28 Dec
2009
28 Dec
'09
2:18 a.m.
On Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 2:40 PM, Mr Ian Primus <ian_primus at yahoo.com> wrote:
I've done development on homemade stuff requiring
the constant reburning of EPROMs to test code, and it's really not any sort of problem
- just have a handful of chips, and when you start running low, throw some into the eraser
and they'll be ready when you need them next.
I've done that lots, but there was one case where I was very, very
happy to have an EPROM emulator... it was embedded firmware for a
VAXBI peripheral card we were making (COMBOARD-BI). By being able to
update the firmware over a serial port and not have to shut down the
machine to swap out the chips, I was able to test a new version of
code in under two minutes vs a 20-minute shutdown, power-off,
power-on, boot cycle.
For normal, table-top sorts of projects, though, real EPROMs aren't so
bad if you have 4-5 sets.
-ethan