cpuchipset

programming IC recycled from electronic wastes

I have a usb modem with MT6272M chipset, can I take out its chipset and program it? I know that some ICs are programmable and some are not but I really want to program an IC without investing on arduino, rhasberry pi, or intel gallileo so trying to recycle electronic wastes.

Solution

  • Most of the ICs in the electronic waste are not programmable. Because they are specifically designed to do one job efficiently and that program is bound to the IC.

    What you are searching is Programmable Integrated Circuit or Micro-controller chips. These are specifically designed to re-program again and again.

    Anyhow if you find a specific Integrated Circuit from the waste,

    1. First and most importantly, find its data-sheet (mostly available in their manufacturer's website for free).
    2. check whether is it a Programmable Integrated Circuit.
    3. if yes, what is the hardware requirement to program it and build the hardware circuit
    4. write the program according to the specific requirements using compatible libraries.
    5. connect to the PC
    6. Find the correct boot loader and upload it to the IC.
    7. upload the program, which you have written, to the Programmable Integrated Circuit.
    8. Test it

    As you can see, you will need to build different hardware for different Programmable Integrated Circuit. So it is cheaper for you to buy arduino or raspberry circuit board. Then you can reprogram more chips using same board again and again plus the help of the community and the thousands of libraries.

    Edit

    If it is not mentioned in the datasheet whether you can program it or not , most probably it can't reprogram.

    And other thing is that the main function of a modem is signal processing. For example, old cable modems are converting analog signals into digital signals. So they are not designed to reprogram or to do logical calculations. With my personal experience, you better start with a simple micro-controller and once you know the basics, you can go for higher level. Anyway I admire your idea to recycle the waste ICs.