In SX Microcontrollers, SX/B Compiler and SX-Key Tool, tempo wrote:

What are the pros and cons of the various serial PROM options?
I'm new to any of them, and my needs vary between two basic sets of requirements:

1. lots of memory (without outrageous cost), erase function erasing large areas at a time is OK, need to be able to program it both by the SX and from a PC: making a programmer that hooks to the PC using an SX should be easy enough, so if just the SX can program it, that ought to be enough - but being able to program slowly by flipping switches, in order to debug the SX reading it when I start would be nice too.
2. setup parameter storage: not too much memory needed, needs to be rewritable quite often before wearing out, small-area erase function a must.

(1) is a more near-term need than (2). What do you recommend? Serial flash seems to have the space I need at low prices, but how hard is it to work with?
(1) is mostly for the purpose of making the SX provide ROM to a Z80 in a retro computer system (similar to another thread here), but I need much more than the SX can hold in its own ROM. Speed isn't really an issue - 1MByte/s read speed would be nice, but if not possible, can certainly be faked by copying to RAM at power-up. In fact, that is probably easier to implement that listening for Z80 ROM accesses and providing serial ROM content then.

3. What about consumer-type flash cards? I don't really feel like dealing with a FAT system, but it seems one could get around that by placing magic numbers in the data, thus locating file sections by searching. And then I can experiement with the data to be put on the card (you guessed it, old game program snapshots) on the PC and quickly rewrite it there.
Has anyone here dealt with interfacing an SX to a flash card?

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