I finally picked up a modern EPROM programmer. I actually have an old Hippo programmer designed for the Atari ST, but the lack of documentation makes it tough to use (plus it can’t handle 32 pin DIPs). Anyway, Willem programmers are amazingly inexpensive on eBay - the 5.0C I picked up only came to $42 including shipping.
I spent the early hours this morning installing Windows XP on an old laptop (my desktop lacks a parallel port) along with the Willem software. My first target - a fresh 27C080 from Jameco, which arrived a couple days back along with my other N8VEM parts. Why the new 27C080? There’s an enhanced ROM on the N8VEM web site which includes Wordstar and other CP/M goodies, and I didn’t want to sacrifice my known good, pre-programmed 27C080 should something go awry with my own experimentation.
It took me a couple of tries, but in the end I got a successful, verified burn. I’ve gone ahead and installed the new ROM in the N8VEM.
The Willem burner will also come in handy when the 2716s arrive for my ADM-3A lowercase project - the 2102-1 RAMs have already arrived and are installed and waiting. Which reminds me, I need to pick up a heat gun this weekend and see about that CRT lens …
Do you happen to know wether the willem can read/write the configuration EEPROMs of the older SGI CPU modules, i.e. a 93CS56?
It looks like it can - I fired up the software and it does have 93C56 and NM93C56 in the device selection menu.