This article has been taken from Z*MAG online newsletter, issue 204.¢-----------------------------------¢¢===================================¢* CSS SUPER E-BURNER¢by Barry Gordon¢===================================¢¢¢A First Impression¢February 1992¢¢¢I was overwhelmed with excitement the day the UPS man delivered the box from Computer Software Services. And I had very good reason to be. After all, I had recently ordered one of their most technical devices, the "Super E-Burner". This device reads and programs EPROMS. That stands for (E)rasable (P)rogrammable (R)ead (O)nly (M)emory. Whoa! That's jumping in a bit too fast. How about we take a few steps back and run over some basic concepts first? Ok, here goes...¢¢Inside your computer is a ROM (Read Only Memory) chip which holds the instructions that tell your computer what it is and how to operate. This Operating System chip (OS ROM) is a permanent component which does not need energy to maintain its data integrity. In other words, it doesn't go blank when the power is removed like a RAM chip. The OS ROM chip is programmed with instructions when it is manufactured, and cannot be changed at a later time. An EPROM chip also retains its programming when the power is removed, however, its programming can be changed. An EPROM has a small window in the center of the top side of the chip. Erasing an EPROM is done by simply exposing this window to a high intensity UltraViolet light (Don't ask how, or we'll be here all day talking about transistor gate depletion levels and photo electron velocities). But programming (commonly called "burning") an EPROM chip requires a special device. Enter the Super E-Burner.¢¢I had never seen a picture, nor heard a description of the physical aspects of the Super E-Burner. All I knew was it plugged into the cartridge port of the Atari 8-bit computer and was incredibly fast. After tearing the shipping box open, I pulled out and observed a rather odd looking device. The main unit of the Super E-Burner is a 5" x 5" PC board which holds 1 power connection, 4 IC chips, 48 miscellaneous electronic parts, 1 34-pin port, and 1 ZIF socket. What's a ZIF socket? Well, it stands for (Z)ero (I)nsertion (F)orce. It's an expensive socket that puts no pressure on the pins of chip. The socket has a small lever on its side. After placing a chip in the socket, pressing the lever down causes a metal plate in each hole to clamp down on the pins thus making a solid electrical contact. Coming off the 34-pin port is a two foot ribbon cable that connects to the cartridge interface board. This board resembles the insides of a disassembled game cartridge, and is used in a similar manner.¢¢Despite the rather sparse and inadequate documentation which accompanies the Super E-Burner, operating the device is quite simple. The cartridge interface board is plugged into the cartridge port and the computer is booted with your favorite DOS. (For reasons unknown to myself nor Bob Puff, this device does not work properly with SpartaDOS X). Upon entering the cartridge, the following menu screen appears:¢¢ +-------------------------------------+¢| CO:01 NU:00 File: |¢| Prom:0 Loc:00000 Write:00 Read:00 |¢| Type: Retries:0000 Speed:1 |¢ +-------------------------------------+¢| |¢| The SUPER-E BURNER 0.7 |¢| By: Robert Puff (C) 1991 by CSS |¢| |¢| [A] 2732 25V |¢| [B] 2732A 21V |¢| [C] 2764 21V |¢| [D] 2764A 12V |¢| [E] 27128 21V |¢| [F] 27128A 12V |¢| [G] 27256 12V |¢| [H] 27512 12V |¢| [I] 27C101 12V |¢| [J] 27C301 12V (or mask ROM) |¢| |¢| Select PROM type > |¢| |¢| |¢+-------------------------------------+¢¢From this menu, the EPROM size and programming voltage is entered. On this subject, the docs say nothing more than, "Select the proper EPROM type. An incorrect selection of types can damage your EPROM." I recommend you find some other references to help determine the proper setting.¢¢Once the EPROM type is chosen, the main menu is presented:¢¢ +-------------------------------------+¢| Select Operation: |¢|[R] Read EPROM [B] Burn EPROM |¢|[V] Verify EPROM [E] Verify erase |¢|[N] # of copies [Q] quit to DOS |¢|[S] Change speed [ESC] New PROM size|¢|[1-9] Disk directories |¢| |¢|Please Select > |¢+-------------------------------------+¢¢Although these menu selections are basically self explanatory, we'll run through them quickly:¢¢[R]ead copies the information from a programmed EPROM onto a disk file.¢[B]urn writes information from a disk file onto a blank EPROM.¢[V]erify compares the information on a programmed EPROM to a disk file.¢[E]rase checks to make sure an EPROM is blank.¢[N]umber sets the number of EPROMS to be burned from a single disk file.¢[Q]uit exits to DOS.¢[S]peed alters the programming speed for older and slower EPROMS.¢[ESC] goes back to the previous menu.¢¢Four stapled pages accompany the Super E-Burner consisting of: A title page, a warranty page, a VERY oversimplified page of instructions, and a page showing the orientation of different sized chips in the ZIF socket. I immediately called CSS and asked Bob Puff, "Is this it!?" He assured me they would be revising the documentation soon (more on that later) and talked me through the necessary concepts and instructions.¢¢Now that I've had the Super E-Burner for about a month, I find myself rather comfortable with it. I have managed to backup every single ROM chip in the house onto my Hard Drive (that's over thirty chips including nine different Operating Systems for my 8-bit!) But the real fun of owning an EPROM burner is firm ware modifications. By disassembling, modifying, and rewriting parts of ROM code, I've managed to make my 130XE run in high speed mode with my US Doubler drives regardless of what disk/DOS I boot; I've made a stock 1050, US Doubler 1050, and an XF551 all respond to drive numbers higher than D4:; and I'm working on modifying my SpartaDOS X cartridge to use the standard SIO vector so it will work with a Multiplexer.¢¢Within the documentation, a handwritten note says that CSS is working on a built-in editor which will support XE memory. This would make the Super E-Burner one of the most powerful firm ware devices I've seen. A ROM chip could be read, disassembled, modified, and rewritten without loading up any other programs. Bob said the revised documentation would be included with the enhanced editor.¢¢All things considered, I am very impressed with the Super E-Burner. It is a well built, extremely fast, and (so far) reliable unit. In my opinion, it is well worth the price. (Which as of this writing is $169.95 + $8 S/H). Kudos to Bob Puff and the gang at CSS!¢¢Computer Software Services¢P.O. Box 17660¢Rochester, NY 14617¢¢Phone: +(716) 429-5639¢
