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Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers?

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On 2017-06-02, Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:
> On 6/2/2017 8:49 AM, hondgm@yahoo.com wrote:
>> I was perusing eBay recently and noticed these old Picstart Programmers
>> going for about $50.  Why???!!  With an RS232 port and I'm sure limited
>> capability, the only theory I have is as collector's items.
>
> How much of your *time* would $50 buy?
>
> Or, more generously, how much of your time would you SPEND $50 to *save*?
>
> Cables are reasonably mindless undertakings.  Why would anyone *buy* a
> cable when they could MAKE one for far less money?
>
> I.e., if you have a *need*, then YOU decide what the most effective way
> to satisfy that need is likely to be.  Build vs. Buy?  Or, use something
> *other* than a PIC??
>
> I've got an old Compaq Portable 386 (lunchbox) that I use as a "two slot
> ISA machine" for some legacy tools that I support.  It harkens from
> the days of 20MB 5" disk drives.  I can either try to find a tiny IDE
> drive that its' BIOS will recognize -- or, modify its BIOS to support
> a "less tiny" (but still incredibly tiny!) disk drive.
>
> [I chose the latter option]
>
> Should I replace the EPROMs holding the BIOS with FLASH devices?
> Or, erase/reprogram them directly -- which requires a UV light source
> and a PROM programmer.
>
> Will the PROM programmer have a USB interface?  Serial?  Parallel?
> Ethernet?
>
> etc.  How far down this list of prerequisites do you travel before
> you consider it "not worth your effort"?
>
> [BTW, I keep a slew of old "development boards" in the garage for just
> that sort of legacy problem solving]

boot from an SD to IDE adaptor, presumably you can still find SD cards
small enough to boot from.

-- 
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Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-02 08:49 -0700
  Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Jan Panteltje <pNa0nStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2017-06-02 16:58 +0000
    Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-02 10:10 -0700
      Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Jan Panteltje <pNa0nStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2017-06-02 18:06 +0000
        Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-02 11:59 -0700
          Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Jan Panteltje <pNa0nStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2017-06-02 19:21 +0000
            Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-02 12:43 -0700
              Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Jan Panteltje <pNa0nStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2017-06-02 20:43 +0000
                Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-02 18:29 -0700
              Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Neon John <no@never.com> - 2017-06-03 11:44 -0400
                Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-04 04:44 -0700
          Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? amdx <nojunk@knology.net> - 2017-06-02 14:59 -0500
      Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Chris Jones <lugnut808@spam.yahoo.com> - 2017-06-04 12:12 +1000
  Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? dplatt@coop.radagast.org (Dave Platt) - 2017-06-02 10:46 -0700
  Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-06-02 13:03 -0700
    Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-02 18:17 -0700
      Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-06-02 19:47 -0700
        Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? hondgm@yahoo.com - 2017-06-03 03:56 -0700
          Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-06-03 11:50 -0700
          Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Kamen Lilov <kamenl@gmail.com> - 2017-06-03 12:33 -0700
    Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Jasen Betts <jasen@xnet.co.nz> - 2017-06-09 21:04 +0000
      Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-06-09 14:37 -0700
  Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? mike <ham789@netzero.net> - 2017-06-04 00:02 -0700
    Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-06-04 03:41 -0700
    Re: Why are people buying old Picstart Programmers? Don Kuenz <g@crcomp.net> - 2017-06-04 13:15 +0000

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