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Programming Tesla Bi-Polar proms

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Corey986

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OK, has anyone been able to use a DataIO 29b to program Tesla Bi-Polar proms like the Tesla MH74S287

I have found a few references by using google that the Tesla chips read the same but program differently than a regular 74S287. Has anyone been able to use another "type" of chip in the Data IO Unipack2b to get these things programmed.

Thanks,
Corey
 
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These are quite old devices and I don’t know if anyone has tried to program them for such needs. Try simply using the manual to do something and check, or you can ask the experts on the site, as they provide computer science assignment help. Although I also found only few instructions on this subject.
 
starveck said:
These are quite old devices and I don’t know if anyone has tried to program them for such needs. Try simply using the manual to do something and check, or you can ask the experts on the site, as they provide computer science assignment help. Although I also found only few instructions on this subject.
Click to expand...

Maybe in this thread you will find more information about DataIO 29b
 
This is a problem which has arisen in connection with the Tesla version of 74S571 as well, the MH74S571 as opposed to the better known original DM74S571. Certainly in the case of this latter device the MH version, while read-compatible, is a completely different device from the point of view of its programming algorithm so you can't simply select the 'DM' version in your programmer's menus and hope it will work.

There is actually a currently available high end programmer which can program Tesla BPROM devices, the 'Elnec Beeprog2' made in Slovakia. The Tesla version of the 287 is definitely supported.

https://www.elnec.com/en/search/device-list/beeprog2/tesla/

It's not cheap, but if you bought one I suspect you would acquire a lot of new friends in a very short time.
 
This is something that's come up a lot on the Data I/O list, there's no known family/pinning configuration on the 29B to properly program the Tesla parts. I've got the programming timing and algorithms somewhere. It'd be nice to have a programmer for them, since the Tesla parts are often available cheaply. Perhaps we can convince Martin Eberhard to build a kit for them, as he did for the 1702A and his "forgotten PROMs" programmers? I've been meaning to build one for *years* and still haven't found the time/urgency to do it :p
 
glitch said:
This is something that's come up a lot on the Data I/O list, there's no known family/pinning configuration on the 29B to properly program the Tesla parts. I've got the programming timing and algorithms somewhere. It'd be nice to have a programmer for them, since the Tesla parts are often available cheaply. Perhaps we can convince Martin Eberhard to build a kit for them, as he did for the 1702A and his "forgotten PROMs" programmers? I've been meaning to build one for *years* and still haven't found the time/urgency to do it :p
Click to expand...

can you forward the data to me so I can get it archived on bitsavers?
 
I've posted a link to a DIY manual bipolar PROM programmer (uses switches) at least twice here. I don't see why it couldn't be adapted to the Tesla parts.
 
It's a long story, but it's not only a matter of timing (The Tesla devices require much longer programming pulses) but there is also a difference in the way the I/O pins are electrically manipulated during the programming process - you couldn't, for example, take the programming algorithm for the Nat Semi (DM prefix) parts and just alter the length of the programming pulses.

Martin Lukasec, (user 'Kiwisec' on this forum) has an interesting retro computing blog here:

http://www.8bity.cz/

It's in the Czech language, but your browser will probably offer to translate it if, like me, you don't speak that language.

He supplies programmed Tesla BPROMs as part of a kit of parts he offers. He uses a self built programmer based on an Arduino to program the Tesla devices. I emailed him about it a while ago and he was happy to communicate about it but he was still having problems with the design of the onboard power supplies and so at that point he was using an offboard power supply for his own programming purposes, and did not consider the project to be finished enough to put into the public domain or to sell as a kit.

That was a while ago, and things may have moved on - maybe if a few more people expressed an interest in seeing a finalised design or being able to buy a finished kit, that would help create some incentive to progress it to a finished project.
 
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Figured it was time to "consolidate" my pile of various programmers, so bit the bullet and have arranged to purchase a B&K 867C, which is a rebranded Elnec Beeprog2. The same programmer is also sold as the Minato 1883 and Dataman-48Pro2.

It should arrive shortly and I hopefully will be able to program the Tesla parts for folks.

- Gary

SiriusHardware said:
This is a problem which has arisen in connection with the Tesla version of 74S571 as well, the MH74S571 as opposed to the better known original DM74S571. Certainly in the case of this latter device the MH version, while read-compatible, is a completely different device from the point of view of its programming algorithm so you can't simply select the 'DM' version in your programmer's menus and hope it will work.

There is actually a currently available high end programmer which can program Tesla BPROM devices, the 'Elnec Beeprog2' made in Slovakia. The Tesla version of the 287 is definitely supported.

https://www.elnec.com/en/search/device-list/beeprog2/tesla/

It's not cheap, but if you bought one I suspect you would acquire a lot of new friends in a very short time.
Click to expand...
 
Excellent, keep us updated! They'd be a cheap replacement for making boot ROMs for some PDP-11s as well.
 
gekaufman said:
The same programmer is also sold as the Minato 1883 and Dataman-48Pro2.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that info, I have just looked through the device list for the Dataman-48Pro2 on the UK website of RS and can confirm that the same Tesla Bipolar PROMs are supported. My main programmer right now is a Hi-Lo systems All07A, for which I have to keep a companion DOS PC working just to keep it running, and although it does almost everything including most historic BPROMs it does not do the Tesla devices.

So Maybe it's time for me, too, to bite the bullet if only to get a programmer which can work with a modern PC?
 
B&K 867C arrived, and I successfully copied and programmed some Tesla 74S571's last night. It's a very nice programmer and the software is well done.

- Gary
 
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