Does anyone know a cheap way to program EPROMs without the expense of a programmer. Or does anyone know where there is a cheap programmer I could get?
Thanks,

Check out this thread under the Hardware topic:

http://www.6502.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=634

Hope this helps!

Daryl

Well, I have heard of people programming some types of flash roms using a PC mainboard by hot-swapping the BIOS chip (assuming the PC is able to run a copy of it's BIOS from RAM). I never tried it, and can't say I'd recommend it, heheh. But that could be cheap if you happen to have the right stuff for it.

Hello EveryOne,

Haunting Ebay for used programmers might be your best way if you
don't have anything running yet. Also is there any chance that there might
be a local Robotics club nearby ? or even a University or trade School that
might have someone there during the Summer months who could help.
Another avenue to consider is to find an old Apple ][, C64 etc that
had an Programmer with it. I did my first EPROM programming ( and
assembling ) with a C64. It work great and was not alot of money.

This brings up an idea tho, as this topic occurs frequently. Maybe
the group should create an 02 based standalone programmer that tethers
to a PC and will accept Motorola "S" record or Intel hex. This would be a
good beginners project. Could we make something adaptable to Daryls brd
and is controlled by a VIA(S) or PIAs like the Needhams PB10 ?

-Wally

Hrmmm..

I don't even think you need an 02... Really, you could do it with just a single AVR and have an RS-232 port to hook up to your PC for bootstrapping and a parallel port to be hooked up to the 6522 when you get the 6502 machine working for self-hosted development....

Uuughh....why would anyone want to use a PIA now-a-days? The VIA is just such a better chip. WAY easier to program. And if I had it my way, I'd use a CIA chip over the VIA anyday.

Because it comes down to working with what you have in your ' tickle-trunk ' thats why. I think it was Jerry Avins who said " Engineering is the
art of making do with what you have " ( that may not be verbatim, but if
you check comp.lang.forth archives you'll find it quick enough )

I think the real point to be made here is that of the concept. Understand exactly what it is you need to do, and you will have more flexibility.
I do agree, I would not use anything but a VIA.