Reputable source for a TL866II Plus programmer?

[drogon]

Anyone know of a reputable UK supplier for the above?

I've just had to return one mis-advertised by an ebay seller (who's still selling them - Hmph) however the ebay return service actually worked and I got my money back...

I have the TL866A but I need the II Plus which can program Atmel GALs which the TL866A can't.

Thanks,

-Gordon

[Paganini]

Hi Gordon,

I bought my TL866II+ from Jameco. Their website says that production of the TL866II+ has been discontinued, but I see that they have a new (and more expensive!) 3rd generation version with a fancy Aries socket for sale.

https://www.jameco.com/z/TL866-3G-T48-J ... ?CID=MERCH

I see that it exceeds the TL866II+ in just about every respect, so hopefully it hasn't lost the ability to program GALs!

[GARTHWILSON]

Interesting...I just downloaded the user manual for the 3G one, and they translated the text from Chinese, but some of the screenshot images there are still all Chinese.  Some good that'll do me!  I got the TL866II+ but have never used it yet.  I'm pretty sure I had to get the Linux driver software from a third party.  I wonder if I should just step up to the newer model.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

Paganini wrote:

https://www.jameco.com/z/TL866-3G-T48-Jameco-ValuePro-USB-High-Performance-Programmer-3rd-Generation-_2304999.html?CID=MERCH

Strange how Jameco claims it is their brand on the product page.  Also, I saw what Garth was referring to in the downloadable manual.  Are you sure that programmer is the real McCoy?

[drogon]

Paganini wrote:

Hi Gordon,

I bought my TL866II+ from Jameco

Thanks, but not a UK supplier.

-Gordon

[drogon]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

Interesting...I just downloaded the user manual for the 3G one, and they translated the text from Chinese, but some of the screenshot images there are still all Chinese.  Some good that'll do me!  I got the TL866II+ but have never used it yet.  I'm pretty sure I had to get the Linux driver software from a third party.  I wonder if I should just step up to the newer model.

If you do, then please let me know - part of the reason I'm looking for the II+ is because there is Linux software for it which I've used on my older (and as it turned out, clone!) IIA...

https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/minipro/

My old WinXP laptop I used with the G540 programmer to program Lattice GALs dies a death a while back and I'd really like to move to the Atmel ones which are in being made rather than run the risk of using recycled imports (Which, admittedly I have had good success with in the past)

Cheers,

-Gordon

[and3rson]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

I'm pretty sure I had to get the Linux driver software from a third party.

I don't think TL866II+ needs any special drivers - I've been successfully using it with minipro out of the box (https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/minipro) for programming EPROMs, GALs & AVR MCUs. I've gotten so used to it that I barely ever program anything by other means.

[GlennSmith]

Hi all,
@drogon : There is another way, if you're just looking to program GALs and the newer ATF16V / ATF22V "flash" substitutes : it's called afterburner, it's normally designed to be an Arduino shield, but the interface is so simple that it can be cobbled directly to almost any Atmel 8-bit controller on a breadboard.
I'm still waiting for my chinese T48 clone to arrive, but in the meantime I've built and had good results with the afterburner setup. I'm also a Linux-only shop.
The one I used is ole00/afterburner, although a few others exist. I can send you a bare shield PCB if you like.
Good luck.

P.S. Does anyone think it useful to document a complete toolchain tutorial for the ATF16V8 / ATF22V10 devices, as they are often mentioned and used for address decoding and sometimes even VGA video generation... I can document my trials and tribulations (from a Linux point of view, though)

[drogon]

GlennSmith wrote:

Hi all,
@drogon : There is another way, if you're just looking to program GALs and the newer ATF16V / ATF22V "flash" substitutes : it's called afterburner, it's normally designed to be an Arduino shield, but the interface is so simple that it can be cobbled directly to almost any Atmel 8-bit controller on a breadboard.
I'm still waiting for my chinese T48 clone to arrive, but in the meantime I've built and had good results with the afterburner setup. I'm also a Linux-only shop.
The one I used is ole00/afterburner, although a few others exist. I can send you a bare shield PCB if you like.
Good luck.

Hi,

Thanks. Yes, this is for the Atmel (Microchip) GALs as I can program the Lattice ones OK (For now, using a creaky old XP laptop and a G540 programmer)

I've looked at Afterburner, but not had the enthusiasm (so-far) to actually make one.

I've also just had the option of getting a genuine II+ from the US, although it'll cost me dearly in import duties, etc.

Hope that "clone" works OK - it turned out my TL8662A was a clone and when trying to upgrade it, it was "helpfully" deliberately bricked (for using under Win, but it still runs OK under Linux and the minipro code)

Quote:

P.S. Does anyone think it useful to document a complete toolchain tutorial for the ATF16V8 / ATF22V10 devices, as they are often mentioned and used for address decoding and sometimes even VGA video generation... I can document my trials and tribulations (from a Linux point of view, though)

Yes - but it boils down to 2 options: GALasm which is woefully lacking in documentation or CUPL under Wine - I did try to install the latter, but getting wine32 running under a 64-bit Linux seemed like a lot of work, so left it there...

Cheers,

-Gordon

[kernelthread]

I got mine from amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CDD9PGT

It programs ATF22V10's correctly as far as I can tell, along with a few types of FLASH/EEPROM/MCU that I've used (39SF0x0, CAT28C16, W27C512, ATmega328).
This particular listing doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment, but there are a few other listings that look like the same device.

[drogon]

kernelthread wrote:

I got mine from amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CDD9PGT

It programs ATF22V10's correctly as far as I can tell, along with a few types of FLASH/EEPROM/MCU that I've used (39SF0x0, CAT28C16, W27C512, ATmega328).
This particular listing doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment, but there are a few other listings that look like the same device.

Thanks.

Been through these with a fine toothed comb. They're either TL866A's (and likely old clones at that) or the newer ones with the old beige image.

It's not urgent for now as I've resurrected the old XP Laptop I use with the G540 and Lattice GALs, but one might turn up eventually, or the chap who does the minipro software will upgrade to the newer ones (I did contact him - it's on his 'to do' list, but nowhere near the top, for now).

Cheers,

-Gordon

[6502inside]

Got bit by this myself by an idiot eBay dropshipper who sent me a T48 (instead of the advertised TL866-II) that minipro doesn't like. Now I'm trying to get my money back.

If others have a suggestion for a Linux-compatible burner where I can compile the driver from source (we're Power ISA around here) ...

[GARTHWILSON]

I got a TL866-II Plus a couple of years ago and never used it so far, and was trying to find software drivers for it for Linux.  I looked around the https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/minipro repo linked above, and just like with github, I can't make heads or tails out of anything.  There's no description of what the various files are, and I wander around the repo and make no progress at all.  My son finally helped me get something installed; but it doesn't seem to do anything.  I do get:

Code: Select all

Warning: Firmware is out of date.
  Expected:  04.2.128 (0x280)
  Found:     04.2.86 (0x256)

Is that firmware inside the gray plastic box?  How can it expect me to be updating that?  Otherwise, if it's the software in the PC, how could it be out of date if I downloaded it from David Griffith's material less than 24 hours ago?  It uses the Linux terminal command line.  Can someone give me some pointers, maybe example commands to read an EPROM into a hex file and program another EPROM.  What I need at the moment, for work, is to copy EPROMs for CNC controllers.

Edit, two hours later:  I seem to have partial success, now having read a 27C128 into a hex file.  I'd still appreciate any tips you can provide.
...and a little later again:  I succeeded in programming a device.  I don't see any way to do a separate verify yet though, and so far the only way I see to check for erased status is to read the EPROM into a file and see if it's all FF's.  I'm not finding any options for these.

[drogon]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

I got a TL866-II Plus a couple of years ago and never used it so far, and was trying to find software drivers for it for Linux.  I looked around the https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/minipro repo linked above, and just like with github, I can't make heads or tails out of anything.  There's no description of what the various files are, and I wander around the repo and make no progress at all.  My son finally helped me get something installed; but it doesn't seem to do anything.  I do get:

Code: Select all

Warning: Firmware is out of date.
  Expected:  04.2.128 (0x280)
  Found:     04.2.86 (0x256)

Is that firmware inside the gray plastic box?  How can it expect me to be updating that?  Otherwise, if it's the software in the PC, how could it be out of date if I downloaded it from David Griffith's material less than 24 hours ago?  It uses the Linux terminal command line.  Can someone give me some pointers, maybe example commands to read an EPROM into a hex file and program another EPROM.  What I need at the moment, for work, is to copy EPROMs for CNC controllers.

Yes, it's the firmware inside the grey box - there is a microcontroller in there that does the harder work of driving the pins, voltage, etc. It can be updated, but finding the image is almost impossible now (I have failed so-far) Also, if you try to update it with their own software via an MS-Win system then if it's a clone (and 90% of them are) then it will deliberately brick it.

However minipro is ever evolving and it is working with the newer models from the same company but I've yet to try them.

Quote:

Edit, two hours later:  I seem to have partial success, now having read a 27C128 into a hex file.  I'd still appreciate any tips you can provide.
...and a little later again:  I succeeded in programming a device.  I don't see any way to do a separate verify yet though, and so far the only way I see to check for erased status is to read the EPROM into a file and see if it's all FF's.  I'm not finding any options for these.

I've not had an issue with it for eeproms - e.g. for my 6507 project I use

minipro -p AT28C256 -r image1

to read the image in (as binary) - I then manipulate it to replace the 4K section with the 6502 code and write it back:

Code: Select all

@dd if=image1 of=image2 bs=4K skip=1
        @cat gibl image2 > image3
        @minipro -u -P -p AT28C256 -w image3

The programming step does a verify.

-Gordon

[sburrow]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

I got a TL866-II Plus a couple of years ago and never used it so far, and was trying to find software drivers for it for Linux. I looked around the https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/minipro repo linked above, and just like with github, I can't make heads or tails out of anything.

Hey Garth, I think that is the right repo. If you installed it, you should get a "minipro" folder somewhere. THAT is the key to having it work. In fact, once I got it working, I just copy/pasted that folder wherever I wanted for easier access and burning. Inside that folder should be the "minipro" binary file. If you got it run at all, then you are in the right place.

To compile and write my 6502 assembly to my Flash ROM, I used this command:

Code: Select all

~/dev65/bin/as65 Acolyte3Code.asm ; ./Parser.o Acolyte3Code.lst Acolyte3Code.bin 49152 0 16384 114688 ; minipro -p "SST39SF010" -w Acolyte3Code.bin

And here is a longer command I used for compiling a C file in SDCC for the PIC16, then burning it with writing to it with minipro:

Code: Select all

cd ~/Projects/PIC16 ; ~/Projects/sdcc-4.3.0/bin/sdcc --use-non-free -mpic14 -p16f887 Acolyte6Code.c ; cd ~/Projects/minipro ; ./minipro -p "pic16f887@DIP40" -w ~/Projects/PIC16/Acolyte6Code.hex ; ./minipro -p "pic16f887@DIP40" -c config -w ~/Projects/PIC16/Acolyte6Code.fuses -e

Note that I had to be inside of the "minipro" folder in order to use it. This is probably me not setting global variables or something, but there you have it.

There are a lot of options with minipro, but still a lot of chips that I wished to use were not on the list. Some were experimental as well, if I recall correctly. I think one time I found a chip I wanted to use but it wasn't in the right package type, so it didn't work. Still, minipro is definitely the way to go for that programmer.

As far as firmware updates, I *always* had those warnings. Literally every time. If it burns it burns, so don't worry about it.

If you want a direct copy of my minipro folder, it should work out of the box without installation (I believe, as long as you have all the dependencies installed), just let me know.

Thank you!

Chad