--- Grant Stockly <grant at stockly.com> wrote:
I'd like to
try to test how
thoroughly the programmer tests the chips. It can't
tell the
difference between a 7410 and 7412, but that isn't
too important for
knowing the chip works (mostly)
Note that cheap IC testers are just truth-table
checkers. They cannot identify parts that are
out of their rated electrical specs, but which
can still drive the load provided by the tester
to an acceptable logic level. They are no good
for checking timing characteristics, input loading,
output drive, etc. This is one reason why such
testers cannot distinguish, say, between ordinary
gates and logically-equivalent buffers. Similarly,
they cannot identify parts that need external
components to operate, such as one-shots.
As such simple testers go, I have one of these,
which is conveniently self-contained:
http://www.elexp.com/tst_100.htm
The device is called the "Leaper-1" and is
sold widely, but Electronix Express has the
best price that I could find.
An advantage of a PC-based tester, such as the
testing function on a device programmer,
is that some will let you program your own test
vectors.
--Bill