Any use of this project is under your own responsibility.
Please, do not come to me asking for hand-holding using or building this: my time is limited.
This is a tool to interface your computer with the DuPAL V3 ("dupico") board and dump purely combinatorial ICs (mainly ROMs).
It takes a description of the IC to read in TOML format and outputs a human readable table containing the state of every data pin ('1', '0' or 'Z') for every address combination, and, optionally, a binary file representing the same data (with the option to set pins in Hi-Z state to either 1 or 0).
usage: dpdumper [-h] [-v] [--version] -p [serial port] [-b Baud rate] {test,read,write} ...
A tool for fiddling with a dupico board
positional arguments:
{test,read,write} supported subcommands
test Execute the selftest routine of the dupico board
read Read data from an IC
write Write the content of a file into a supported (and writable) IC
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-v, --verbose
--version show program's version number and exit
-p [serial port], --port [serial port]
Serial port associated with the board
-b Baud rate, --baudrate Baud rate
Speed at which to the serial port is opened
This tool supports 3 commands: test, read and write. All the commands require passing the -p parameter to specify which com port the dupico is associated to. If you pass -p without any parameter, the tool will print a list of available ports for you to choose from:
>dpdumper -p
Available serial ports:
COM4 - USB Serial Device (COM4)
COM3 - USB Serial Device (COM3)
This command simply asks the dupico to run the internal self-test procedure, and relays the result:
>dpdumper -p com4 test
Testing the board, make sure the ZIF socket is empty!
Test result is OK!
❗Make sure the ZIF socket is empty, or the test will fail!
usage: dpdumper read [-h] -d definition file -o output file [-ob binary output file]
[-obz binary output file for the Hi-Z mask] [--check_hiz] [--hiz_high] [--skip_note] [-rb]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d definition file, --definition definition file
Path to the file containing the definition of the IC to be read
-o output file, --outfile output file
Output file that will contain the data read from the IC in ASCII human-readable format
-ob binary output file, --outfile_binary binary output file
Binary output file that will contain the data read from the IC
-obz binary output file for the Hi-Z mask, --outfile_binary_z binary output file for the Hi-Z mask
Binary output file that will contain the Hi-Z mask for every data entry
--check_hiz Check if data pins are Hi-Z or not. Slows down the read.
--hiz_high The binary output will be saved with hi-z bits set to 1
--skip_note If set, skip printing adapter notes and associated delays
-rb, --reverse_byte_order
If set, the output binary file will be written in Little Endian format
The definition file is in TOML format, and described later in this document.
If --check_hiz is omitted, the dumper will execute simple reads from the IC, without trying to pull the data lines both high or low and check if any pin is in Hi-Z.
This means that pins that are actually Hi-Z will be detected as low, but also that half the writes to the dupico are required, and thus the read is much faster.
--hiz_high: By default, if hi-z is checked and a binary file is to be written, hi-z pins will be considered low when written. With this flag, they will be written as a high bit.
usage: dpdumper write [-h] -d definition file -i input file [-ss start entries to skip] [-es ending entries to skip]
[--skip_note] [-rb]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d definition file, --definition definition file
Path to the file containing the definition of the IC to be written
-i input file, --infile input file
File with the contents that will be written to the IC
-ss start entries to skip, --start_skip start entries to skip
Number of entries to skip at start of the write
-es ending entries to skip, --end_skip ending entries to skip
Number of entries to skip at end of the write
--skip_note If set, skip printing adapter notes and associated delays
-rb, --reverse_byte_order
If set, the input file will be read in Little Endian format
Please note that the dupico is not meant as a programmer, and thus writing is supported only by some ICs (and the feature can be almost considered a nice side effect of the other functionality).
That said, I used the write feature successfully to load data on battery backed SRAM ICs.
The IC definitions must be provided in TOML format and are structured as follows:
name: string that contains the name of the device, e.g.27C16type: type of the device, the only currently recognized types areROMandSRAM, even though only ROMs are tested.SRAMis meant for battery backed modules that will be supported in the future
address: array of integers that define the address pins location on the ZIF42 socket, starting from A0 and going onwards in order. E.g.[12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 37, 36, 33, 35, 4, 38, 39, 3, 2]data: array of integers that define the data pins location on the ZIF42 socket, starting from D0 and going onwardsH_enable: array of integers that define which pins need to be pulled high to enable this ICL_enable: array of integers that define which pins need to be pulled low to enable this IC. This is currently unused, as all pins not required to be pulled high by other parameters are pulled low by default. It might be useful in the future if code that needs to deselect/reselect the IC needs to be written, and thus these pins must be toggled high.H_write: array of integers that define which pins need to be pulled high to enable write mode on this IC.L_write: array of integers that define which pins need to be pulled low to enable write mode on this IC. This is necessary so write mode can be toggled by pulling these high.
This section contains configuration for adapters plugged in the ZIF socket, that may use additional pins to toggle some functionality.
hi_pins: array of integers that will specify a list of pins to keep pulled high when the adapter gets powered up, and keep in this state all the time until power downnotes: Human readable string with notes regarding the adapter. Might be used to print messages to the user in the future.
To future proof for future hardware revisions, this section specifies which version of the adapter is necessary to read the defined IC. For now, only one field is supported.
hardware: integer specifying the model number that the dpdumper will check before trying to read anything. Currently it's3.
The ZIF socket follows the normal pin numbering, but keep in mind that the dupico is meant for a 42 pin socket, the 48 pin footprint is present just for convenience and the bottom 6 pins are all connected to GND and not used in counting the pins.
__ __
1 U 42 <--- +5V
2 41
3 40
4 39
5 38
6 37
7 36
8 35
9 34
10 33
11 32
12 31
13 30
14 29
15 28
16 27
17 26
18 25
19 24
20 23
GND ---> 21 22
x x \
x x }- GND for all these pins
x______x /
The dupicolib and dpdumperlib libraries are required for this tool to work.