Apr 132011
 

A while back, I picked up a bunch of 4 assorted smartcard programmers off eBay. A CLaNZeRS Phoenix/Smartmouse version 2.1 with at least one bad solder joint and no crystal in its socket, a CLaNZeRS MCESDK that requires Windows-only software, something with “TITANIUM www.smartchips.co.uk” on the bottom that appears to be for PICs, and the aforementioned Zeus programmer.

Of them, the Zeus seems to be the nicest from my point of view. There are two catches though: it requires a 15-18V center-positive power source and my regulated PSU tops out at 12V, and mine seems to have a 6MHz oscillator installed rather than the usual frequency (yours may vary). Oh, and documentation is severly lacking.

The power issue is easily worked around by bypassing the L7812 regulator with a piece of wire clipped across its outermost pins (being careful not to short them to the middle, ground pin). As for documentation, a bit of digging turns up the following:

The latching push switch selects between SmartMouse mode (when it’s pushed in) and PIC/AVR mode (when it’s out). JP2/3 are used to change between PIC and AVR mode: they’re both on the left towards the push button for AVR and both on the right for PIC. JP1 should always be in the left position according to the docs; perhaps it’s for selecting between crystals if you have a second one installed? In PIC mode, the documentation indicates it’s a JDM programmer but I haven’t tested this. It doesn’t say anything about AVR mode, but selecting the ponyser programmer in avrdude seems to work.

I have no idea what the LEDs mean. The green LED1 appears to just be a power LED; if it doesn’t light or only lights faintly, check your power supply. As for the IC sockets, IC3 is apparently for programming EEPROMs and IC2 for PICs. (IC1 is presumably the 74HC4049N the programmer’s built around.)

 Posted by at 4:47 pm

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