joels@tektools.UUCP (Joel Swank) (02/26/85)
Review of Promenade EPROM programmer made by: Jason-Ranheim 580 Parrott St. San Jose, CA 95112 Price: $100. General Information: Promenade is an aluminum box of dimensions 4-5/8 x 4-3/8 x 5/8 inches that plugs into the C64 user port. On the top it has 3 LEDs and a 28 pin ZIF socket. When used with the included software(called Promos) it will program a wide variety of EPROMS and EEPROMS. Promenade has two different methods of reading and writing data on EPROMS. One is the normal method of transferring memory images to and from the EPROM. Commands are available to program an EPROM from a specified area of memory and to load data from an EPROM to a specified area of memory. Transfer can take place between any part of the EPROM and any part of memory. Conspicuously absent are verify and erasure test commands. All commands are in BASIC format. That is, parameters are separated by commas, and all numbers are decimal. Because of the way that Promos works, commands are available from BASIC as well as most monitors. The other method of storing data is to use the EPROM as a file area. Normal BASIC commands such as LOAD, SAVE, OPEN, GET#, PRINT#, etc., are used to write and read files on the EPROM. There is a command to display the directory of the EPROM. This is a new Idea (to me at least). I am not sure how useful this might be. The time for writing files this way varies greatly depending on the type of EPROM. The time to read back such files is very short. This might be useful for applications that need quick access to static data. I cannot see Promenade being useful as a mass storage device. Hardware: Promenade consists of a high quality PC board in a rigid aluminum case. The design is clean and efficient. There are no switches or jumpers. All functions can be selected in the software. Compare this to Prom Queen which requires setting patterns of DIP switches to select the EPROM type. The only problem I found is that Promenade powers up in a random state. Sometimes it comes on with the programming voltage on. This has potential to damage an EPROM if one is inadvertently left in during power up. Software: Promos loads from disk or tape and relocates itself to the top of BASIC memory. A choice of 4 different programming algorithms is provided: the standard method recommended by the Intel, two intelligent methods recommended by Intel, and an intelligent method developed by Jason-Ranheim. The latter is the fastest by far, and I have found it to be completely reliable. Promos commands consist of a single character command name followed by a list of decimal numbers separated by commas. These numbers specify memory addresses, EPROM address, EPROM type, and programming method. Promos has no error messages. Whenever anything goes wrong, the yellow LED blinks. This can be very frustrating. Promos is also missing two commands that I consider essential: verify and erasure test. Promos alters the kernal CHRIN vector to get control to execute commands. This means that Promos commands can be executed from BASIC as well as most machine language monitors. It also means that they cannot be executed from a running BASIC program. In fact the routines in Promos are not user callable by any method. I had intended to write a higher level interface to allow easy mass programming and testing of EPROMS. It can't be done. Instead, I disassembled Promos and hacked in the two essential commands. In doing this I found the software to be a real mess. To facilitate relocation, it was written almost entirely without subroutines. Doing this means using lots of flags, switches and branch chains. The few subroutines used, are addressed in a table that is relocated by the initialization code. (There are much easier ways to achieve relocatability.) Promos has other problems when used from a monitor. First, whenever invalid syntax is entered on a Promos command, Promos kicks back into BASIC with the SYNTAX error message, and the monitor must be restarted. Another problem occurs with monitors that have a prompt character. Normally you can move the cursor back up the screen and alter and re-execute a command. The monitor knows enough to ignore the prompt character. Promos sees the prompt character and causes an error. To re-execute Promos commands from a monitor you must delete the prompt character first. Manual: The small manual is poor quality and disorganized. It has no index or table of contents. The essential section, 'getting started' is buried in the back. It is typewritten with special characters and corrections scribbled in. It does contain all essential information, plus some extras, such as an explanation of the different programming algorithms. Conclusion: Even with all its problems Promenade is filling my need. I think it is a cost effective package. With the addition of some well designed software, it would be excellent. Joel Swank Software Center Tools Support 50-487 Tektronix Beaverton OR 97077 (503) 627-4403