New Generation - Bench test fixture
Troubleshooting of electronics boards
Universal bench, for an easy diagnosis
of processor's based systems
All brands of pinballs
(Gottlieb, Bally, ... and many more).
Introduction
Having discovered a similar project for troubleshooting arcade, we investigated the possibility of reusing the hardware part. It would have been foolish indeed to redo everything, especially as the hardware interface is not very complicated.
We therefore freely inspired, in first time, from this project. Subsequently, this first interface does not give full satisfaction, we decided to create ours.
If the hardware is similar (a few details), the software and the concept, however, are totally different.
Presentation
The project has two distinct components:
The main idea is to use standard elements, such a laptop and an Arduino module to create a universal test bench (or almost). The common probe, built from Arduino, integrates all the hardware management functions and communicates via a standard interface (USB) with a laptop. The software installed on the PC, is very easy to use and has a user-friendly graphical interface.
This concept allows to easily implement multiple types of processors, such as the 6502 and 6800 often used on pinball machines. Their derivatives, 6503, 6809E, and several others are also implemented. The probe also supports complex operations such calculations checksums and control of advanced components (RIOT, VIA).
The API (protocol dialogue between the probe and the software on PC), simple and powerful, can be directly controlled from a single terminal (such as that of the Arduino) This also makes debbuging easy.
Distribution
This achievement is not publicly available, in any form whatsoever (free or paid).
