Re: Which IIGS do you choose?

[Hugh Hood <hughhood@earthlink.net>]

in article 
825cd1ff-6a15-4eb8-bf29-605ff99b4d56@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com,
Eric Rucker at bhtooefr@gmail.com wrote on 8/28/11 4:42 PM:


> ..., and ditch the RAMFast because,
> really, SCSI isn't that useful nowadays.


Maybe, maybe not.

While I agree that buying a currently-manufactured SCSI hard drive that is
compatible with the RAMFast is a pipe dream, I'm _still_ picking up
new-in-box external Iomega Zip 100 SCSI Drives on ebay for a song, just to
keep on the shelf in reserve.

I've been using Zip 100s on all my 1 Meg cache RAMFast-equipped machines for
over 15 years now. As for speed, I'm afraid nothing can touch them, except
for maybe another RAMFast with a faster, non-removable SCSI drive.

Not many 'real' IIGS systems, regardless of configuration, can boot System
6.0.1 in 8 seconds, as do the RAMFast / Zip 100 combos. If there is another
combo that will, I'd love to know what it is.

With its large cache, the RAMFast really shines under ProDOS 8. AppleWorks
(where I spend most of my time during the workday) is just a joy to use with
RAMFast speed when loading/saving large data base files and accessing
TimeOut apps.

Obviously, Iomega had some well-publicized (and deserved) quality issues
with all the reported 'Click of Death' incidents. Strangely, almost every
time I've run across some 'click' flakiness, it has been due to the cheap
wall wart power supply getting weak with age and not keeping voltage up. A
new wall wart has fixed it for me _almost_ every time. In any case, I never
lost data because of Zip Drive flakiness, but I do replace the media every
couple of years whether it needs it or not. YMMV, of course.

Hey, I think the CFFA 3000 is great, too. Its ability to use flash ram, USB
and images is absolutely fantastic and sets it apart from other solutions. I
just think that in terms of raw speed on the Apple IIGS computer, the
RAMFast is still the King by a comfortable margin, and thus is still _very_
useful.

So, if anyone wants to 'ditch' their RAMFast, let me send you my address.
<grin>





Hugh Hood