Universal programmer recommendations?

[espertus]

I am looking for a new universal programmer for a college computer science hardware lab. We're currently using a RomMax with an ISA card on an ancient DOS PC. I'd like to upgrade to something that:

• runs on Windows XP
• can be easily moved from one machine to another, including laptops (i.e., does not require an internal card)
• handles any devices likely to be used in an undergraduate CS lab (PROMs, GALs, FlashROM, etc.)
• is reliable

I do not need (or want to pay for) a programmer that:

• stands alone
• programs multiple PROMs at once

While it should include decent software, I don't want to pay extra for a fancy GUI. (I used DEBUG; the students can too.)<p>Any recommendations?

[billdar]

I can't recomend a good one, but I can steer you
away from what we use.<p>All-in-1 - universal
WS_app - universal<p>those are the names of the programmers we use.
They do everything we need the to do, so they
haven't been replaced. However they are slow,
slow, slow... 512k eeprom takes about 15min
to write to without validation.<p>And with software/bios upgrades it seems to get
even slower.

[kmagers]

check out eprom+ from andrea i think it's $289
hooks to the printer port they are the only one
that gives complete schematics for the programmer
and the adaptors the software is complete also
you don't have to buy add ons to do other devices

[espertus]

Thanks so much for the recommendation. I had never heard of the EPROM+, but it looks perfect. It is sold by Andromeda Research Labs (www.arlabs.com). Their site has lots of useful information too.

[justin_b31]

If it's not too late.<p>My company bought a Ice Technology LV48. It plugs into the parallel port and let me tell you..There isn't much this thing can't program. I recently got into PIC'n, have a couple of Microchip's stuff, and was surprised that I will not need a programmer as this thing already supports it..good thing because I didn't even consider HOW I was going to program the uP.<p>Heck, it can test 8051s, and a few other obsolete chips...<p>No schematics though and at $500 a bit pricey, but its easy to use, saves files in several types of formats, and chip support is great..in fact I need to update because ICE Tech added some more profiles.

[espertus]

I bought the EPROM+. It turns out to be exactly what I was looking for:

• low price
• support for a wide-range of devices
• great customer service
• easily transportable (even comes with a travel case)
• runs under recent versions of Windows

The GUI isn't particularly modern or intuitive, but that doesn't bother me. It does have all the functionality I can imagine needed (entering data in different bases, reading from disk, etc.).