Which *PROM programmer?

This is an archive of a topic from NESdev BBS, taken in mid-October 2019 before a server upgrade.
View original topic

by on (#17285)
On a related topic, where can one find an affordable EEPROM writer? The only ones Google turns up are in the $400-3000 range. Is there anything cheaper, or not?

by on (#17289)
Has the Willem programmer ceased production? Or has there been a huge price increase?

by on (#17290)
Wow, that is much cheaper. Thanks.

by on (#17291)
I got mine from http://www.sivava.com/. It's cheap, simple to use and works great.

by on (#17316)
Spend a few extra $$$, and get a universal device programmer, they're cheap on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0026695626

I have one of these, it works fine, if you get the latest software. Can be unstable if it runs on just USB power.

Programs a lot more than Willem, and is much much faster. Also you don't have to deal with dip switches anymore, yes!

by on (#17395)
I love my bp microsystems ep-1140. The 1140 and the 1132 are great for nes repros. It's a lot more solid than a willim and no dip switches. It's in an 1/16 inch thich metal case and plugs into a grounded outlet. It is parallel port, but that's the only thing that's bad about it. I've not had any problems programming eproms. BP's last software support for it was in 2003 and there is software for windows (including XP) and dos. If you're just trying to make nes/snes repros, I think it's a solid choice. I haven't looked at it's flash support much, but it seems to support at least the 29F chips. It's not just chinese junk, it's a high end model--just an older model.

My understanding is that it sells for about the price of a willem on ebay. There are usually a couple of them a month on ebay. I watched for a week an a half and found one that was overpriced (that sold for $130) and another that was a steal. I of course bought the cheap one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

by on (#17538)
Like Tokumaru, I purchased my programmer from sivava.com. It works great. I've used it to write to EEPROM's, as well as flash and erase flash chips a number of times.

NC