: level42 on August 20, 2010, 03:17:12 PM
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Well, since I picked up the Video Pinball PCB from the storage and since one of the ROMs is missing, I was once again in need of an EPROM burner. (I think the English guys say programmer, but we call them burners).
I remembered that I actually was given one by my good friend Luc.....
Although it's an oldy, it's also a very sturdy and professional looking one.It's a Needham's EMP-10
(http://www.arcadesolution.com/pics/emp101.jpg)
Found some good info here: http://www.arcadesolution.com/needhams.html
However, I never started using it before because it has some (slight) drawbacks:
- connects through parallel port, one that must be able to be addressed directly (which rules out any USB->Parallel solution)
- runs on DOS software. It can also run in windows with some right driver though
- it only has the US (110V) power supply
Of course my Mac and current PC laptop don't have a parallel port anymore.
So I dug out an old laptop. The main issue with it is that the LCD is totally bust. But it works with an external monitor.
This one does have a parallel port.
I will reformat the harddisk and install FreeDos on it (going back to old times folks !)
I will only use it for the EPROM burner so, no problems there.
So, I ordered a matching power supply that will run on 230VAC and a VERY cheap UV eraser. It screams "China" all over, but an UV eraser is nothing more than a UV lightbulb and a timer that turns it off.
(http://www.kc-kwan.com/online/pics/o_eprom_eraser_01.jpg)
Here's the eraser I ordered:
http://cgi.ebay.com/UV-Eprom-Eraser-Ultraviolet-Light-Timer-Erase-Erasable-/170527862964?pt=BI_Electrical_Equipment_Tools#ht_2269wt_911
EXTREMELY cheap IMHO, less than 19 US dollars shipped ! Will be about 15 euro's....
So waiting for the PSU mainly now. Hope to set-up the laptop this evening.
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Ahhhh, in some way, it's almost soothing.....(even though I've always hated MS-DOS):
First booting with a bootable floppy (!) with Freedos on it.
All well but why can't I change to the C: drive....mmmm let'st list all the DOS tools on the disk.....ah, let's run FDISK
Ah there's the problem, the HD partition is NTFS and of course DOS can't (normally) handle that.
So using Fdisk I remove the NTFS partition and make a FAT32 one.
CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot...
Then FORMAT C:/S to make the harddisk DOS bootable.....it's so funny that I still remember all that stuff....
I still think the Atari DOS versions for their 8 bit computers were light years ahead (menu drive) compared to MS-DOS (commane line driven).
I hate it that I don't have the correct PSU for the programmer yet, everything is set up on the laptop ! (copied the EPROM programmer software to HD, ready to rock :)
Now, how am I going to copy files onto that machine, I can't use floppies. CD is a possibility but not too handy. Let's see if I can find a DOS driver for a USB memory stick....
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You can use this peace of software:
http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/newsitem/149.html
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ndis drivers maybe ?
then you can use network for file copying
or setup a TFTP, and use PXE, could work too
or install windows 3.11 with a TCP/IP stack, thats easy too
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That's the one I was thinking of inuyaksa, thanks for that reminder !
Etienne, I want this be simple and stand alone and DOS only.
And what is TFTP (I know what FTP is) and PXE ?
;D
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Here's another good page of info AND the latest (and last) software for the Neeham's EMP-10:
http://www.seanet.com/~karllunt/emp10.html
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PXE Wikipedia dutch (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment)
PXE Wikipedia english (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment)
I use that always to boot the clients when i use Symantec Ghostcast server
in a nutshell; you boot from lan, and the tftp server supplies the boot image
in this boot image you can incorporate your application and roms in this case
but like you said you want it simple, there is maybe a driver to get a usb drive going in dos...
otherwise you will be stuck on floppy's i think
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The weird thing is that the floppy disk drive I'm using now IS a USB one, but I guess that one is handled by the BIOS.....
I tried the suggested USB dos driver but it seems that the PC doesn't run config.sys when starting ....weird
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you can try to boot from USB stick with all the files in there
http://www.weethet.nl/english/hardware_bootfromusbstick.php (http://www.weethet.nl/english/hardware_bootfromusbstick.php)
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Woot ! It works !
Found my trusty 230V to 110V converter (bought it long time ago for my US Dreamcast) and hooked everything up.
So far I can only read stuff because I don't have the eraser yet (and I don't have many EPROM's to "play" with either).
But I could read the three ROMs that are on my Video Pinball.
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wow cool!
Thats a start! - i hope you don´t have as much trouble getting your Video Pinball working as the poor guy on (http://www.opdenkelder.com/muerto/sig/klov.png)
Though, he bought the coolest E-Prom burner!!! i would like to have one of those baby´s! - and a crash course on how to use it! :D
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Andrè, you have the same EPROM eraser i have :D
but i paid 25 euros for it (it didn't look the piece of plastic it is from the photoes on the site i bought it from) >:(
... anyhow, it works ;)
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Yeah as mentioned it screams "China" all over, but what the heck.... as long as there is no UV light leaks (or else I'll put it in a box ;) )
Can't wait for it to arrive. I've done a LOT of reading EPROMS tonight (why? later !) and it works excellent but I would like to test-burn an EPROM now.....
I also received the 230V to 12 VAC adapter from RS online but the plug is JUST a little bit larger than the original one, will have to fix that :)
Very happy. The external (LCD) monitor is a bit clumsy with the laptop but this will end up in my work-room anyway. I should have set this up a long time ago, but I have to say it was _exactly_ on time for all the EPROM reading tonight :)
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I have the same eraser except it has Chinese characters on it.
The small hole on the drawer shows the UV light so you can see if it's on.
It works fine for the little use I have anyway…
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I've done a LOT of reading EPROMS tonight (why? later !) and it works excellent
i wonder what that dutch guy is "brewing" again is his magic cauldron :twisted:
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See the FS section ! :) Had to ID a lot of boards....which worked great mostly.
Anyway, since using a separate laptop and esp. a separate monitor is way too clumsy, I took a slight gamble and ordered this:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4688
It's a PCMCIA to parallel port card. I ordered this one specifically because it is supposed to not only support printers but also a lot of legacy stuff like dongles and indeed EPROM programmers.
Others only support printers, f.i. like the cheaper one that dealextreme sells:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6187
The goal is to use the software under XP (should work) and on my "usual" work-laptop.
I think it will work. Will take a bit long to receive but hey, can't beat the price incl. shipping.
Also waiting eagerly for the eraser....
I also found my old card that allows EPROMS to be run on my Atari Lynx....mmmm gotta find me some of those a bit larger EPROMs :)
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Gee, those Chinese are REALLY fast !
Came home and the eraser was there !
It indeed looks and feels CHINESE but it works....
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I think I'll do a video on this one. The eraser has a US plug, but it runs on anything between 110 and 240VAC. So they included an adapter, but it's so awkward that it won't fit any socket in my home....
No big deal, I'll put a proper plug on it. I wonder how the voltage regulation works so I will open it to investigate :)
The unit is extremely light-weight (I think I will put something heavy in it) and the drawer falls open as soon as you lift the unit.
But hey, the clock ticks, there's a power switch and the blue light works :D
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You are lucky: mine has the timer not working :o :D
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Now why does that not amaze me ;)
I opened it to check it out and well......let's just say that it wouldn't pass any European safety tests.....simply alone by the fact that there's no mains fuse.
The wiring looks fragile,the tube wires are soldered to the pins of the tube so if you need to replace it one time (but maybe a complete new burner is cheaper ;))
There's a small PCB for the voltage conversion but I haven't figured out how they let it run on this wide voltage range (i.e., does the UV light burn twice as bright in Europe than it does in the US).
Oh and mine has Chinese characters on it too.
But still, you don't hear me complain, it works like a charm :)
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Wahoo, it works !
Yes it did work before, but that was with my old laptop connected to an external monitor.
Thanks to Etienne I was able to replace the completely busted screen and lid ! Thank you Etienne !!
Next I had a pretty large struggle getting the Needham EMP-10 to work. First I tried it in XP but didnt get it to communicate properly. It would start-up, but I could only read an EPROM once in a while. Further constant family module errors...
So...then I had decided to switch back in time to W'98 but.....after installing it, I realized that so many hardware of the laptop would require unavailable drivers that that wouldn't be a workable solution either.
So.....finally I decided on getting a dual-boot set-up.ALthough I really didn't like that I would have to switch between OS-es I didn't see an alternative... First more struggling with GAG. Great dual boot utility, BUT I couldn't get FreeDOS to boot with it.
So..........I decided to once again wipe the HD, partitioned a very small C partition for Freedos in FAT32 and the rest of the HD in NTFS for Win XP.
Installed everything and works great. I could use the EMP-10 under Freedos 100% and XP ran great too.
So....just for fun.......I tried once more to run EMP-10 software under XP. I had installed the special XP utility (like every time before) and had 0 hope.
But it worked !!!!
The ONLY thing I had changed from my previous set-up was that I had switched the Parallel port from Standard to Bi-directional in the BIOS.
So that was the bugger for it to not work in XP......when using XP, set it to Bi-directional !
I bet this was also the reason why it wouldn't work on the Toshiba laptop....that one didn't have the bi-directional setting. Using ECP/EPP is of course not a good idea with the burner.
So....concluding: I can now work 100% in XP even with the burner.
Took quite some time and persistence to get it 100% like I wanted, but the success tastes sweet :D
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but the success tastes sweet :D
doesn't it always? ;)
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yes......unless......it only lasts very short....like now.....
I was gearing up for removing the DOS partition but tried it again just before and......now it fails.
I don't understand why !!!!
I did do some updates (about a freaking zillion security updates....) and what not....
So I figured, OK there's some update killing the special EMP driver, installed it again....no improvement.
Soooooo...I thought let's get rid of the updates so re-install XP AGAIN.....no improvement ?!?!?!?!?!
I HATE WINDOWS !!!
OK....well I will live with the set-up as it is now. XP/Freedos dual boot. It works. And I'm happy.
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Im glad i could help you
didnt i mentioned that first; dualboot with fat for dos and then install windows on the other partition 8)
these devices rely on hard LPT acces, so the only good way to do that is in dos
but i have to admid, its strange that it worked under xp for a while...
i saw stranger things in windows, so thats why i suggested dualboot in the first place..
btw fat 32 is only needed if your partition exeeds 2048 MB, but if fat 32 works for you, perfect !
now you can put files from xp there and read them in dos
btw xosl (http://www.ranish.com/part/) is a nice boot manager too, i use that if i need to hide partitions from other installations
although the xp bootmanager works fine too
Im happy it works !
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didnt i mentioned that first; dualboot with fat for dos and then install windows on the other partition 8)
Yup...being stubborn is one of my better qualities :D
I _had_ to try it because others have it working. I guess it's probably on older/full-size PC's.
Anyway, I'm happy and thanks again !
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Yup...being stubborn is one of my better qualities :D
I recognise that ;D
and the experience that i have with that is that you learn from it , so thats a good thing 8)