27 Feb
2003
27 Feb
'03
11:07 a.m.
--- Eric Smith <eric(a)brouhaha.com> wrote:
Ethan wrote:
> I have a Stringy Floppy in the back of an ancient bipolar PAL
blaster...
The Structured Design SD20 PAL programmer, if memory serves. There's
a photo at:
http://www.iser.uni-erlangen.de:8980/iser/servlet/Anzeigen45?inventarnummer…
Similar but not identical. Same color scheme and silhouette, but
mine has a much simpler user interface - one or two push buttons
and one to three LEDs. Maybe that one is a 20A and mine is a 20?
In recent years I've picked up a few surplus
SD20s. I didn't get any
documentation or tapes, though.
I have a couple of tapes. Never had any docs.
Unforutnately the SD20 can only program the first
generation bipolar
PALs from MMI. Some other vendors' bipolar PALs work and others don't;
I don't have any info on which. The SD20 definitely can NOT program
PALCE or GAL parts, so it's not too useful nowdays.
Not surprising in the least. I haven't had to blast any bipolar PALs
lately (I have several tubes of certain ones), and if I ever had to
build a COMBOARD from scratch, I'd take my PALASM files and convert/
rewrite them for GALs. We used to use over a dozen PALs per board
for everything from the memory and I/O map to bus timeout logic to
adapting the 8350 to the 68K bus. We probably burned well over 5,000
PALs over the years. I'd wager than I personally did over 3,000 (plus
a thousand bipolar PROMs and EPROMs)
By comparison, I think I've burned less than 1,000 GALs (for GG2 Bus+
boards and the like).
I do not miss parts of the bad-old-days.
-ethan