RCA1802 Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 I recently acquired a Bytewriter EPROM burner, this is an EPROM burner for Atari 8-bits that uses 2 joystick ports as an 8-bit connection to the burner. I've had a saved search on eBay for years so when one finally came up I snapped it up I thought the enclosure would be metal but it's actually plastic. Inside is an 8035 microcontroller with a 2K EPROM and an 8255 parallel chip. I really like the software... I don't have a burner that can write 2532s so the Bytewriter is actually useful! Here I am burning an updated monitor EPROM for my SYM-1 SBC... The burner is SLOW compared to other ones I have but not too slow, it took about 5 minutes to write the 2532 The joystick connectors are recessed on the XE so the connectors won't fit, I had to hackup some gender changes to make extenders Attached are the ROM dump and an ATR of the software if anyone needs them. bytewriter8.17.BIN bytewriterA.ATR 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbaeza Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Congratulations on your purchase. Bytewriter info is scarce, so thanks for sharing those details ? kind regards, Luis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Nice piece of kit, will it do other EPROM types too ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCA1802 Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 (edited) Forgot to mention that mine didn't come with the manual but there is a PDF version at the Atari Museum: http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/3rdparty/Other/ByteWriter/index.htm It can burn 2716/32/64/128 as well as TI 2516/32/64 and Motorola 68764 (which is useful as this can be used as a drop in replacement for some commodore ROMS in their various machines.) There was also an adapter harness that allowed you to dump various carts however I haven't even been able to find a picture of this. Edited October 15, 2020 by RCA1802 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbaeza Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 57 minutes ago, RCA1802 said: There was also an adapter harness that allowed you to dump various carts however I haven't even been able to find a picture of this. That is interesting, first time I read somehing like that. Years ago I made a hardware device that allowed me to plug a cartridge while the device was plugged on the EPROM programmer. It half-worked, and haven't had the chance to go back and fix it... Is there a picture anywhere of this harness for the Bytewriter? Kind regards, Luis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCA1802 Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 1 hour ago, lbaeza said: That is interesting, first time I read somehing like that. Years ago I made a hardware device that allowed me to plug a cartridge while the device was plugged on the EPROM programmer. It half-worked, and haven't had the chance to go back and fix it... Is there a picture anywhere of this harness for the Bytewriter? Kind regards, Luis I can't find any, it may have been vaporware. Convologic also advertised a device called the WAM cartridge which was like a regular cartridge but it was battery backed ram or something. I can't find any pictures or information on this device except that the Bytewriter software allows you to convert your dumped cart to the WAM cart's format.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 I bought a Bytewriter in '83 or '84. Back then, eprom burners were pretty rare, and pricey. Nice quality unit, but limited to 27128 or 27256 (and smaller) eproms. I also had to file down the 9-pin connectors for them to fit in my 130XE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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