Low-cost programming kit for serial EEPROMs and flash chips
(Product News, 16 Aug 2007 )
Total Phase has released of the Programming Kit, a low-cost kit which developers can use to program serial EEPROMs and serial Flash memory chips in-system and stand-alone.
The Programming Kit includes Total Phase's industry-leading products, the Aardvark(TM) I2C/SPI Host Adapter and the high-speed Cheetah(TM) SPI Host Adapter, along with multiple accessories to help developers interface with their memory chips.
Using Total Phase's Flash Center(TM) software, developers can quickly and easily erase, program, and verify any I2C- and SPI-based EEPROM or serial Flash chips. The Flash Center software is a free software package that is included in the kit and can be downloaded from the Total Phase website.
"We have met with many memory chip vendors over the last few months and they have all been very excited by the Flash Center software and Total Phase's suite of tools," says Kumaran Santhanam, senior architect. "Having low-cost tools makes these memory parts easier to use and consequently more accessible to a greater range of developers."
Full Kit of Tools The key contents of the Programming Kit are the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter, the Cheetah SPI Host Adapter, and the Flash Center Software. Using these devices, it is possible to interface with any device that has a standard I2C or SPI interface.
The kit also includes two 10-pin Split Cables for in-system programming of memory chips and the recently released Flash Socket Board. This low-cost board includes sockets for DIP-8, SOIC-8 and TSSOP-8 for stand-alone memory chip programming.
Expanded Device Support The Flash Center software was recently updated with new features to support a larger number of memory devices and an expanded library with additional memory parts.
"We have been actively working with EEPROM and Serial Flash chip vendors to ensure that their chips are supported by the Flash Center software," explains Derek Fung, senior engineer. "Our library is constantly expanding. With our extensible XML parts library, developers can easily add their own parts as well."
