Re: Advice on GS upgrades

[CUTjefbla@bconnex.net (Jeff Blakeney)]

On Tue, 09 Jun 1998 11:20:49 -0400, Toby Creek <creek@aur.alcatel.com>
wrote:

>I recently bought a IIgs ROM 01 with 512k, a 3.5, a 5.25, 
>monitor and ImageWriter II to replace the hole in my life
>left by my LOADED //e that I sold nearly ten years ago.

Welcome back.  :)

>I never had any idea that all this stuff was available for
>these machines.  I'd like to upgrade this thing so that
>it'll do more, so I'm seeking advice. 

Sure thing.

>First off, I am cheap.  I got that whole thing for $10, and
>I don't want to put $500 into it.  Here's some of the things
>that I am considering.

I can understand that and it is possible to upgrade cheaply.

>SCSI card - I like the RAMFast, but not the price.  
>I'm thinking about the CMS card that Alltech carries, or
>the Apple High Speed card.  I don't really need a whole 
>bunch of speed or device support: I'm only connecting a 
>hard disk. Everything else I hope to do via Appletalk 
>with an Ethernet converter running to my Sun box with 
>netatalk.  Is DMA defeatable, so that I can run 8MB without
>doing the RAMdisk hack?

If you're going to AllTech, don't bother with the CMS SCSI card. Just
get a Focus.  It is an IDE hard drive interface with a 2.5" IDE hard
drive mounted on it.  The 20 MB model sells for $59 US.

Of course, the RamFAST is the best choice if you can afford it.  It
will allow you to add more SCSI devices to your systems such as more
hard drives, removable drives (EZ-135, Zip, Jaz) and CD-ROMs.  You can
have up to 8 devices (the RamFAST doesn't have a SCSI ID which causes
problems with a few drives) but the Focus can only control the one
drive.

You might also want to take a look at the TurboIDE card from ///SHH
Systeme.  It supports up to two IDE drives and I know Joachim Lange
(the card's designer)  was planning on adding support for IDE CD-ROMs
and the new(ish) LS-120 super floppy drive.  I don't know if those
changes have been made yet, though.

>Memory board - The Sirius board looks cool, and I could 
>populate it from 0MB easily.  Any downsides to this board
>(besides the 4MB DMA limit with Rom 01)?  The Sequential
>board looks OK too, but I have the RAM for the Sirius,
>so I could get into it cheaper.  Does anyone take the
>IIgs expansion board in trade?  I have one complete with
>box and shrink wrapped manuals.

Pretty much any memory card will do.  If you already have RAM chips,
make sure they are CAS before RAS.  Unless you are getting the memory
card that uses 30 pin SIMMs.  :)

>Accelerator - Anybody have one?

Good luck getting one cheaply.  Unless you find someone who doesn't
know that the accelerators are getting rarer by the day and are
becoming more expensive by the hour, you may end up spending more on
this upgrade alone than it cost for the rest of you machine.

>Fan - Where is the fan header on the GS mainboard?  I have tons
>of muffin fans that I could use for this purpose.

By the back panel of the IIgs case by the power supply connector(s) is
a two pin molex connector for connecting a 12V (I think and I can't
find my hardware ref at present) fan.

Have fun.  :)

=== I've had enough SPAM.  Cut the obvious from my address to email me. ===
         Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University on Delphi