Stag/GP CP30 EPROM Programmer

[Pamphonica]

A long shot, I know...

I just bought this EPROM prog v cheaply on Ebay - very nice nick and it does EPROMs up to 256Kbyte with the attached optional RAM pack. I can work out how to copy EPROMs in stand-alone mode but would love to know how to interface it to a PC. It has Serial and Parallel ports on the back. And emulation ports which is intriguing.
Nothing at all comes up on Google so I am not hopeful

Electroanorak has been very helpful as he has one as well, but he also has no manual or details.

Anyone have any experience of these? It was sold by RS under the stock number 659-696.

thanks
Jeremy

[mgatesoglu]

As far as I know the company Stag is no longer active. But, I believe, you can still find their programmers on eBay. Every manufacturer is trying to adopt the stand-alone feature, but Xeltek is still the best at this category (in my opinion)...

Sorry...never used Stag programmers.

[AlanBeckett]

http://www.stag.co.uk/

[Pamphonica]

still hoping someone knows how to connect to the ports on the back, but otherwise all working very well now as an eprom copier.

[neon indicator]

Some programmers use Terminal to remote control and Xmodem for file transfer. 9,600 a common baud rate. Hyperterminal on Windows does both these.

Others used a custom DOS program for upload/Download

This site may have compatible software
http://matthieu.benoit.free.fr/119.htm

http://matthieu.benoit.free.fr/128.htm

The manuals may give a clue as different models may use same methods to download to programmer.

If Hyperterminal can't be used and DOS client is, then
You may need DOSbox on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win7
or Win98 or earlier in DOS mode

I've found that to reprogram Mobile Radios and Set-boxes via Serial I keep an old laptop with DOS6.22/win3.11, DOS7/Win98 and Win2000 in multiboot

[Pamphonica]

Thanks for the response. I will certainly try Terminal when I have a moment. Hopefully there will be some sort of response.
Sadly, although there is a very clear Stag sticker on the back, I suspect they imported them and sold them on to RS. So the Stag software (which I had looked at a while back on the site you mention) won't recognise the GP30.
Looking at the PCB, there are some inviting looking "emulation" ports which are brought out to rear IDC connectors.
Pound to a penny they provide emulation facilities, based on whatever is in RAM on the CP30. But that will require a lot of tracing of tracks, so can wait for another time.

I just had a brainwave. I went to fetch the CP30 and powered it up and started delving into the menus.
One turns out to control input and output, either parallel or serial (via a DB25). When I ask it to output it asks for start address and block length and then just starts to send the file.
All I have to do is send out a file to a PC with Terminal running, and that will give me the file structure (in Notepad). Reverse the process using the correct file structure and that's hopefully the interface sorted out. It can't be using Xmodem etc since it starts to send blocks even without a pc connected!

I'll have to delve more after I have walked the dog, or I will miss the daylight.

Thanks for triggering my brain processes on this one! I will report back....

regards
Jeremy

[AlanBeckett]

Jeremy,
Dumb question probably, but have you asked Stag?
I've used their products for years, and although on occasion I've been fed up with them due to pricing, I've always found them helpful.
Alan

[valvekits]

Back in the early eighties, the company I worked for required an Eprom programmer. We had a visit from the Stag rep and I was given the demo. I think that there was an extension cable that plugged into the ZIF socket and the other end into the memory board where your Eprom would normally reside. Then you could run in emulation mode to make sure everything was fine before you wrote to your Eprom. It was a very nice piece of gear but a bit too expensive for us at the time – we didn’t purchase it.

Eddie

[RobinBirch]

Pound to a penny the upload/download is intel hex format and you will have some choice over the handshaking. Although it's a long time ago I seem to recall that you could get XON/XOFF, RTS/CTS and possibly one or two others. For the IDC sockets you'll probably need the manual but from memory they go on a pin for pin basis into DIL plugs that go into the ROM socket that you are emulating.

I'm not surprised that the current Stag software won't recognise this as I think that this is a very old beast.

Good luck

Robin

[Pamphonica]

Thanks for all the info - some progress has been made this evening.
The EPROM contents can be dumped in ascii to a PC via the RS232 port by selecting the right commands on the programmer. The format is not Intel hex but a version of Hex ASCII. Up to 256 bytes in each block, with start address and a checksum attached to each block. All the serial protocol parameters are available to change (speed, parity etc) but 19200 baud tops, so large EPROMs will load very slowly.
I then started to see if I could get any joy when I forced the "remote" mode when connected to Hyperterminal on the PC. The non-printing control characters don't show up properly so I found a new terminal emulator - RealTerm - which is very good indeed.
For a long time it made no sense - I got virtually nothing on the screen no matter what I typed, but then I realised that the top-level commands are TWO characters long, not one. I now have a small vocabulary of commands, but don't know the correct parameters, or what most of them do. One command gave me a list of alternative file types you can use. This is not available in stand-alone mode.
So I am now very hopeful that with some more detective work I can upload files via a terminal emulator in standard Intel hex format and that would be a real result.
More when I have time...
rgds
Jeremy

[RobinBirch]

Good progress. Well done

[neon indicator]

Great.
PuTTY is another good terminal Program for Windows or linux.
Hyperterm has an arcane menu structure for settings. I think you'll find that with suitable settings Hyperterm works too.

Have fun.
At least it's likely download and upload file formats are identical and it's simply a text dump of file.

I have a feeling this model has a command and then you "print" the file to the serial port in DOS. Simply copy & paste in a terminal program.

[Pamphonica]

I finally worked out a whole string of commands to use remotely and the lists of file dump types could be used in another command to set the dump type. A bit of experimentation and I am now happily dumping (or could load if I wanted) in virtually any format (about 16 are available).
For what its worth I have attached all the commands I have decoded so far.
regards
Jeremy

[JR.Watchet]

Maybe too late but would like to speak to poster as I have
Stag software (plus programmers) for talking to all of these
units, plus a load of drawing for many Stag programmers,
having used many over the years and been friendly with
original Stag founders.

Especially as I wrote software for gaming and video games
and still dabble.

[RobinBirch]

HI,
That is such a useful resource, is there any wy that you could make it generally available.

Regards

Robin

[Pamphonica]

Update:

"JR.Watchet" (aka John Richards) has come up trumps with a complete manual for the CP30. It was sold via RS Components and he has a contact in the archives section there! Fantastic result.

The manual scan is huge (9Mb) - 118 pages - so if you need a copy and your email can accept it, please drop me a PM. Thanks John!

It has everything including all the remote codes for use with an attached PC. I was most of the wat there by trial and error but this is definitive.

By the way, John has a great deal of material on old Stag programmers including circuit diagrams and intends to scan it some day soon. From the fact that he has only made one post here you may deduce he is not that active on the forum! I have email and phone details which he is happy I pass on to individuals. He is happy to help where he can, so PM me for his details if you need any info.

He also mentioned that a gentleman called Prashanta Paul runs www.stag.co.uk now, and he can help with more recent (but obsolete) Stag programmers.

Back to play some more now I know how to use the programmer properly!

regards
Jeremy

[FRED HALL]

Hi.

There is a gentlman called Matthieu Benoit in France who has a great deal of knowledge about Stag Programmers and he has a number of pages on the internet so try Google.

I have a Stag PP39 programmer with various modules and Matthieu has a web page for that which includes operating instructions, wiring diagram for RS232 connector and download for Stagcom which is The Stag DOS operating system.

Whilst this info may not be totally correct for your CP30 there are many similarities and also links to the other Matthieu Beniot pages and I think I have seen some CP30 info whilst browsing in the past.

Hope this helps.

Fred.

[Pamphonica]

Hi Fred,
yes, I did find Matthieu's site and very interesting it is. Unfortunately the GP/CP range must have been bought in by Stag. They use a completely different command set. But with John Richards' help we now have the complete manual. No PC software but the CP30 is completely commandable via serial link and hyperterminal or equivalent.
Incidentally I have been using "Realterm" more recently. It is a lot more flexible than Hyperterminal
regards
Jeremy

[golden-64]

Originally Posted by Pamphonica

Update:
The manual scan is huge (9Mb) - 118 pages - so if you need a copy and your email can accept it, please drop me a PM. Thanks John!

regards
Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

Nice to meet you. My name is Dennis and I'm from Russia.

I have got CP30 but no instructions for it. Could you send me the manual scan (9Mb) - 118 pages, please?

Regards.
Den.

[Pamphonica]

Den,
No problem - I will be delighted to do so. Darren, the moderator, has passed me your email address. I will send it today.
very best regards
Jeremy