Needham EMP-20 Device Programmer

[daveejhitchins]

Due to our workplace relocating . . . and the subsequent 'clear-out' I have, in my possession, 3 - yes, that's THREE - Needham's EMP-20 Device Programmers for sale.

This post is just to let everyone have a ponder and look-up the product Here.
I need to check what I have before they are offered for sale, and I'll do my best to test them. According to the user guide it should handle most of the devices used in the early Acorn computers. There's a Device List on the site. here's a photo.

More details later . . .

Dave H

[daveejhitchins]

More details on the Needham's EMP-20:

The unit will now ship with the following:
1) Main unit
2) DC Power Supply and mains lead - it has the correct DC plug! (Note: NOT a cheap Chinese version)
3) Centronics printer interface cable
4) User Guide and 'Start-Up Instructions (I can provide this as a pdf file too)
5) Wallet with 3.5" disc containing the DOS software (I think there is a 'Windows' version somewhere on Needham's web site) plus numbers 1 to 4 personality modules

I have two units at £30 each + P&P (about £5)

If there are no takers they'll be on e-bay at the end January.

Thanks - Dave H

[jonb]

That looks interesting...

Do they come with the any device Family Modules or PC software?

Really what I am asking is what else would I need to start using one of these?

[dangardner]

This weekend I'll be trying to get one of these working using the DOS-based software in a Win98 VirtualBox VM on a Win7 x64 (not UEFI) host with the parallel port from a PCI card passed through to the VM.

I'll let you know how I get on. Failing that, the other free options that I can think of to try (in order of convenience) are:

Linux VM running DOSEmu
Linux on a bootable USB stick running DOSEmu
FreeDOS or MS-DOS on a bootable USB stick
Dedicating an old PC with a parallel port to the task

Any other suggestions welcomed

[daveejhitchins]

That looks interesting...

Do they come with the any device Family Modules or PC software?

Really what I am asking is what else would I need to start using one of these?

As listed . . . You get everything you need to run it under DOS. However, as I mentioned I do believe there is a 'pseudo Windows' version. And, as listed , 4 x Personality Modules #s 1 to 4.

Dave H

[daveejhitchins]

Windows support for the EMP-20 can be found Here.

Dave H

[dangardner]

Windows support for the EMP-20 can be found Here.

Unfortunately that software only seems to support the EMP-11, EMP-21 and EMP-30 but not the EMP-20

I'll let you know how I get on.

After failing miserably to get LPT passthrough working under VirtualBox, I installed a Win98SE VM under VMware Player and everything worked straight away. I even get a decent display resolution in the VM using the VMware tools.

[daveejhitchins]

Unfortunately that software only seems to support the EMP-11, EMP-21 and EMP-30 but not the EMP-20

Dan:

this is the only other software they have for the EMP-20 on their site. It may be what you have already - but it looks bigger than a DS 3.5" floppy could handle!

Dave H

EMP-20 software.zip

(905.35 KiB) Downloaded 143 times

[dangardner]

this is the only other software they have for the EMP-20 on their site. It may be what you have already - but it looks bigger than a DS 3.5" floppy could handle!

That's the one I used - it's the DOS-based software and works well under Win98.

[daveejhitchins]

That's the one I used - it's the DOS-based software and works well under Win98.

Does that mean the programmer is working OK?

Dave H

[dangardner]

Does that mean the programmer is working OK?

Programmer is working perfectly - I just burned an ANFS 4.25 ROM with it. Many thanks for a lovely little programmer.

[daveejhitchins]

Good news Dan.

Two left, if anyone is interested or to e-Bay they go.

Dave H

[hoglet]

Hi Dave,

I'd be interested in one of them.

The device list looks better than the G540 (which has already failed to program a couple of devices it claims to support), and it seems to have an excellent reputation as being a decent programmer.

Dave

[stevendt]

Dave

I realise that this is quite an old thread and your devices are long gone. However, when you posted the ad, you said . . .

"The unit will now ship with the following:
...
2) DC Power Supply and mains lead - it has the correct DC plug! (Note: NOT a cheap Chinese version)
..."

Can you recall what the "correct" DC plug was please? I have just picked up an EMP-20 and what looked like a 5.5mmx2.5mm power adapter socket isn't

I have found the power requirements on the web, but nothing about the physical connector size

regards
Dave

[daveejhitchins]

Can you recall what the "correct" DC plug was please? I have just picked up an EMP-20 and what looked like a 5.5mmx2.5mm power adapter socket isn't

Sorry, I've been through my photos and it looks like I didn't take any of the power adaptor

Maybe one of the 'new' owners would be able help out?

Dave H

[stevendt]

Thanks Dave,

can the "new owners" help me with this question please?

dangardner?
hoglet?
anyone else?

regards
Dave

[hoglet]

Can you recall what the "correct" DC plug was please? I have just picked up an EMP-20 and what looked like a 5.5mmx2.5mm power adapter socket isn't

I've just measured mine quite carefully, and I make it a 5.5mm x 2.5mm.

In what way doesn't that fit your EMP-20? i.e. is it to tight or too loose?

Dave

[stevendt]

Hi,

thanks a lot for that. That is very confusing, I have tried a couple of 5.5 x 2.5 plugs and neither fit.
The problem is that the plug will not fit into the socket.

Mmm, just tried another plug (wrong voltage PSU, but just to see if it would fit) - and it DOES!

It seems that the 2 other 5.5 x "2.5mm" connectors that I tried are actually 2.1mm - doh!
I was sure that they were 5.5, but obviously not, silly me!

Thanks for confirming the size, I will order up a new supply now that I know that it is indeed 5.5 x 2.5 that I need

regards
Dave