[rescue] EPROM lifespans and archiving (WAS something else)

[Robert Darlington]

We nerds on the [time-nuts] list do this routinely.  Our gear is 30+ years
old often and the EPROMS have a finite life span.  There is an archive for
instrumentation ROM images out there.  It's definitely important if you
value your stuff.

-Bob

On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 1:14 PM, Ian Finder <ian.finder at gmail.com> wrote:

> Precisely. Also my galep was used closer to $300. To have something
> dependable and flexible it was well worth the money.
>
> And $WORK comped it...
> On Jul 25, 2011 6:18 AM, "Barry Callahan" <barryc at rjlsystems.com> wrote:
> > On 07/24/2011 04:56 PM, Richard wrote:
> >>
> >> The Sparkfun Inventor's Kit (Arduino package) costs only $100
> >> <http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10339>
> >>
> >> That's 1/4th the price of the Conitec Galep-4.
> >
> > While true, you'd also have to program the arduino to read *and write*
> > the eeprom, and a means to save the image, hopefully in some standard
> > format.
> >
> > Not all of us have the skills to do that. And of those who do, not all
> > of us expect to have the available time or maybe even the desire to
> > implement our own EEPROM programmer.
> >
> > $400 for something that should be turnkey, not just for the device you
> > want to dump/program *right now*, but many thousands of other devices
> > you may decide you have a need to back up later, vs. something you'll
> > have to put effort into making work for each device, even if you just
> > have to cobble together routines that others have written and
> published....
> >
> > Honestly, it's a tough call. I do microcontroller development as part of
> > my day job and I could easily breadboard a programmer just with
> > components I have on hand. But $400 to not have to deal with it (or $600
> > for the USB programmer) is right in that range where it seems like "not
> > a bad deal" but "not a good deal" at the same time.
> >
> > #/******************************
> > #* Barry Callahan
> > #* Technologist
> > #* RJL Systems
> > #* phone: 1 586 790 - 0200 x112
> > #* 1 800 528 - 4513 x112
> > #* fax: 1 586 790 - 0205
> > #\*****************************/
> > _______________________________________________
> > rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue