kai@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (09/01/87)
I bought an Applied Engineering RamFactor card last week, with the RamCharger
battery backup, and thought I'd better enlighten anyone who is considering
purchasing the same.
I am happy with the device, but not as happy as I could be. Applied
Engineering is treading pretty close to the mark when it comes to misleading
advertising. I'm not accusing, but if you want a RamFactor, or are considering
ANY Applied Engineering device, pay attention.
I chose Ramfactor over other ram cards because of the battery backup, and
because it is advertised to work with my Franklin Ace (apple clone).
The ad (in many magazines) states right at the top "Boot any II+, IIe, or IIgs
and be up and running your favorite software in less than 1 second". A little
later in the text it states "And with the battery backup option, you can
switch on your Apple, and your favorite software will be up and running in
less than 1 second.". In the table of features they state "Systems are
directly bootable from Ramfactor if desired".
Very carefully chosen words. It sure lead me to believe that I would be able
to turn on my Franklin and it would immediately boot from the Ram card. Does
that sound right to you? Nope. The truth is that only an "enhanced Apple IIe"
can auto-boot from the Ramfactor upon powerup. My system comes up and tried to
boot from my floppy drive 1. I press reset which stops the boot, and leaves me
at the Applesoft prompt. I then type "pr#7" to bring up the ramfactor
partition manager menu, and press return again to boot the most recently used
partition.
The next problem I had was with CP/M. I have the PCPI Z80 card with CP/M 2.2.
The Ramfactor ad states "And the RamFactor is fully PRODOS, DOS 3.3, Pascal
1.3 and CP/M compatible". In the features table on the side of the ad they
state "Automatically recognized by ProDos, DOS 3.3, Pascal, and standard
CP/M".
Again, very carefully chosen words. Just what constitutes "standard CP/M"?
The truth is that the Ramfactor user guide never uses the term CP/M. They
refer to it only as CP/AM 5.1, the version sold with their own CP/M card, "To
use the RamFactor or a RamFactor partition as a CP/AM RAMdisk, Applied
Engineering's Z-80 Plus co-processor card and the CP/AM 5.1 operating system
are mandatory requirements.". If they think that I'm going to junk my PCPI
card, and pay another $150 for theirs, they've got another think coming.
Does anyone know of CP/M RAMdisk software that will work with the RamFactor?
Last, every advertisment I have seen for the RamFactor mentions "RamFactor
with 2-16 MEG $CALL". The truth is that they only currently sell the 1 Mb
card. The Applied Engineering catalog that came with the device states
"Expansion connector for possible future expansion to 16 MEG.". Emphasize
"possible" and "future".
I was unpleasantly surprised by these revelations. I had been told by other AE
customers that they were a class outfit, and give you your moneys worth.
After this experiance, I can't say if I will ever purchase another AE device
without exercising EXTREME caution.
I plan to keep the card. It is still lots easier to start up Ascii Express
than it used to be, and AEPRO sure runs faster in the RAMdisk. I do wish they
supplied a BACKUP program for dumping everything in every partition to floppy
(or hard disk if you have it). They do supply a couple of cheezy pgms for DOS
3.3 and ProDos that copy files, but you must either edit the pgm and enter
every input and output file name specifically, or use FUD and FILER and copy
every file individually. What a pain. Repeat this for every partition you
have.
Oh yeah, one more point. To use Ramfactor under DOS 3.3, you MUST allocate
either 140K or 400K partitions. Nothing inbetween. Of course you CAN allocate
a 170K partition, but then you've wasted 30K. Permanently (or until you
disconnect the battery backup unit).
One good point (only one, disappointing, isn't it). They give you ProDos 8
V1.4 and ProDos' Basic.System. Anyone with an Apple clone can tell you that
ProDos must be patched to run on a non-Apple brand system. I never have gotten
around to doing that to any program I got that included a ProDos version.
AE's ProDos is already patched. Great! Now I finally have ProDos to mess
around with.
A hint for Franklin owners who purchase the RamFactor and RamCharger. Before
running the "INSTALL DOS" program, which installs DOS 3.3 in the selected
partition, boot from a Franklin version of DOS 3.3. This will let you continue
to use lowercase DOS and APPLESOFT commands, even when booted from the
RamFactor.
I'm waiting for my remaining 768K of RAM (yes I am upgrading from 256K to 1
Meg) before I call Applied Engineering and voice my complaints.
#include <local/standard_disclaimer.h>
Patrick Wolfe Internet: pat@kai.com
System Manager UUCP: ...!{seismo,ihnp4,uiucuxc}!kai.com!pat
Kuck & Associates, Inc. Arpanet: pat%kailand@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
1808 Woodfield Dr. Bitnet: pat%kailand@uiucuxc
Savoy, IL USA 61874 CSnet: pat%kailand%uxc@uiuc.csnet
Phone: 217-356-2288 Milnet: pat%kailand@uiucuxc.arpa
Easylink: 6201 1628 Telex: 910 240 9772 (KUCK ASSOC)kai@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (09/04/87)
Here's the latest on my ordeal with the RamFactor card. I called Applied
Engineering today, and spoke with someone in Tech Support, and Chuck Carpenter
in Sales.
The Tech person tells me that PCPI sells the driver that will let my PCPI CP/M
card use the ramfactor as a ramdisk. He also said that I was correct, only
enhanced Apple IIe's and IIgs's can cold boot the Ramfactor (boot from power
on). When I asked why the ad does not state this, he asked me to speak with
Chuck Carpenter in sales.
Mr Carpenter tells me that Applied Engineering sells the PCPI ramdisk driver
software, and that PCPI doesn't even support CP/M anymore (which explains why
I haven't seen any ads from them in the past few years). He also told me that
Apple computers before the IIe do not search for a bootable device, and that I
can make my Franklin Ace boot from the RamFactor by moving the disk controller
from slot 6 to slot 5, and the Ramfactor from slot 7 to slot 6.
As you've noticed, they conflict on both points, and each was half right. I
ordered the PCPI driver from Applied Engineering ($30), and asked that they
mention the availability of such software in future user guides. I cannot make
my Franklin boot from the RamFactor no matter what slot the card is in, higher
or lower than the disk controller. Only enhanced Apple IIe's and IIgs's
understand that a Ramcard can be a bootable device. Apple's and clones before
that only look for real disk controllers.
I guess I will learn to live with what I have.
Oh yes, Mr Carpenter also mentioned that the responce for the 2 to 16 Mb
expansion card was not as high as they had hoped, which I interpret to mean
they will not ever build one in the near future. However, he did say that
they expect to ship a 2-4 Mb expansion card for the RamFactor beginning in
November. I can't wait. One Mb is just not enough.
#include <local/standard_disclaimer.h>
Patrick Wolfe Internet: pat@kai.com
System Manager UUCP: {seismo,ihnp4,uiucuxc}!kai.com!pat
Kuck & Associates, Inc. Arpanet: pat%kailand@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
1808 Woodfield Dr. Bitnet: pat%kailand@uiucuxc
Savoy, IL USA 61874 CSnet: pat%kailand%uxc@uiuc.csnet
Phone: 217-356-2288 Milnet: pat%kailand@uiucuxc.arpa
Easylink: 6201 1628 Telex: 910 240 9772 (KUCK ASSOC)