dalel@servio.UUCP (Dale LaFountain) (08/14/90)
I am interested in purchasing more memory for my GS. I currently have 1.25meg (Apple Exp. Card), and wish to upgrade to a 4 meg board that uses 1 meg SIMMS. So my questions are: /(DMA compatible, etc.) Do I have any limitations on what "type" of memory I can use, due to the use of: TransWarp GS (w/ DMA upgrade), Apple DMA SCSI card, and an Audio Animator (not yet, but real soon)? What cards are out there that would suit my needs? The one I hear talked about the most is the GS Sauce card. Will this work? I have no problem with buying a card bare and adding RAM on my own, but specifically which chips will I need and where could I find them. Todd Whitesel mentioned the Chip Merchant. Does anyone (or Todd) have a phone number for them? I have seen and heard about some pretty incredible RAM prices, and I just want to make sure I don't get taken for a ride by buying cheap chips that won't work. Thanks in advance for the info, Dale dalel@servio.SLC.COM
toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (08/15/90)
dalel@servio.UUCP (Dale LaFountain) writes: >I am interested in purchasing more memory for my GS. I currently have 1.25meg >(Apple Exp. Card), and wish to upgrade to a 4 meg board that uses 1 meg SIMMS. The GS Sauce is the only card I am aware of that takes 4 1 meg SIMMs. The OCTORAM will take 8 1 meg SIMMs, but I don't know where you can get those nowadays; someone else probably does. >So my questions are: /(DMA compatible, etc.) > Do I have any limitations on what "type" of memory I can use, due to > the use of: TransWarp GS (w/ DMA upgrade), Apple DMA SCSI card, and > an Audio Animator (not yet, but real soon)? TWGS w/DMA and Apple SCSI should get along fine. Audio Animator should work fine no matter what: it doesn't have anything to do with DMA. The only restrictions on the memory you pick are: 150 ns or better (preferably MUCH better) must be a four-row card (GS Sauce, many others that take DIPs) OR and eight-row card (OCTORAM) with 1 meg in each row (NOT 256k). I strongly advise you NOT to buy any GS memory boards from AE. Theirs are all DIP oriented, so that doesn't look like much of a problem. > What cards are out there that would suit my needs? The one I hear > talked about the most is the GS Sauce card. Will this work? Yes, this will work. I have one now, with two 1 meg SIMMs in it and it works just great. The meager instructions it comes with are somewhat confusing, and the configuration DIP switch needs to be modified somewhat, but overall I was impressed with it. I have had no compatibility problems whatsoever so far (1 week). This is to be expected; the GS Sauce follows Apple's RAM expansion guidelines to the letter. > I have no problem with buying a card bare and adding RAM on my own, > but specifically which chips will I need and where could I find > them. Todd Whitesel mentioned the Chip Merchant. Does anyone > (or Todd) have a phone number for them? Chip Merchant: 800 426-6375 (orders) 619 268-4774 (info) 619 268-0874 (FAX) 9541 Ridgehaven Ct., Suite A, San Diego, CA 92123 1 meg simms, 80 ns, are running about $50 each these days. >I have seen and heard about some pretty incredible RAM prices, and I just want >to make sure I don't get taken for a ride by buying cheap chips that won't >work. Chip Merchant is reliable. A friend of mine bought 4 megs from them for his Mac II and has been using them for a year without problems. Be warned, however, that the Chip Merchant DOES NOT TAKE CREDIT. They only accept COD and Prepaid. I was too impatient to prepay, and I couldn't arrange for someone to be home to pick up the COD, so I blew a little extra dough an bought my two megs from Fry's Electronics in Sunnyvale. They're having a sale this month (1 meg for $60, in a walk-in retail store) -- they always have a sale on something, whether it's clone motherboards, VCRs, or Coke. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu
mvk@pawl.rpi.edu (Michael V. Kent) (08/15/90)
In article <1990Aug14.182945.18045@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu> toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes: > >I strongly advise you NOT to buy any GS memory boards from AE. Theirs are all >DIP oriented, so that doesn't look like much of a problem. Hmmm...That's interesting. And I was considering a GS-RAM Plus. Is there a problem with AE's products? service? prices? Are SIMMs that much cheaper than DIPs now? I haven't bought memory since I populated my Apple board two years ago, so I, too, could use some advice. Michael Kent mvk@pawl.rpi.edu
magras@cpsin2.cps.msu.edu (Jean C Magras) (08/15/90)
I'd also be interested in this information. I got stuck with apple's piece of junk... when I upgraded my iie ($500 approx) after my dealer "borrowed" it for 2 months for replacement chips and after all this, I got a rom 1 :( sincerely J.C.
mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage) (08/15/90)
In article <1990Aug14.215507.5023@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> magras@cpsin2.cps.msu.edu (Jean C Magras) writes: > >I'd also be interested in this information. I got stuck with apple's >piece of junk... when I upgraded my iie ($500 approx) after my dealer >"borrowed" it for 2 months for replacement chips and after all this, >I got a rom 1 :( > >sincerely >J.C. You shouldn't be surprised in the least by this, unless your dealer somehow hinted you'd get a ROM 3 motherboard, which would be totally incorrect. (The ROM 3 motherboard doesn't have the matrix keyboard connector necessary for it to work as a IIe upgrade, and so you can't upgrade a IIe to a ROM 3 IIgs.) -- ============================================================================ Matt Deatherage, Apple Computer, Inc. | "The opinions represented here are Developer Technical Support, Apple II | not necessarily those of Apple Group. Personal mail only, please. | Computer, Inc. Remember that." ============================================================================
philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) (08/16/90)
In article <1990Aug14.182945.18045@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu> toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes: >dalel@servio.UUCP (Dale LaFountain) writes: > >>I am interested in purchasing more memory for my GS. I currently have 1.25meg >>(Apple Exp. Card), and wish to upgrade to a 4 meg board that uses 1 meg SIMMS. > >The GS Sauce is the only card I am aware of that takes 4 1 meg SIMMs. There is also a card put out by Harris Labs(which may be the same card!) which accepts Mac Simms. However, I do not know if this card is "DMA compatible". Does anybody have any firm information about this card? >I strongly advise you NOT to buy any GS memory boards from AE. Why are you advising against AE? I have a GS RAM+ card and it "seems" to work with my ROM03,TWGS,DMA SCSI card,...I have my own thoughts re AE but they do supply quite a few AppleII peripherals. Do you know if the AE GS RAM+ card(upgraded for the ROM03) is DMA compatible? Mine seems to work, but I only have 1 meg in it and fear the consequences of adding more! Philip McDunnough University of Toronto philip@utstat.toronto.edu [my opinions]
toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (08/16/90)
philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes: [ in response to this, which I wrote ] >>The GS Sauce is the only card I am aware of that takes 4 1 meg SIMMs. >There is also a card put out by Harris Labs(which may be the same card!) which >accepts Mac Simms. However, I do not know if this card is "DMA compatible". >Does anybody have any firm information about this card? Yes, I do -- I bought one. The GS Sauce is made by Harris Labs, it accepts SIMMs (1,2,4 256k, or 1,2,4 meg) and is 100% DMA compatible, period. Harris did the right thing and made the card simple -- it supports exactly those configurations that Apple steadfastly guarantees will work under all conditions and ONLY those configurations. AE's cards all do something more than what Apple guarantees, but they have to forfeit total compatibility in the process. That's why you have to make sure your AE card is upgraded properly. I have two megs in my GS Sauce and it works fine -- ok, so I've only had it for a week, but I have much more confidence in it than I would in an AE memory board. [ I also wrote, and stand this ] >>I strongly advise you NOT to buy any GS memory boards from AE. >Why are you advising against AE? I have a GS RAM+ card and it "seems" to >work with my ROM03,TWGS,DMA SCSI card,...I have my own thoughts re AE but >they do supply quite a few AppleII peripherals. AE has gone severely downhill over the last few years, I think. I am very satisfied with the first things i bought from them, but lately their products' compatibility problems and just their whole attitude has turned me off. I am quite a bit miffed after paying $100 for a Sonic Blaster, whose software sucks and has never been upgraded, whose digitizer input is totally unusable, and whose technical support is effectively nonexistent. >Do you know if the AE GS RAM+ card(upgraded for the ROM03) is DMA compatible? >Mine seems to work, but I only have 1 meg in it and fear the consequences of >adding more! Here's the scoop. If you have more than four sets of chips in the thing then you *might* have problems. The GS RAM+ takes 1 meg chips, so you've only got one set in there now. Taking it up to four megs is no problem, unless AE did something really stupid. Going beyond four megs relies on AE's hardware hacking for the DMA compatibility to work, but (listen up) Apple's DMA card driver doesn't use DMA on memory that is above the four meg mark. If you have four megs or less of main memory then all of it should be DMA compatible (UNLESS you use 256k chips in a >4 row card) and it gets DMA'd to. Any memory from 04/0000 to 07/ffff is accessed by a software transfer loop. Your TWGS will speed that up, so you probably won't notice the difference. Besides, when you have four megs or more, the system almost never has to purge or compact memory, so things go much faster -- less housekeeping and disk access is necessary. Hope this last wasn't too confusing. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu
jsurine@entec.Wichita.NCR.COM (James Surine) (08/16/90)
In article <43969@apple.Apple.COM> mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage) writes: >(The ROM 3 motherboard doesn't have the matrix keyboard connector necessary >for it to work as a IIe upgrade, and so you can't upgrade a IIe to a ROM 3 >IIgs.) >>Matt Deatherage, Apple Computer, Inc. | "The opinions represented here are I have a ROM 01 Apple IIgs and I am wondering if I can upgrade it to ROM 03. -- +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ +=+ j.surine@Wichita.NCR.COM (Jim Surine) /\/\/\/\/\ NCR Peripheral Products Division, Wichita Kansas / / /\/\/\ \ \ work (316) 636-8586 home (316) 721-6280 / / / / /\ \ \ \ \
gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) (08/18/90)
In article <655@entec.Wichita.NCR.COM> jsurine@entec.UUCP (James Surine) writes: >I have a ROM 01 Apple IIgs and I am wondering if I can upgrade it to ROM 03. Sure, but you have to pay full price for the new motherboard. Doesn't seem worthwhile to me.
joshuat@pro-sol.cts.com (Joshua M. Thompson) (08/18/90)
In-Reply-To: message from jsurine@entec.Wichita.NCR.COM Nope, you can't upgrade to a ROM 03. I managed to talk somebody into trading me a newer GS for an old one (for extra cash), and it's not TOO much worth worrying about, except that I now have 2 megs of memory instead of 1.25, wiht nothing but an Apple RAM card.
johns@pro-library.cts.com (John Sparkman) (08/20/90)
In-Reply-To: message from gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL What are the advantages in upgrading from a ROM 01 to a ROM 03? John
mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage) (08/20/90)
In article <4023@crash.cts.com> johns@pro-library.cts.com (John Sparkman) writes: >In-Reply-To: message from gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL > >What are the advantages in upgrading from a ROM 01 to a ROM 03? > >John Again, for those playing along at home, there is NO UPGRADE from ROM 01 to ROM 03. You can buy a new ROM 3 machine and sell your ROM 1 machine, but this doesn't qualify as an "upgrade" in my book. Advantages? Not many. The ROM 3 machine has 1 MB of RAM on the motherboard and some more of the tools in ROM, which require more patches by the system software so the available RAM decreases, although not as much as loading the entire tools from disk. ROM 3 also has hardware shadowing of text page 2, built-in universal access features like keyboard mouse and sticky keys, a different RAM disk toolset that only allows one RAM disk size (no minimum and maximum), slightly improved sound circuitry (less interference) and a hardware jumper to keep people out of the text-based control panel CDA. For the full run-down, see Apple IIgs TN #26. -- ============================================================================ Matt Deatherage, Apple Computer, Inc. | "The opinions represented here are Developer Technical Support, Apple II | not necessarily those of Apple Group. Personal mail only, please. | Computer, Inc. Remember that." ============================================================================