Review on 🔌 ARCELI TL866II Plus USB EEPROM Flash BIOS Programmer - High Performance for ATMEL AVR ATMEGA AT90 PIC GAL SRAM CMOS by Kenny Rossi

I wanted to play old games with the king of PC sound devices [late 80's/early 90's]. Unfortunately Wing Commander (and others) crashes with my ten year old firmware, ISA, Music Quest "PC MIDI Card". I didn't have an MT-32 when Music Quest made MIDI cards, so I never knew I had bugs. Thirty years later I discovered this fact. Ha. I found a forum where the problem was discussed (Hello VOGONS!). Someone was kind enough to send me a firmware update. I needed to install a fixed firmware EPROM on my MIDI card. Luckily my PC MIDI card's existing firmware chip was in the socket (not soldered to the board). I bought two disposable EPROMs from DigiKey for $5 (I don't have a UV eraser for the peeled chips I have lying around). , and it would cost another $20+). The process was unsightly (software is functional, not pretty) but very easy to complete. Don't be afraid of him like me. The programmer came in its own labeled packaging (this is becoming a rarity). There was almost no English on the box. I don't blame the Chinese; I just want products sold in English speaking countries to be packaged appropriately (and their software and drivers localized appropriately) for sale there. In the box was a programmer, a USB cable and the small cable shown in the photos which is not needed for my project. There was no software. The attached note said to download the software from the company's website. Your website is a mess: it's ugly and loads VERY SLOWLY. I have never received any software from there. I ended up getting a slightly older version from Archive dot com. The software was able to connect to the website and tell me that a newer version is available, but it just sends me back to the same useless website. The old version worked fine for me. If you are using an EPROM that is not in the software database, you may need a newer version (or the chip will never be supported like 21V chips, IIRC). It's a little embarrassing that Windows asks me if I want to trust the developer of the driver whose name I can't read because it's written in Chinese characters. The problem isn't China; This is a clear sign that the problem lies in inferior software. Unfortunately there is no going back. I saw someone on YouTube using this programmer and their software, so I knew what to expect. The software is ugly as sin and doesn't conform to basic UI conventions (once the process is successfully completed you should have a button to 'close' the dialog, not 'cancel') but it worked and did that, what i did required. I did NOT try to auto-detect the EPROM chip. In their reviews, people wrote that auto-detection is problematic, so I didn't try it. I have selected my EPROM from the software database. It worked well. Programming the 512K EPROM was quick, as was checking the ROM. Having programmed an EPROM, I suspect I'll never use this thing again. i think it's ok I just wanted an old DOS gaming computer to work the way I wanted it to in 1990. I'm a little late, but the nostalgia is good. The programmer and two EPROMs were cheaper than buying a replacement MPU-401 compatible MIDI interface off eBay. It's funny. I think I prefer Adlib's music and sound effects during Wing Commander's combat moments. Who knows. I may need to write another EPROM to get a working IDE2CF setup on my old Tandy machines.