mccarthy@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu.UUCP (08/25/87)
Hi there.
I just bought GEOS (I'm not as impressed as I thought I'd be, but it
seems well worth the $$) and I have a few questions:
1) Throughout the manual they talk about a RAM Expansion Unit (REU). This
sounds like a fantastic thing to get.
A) Where can I get one?
B) How much are they?
C) Are they REALLY a fantastic thing to get? It sounds like they come in
256K and that you can hook up 2 together, making 576K (256 + 256 + 64)
in all. Is it worth getting 2? Are they worth the price?
2) QuantumLink sounds cool too.
A) Is it worth $9.95 a month?
B) Do you end up using a lot more of the Plus stuff than an hour, thereby
costing you more?
C) I get powerfully queasy whenever I think of giving them my Visa card
number so they can put it in some national database. Has anyone
had any problems with this? Is there a better way for them to bill
me? I'd rather just simply receive a bill in the mail, thank you.
3) Does it do any harm to anything on a disk to have it converted to
GEOS format? I'm using "64 TERM" for my Vicmodem and I converted a disk
it was on so I could copy it onto one of my GEOS Work Disks; the copy on
the work disk doesn't seem to work anymore. Is it them, or is it me?
4) Back to QuantumLink: Can I download stuff from it using the abovementioned
Vicmodem?
Any help you could give me would be heartily appreciated....
_____
The Mental Midget
{ihnp4, seismo, cmcl2, pur-ee} !uiucdcs!uiucuxe!mccarthy
mccarthy%uiucuxe@a.cs.uiuc.edu
"Somebody's gonna have a little fuzzy sandwich for lunch." -The
Unknown Wimbledon Announcer sentinel@killer.UUCP (08/28/87)
In article <45800002@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>, mccarthy@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > > Hi there. > I just bought GEOS (I'm not as impressed as I thought I'd be, but it > seems well worth the $$) and I have a few questions: > > 1) Throughout the manual they talk about a RAM Expansion Unit (REU). This > sounds like a fantastic thing to get. > A) Where can I get one? At a dealer near you. (Now THAT'S a cliche if I've ever heard one!) Look for the 1764 if you have a C-64, and the 1750 if you have a C-128. The difference is that the 1764 comes with a larger power supply for your C-64, because the original one can't support the extra RAM. The C-128 does not have this problem, as its supply was designed with enough capacity for an expander. The two units are almost exactly the same, except for the amount of memory... however, I am pretty sure they are NOT interchangeable so you must get the appropriate one for your computer. > B) How much are they? About $150-175, give or take a few bucks. Shop around for the best price. > C) Are they REALLY a fantastic thing to get? It sounds like they come in > 256K and that you can hook up 2 together, making 576K (256 + 256 + 64) > in all. Is it worth getting 2? Are they worth the price? Yes, they are an amazing improvement if you have GEOS. However, you cannot hook two of them together, even with a multi-slot cartridge board, because of the special hardware needed to support the extra RAM. This sounds like a good time for some technical background. The RAM expanders contain a Commodore custom chip called the REC (Ram Expansion Controller) which sits between the computer and the RAM. The REC has the ability to copy and swap blocks of data between the expansion RAM and the computer's main memory. This happens at a very fast rate, and is very simple to program... all the program needs to do is specify the addresses for the transfer, and the REC will do all of the work. This type of operation is ideally suited for use as a RAM disk, or for swapping program sections in and out. The REC can control up to 512k of RAM. The 1750 expander for the C-128 is a full 512k, and the 1764 for the C-64 has 256k. The 1764 has an empty set of chip positions on the board for another 256k, IF the power supply will handle it (I don't know for sure if it will). By all means, get a RAM expander. It is well worth the money if you intend to use GEOS a lot. > 2) QuantumLink sounds cool too. I used to use QLink, but about a year ago I discovered PC Pursuit, and decided that $25 a month for PC Pursuit was more economical than the $50-75 I was spending on Qlink (for a relatively modest amount of use). I haven't been on it in a year, so I can't comment on what it's like. > A) Is it worth $9.95 a month? > B) Do you end up using a lot more of the Plus stuff than an hour, thereby > costing you more? For all practical purposes, assume that QLink is a $3.60 an hour (if that is still their rate) service. Practically everything is a Plus service. Note that QLink is still cheaper than most of the other big online services. > C) I get powerfully queasy whenever I think of giving them my Visa card > number so they can put it in some national database. Has anyone > had any problems with this? Is there a better way for them to bill > me? I'd rather just simply receive a bill in the mail, thank you. Unfortunately, most online services operate this way. I am kind of uneasy about it too, but I've never had any problems with it. Some services also have an option to deduct your payment from your checking account, if you don't have a credit card. This isn't really much better, but... > 3) Does it do any harm to anything on a disk to have it converted to > GEOS format? I'm using "64 TERM" for my Vicmodem and I converted a disk > it was on so I could copy it onto one of my GEOS Work Disks; the copy on > the work disk doesn't seem to work anymore. Is it them, or is it me? It shouldn't hurt anything. Converting to GEOS format merely allocates an extra sector on the disk and changes the header a little bit to note that the disk is a GEOS disk. However, even though it SHOULDN'T do any damage, I would advice never converting a disk once it has stuff on it. Also, to copy regular C-64 files to a GEOS disk, you can use a standard C-64 file copying program if you like. Just do not validate the disk from Commodore DOS, and don't use Commodore DOS to scratch a GEOS file. > 4) Back to QuantumLink: Can I download stuff from it using the abovementioned > Vicmodem? You should be able to. QLink uses custom terminal software, with its own built in download routine. If you can connect to Qlink with your modem (which I'm pretty sure you can) you can download. > Any help you could give me would be heartily appreciated.... > _____ > The Mental Midget > {ihnp4, seismo, cmcl2, pur-ee} !uiucdcs!uiucuxe!mccarthy > mccarthy%uiucuxe@a.cs.uiuc.edu > "Somebody's gonna have a little fuzzy sandwich for lunch." -The > Unknown Wimbledon Announcer -- Rob Tillotson ...ihnp4!killer!sentinel 3922-1 Newport Ave. -or- Fort Wayne, IN 46805 ...rutgers!unirot!sentinel (219) 483-2722 (top one preferred)