The EEPROM Programmer’s serial protocol was migrated from JSON-RPC (with ArduinoJson dependency) to a lightweight binary protocol. On Arduino DUE + AT28C64: reads are 4.4x faster (6.96s to 1.58s), full write cycles are 2.7x faster (33.74s to 12.70s), and flash usage dropped 31% (16KB saved). The protocol uses length-prefixed frames with CRC-16/CCITT integrity checking, a state machine receiver on the firmware side, and blocking serial reads on the Python side. ArduinoJson — the only external firmware dependency — was eliminated entirely.
The EEPROM Programmer now supports all available AT28C family chips: AT28C04, AT28C16, AT28C64, and AT28C256. Chip-specific features like RDY/BUSY polling and page-write mode enable major speedups on Arduino DUE but are not viable on MEGA. Performance measurements and wiring details are provided for each chip.
Page-write support in the AT28C256 can significantly speed up programming, but it depends on tight timing. The Arduino MEGA is too slow to use this feature reliably, while faster platforms like the Arduino DUE make it practical and stable.
Oscilloscope measurements quantify the execution time of a simple digital pin toggle across multiple Arduino boards. Results show that faster CPUs complete the operation in fewer microseconds, though instruction overhead varies by architecture. The data confirm a near-linear relationship between CPU clock speed and pin toggle performance.
Evaluation of EEPROM Programmer performance on Arduino. Overhead from digital I/O measured, and oscilloscope traces confirmed datasheet timing. Active polling of the READY/BUSY pin reduced write latency while maintaining reliability. Sequential write/read verification showed consistent integrity. Future work includes endurance testing, retention studies, and comparing Arduino boards with different clock speeds.
