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2005.02.28 |
Things you ought to know when to buy a new programmer
There
are today numerous programmers on the market which can be connected
through the USB port. At a first glance they all look similar but
they’re not!
For a
programmer to be as flexible as possible it has to be:
Upgradeable
The software of the programmer
(firmware) are, in the MP 3.6 USB, upgradeable over the internet. So
when there is new smartcards/circuits on the market, that demand a
new firmware, you don’t have to send the programmer back to the
manufacturer.
There are several manufacturers today bragging about that their new
programmers are flash upgradeable which the MP 3.5 Serial (Elvis) have been for
3 years now.
How many programmers can be upgraded only by a click on your
computer that the MP 3.6 USB can today?
Connectable through USB
Let’s face it, serial-ports are more
and more being replaced with USB-ports. On portable computers they
are almost already gone and on the common home-pc’s there beginning
to disappear rapidly. There is today “USB”-programmers that needs a
serial cable as well as the USB cable to work fully. How will they work in a near future?
The MP 3.6 USB only need one cable (USB).
Phoenix/Smartmouse compatible
To be able to use a third part
software, available from the internet, the programmer must be
phoenix/smartmouse compatible. To make this work on USB it demands a
driver that creates a virtual comport, called VCP.
Buy only a programmer that has these VCP drivers!
We have seen examples of
manufacturers without these VCP drivers saying “coming soon” Their
customers have been waiting for over a year now but there’s still no
VCP drivers. AD-Teknik’s USB programmers have this VCP driver and it
has also an optimized timing so that you can program smartcards like
for example Titanium.
How
many other programmers, only connected with a USB cable, can perform
this today?
We know only one: MP 3.6 USB |
