• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here
  • From now on we will require that a prefix is set for any items in the sales area. We have created regions and locations for this. We also require that you select a delivery option before posting your listing. This will hopefully help us streamline the things that get listed for sales here and help local people better advertise their items, especially for local only sales. New sales rules are also coming, so stay tuned.

Sunshine EW-901B Eprom writer needs new home

strollin

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
344
Location
N. California, USA
I have a Sunshine EW-901B eprom writer with 8-bit card, single eprom socket, manual and software that needs a new home. Not looking to make anything on it so whatever you want to offer plus shipping takes it.

ep2.jpg
 
I've spent most of the day trying to get an Hi-Lo 51P-01 eprom programmer working to no avail. I need to create a new BIOS rom for my IBM 5170. Since I can't get this HiLo programmer to work it seems I need to try another device. If you haven't sold your programmer yet, would you accept $20 + shipping for yours?
 
Last edited:
The EW900 series are a little twitchy (I have a 904B for sale if anyone is interested). The I/O port addresses are fixed and the burner is sensitive to CPU speed. See the notes here

It will work fine on a 5150 or 5160-type machine and probably on the 5170 (but see note about VGA cards).
 
The EW900 series are a little twitchy (I have a 904B for sale if anyone is interested). The I/O port addresses are fixed and the burner is sensitive to CPU speed. See the notes here

It will work fine on a 5150 or 5160-type machine and probably on the 5170 (but see note about VGA cards).

For those who (like myself) can't get their eyballs to adjust to the op-art page linked to, what Chuck is trying to say is:
"If ya ain't got CGA or TTL mono, fugidaboutit." It just don't work. (Unless Andrew finally found the time to look at the code to see if it can be shoehorned into another location).

--T
 
So, I couldn't run that programmer on my AT without putting the CGA card back in. However, I do have an IBM XT 5160 sitting around with a CGA card in it that should run an EW901.

Are either of you familiar with HiLo programmers? The device I have looks exactly like this one...
http://matthieu.benoit.free.fr/145.htm

Except the interface card is a CSA-01, not CSA-03, and the box is labeled "8751 Programmer, Model: 51P-01, HiLo Systems Research" I bought it "new" without software on e-bay last week just for this project, but I can't get either the AT or XT to recognize it's existence. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your assistance
 
I've spent most of the day trying to get an Hi-Lo 51P-01 eprom programmer working to no avail. I need to create a new BIOS rom for my IBM 5170. Since I can't get this HiLo programmer to work it seems I need to try another device. If you haven't sold your programmer yet, would you accept $20 + shipping for yours?
Sorry, it was sold months ago. :-(
 
I tried the DMT-01 software from...
http://matthieu.benoit.free.fr/137.htm
When I ran that it did not give me an error message and appeared to be working.

I looked around but couldn't find HMT-01 software.

Other than that, I've tried both All-02 and All-01 setup/operating software. In both cases I get a "programmer not found" error. It may be that I simply don't have the correct software for this programmer.

Thanks for you help.
 
Sorry--my typo--yes, I meant DMT-01.

What bothers me is that I emailed another ebay seller trying to sell a Sunshine ICT-301 as a programmer, advising him that that's not what he had.

Have you tried using your unit as a TTL tester (cheaper than burning up a memory chip)?

If you have time, why not post a photo of what you have inside the ZIF box?
 
I would bet the 51p-01 means its a 8751 programmer. Back when these were made you could buy
programmers for just certain chip types. The ALL-02/MOD-MUP was a much more expensive option. if
you open it up and take a pic I can tell you if it is the same as mine.
 
Here's a picture of the device:

CIMG2426.JPG

I sent this picture to Mathieu Benoit and he informed me that it is not designed to program EPROM chips.
Your suspicion was correct, I bought something on e-bay that was not what I thought it was.

I'm considering getting a simple willem programmer from Sivava. Have you heard anything about these, good or bad?

Thanks again
 
Heres what the programmer and interface boards look like.
There is some glare on the interface board, it has "CSA-01 HILO System Adapter" printed above the large black heat dissipator.

BTW: this thing became so hot inside the AT that I thought it might damage nearby boards; not sure if that is normal or not.

CIMG2427.jpgCIMG2428.jpg
 
Last edited:
That is not a ALL-02 for sure. The ALL-02 has two circuit boards sandwiched togeather
with both 6821 and 8255 chips inside. As far as heat, I guess I never really paid attention,
but the size of the heatsink makes me think it would get warm.
 
Heres what the programmer and interface boards look like.
There is some glare on the interface board, it has "CSA-01 HILO System Adapter" printed above the large black heat dissipator.

BTW: this thing became so hot inside the AT that I thought it might damage nearby boards; not sure if that is normal or not.

Yes, just the presence of the 2.2 ohm 10W power resistor makes me think "hot"--most of it comes from dropping 12V to 5V, so that over half your current draw goes up in heat! I suppose they did that to lessen the current draw on the motherboard +5V line (perhaps because of an early 5150 design).

If you're still interested and if you're inside the USA, I've still got my 904 (4 EPROM sockets, so will gang-program) for sale. I don't ship out of the country--for anything other than a letter, it's an expensive mess here.
 
After discovering that my 8175 programmer won't do what I thought, I've educated myself a little bit more on the subject. Although the 904 would do what I want in this project, if I understand correctly, I would need to keep a computer without VGA running at 8Mhz or less ready and waiting to operate it in the future. I'm leaning away from that at this point.

The 5160 and 5170 I have were acquired to teach my 5 yr old about where computers came from, and give him a some of the same computer education I got from my father when I was a kid. Once he learns to respect the command line, BASIC, and gets some hardware experience we are going to skip a generation and build a 486DX together. As much I'd love to have a room filled with vintage systems all running happily I only have space for one or two full size systems at a time. So, I'm currently looking at modern eprom programmers with the capability to program the BIOS roms in anything from an IBM AT to current hardware, as well as chips for other projects we may undertake.

The programmer currently on my screen is one from GQ electronics, the True USB Willem GQ-4X. It seems to have the capability I need, but I wonder how it could cost so much less than other programmers?

I appreciate your assistance.
 
$120+ is not cheap for a Willem programmer. A quick search on eBay will show pretty much the same thing for much less. Even a G840 is less than that--and can do many more devices.

I suppose the issue is "what exactly do you intend to do?". If it's programming EPROMs and EEPROMs, pretty much any programmer will do. If you're programming JTAG devices, since there's not very much to JTAG, a lot of low-cost programmers will do. If you're programming the cruftier devices like the 1702A and 2704/2708 3-rail EPROMs, then you're going to have to go after really vintage kit, such as a Data I/O.

If you're going to do bipolar PROMs, such as the 82S129, the number of programmers for that is quite small and ancient.
 
At this point all I'm doing is 27256 eproms for the IBM AT. I don't have many plans yet for a programmer down the road beyond doing BIOS roms. However, it's something I expect to find more practical and enjoyable uses for after I learn more about what it is capable of. Specifically, my kid has shown an interest in robots. I think we may try building an autonomous bot someday. My own background is as a biotech/biosciences researcher with a lifetime of experience as a "backyard" computer technician; so, I'm doing this on a learn-as-I-go basis.

The G840 looks like a good choice. Thanks for the tip.
I originally liked the GQ-4X, even though it's not the cheapest willem, because it had good reviews in online forums, and was well supported by the manufacturer.
 
Although the 904 would do what I want in this project, if I understand correctly, I would need to keep a computer without VGA running at 8Mhz or less ready and waiting to operate it in the future.

If you have a extra slot open, you could just add a TTL Mono board to the same box along with the VGA.

--T
 
If you're handy with a soldering iron, the same web page details how to change the I/O port address, as well as some other mods. (The issue, Terry, is I/O port conflict--the 904, is hard-wired to a specific port, which just happens to conflict with the VGA (I think; I haven't tried it myself).
 
Back
Top