Re: 17 Meg //e

[Charles Stephens <devnull@dobbs.eng.sun.com>]

>>>>> "SA" == Scott Alfter <salfter@chakotay.ncc74656.org> writes:

 SA> In article <19990828034548.20414.00000842@ng-cs1.aol.com>,
 SA> Obsbedia2 <obsbedia2@aol.com> wrote:
 >> Maybe I'm to "slot-focused", but why do you favor the RamFactor 4
 >> mb expander over the Ramworks expander?

 SA> As someone who used a RamWorks III once upon a time, I'd guess
 SA> that it's easier to make full use of the memory on "slinky-RAM"
 SA> cards (Apple II Memory Expansion Card, RamFactor, etc.) than on
 SA> RamWorks-type cards.  The RamWorks-type cards can be thought of
 SA> as like multiple Extended 80-Column Cards, with memory switched
 SA> in 64K at a time through a softswitch.  The upper 16K of memory
 SA> was a PITA to use since it went through the same Language
 SA> Card-type bankswitching that you have in 64K and 128K systems.
 SA> With "slinky-RAM" cards, though, you'd just set the start address
 SA> for the block of memory you want to access and start
 SA> reading/writing the block.

 SA> My RamWorks III had 1 meg, but with AppleWorks 3.0, I only had a
 SA> desktop about equal to three-fourths of that.

 SA> OTOH, there were other add-ons available for the RamWorks, like
 SA> RGB adapters and 65816 adapters (had the '816 for a while, but
 SA> the 10-MHz RocketChip was more useful).

Well there is a downside to slinky.  Basically it had a limited access
window whereas the AUX slot memory cards could be mapped to several
large regions in memory.  This means that getting stuff in and out of
the slinky card is slower than bank switching.

Altough I do like slinky because you don't have to mess with the bank
switches and that makes it more compatable with existing software.
Since slinky is a smart port device, it is even easier to clone.  So
let's hear it for the 32MB IIe.

cfs
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