!pr1
New Hardware for Programming PALs......Bob Sander-Cederlof

PALs (programmable array logic chips) are to logic circuitry as ROMs are to memory.  Most of the new cards coming out these days contain one or more PALs.  Engineers write logic equations, feed them into a PAL Assembler, and run the output to a PAL burner.  The programmed PAL is then ready to use in a circuit.  Until now, you had to buy a PAL development system, either stand-alone or perhaps interfaced to an IBM-alike.

But now, Dynatek Electronics has introduced a new board than slips nicely into an Apple slot for programming 20- and 24-pin PALs.  The PALP-701A, for $245, programs 20-pin PALs.  The PALP-702A handles both 20- and 24-pin chips, and can also blow the security fuse when you are ready for it.  Both of them come with the PAL Assembler software.

Dynatek's PAL Assembler is compatible with Monolithic Memories PALASM.  It creates a fuse plot from a PAL source file of Boolean equations.  The fuse plot is then used by the PAL Programmer card via on-board firmware to program the PAL.  The firmware on the Programmer card can also read un-protected PALs, and verify them.  There is also a screen editor for creating, examining, and modifying a fuse plot.

Almost any Apple II system will do.  You need at least 16K RAM to use the card, at least 48K and a disk drive to use the PAL Assembler.  And who, these days, does not have at LEAST 48K?

If you design and build circuits, you ought to investigate this card.  Call Jerry Wang at (312) 255-3469, or write to Dynatek Electronics, Inc., P. O. Box 1567, Arlington Heights, IL 60006.  Tell him we sent you!
