[comp.sys.mac] Can Sell old SIMMS to II owner?

sterritt@ge-mc3i.UUCP (Chris Sterritt) (08/19/87)

Hello,
	I just got an upgrade to 2.5 Megs from Dove (which I adore), and
a friend of mine just got a Mac II, with only a Meg.  My question is, can
I sell him the two 256K simms (since they'll at least fit in his machine)
to upgrade him to 1.5 megs?  
	Has anyone *done* this, or *know* of a reason why it won't work?
	Thanks,
	Chris Sterritt

wetter@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (08/19/87)

In article <334@ge-mc3i.UUCP> sterritt@ge-mc3i.UUCP (Chris Sterritt) writes:
>Hello,
>	I just got an upgrade to 2.5 Megs from Dove (which I adore), and
>a friend of mine just got a Mac II, with only a Meg.  My question is, can
>I sell him the two 256K simms (since they'll at least fit in his machine)
>to upgrade him to 1.5 megs?  
>	Has anyone *done* this, or *know* of a reason why it won't work?

   HA! Another victim! No you cannot upgrade the Mac II to 1.5 Meg. The Mac 
II only allows memory sizes of 1,2,5,8 etc. I know this because some people
here bought some upgrade kits to give themselves 3 meg. Now they are all 
upgrading to 5 meg. 
  What you can do however is take _all_ of the 256K simms out of your Mac+
clip a resistor (maybe), add in another resistor (maybe), thus making your
mac+ 2 Meg. The Mac II can now take all four of the 256K simms to give
2 meg.
  
  Hint for people upgrading Mac II's this is how to figure out what
sizes are allowed.

  4x256K simms = 1 meg
  8x256K simms = 2 meg
  4x1M   simms = 4 meg but why would anyone bother since
  4x1M + 4x256K simms = 5 meg        one meg came with the machine
  8x1M   simms = 8 meg
  8x2M   simms = 16 meg  when 2M simms are available
  8x4M   simms = 32 meg  when 4M simms are available
  32M + 6x16M per slot = 8x16M = 128 M but no video card
  
  Or maybe you would just like a HyperCube made of Macs over AppleTalk.
      
   True Story!

Pierce Wetter!

Where humor is concerned there are no standards -- no one can say what
is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will.
		-- John Kenneth Galbraith

--------------------------------------------

wetter@tybalt.caltech.edu

--------------------------------------------

ephraim@wang7.UUCP (ephraim) (08/19/87)

In article <334@ge-mc3i.UUCP>, sterritt@ge-mc3i.UUCP (Chris Sterritt) writes:
> a friend of mine just got a Mac II, with only a Meg.  My question is, can
> I sell him the two 256K simms (since they'll at least fit in his machine)
> to upgrade him to 1.5 megs?  
> 	Has anyone *done* this, or *know* of a reason why it won't work?

According to anything I've seen about upgrading the II's memory,
the supported memory sizes are 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8 megabytes.  The
reason is that SIMMs are 8 bits wide and the Mac II data path is
32 bits wide.  So, SIMMs must be installed in groups of four.
You can have 4 256K SIMMs (1 Meg), 8 256K SIMMs (2 Meg), 4 1M SIMMs
(4 Meg), 4 1M + 4 256K (5 Meg), or 8 1M (8 Meg).
 
You can't have 6 256K SIMMs (1.5 Meg).  In fact, you can't have any
combination totalling 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7 SIMMs, nor can you have any
mixture except 4 and 4.



-- 
Ephraim Vishniac
masscomp!wang7!ephraim

olson@endor.harvard.edu (Eric Olson) (08/19/87)

In article <334@ge-mc3i.UUCP> sterritt@ge-mc3i.UUCP (Chris Sterritt) writes:
>	I just got an upgrade to 2.5 Megs from Dove (which I adore), and
>a friend of mine just got a Mac II, with only a Meg.  My question is, can
>I sell him the two 256K simms (since they'll at least fit in his machine)
>to upgrade him to 1.5 megs?  

My understanding is that SOME SE and Mac+ SIMMs are fast enough to use in
a Mac II; others are not.  Best bet is to try it before you take the guy's
money.

Does anyone know the maximum access times for the various Mac's SIMMs?

-Eric


Eric K. Olson		olson@endor.harvard.edu		harvard!endor!olson

dwb@apple.UUCP (David W. Berry) (08/20/87)

In article <3681@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> wetter@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (Pierce T. Wetter) writes:
>In article <334@ge-mc3i.UUCP> sterritt@ge-mc3i.UUCP (Chris Sterritt) writes:
>>Hello,
>>	I just got an upgrade to 2.5 Megs from Dove (which I adore), and
>>a friend of mine just got a Mac II, with only a Meg.  My question is, can
>>I sell him the two 256K simms (since they'll at least fit in his machine)
>>to upgrade him to 1.5 megs?  
>>	Has anyone *done* this, or *know* of a reason why it won't work?
>
>   HA! Another victim! No you cannot upgrade the Mac II to 1.5 Meg. The Mac 
>II only allows memory sizes of 1,2,5,8 etc. I know this because some people
>here bought some upgrade kits to give themselves 3 meg. Now they are all 
>upgrading to 5 meg. 
	Far from being a fluke or plot to sell more memory on Apple's 
	part the reason the memory upgrades come in 1,2,5,8 combinations
	is that the 68020 has 32-bit wide memory.  Thus memory must
	be added in 32-bit wide increments.  This means you have to
	add or replace 4 simms (since each one is 8-bits wide) at a
	time.
	
	It's similar to why the Mac {plus,se} can only be upgraded to
	.5, 1, 2.5 or 4 meg.  The 68000 utilizes 16-bit wide memory
	and thus must be upgraded 2 simms at a time.
-- 
	David W. Berry
	dwb@well.uucp                   dwb@Delphi
	dwb@apple.com                   293-0752@408.MaBell