Wait, looks like Amazon DE have it for a reasonable price:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/WINGONEER-TL866II-Performance-EEPROM-Programmer/dp/B07B985LBS
This is the one I purchased back in 2020 after purchasing another eeprom programmer that I thought could do the job but couldn't.
Was only £40 at the time but they seem to have shot way up in price and Wingoneer don't seem to be doing them anymore it looks like. Try to get the original XGecu TL866II Plus if you can... but really even the clones will work fine. Infact I used it just the other day to program a Duke 3D repro for a friend that I'm visiting in NYC in a few weeks time.
They work well with one of these bank switching adapters for Mega Drive for instance:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/284253939959?hash=item422edae8f7:g:IqcAAOSw1uJgk5cG
Works well for burning Sega Naomi bios chips too.
I would say don't go mad buying a bunch of adapters but at the same time they can come in handy too as I used one for a PIC chip a little while ago to create a PS1 modchip.
Definitely don't go spending mad money though you should find a reasonably priced one on AliExpress or the likes, and like The Last Bandit said they're all mostly the same as long as they're TL866ii or so.
Thanks, I'll probably need that.
Ah they're all the same really, definitely wouldn't be paying 300 for it though. None of the supplied adapters with program Amiga roms, you'll need to get something like this as well
Thanks for that info.
I see some TL866II bundles with a load of adapters included for about €100-150. Only problem is they seem to have about 10 different brands and I'm not sure where to buy them. Ali looks dodge for them, Amazon has them but not many reviews. RS do have them, but its nearly €300 for the device on its own there.
I got one of the older versions of the TL866 and a GQ4X. Both are very good but have their own advantages & limitations.
First one I got was the GQ4X a good few years ago to program Amiga kickstarts and it comes with the correct adapters for those EPROM types. Used it for loads of different PROM/EPROM/Flash types, its doesn't program GALs though which I why I bought the TL866.
The TL866 doesn't directly support 27C400's (Amiga kickstarts) so you need a custom adapter and use device type 27C4096 instead I believe.
Software for both is pretty crap, the TL866 does have a opensource cmdline 'minipro' which is handy when added to vscode to do build-flash in one step for dev work
Is the TL866II Plus still pretty much the best option for burning retro rom chips(with the various adapters)?
I'm looking to pick one up, but if there's a better option out there that people are using for under €200-250 I'd love to hear it.
Yeah its a pretty cool thing. Even the Infrared stuff is turning out to be more useful than I expected. Definitely worth the money, but maybe not the 2 year wait 🙂
Remind me never to install anything with an electrically controlled lock!
Just watched some videos, that's a really cool device and the type of thing I love messing about with, will have to pick one up!
Not done keys yet, but I did a few Amiibo tests from ones I own and cloned directly as well as downloaded. All works fine. So many uses for this thing, both good and evil.
Oooooh that flipper certainly has... interesting uses. :-P
Off to go clone some hotel keys are ya? :-D
My Hakko FX-888D arrived this morning from the Netherlands. It's a big step up from the cheapo Amazon irons for sure, and the silicon cable wrap on the iron itself is something I'd never thought of, but makes it way easier to move around without the cable becoming a problem. Did the checks most people recommend online and its not a fake or very old stock(manufactured this year).
Also got a few rewritable NFC tags to test for a little cataloging and security project I'm planning for my retro gear. The below tag is the smallest I could get at a reasonable price that can hold a usable amount of data(144 bytes in this case, which is enough for my needs).
And not directly retro related, but my Flipper Zero arrived yesterday after a 2 year wait. It can do a lot of cool nerd stuff once you know how to use it. I have a few retro projects in mind for it once some of the GPIO stuff I see people working on come out. For now I'm just playing with the Sub-Ghz, NFC and RFID side of things with it. I'll probably tell my neighbour it was me accidentally opening his garage doors about 10 time yesterday :)
I'm an idiot. There's an entire part to the guide that I didn't finish! It has RGH3 on there now but turns on then just powers off.
...because I accidentally haven't linked POST, SMC_POST SMC_PLL and Bypass.
I need a 3k resistor though which I don't have. To Amazon!
I hope I haven't ballsed it up. Although I suspect that it's powering down when trying to glitch due to lack of access to... whatever it needs access to.
To Amazon!
I've done a couple of Trinity's without any problems, with whatever the latest Jrunner at the time was. Did you try different timing files ? And booting by pressing Eject ?
Are you doing RGH 2 or RGH 3?
Been many years since I messed about with 360 modding (the jtag days), but might there be something wrong with the image you're flashing? Or thr nand dump itself?
I remember you had to dump the nand more than once, and compare the dumps to ensure they were correct.
I do want to look at an RGH mod at some stage, on a Trinity board I believe.
Anybody got any experience with Xell Reloaded on a Trinity board?
I'm in the process of trying to RHG my Trinity Xbox360s with pico flasher and I'm having a bit of trouble.
I've backed up the nand using jrunner, created and flashed ecc but the console won't boot!
It'll start up but no video is output and it won't join the network.
I've tried reflashing numerous times but nothing.
I've checked all solder points for continuity and they all appear to have it.
Any idea what I might be doing wrong?
I'm going to redo the solder points just incase.
Thing is, pico flasher can definitely communicate with the nand read / write to it so I don't understand what's going wrong.
I’m leaning towards the Hakko FX-888D. Looks to be a neat setup as well and the price is definitely right.
Edit:
Went ahead and ordered the FX-888D, 8 Hakko tips and bunch of other bits. Came in about €200 which is pretty good. Ordered from the same place I got my rarely used oscilloscope, so I don't expect any problems or fake equipment(which it seems is common with the Hakko stuff).
I use a Hakko FX-888D and a KSGER T12 (AliExpress special) as my two main soldering stations.
The Hakko is definitely what I use most of the time and I certainly recommend it. It's user interface reminds me of the kind of nonsense you used to have to do to program VCRs but once dialled in, it's a great piece of kit.
The KSGER is a decent iron, but I only kept mine over the Hakko as it arrived with bad solder joints on the power supply connection (the irony) and I got a refund and fixed it with my Hakko!
It's unfortunate that they use different tips by default. I tend to keep chunkier tips on the KSGER.
I've a Hakko FX-888D for a few years (was a lot more expensive when I got it) and its been flawless so far and has gotten a lot of use. Only use genuine replacement tips though as the cheapo ebay ones are pure crap.
I think I should probably invest in at least an entry level "decent" soldering station as what I have at the moment is an Antex soldering iron(its ok) and a cheap Tabiger kit from Amazon(again, ok when used with upgraded tips).
I'm currently looking at the Hakko FX-888D(€103), Hakko FX-951(€280) and the Weller WE1010(€128). The Hakko FX-888D seems decent for the money and reviews well. But I'm open to advice from people more knowledgably than myself in this.
Kinda depends on the type of tip your using, if its a conical tip then I'd just wrap the top 3-4 mm of it as you want the whole tip to be a working surface. But for a bevel or chisel tip I'd only ever tin the sloppy working surface side as thats where you want the solder to stick to rather than flowing around the back of the tip.
I'm trying to do a bit more soldering these days as it's just not a skill I'm very proficient in. So I want to get it right, even if its just soldering on some headers to a raspberry pi or something basic like that.
Far from a soldering expert me, because the above is something I've never heard of before! I've heard of tip rejuvenation paste etc, and good practice like cleaning with solder brush then flowing some fresh solder onto the tip when you're finished with it to prevent oxidation during non use....but tinning new tips isn't something I personally do (though it does seem like good practice!)
A question to the soldering experts(I know you're one @Inviere 🙂). Do we need to tin the tip of smaller soldering heads/tips? Or is that just something for the larger ones?
As in this video, he tins the tip, but its a fairly beefy one and not something I'd use on small electronics.
I no expert on soldering and have never tinned them, just kept them clean with the brass cleaning ball base(the pot scrubber looking thing) as well as using a small brass wire brush to scrub any extra carbon off them.
Thoughts?
I've got that mod lined up myself.
The Pico boards are very versatile little things. I've only really started testing them out for a few projects recently and so far it sort of clicks with me more than Arduino ever did. Testing a simple webserver/mini wifi access point to control some LEDs at the moment to see what kind of battery life I can expect.
Boom. That was easy enough even for a relative novice such as myself.
Speaking of... guess what I'll be at tonight?
Did a PicoBoot install on a DOL-101 just now. Very simple although some of the connections a bit awkward if left handed.
Works perfectly!
Mixing them is supposed to be bad due to slightly different melting points causing poor joints. On a completely connection, there's nothing wrong with using lead free solder if you want.
Question for those more knowledgeable than me, would lead-free solder paste be ok to use in general retro console/machine repair/maintenance work? I have something in my mind from reading stuff about not mixing unleaded solder with leaded solder...but maybe that's advice for not physically mixing them on the board? I'd obviously be desoldering, braiding, and cleaning with IPA before applying lead-free paste...
