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ortek_service · 7th May 2021, 5:57 pm

Yes, When he has access to that Softy-2 again it would be great to be able to get a copy of the firmware as this one doesn't seem to have made it on the 'net yet (as with its manual(s) for it).
With the Softy-2 being sold in Maplin etc. for quite a while, and it being capable of programming single-rail EPROMS's, I would have thought there would have been more produced / still in use / still around than the original Softy-1's.
But maybe the lack of easy file transfer to / from it and a PC, with no serial interface, makes people reluctant to having to re-type in hex dumps these days!

I presume TonyDuell never had one, to do his usual reverse-engineering work on.
- As the Softy-2 seems to be one of the few SC/MP based programmers that there isn't good information available on the 'net, now that there is quite a bit published on the GP-Electronics (associated main producer of SC/MP ones) models EP4000, P4000 & P8000, With quite a bit on the EP8000 (Although nothing yet on their even-rarer? BP4/BP5 Bipolar-PROM adaptors for the EP4000/8000 ?)

It may be possible to work-out the h/w changes on the S2 from the S1, by looking at PCB photos. And ChrisOddy had disassembled & was abe to re-assemble this to match the S1 firmware image. So that could be modified to support S2 hardware - But it would be better to get a copy of a genuine version.

7th May 2021, 5:57 pm	#59
ortek_service Octode Join Date: May 2018 Location: Northampton, Northamptonshire, UK. Posts: 1,440	Re: Early EPROM programmer. Yes, When he has access to that Softy-2 again it would be great to be able to get a copy of the firmware as this one doesn't seem to have made it on the 'net yet (as with its manual(s) for it). With the Softy-2 being sold in Maplin etc. for quite a while, and it being capable of programming single-rail EPROMS's, I would have thought there would have been more produced / still in use / still around than the original Softy-1's. But maybe the lack of easy file transfer to / from it and a PC, with no serial interface, makes people reluctant to having to re-type in hex dumps these days! I presume TonyDuell never had one, to do his usual reverse-engineering work on. - As the Softy-2 seems to be one of the few SC/MP based programmers that there isn't good information available on the 'net, now that there is quite a bit published on the GP-Electronics (associated main producer of SC/MP ones) models EP4000, P4000 & P8000, With quite a bit on the EP8000 (Although nothing yet on their even-rarer? BP4/BP5 Bipolar-PROM adaptors for the EP4000/8000 ?) It may be possible to work-out the h/w changes on the S2 from the S1, by looking at PCB photos. And ChrisOddy had disassembled & was abe to re-assemble this to match the S1 firmware image. So that could be modified to support S2 hardware - But it would be better to get a copy of a genuine version.