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Re: Wanted: MCT SpeedDemon Manual
The Skeeez... writes ...
>
> A photo copy will do just fine... Am willing to pay.... Mail me..
> Thanks...
Of course, it is always a good idea to have The Manual for any
computer board, etc. you install. However, M-c-T's SpeeDemon "manuals"
were notoriously brief; so, the following snip may be more info on the
accelerator board than you will find anywhere else:
>>
From: Rubywand
005- I recently bought an "M-c-T SpeeDemon" board. It's dated 1984
and draws a small apple on the screen after power-up. What kind
of cache RAM does it have? There's a place for jumpers near the
top of the card. Is there a way to control this thing through
software or hardware?
Your card may be a slightly later model. (I've never noticed ours
draw a hires apple on the screen-- darn it!) Possibly, McT came out
with a revision aimed at 128K IIe's.
The RAMs on our vintage model SpeeDemon are 100ns 2048x8 9128's
(for a total 8K of pretty speedy cache).
I once asked McT about the jumper block you mention, they said the
jumper is set at the factory to adjust on-card timing and to Leave It
Alone. (On our card, the jumper block has 5 pairs. The pair 2nd from the
top is jumpered.)
There is also a jumper pair near the bottom middle of the card.
This is the Speed Jumper. Jumper it if you want 'demon to slow down for
I/O accesses to Slots 4 & 5. (The 'demon always slows for Slot 6 I/O
($C0E0 - $C0EF.)
According to the "Manual" (a folded card), pressing PDL-1
(Closed-Apple on a IIe) upon power-up will engage a self-test. Pressing
ESC at power-up will turn OFF the card and allow running at normal
speed. To turn OFF the card later on, do a POKE (49152+256*S) where S=
Slot # of the slot the card is in; then, press RESET.
You can put the 'demon into any Slot; but, if you put it in Slot 0
(Slot 3 in a IIe), the card will not respond to any KB shut-off
commands.
------------------------
006- How does the SpeeDemon rate as an accelerator for II+
and IIe Apples?
In terms of raw performance (once you arrange for cooling),
SpeeDemon may be the best of the 4MHz accelerators for early II's. I've
never noticed any compatibility problems and the approx. X3.5 speed
increase puts real 'snap' into your machine's response. (Besides, it's
great for games like Elite!)
------------------------
007- My SpeeDemon accelerator board seems to run hot in my II+.
Is this normal? Should I add cooling?
Indeed, the 'demon is a power gobbler-- roughly 1.5A as I recall--
and some of the IC's run hot. When the board bombed after one long
session, we cut out a square section on the back of the II+ and added a
mini-fan, just to blow air across the 'Demon board. This ended the heat
problem.
____________________________
From: Douglas M. Howell
008- How should the DIP switches be set on a version 3.03
SpeeDemon board?
This is from the 1-page manual that comes with the card:
For owners without a Bank Switch Language Card in thier Apple, the
first seven DIP switches control the access speed of the following:
switch 1 -- controls -- slot 1
switch 2 -- " -- slot 2
switch 3 -- " -- slot 3
switch 4 -- " -- paddle/joystick port
switch 5 -- " -- slot 5
switch 6 -- " -- slot 6
switch 7 -- " -- slot 7
OFF indicates slot/port is accessed at High Speed.
ON indicates slot/port is to Slow Down for access.
All slots that can be accessed at High Speed and all empty slots
should have the corresponding Dip switch set to "OFF" (this is the
non-bank switch setting).
Special Note about Switch 4:
Switch 4 on the SpeeDemon DIP switch no longer controlsthe access
speed to slot 4. It now controls how the joystick and paddles are read.
If switch 4 is in the "ON" position, the SpeeDemon will slow down
to normal Apple speed for 50 milliseconds each time the joystick is
accessed. This allows the software to read the joystick or paddles
correctly. If switch 4 is in the "OFF" position, the SpeeDemon will not
slow down when they are accessed.
Access to slot 4 is always at SLOW (normal) Apple speed.
Certain programs, such as Appleworks, use the joystick location,
even when the joystick is not in use. If dip switch 4 is set to "ON"
then these programs will not show any speed for some functions, such as
calculations and sorts. Therefor, unless you need youysticks for your
applications, switch 4 should be set in the "OFF" position.
If you have a Bank Switch Card (extended 80-col card, Ramworks II,
Titan Saturn 128k card, excetera..) set switch 8 to the "ON" position.
Bank Switch Language Card Location:
Dip Switches 1-3 encode the location of your Bank switch language
card. Use the following table to find the appropriate setting for your
machine:
Dip Switch Bank Switch Card Location
1 2 3 Slot #
--- --- --- ------
off off off 0
off off on 1
off on off 2
off on on 3
on off off 4
on off on 5
on on off 6
on on on 7
If you have two bank switch cards in your system, one must reside in
slot 0. The other must be in the slot selected by DIP switches 1-3
above.
Special Note: Because the first three switches are used to encode the
location of the Bank Switch Language Card, you can no longer control the
speed of all the slots. Specifically you can not control slots 1,3, or
6. These slots woll now always run Fast except for slot 6 which will
always run Slow.
Special Note: The slot that the SpeeDemon card resides in should be
set to the "Off" position
<<
Rubywand