traw@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (C. Brendan S. Traw) (03/13/90)
I'd like to put more memory in the 1000sx. Mine is at 640k right now, but I'd like at least a meg so I can run something like Windows or Desqview. The system has a NEC V20, which had replaced the 8088-2. Is it as easy as taking any memory upgrade/EMS card and plugging it in, or does Tandy sell the only (if any) cards? Also, is there a program that will let me remap a character on the keyboard to act as a Scroll-Lock key? Can't seem to find one anywhere on the 1000sx. -- traw@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
rlscon@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Robert Sillett) (03/13/90)
In article <21637@netnews.upenn.edu> traw@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (C. Brendan S. Traw) writes:
%
% I'd like to put more memory in the 1000sx. Mine is at 640k right
%now, but I'd like at least a meg so I can run something like Windows
%or Desqview. The system has a NEC V20, which had replaced the 8088-2.
%Is it as easy as taking any memory upgrade/EMS card and plugging it
%in, or does Tandy sell the only (if any) cards?
%
Upgrading the 1000 SX is pretty much useless. First and foremost,
even with a NEC V20, the 1000 SX is far, far too slow. I've run
DESQview and Windows on my 1000 SX with V20 and 8087, and it's a joke.
It takes minutes to run simple tasks under Windows, not to mention
complex calculations or graphs on Excel.
Also DESQview and Windows want EMS 4.0 memory. I don't know of any
boards for the 1000 that will supply that. The best I've seen is EMS
3.2, which is little better than a RAM disk (that's all DESQview will
let you do with EMS 3.2). Even on an 80286 it's a royal pain to get
DESQview up 'n running. The only practical way I know of is to buy an
All Charge Card, which gives the 80286 the memory-mapping features
that the 80386 has built in. The DESQview and Windows manuals say
that multitasking is only achieved on an 80386 platform. This is
because the 80386 can run many "mini" 8086's at a time. On a 286 or
88, DESQview and Windows merely chop up the time slice.
My advice to to save your cash and get a 386SX when it's in your price
range.
--- Robert Sillett
rlscon@unix.cis.pitt.edugklimes@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (George Klimes) (03/14/90)
Try "Computer Mechanix" (1-800-448-1436). They sell expanded memory boards
for the 1000 series (not HX/EX though) for $149 (0K RAM). Each board can
handles 2 megs, and you can have up to four of them installed!!!
Also, check PCM Magazine for other possibilities...
Good luck!
--- George Klimes
Graduate Student, Computer Sciencedjh9381@ultb.isc.rit.edu (D.J. Halko) (03/16/90)
Well, there are EMS boards available for the SX... Also, Desqview under the 8088 isn't bad. Using a V20 should help things along! Desqview does do multitasking on the 8088, it is Windows which will not do multitasking. My buddy Jay was multitasking a BBS on his clone before using Desqview without EMS boards. It did work, but you could tell that he was multitasking it (the ouput lines were jagged at 2400 baud.) Someone said on the net that the SX with a math coprocessor was slow with Desqview... it is not necessarily Desqview's fault as much as it is MS-Dos's fault... it is just slow. If you use Desqview on a 386, then of course it will not seem slow (but then again, when you run a program on a computer that is 2 to 10 times faster that the old one, of course the old one seems slow....) But, then again.... even OS/2 on a 386 is a dog (unless you are running at 25 or 33 MHz...) Once again, the fault of the OS, not the processor... but that is a different topic... (or is it? I would rather run Desqview 386 than OS/2 for sheer speed differences... How many MHz does a 386 have to run at in order to keep up a 2400 baud under OS/2? I forgot... it was in another of the rn sections... maybe the OS/2 section...) David J. Halko