ric@islenet.UUCP (Frederick Lee) (01/21/88)
I've been monitoring the UseNet for some months now, reading other patrons'
experiences with upgrading their Macs. I've learned a lot and wish to thank
all of those who took their time to contribute their experiences to UseNet.
I particularly wish to express my gratitude to David Anderson of Carnegie-
Mellon for replying to my letter-of-query concerning upgrading the Mac 512KE.
So in gratitude I wish to add my experiences to the NetWork:
As with many other Mac 512KE'rs, I was concerned with the need for more RAM
and disk storage. I wanted to be able to run HyperCard et al without a memory
limitation. I also needed a hard disk drive.
Ponder: should I sell my machine at a loss and upgrade to a Mac SE? Via
UseNet I learn that the Mac SE has fairly unfavorable reviews (e.g., noisy fan,
screen flicker...). Getting a Mac II is great but the great expense of the
"optional" peripherals like a monitor, storage media & boards sobered my
aspirations. So I decided to take the advice of those who upgraded their Mac
512KE.
I bought the Dove MacSnap 548S from MacConnection (1-800-MAC-LISA). The
installation was literally a SNAP. The SCSI board installation was a breeze;
it
took me only 5-10 minutes.
1) The SCSI: A word of warning: BE VERY CAREFULL WITH THOSE FRAGILE LEGS OF
THE ROM CHIPS! The best tool is a thin screw driver. Forget the hands!
Gingerly tuck the screw driver beneath the chip, next to a set of legs and
wiggle the legs up. I made the mistake of grasping the RAM once "loose" and
"lightly" pulling the other side of the chip out of the socket. I increased
the torque as the legs refused to budge from their socket...until pop! I have
one, two, or three... legs bent every which way.
Moral: use only the screw driver to wiggle each side out of their sockets, from
beneath! ...and be patient!
I managed to re-align the legs individually and as a set via pressing each side
of the chip firmly against a smooth surface like a table top.
2) The RAM: I didn't find installing the RAM board that difficult. I'm sort
of sadistic so a few pounds of pressure didn't bother me (as bending the ROM
legs did!). It took only a few minutes...actually about an hour as I
continuously check to see if the 'grippers' or 'snaps' were eventually flushed
around the chips they intend to hold. There are about seven (7) such snaps.
I didn't follow the instructions verbatim...(do I ever?). I pressed here,
there, and back again until I felt a snap or thump. It's pretty obvious when
the adopted daughter is securely attached.
3) DOVE: The whole installation went very well with no problems. The whole
operation took one morning. Half of that was due to searching for two pairs
of screws that Dove didn't provide me. I only received two of the four plastic
screws that secure the stand-offs or separators between the daughter & mother
boards. I also didn't receive any screws that attach the SCSI cable to the
flange to the outside world. I called Dove and left a message on their
answering machine but received no reply nor screws. I did manage to buy the
flange screws but I'm still missing the two plastic screws.
Dove's documentation was good but dis-organized. I started out not knowing
whether to install the SCSI or Memory board first. The best plan of attack is
using your own judgement and not following the order verbatim. I worked on
the SCSI cable, attaching the flange, knifing the battery case before inserting
the two boards into the chassis. Despite what the book said, I was able to
slide the sandwiched boards into the chassis versus prying the track apart due
to pending obstructions from the the adopted daughter boards.
4) The FAN:
I didn't notice any appreciable change of heat-output from the 512K to the
2048K. Both times the top of the Mac was quite warm to the touch as I thought
was usual.
So for about a week I ran my new Mac 2048KE whilst looking for a fan or system
saver. The Dove upgrade comes with RAM drive software. Running Word 3.01 in
RAM with plenty of room to spare is fantastic. I can load the dictionary and
some manuscripts up into RAM and zoom in & out.
I didn't find too much information on cooling systems from the various
networks. What information I did find was generally out-of-date. I learned
that the MacChill piezoelectric fan has been discontinued due to its short life.
I was considering getting such a fan due to the quietness.
I eventually followed David Anderson's recommendation and bought the
Kensington System Saver ($64) from MacConnection. Boy what a difference!
The top of the Mac is distinctly cool! About ambient room temperature. The
fan itself is the mechanical type but very quiet. I hardly notice it running
at all. It fits snugly into the handle and has very convenient pair of switches
in the front, and a pair of 3-hole outlets in the rear. One switch per outlet.
One pair is the Main, on the same circuit as the Mac and the other pair is the
Aux. for the external hard drive if you wish to power up the drive separately.
5) The Hard Disk Drive:
I digested a lot of stuff about Hard Drives. Everyone has their pet HD. The
most popular seems to be the Jasmine Drives. I don't know about the rest of
you but I'm rather frugal and I just can't stomach the cost of a Jasmine. I
don't need all that "free" public-domain software. I can get that from my
local Mac Users Group. I'm more interested in performance & features.
I read through the December Issue of MacWorld and isolated about 3-4 desired
drives. I finally chose the Cirrus 40 HD by La Cie, Ltd. Why?
a) Because it is modular, about the size of the average desk-top hard-bound
Thesaurus and can be positioned either horizontally beneath the Mac or
on it side mounted nearby;
b) Because it is expandable and can be connected to up to six other hard
drives;
c) Because it has great specs...fast seek times (voice coil vs mech armature);
d) Because it comes with great software thru which you can set up to 40
volumes or logical disks that you can size & manipulate, a DA that allows
you to select and mount the volume you desire, an option to configure
drivers, change the interleave ratio from 1:1 to 3:1, etc.; and
e) Because it is highly portable and very quiet with it's own silent cooling
fan.
About the only beef I have is that the 25 pin cable is too short. If you wish
to have the HD adjacent to or beneath the Mac, no problem. I was thinking of
putting the HD on a book shelf. Hence I bought a six-foot cable. The one
supplied is only about 22 inches. Also the software "Silver Lining" tends to
fragment the HD when you create, move & destroy volumes as I was doing trying
to customize my HD. Hence the size you ultimately get may be considerably less
that what you're allocated. This seems to be a fragmentation problem which requires an optimization program.
What I've been doing is releasing blocks via destroying the poorly-allocated
volumes and create a large default volume of unallocated space. Then I de-
allocated the necessary amount of bytes & simultaneously create a new volume
with those de-allocated bytes. Apparently this round-about way of optimization
works.
I'm willing to give my support to any company that (apparently) makes a sound
product. And so far I'm pleased.
I have a feeling that La Cie, Ltd. is rather small. When I phoned for the
Technical Department for some tech info the operator called out for "Steve".
They're quite amiable and I got my Cirrus 40 HD about 7 calendar days after my
phone order.
Total Cost: $849.99 ($799.99 + $18.00 {freight} + $24.00 {VISA cost})
Their address: LaCie, Ltd.
16285 S.W. 85th #306
Tigard, Oregon 97224
1-(503)-684-0143
By the way, Tigard is just outside of Portland.
Summary:
I now have a fully functioning Mac 2048 KE with a 40 MByte hard disk and a
couple of 800K floppy drives. I've been fortunate enough that have all
the enhancements work initially and continuously. No sad Macs... I didn't
have to alter any terminators or change anything. I'm totally satisfied with
my decision to keep my Mac 512KE and enhancing it further. I'm now ready for
some serious software work, and entering the realm of HyperCard.
-----------> Ric Lee, Honlulu, HI.