Data I/O Guru's 29A vs 29B

I recently won an auction for a 29A

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110446490697&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:US:1123

I see that Mikes Arcade has promlink software for the 29B.

1) I was wondering what the difference was compared to the 29A?
2) Is there anything missing from what I bought?
3) The seller states (No Air Filter) where can I get one?

Great Score. It's a little funny that the shipping is almost equal to the cost of the programmer. It's built like a battleship and weighs a lot. In its day that setup was many thousands of dollars.

#1) the 29A is the predecessor to the 29B no problem there - it will run fine with promlink. You will need a special serial cable called a "null modem" and the manual shows you how to build one. If you need help there let me know. I would talk about a trade for the Palasm adapter you acquired for a cable. It's more for sentimental reasons that I'd want the adapter. You also need to set the baud rate on the back of the 29A and match it in the settings in promlink. Other tips: when you run promlink in a dos window and have no second serial port - just ignore the error message about there being no second serial port. I have a data I/O setup running promlink in widows under XP. I can send you the promlink image on CD if you are running into problems. Also set the file format for "absolute binary". Once you get setup, I can walk you through loading a file and programming over the phone if you need additional help - once you do it once or twice, you are on your way - it will save you learning curve time for sure. I used to use these back in the day. What was really funny was that I had a "carrying case" for my company's 29A - it was the size of a small coffin and held everything you see in you auction and more. I never used it except when we moved.

#2) The serial cable. See #1.

#3) I don't have one on mine - There should be a large square piece of screening to prevent your finger from getting into the fan. There was supposed to be a piece of foam over that - they usually disintegrated as the foam broke down over the years. You get better airflow without it and just need to blow it out with compressed air every couple of years or so as you will not have it running only when you program chips. This programmer was designed for manufacturing environments to be running practically 24-7 and actually had an automatic chip handler interface - you could put in a sleeve of chips and it would automatically insert, program, and release each chip into another sleeve.

Have fun,

Bill
 
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Thanks for your post Bill. Can I upgrade the memory in the 29a like this example shows for the 29b?

http://www.retroclinic.com/leopardcats/dio/upgrade.htm


Isn't the cable just a standard null modem cable? I have a crap load of these from working on old superdos for the adp hollander yard management systems. Aka HYMS
 
The important question of the day is can you program N82S123/126/129 proms with it?
If so, hurry up and bring it over!
 
Good question we will see... I have no idea I have only burned rom's so far on my Bp Ep-1140. Man I need to bring all kinds of crap down next week.

I am sitting here dumping a 250g h/d over to a 1000 gig and looking like crazy for the connector for my all in wonder pro agp. I have a nice little 754 amd i am building today so I can watch tv and burn with the 29a at the same time. I just don't have the room for a tv in here. I also dont have a tv tuner card for pci-e so I had to decommission my back up 939 opteron server with a sweet lil 8600gt in it. Oh well I got to have a tv... I guess the 939 goes to multimedia duty in the living room for vids and crap.
 
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Yes it's a null modem cable and yes it can program 82S123s or any bipolar prom you can throw at it.

Bill
 
Thanks for your post Bill. Can I upgrade the memory in the 29a like this example shows for the 29b?

http://www.retroclinic.com/leopardcats/dio/upgrade.htm


Isn't the cable just a standard null modem cable? I have a crap load of these from working on old superdos for the adp hollander yard management systems. Aka HYMS

Unsure about the memory upgrade as I have only 29Bs and yes it is a null modem cable.

Bill
 
I have promlink 6.10 installed from mikes site. Yea I have promlink up and running!

First thing I notice out of the gate is in options

Programmer Type...

Hum the 29a is not listed? The 29b unipak is...

Please don't say that promlink 6.10 wont work with a 29a...
 
#1) You also need to set the baud rate on the back of the 29A and match it in the settings in promlink. Other tips: when you run promlink in a dos window and have no second serial port - just ignore the error message about there being no second serial port. I have a data I/O setup running promlink in widows under XP. I can send you the promlink image on CD if you are running into problems. Also set the file format for "absolute binary". Once you get setup, I can walk you through loading a file and programming over the phone if you need additional help - once you do it once or twice, you are on your way - it will save you learning curve time for sure.

Bill

Well I will certainly take you up on this offer... I am stuck
 
1- You need the right S/W
http://retroclinic.com/leopardcats/dio/PL610.zip

This needs a DOS windows to run.
I use an old PC with Win98 because I find XP
messes-up the COM ports using DOS.


2- You need the right cable
http://retroclinic.com/leopardcats/dio/dataioserial.htm

3- Set the 29B's baud rate to match that of your COM port

4- To connect to 29B to PC, you need to hit
<F><1><ENTER><ENTER> (...yes, hit Enter TWICE ! )
[ This puts the 29B in "Remote" mode ]
Then issue any command from the S/W (read,blank check, etc)
which forces the software to communicate with the 29B.

You should see a message saying "Connecting" .
If your 29B is in "Remote" mode, it will synch-up.

E-mail me info AT hobbyroms DOT com
if you have any problems.

Cheers,
Steph
www.Hobbyroms.com

Well I tried this software as well with this error.

Error 11 occurred in module MAIN at address 3104:0067

Hit any key to return to system

----

Hum I did not make the cable. I am using a regular null modem cable db25 to db9. I wonder if this is one of my issues as well...
 
Well I made the cable that steph suggested above. It seems to be talking to promlink now but I still get a bunch of different errors.

-----

I found another pin out for the cable on the data i/o owners website...

it says...

http://home.myfairpoint.net/mlps_vt/promlink.htm
[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]
Data I/O recommends using only Ground ( pins 1 & 7 ), Send Data ( pin 2 ), Receive Data ( pin 3 ), Request to send ( pin 4 ) and Clear to send ( pin 5 ) to interface to your PC.

My Translated version below of the pin out above. Is this correct?
-----
db25m to db9f
1 to 1
7 to 7
2 to 2
3 to 3
4 to 4
5 to 5

------

Then there is a third cable in the pdf here...

[/FONT]ftp://ftp.flippers.com/TTL/TestEquipment/DATA-IO/DataIO29A.pdf

Which I am having a hard time figuring how to make it. I am not sure what the hell they are talking about in this part of the manual. Confuses me err...
 
QUOTE Steph- You need the right S/W
http://retroclinic.com/leopardcats/dio/PL610.zip

This needs a DOS windows to run.
I use an old PC with Win98 because I find XP
messes-up the COM ports using DOS.

-----
Done! But I am running XP Pro
-----

2- You need the right cable
http://retroclinic.com/leopardcats/dio/dataioserial.htm

-----
Done!
-----

3- Set the 29B's baud rate to match that of your COM port

-----
Done! But Im not sure if its right. Leopard Cats Site Seems To Say Something Different
http://web.archive.org/web/20040701061038/www.leopardcats.com/dio/dataioserial.htm
-----

4- To connect to 29B to PC, you need to hit
<F><1><ENTER><ENTER> (...yes, hit Enter TWICE ! )
[ This puts the 29B in "Remote" mode ]

-----
Done!
-----

Then issue any command from the S/W (read,blank check, etc)
which forces the software to communicate with the 29B.

-----
Nope! Red Window Pops UP and Says (No Device Selected) ???
-----

I have looked all thru this software. I have the 29b unipak selected in options >>> programmer type. I don't see anything else to set.

Any Ideas?

I come along way today with this 29A beast and the original unipak not a 29b and a unipak 2b.

Anyway @ this point i need some sleep.
 
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Shit one more thing...

The dip switch settings in the manual are a little confusing...

Can somebody tell me hows yours are set?

There are four of them..

I have two up and two down at the moment. Maybe this is where I am going wrong now.
 
Me and my friend have been fighting these 20" touchscreens with serial cables. We finally called the company who made them and got the correct(custom) pinout for the serial cable and we made up a cable. Fired it up and works excellent. There's so many different configuration of serial cables, make sure your using the right one.
Btw, I might be getting a big lot of Data I/O programmers from an electronics recycler. He said he had a "bunch of them" but not sure if they got thrown away or not.
 
Awesome news about the touch screens. You know I have room for one of those!

As far as the programmer goes I gave up on the promlink 6.1 version. I am pretty sure that it doesn't in anyway support the data i/o 29a. I did get a little sleep this morning and have been back at it again. I hooked up my trusty 3.1/95 rig and installed promlink 3.4 and bingo the programmer works. It supports most of my devices except the unipak. I think that the software release 2.6 will finally get the unipak working. So basically I am up and running.

I am now trying to get the 3.4 version of promlink installed in xp but it has been slow going. It seems to hang when trying to look for/update older promlink software.

Good thing I bought that usb floppy drive last weekend. Its working like a charm... It seems you can't get a standalone software install with promlink 3.4 unless it reads the files from an A drive.
 
I think I have some floppy drives in my old reliable box-o-junk pc parts if you need one.
Get that thing up and running so I can burn some proms!

You havent seen these touchscreens, they are 20" and a simply awesome. They were built for the gov't but never used. We maxed out the resolution in XP with no problems and also got the touchscreen working. Were discussing pricing/qty now and hope to have these available soon. I will be picking up 3-4 myself for my personal use.

Were still playing with the 10" touchscreens but no luck yet.
 
I really do want one of these... Man I need some funds!

I have give up trying to make the Data 29A work in Xp. As far as i am concerned it wont period.

I went back to my Ms-dos_6/3.1/95 rig and installed Promlink 2.6 and 3.4 into different slices on the hard drive. It worked flawless and the best piece of advice I can give on this whole ordeal is to install 3.4 first on (D) drive Win95. Promlink 3.4 overwrites/upgrades any software before that revision. Then install 2.6 on msdos (C) Win3.11 works like a champ. I made shortcuts from the pl.exe for both and placed them on my desktop. One click action now...

People may say don't mess with the 29a get the 29b because of the memory diffs. Let me say this... I just upgraded my burning capabilities 10 fold over the BP Microsystems EP-1140 I have. The BP is awesome but it would not handle all the different 2532's I threw at it. Anyway this 29A unit rocks and can handle a shit load of arcade related stuff! I am not done buying burners yet. I am just getting started and still need a few more!
 
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That's really good, I didn't think the 29A would even work with the Promlink software so I was using it as a stand alone machine to do direct copies. I ended up picking up a 29B for really cheap, and was going to set that up with Promlink but haven't had the need just yet. Thanks for confirming that the 29A will work as well.

Luke
 
I am using the cable pinout as suggested from leopardcats site and seems to be working fine. It might also be overkill for the 29A.


Here is what I found taped to the machine. Hope you can see the pinout. I will make this cable and give it a run if I have any issues with the other for the 29B...
 

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