phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (09/09/90)
In article <27572@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> echuang@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Ernest Y. Chuang) writes: |Recently I came across something called the All Charge Card in a catalog |from MicroWarehouse. From the short paragraph description, it seemed to |claim to be able to manage any extended or expanded memory so that it |could be used under DOS. Does anyone have this card or has a better idea |of what it can do? (Does it break the 640K limit?) The ACC is, in this day of $300 386sx motherboards, a useless product. List Price on the ACC is $400 and if your 286 is anything but a PGA (most 286s are not PGA because PGAs are much more expensive) you will need a $100 adaptor cable. That's $500 and even with a 30% discount for street prices, it's still $350. The ACC gives 286 systems a MMU and allows mapping extended memory into expanded memory. This was interesting when Windows didn't know how to use extended memory but Win3 runs much better with extended memory. Desqview works well with the ACC but works better with a 386sx. An MMU can give you more than 640K of memory if you have a CGA or Herc video interface. VGA users are stuck with 640K for DOS apps. But for the money, you're better off getting a new 386sx mother board. It will be faster, 16 Mhz vs 10 or 12, work better with Windows, probably allow you to stick more fast zero-wait state memory on the motherboard (expansion bus memory is usually much slower) and not limit you to 16-bit software. The All Charge Card: a big waste of your money. -- Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com {uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
pnl@hpfinote.HP.COM (Peter Lim) (09/11/90)
Basically the ALL Charge Card supplements the MMU of the 286 so that
the system behaves more like a 386 and can manage extended as expanded
memory quickly. But your 286 machine still can't execute 386
instructions.
At the price they are selling (US$299 ??), you're better off buying a
386-SX (US$399 ?) or greater motherboard to replace your 286 motherboard.
Prices may have changed lately. .....
Regards, ## Life is fast enough as it is ........
Peter Lim. ## .... DON'T PUSH IT !! >>>-------,
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