[Coco] PAL, GAL, CPLD Programmer Needed

[jdaggett at gate.net]

Kip 

Yes you are right that many PAL and GAL programmers are very expensive. thatis mainly 
due to the lack of use of them in new designs. The only reason you would need to program 
one today is in the maintanance of older designs. 

PALS and GALS are very old technology. Programming them is not a trivail task. Not all GAL 
chips, say 20V10, are programmed the same. Some use different programming voltages and 
periods when the programming voltage is applied. They are vendor dependant. I need to 
search my old files on another hard drive to get you some ideas as to what it may take. 

CPLDs are a newer version of GALs and again are somewhat vendor specific as to how they 
are programmed. It is not wise to use say Xilinx tools to burn a Lattice or Altera CPLD. 
CPLDs are basically bigger GALS. The major drawback for some hobbiests is that PAL and 
GLA chips are most often DIP package and CPLDs are surface mount devices. You can still 
find older technology CPLDs that are in PLCC packages. They may also carry a higher cost. 
CPLDs today are not 5 volt tolerent. Some of the older ones like the Xilinx XC9500 series 
are. Also I believe the Altera 7500 series are also 5 volt tolerent I/O. Pal and GAL chips are 
all 5 volt if I remember correctly.



james

On 13 Aug 2012 at 21:38, Kip Koon wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> After looking at Tony Distefano's 2MEG COCO Memory Upgrade I have decided to
> add it to my little 6809 computer.  I also noticed to PAL he used and like
> several people on this list have suggested, I'd like to use a PAL, GAL,
> and/or CPLD in my current and future projects.  There is only one glitch
> though, I can't find a programmer for these devices that is in a price range
> that I can afford.  So far, I've versions that cost several thousand $$$$$$!
> I'd appreciate it if anyone knows of a device programmer that is available
> for the hobbyist, please let me know.  By the way, I check my Willem Device
> list totally expecting to find a PAL, GAL or CPLD listed amd unless I
> blinked while looking at the list, I did not find one.  Thanks in advance
> for any help you can give.
> 
> Kip
> 
> P.S. Why does this list ad extra CR, LF sequences after every paragraph I
> write in emails to the Coco List?
> 
> 
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