Vintage Pic 16C73

[Art]

Hi Guys :)

Don’t tell me you don’t think it’s beautiful! :D

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6MGTib9AshUrI5JIdGK0wHt-Sn_F4d5xD_Xi5OmN11r_AMSP5AXVqTmGkucWSwZJ_z8-DNI8pSiHUIs61CKj9BpTKJmSw1OpA_WQNeT-8xP621-AmucCY5YBPCMA850LdeZ09_CG1foJTaJQaiYDoQwFYBLJiK_t8 Msdi0JoRrk54Xut3OhnlIjKnCpBv2TaqgoumuNN88yTOixgdt4 3HoKtizreCbWjiShm3znB9mGbjtLBzy_GPc4kJ8PxY0fXPc6xN PPbfsjYF9AwdTFKYThkNX1QrhnS54H054tqWZzP7GDljak1-bFCsoUNuYk2nNggRMyFVTA90kQyMZWMsNcnq7RZHwl2371qN_H AtRoYlkcVS6ZH-mGOOA01zY0zeh-yYQZQpJHlHpqIoy5pdrv8EZGtzmVyoefoSezMtQKO53h4z0zFx qrPxlZhE8MQ7qKHMca1NoJaahgzyD_OHKeTYYD7SlB1SRgOjHx 7VoXFS1X1mm-QwJ2GKyxIO4I20_7idqPY1_TA352Fn1pa0_r0SE3iz5TB9sRz9 k-WGJ3fYtbM4xKuXsdvebv8ynHhoh4yiMozimHAoAMisIr4crPVt mvek3nsuS0_Q-ZFig=w1094-h384-no

I got a couple on eBay because... vintage collector... but then found of course the PicKit II doesn’t support them.
I haven’t looked hard, but suspect they need a high voltage programming pin for EPROM.
The PicKit II does however retrieve a device ID, which suggests they are ok.

I’m not even certain PBP supports these, but if not, I’m sure a program disassembly for a close relative could be easily ported for it.

Does anyone remember these, and a homebrew programmer the supported them? PicALL? The earlier official programmers like Picstart were not cheap!

Incidentally, I have at least one SP0256 on the way, if anyone remembers that. It’s a speech synthesiser which was well covered in some projects
in my first PicBASIC programming book.. but I never did own one.

[HenrikOlsson]

When I bought my PICStart+ sometime around -96 I think it came with a couple of -JW parts, one of them being a PIC14000 series (IIRC) which was called a mixed signal controller since it had had some analog peripherals inside (!).

I believe I still have the PICStart+ and the chips that came with it somewhere....

[HenrikOlsson]

Here they are, still in the package they came in. A datecode of -97 on one of them means I probably didn't get the PICStart+ in -96...

8543

I've never actually used these. My first real close contact with a PIC was with the venerable 16C84 which I believe also was included (1pcs). At the time I only used the programmer to "burn" exisiting code into the chips (pirated smartcards for satelite TV distribution) and it was only a few years later that I started to use PBC and then PBP after a short period with the classic BS1 and BS2.

[Ioannis]

You naughty Henrik!

Yeah, I started with a Pikstart+ and those widowed chips along with an UV lamp to erase them. 10-15 endless minutes until reprogramming! Yikes!

Ioannis

[Art]

Was the sat access control Irdeto 1? because I wrote PMK and signature decrypt for that on pic (in asm though).

[HenrikOlsson]

Honestly, I have NO idea. I knew nothing about how it worked (still don't really). I barely knew what a PIC was or how you actually wrote a program for it.
I had done a tiny bit of 8051 stuff in school but never quite grasped the whole programming mindset (still don't really...). All I did was etch some boards and programmed some PICs with .hex files (there was two 16C84 on each card) from the World Wide Web.

I remember that when they changed keys (or whatever) I got a bunch of cards back which needed new firmware loaded into them. It really didn't last long (might have done 15-20 cards tops) before it got to a point where they could change keys two or three times in a week and always right before a football game or in the middle of a movie "premiere" and everyone , including me and my "partner in crime" lost interest in it.

[Art]

We got a step ahead of that, and could process encrypted master key updates here... I kind of assume it’s the same system,
because it was used widely around the world. Australia, Germany, and Sth Africa I know for sure.

[HenrikOlsson]

Yes, later generation, more capable, cards updated automatically or perhaps the user could do it with the remote or something. But the ones we we etched at home and put C84's on was not that "advanced".
Like I said, at the time I had absolutely NO idea how the thing worked or what it ACTUALLY did (the card and PICs on it). And when it comes to crypto-stuff I'm still very much ignorant :-)

[Art]

Latest chips arrived :)

SP0256 variants. The first from General Instruments, and then after Microchip acquired them.
These are a speech synthesiser that appeared in some toys, and also in a PicBASIC project book I still have.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p6YRYd6g9ySIeHhfBxMOc7ikSxGIINREAL4ogCYRuZ4o4o-G4tqaVKuyzXXpmlJPflqewkTuN2dWHggHyWyt26X42FdaI8Ilq 3ZoKkIrQYKYbRYK7uQx1yu4e-RxbiiGWsI6QTvZll9eUAZyrVZJQLXGuFyq33wnjrGLBAj7JHpv kGvVrfAvoj7Z_B8kMpImY7DcS-3egtHpssEiJD9EhP-0QWQh7sgJ1Tq8KumIzwyHINwF2HypZMYAI-blaLKxfZ-4iW__gSp7_n68VNi4gIpweWom_aueR_zU4n9TX0vbsFPiXFOhq-Sn1DyxCz8tjS_JqI9yTSrgO1xxJcuuupK1k6PwuQP0ED1QbY36 XgOs0kRMLhW-Pu4waZ6xYSnQoHjaF1oXK6Fxq98ZfS-oq_4P5631lR1_uY92T6fxYDnBzMmdtuukFTSIM1agBG0SVYNif cfcfNipUoYSO2crsoqZ8YTx4lXd7erluYAZ8GlW2ECzSMpjs8S ECZZn-KX0T-MWTm2aueiP195bBAAqplnUd0lpgobLi3lXS-N8C1Jxytsndy3umwXAeH3RKmuky5l3wrn8hkFVStMUwF6hbSYY tLIO522TVcrQMq4=w783-h696-no