4 ms·
We used to erase those eproms with sunlight. Took a lot longer, but seems a lot safer than that rig!
by caf 5y ago
We used to erase those eproms with sunlight. Took a lot longer, but seems a lot safer than that rig!
- pestatije 5y agoYes, that rig looks too close to a Darwin award.
- VLM 5y agoThe irony is real erasers, sometimes even UL and OSHA approved, have cost less than ten eprom chips since the 80s, and have always cost a quarter to a tenth what an eprom programmer costs, so all the effort and danger is not saving very much. Ten eproms seems like a lot to people born after the eprom era, but when every build and test cycle requires at least one (or maybe 2 for a 16 bit system, etc) then you can see why people tended to accumulate a hoard of eproms so they'd always have clean erased ready to use ones while actively programming, and erase was done in bulk either because the eraser held 16 chips at once or the erase process could be done in parallel with downtime (while watching TV or something). Also in some cases during the transition era of UV to EEPROM hardware I remember some EEPROMs were pin for pin compatible with some EPROMs and nobody likes waiting for UV, EEPROMs are simply faster. Obviously not all EPROMs have an identical or faster EEPROM twin, but "many" do.
- swineyy 5y agoThe UVC lamp setup seems dangerous as fuck - exposed live AC voltage AND mercury??? If you're in need of erasing EEPROMs, just do yourself a favor and buy 10mW UVC 265nm LED. A single LED should suffice to erase a single EEPROM chip within 10-15 minutes.
- tyingq 5y agoMost popular UV EPROMS have an electrically eraseable EEPROM equivalent, so you can usually avoid it altogether. In the case of the 27C256 in the article, a 29C256 would be a pin compatible drop-in.
- progman32 5y agoPsh, I've used a TIG welder's arc as an impromptu EPROM eraser. Worked great. It's on video somewhere but I'm not posting it here :) But yeah, LED is the way to go. Normal "black light" LEDs won't work, I tried. Do as parent says.
- jleahy 5y agoI have a history of doing incredibly dangerous things and it terrifies me. The exposed wiring isn’t the worst in my opinion, it’s the uncased high intensity UV-C light source. Arc eye is a truly horrible thing that I would wish on nobody.