Re: IIc Memory..

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

mdj <mdj.mdj@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Feb 2, 8:54�am, Drew <goggled...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Feb 1, 10:23�pm, "sfahey" <sfa...@a2central.com.remove-lwe-this>
>> wrote:> � To: Drew
>> > � Re: IIc Memory..
>> > � By: Drew to comp.sys.apple2 on Mon Feb 01 2010 11:53 am
>>
>> > �> way to figure out how much RAM the IIC has?
>>
>> > The //c has 128K. The RAM board has a maximum of 1MB on it. So... if it's full,
>> > 1MB, half full 512K, and on down to 256K.
>>
>> > or are you asking for a programming solution?
>>
>> > Sean Faheywww.a2central.com
>> > bbs.a2central.com
>>
>> Hi, I just wondered if there was an easy way to tell how much memory
>> it had. Think I will pop the board out next time it's open.
>
>If you format it as a RAM disk under ProDOS (direct your formatter at
>slot 4) and do a catalog, the size of card in kilobytes will be the
>total number of blocks divided by 2.
>
>Copy II+ or similar may report the device size with a show online
>command too.

    The IIc's firmware will auto-format memory on the card as a RAM 
Disk, which should appear as a device in "/RAM4" (slot 4, drive 1).
It should indirectly report the size, you'd have to calculate the free 
space in ProDOS blocks into Kilobytes, then add on space used
by the formatting (about 4K I believe).

>> If I wanted to use a programming solution is there something that I
>> can run in the same manner as I ran to check the rom version?
>
>The above mentioned technique is easier. The ROM03 IIc had a bug that
>prevented the firmware from detecting the correct size of an
>uninstalled memory card, but I believe it works fine for an installed
>card. 

    There is an easier way to report the total installed memory, and
it's built-in to the IIc. The memory expandable IIc (ROM 3 and higher) 
has same firmware as the Apple II Slinky RAM card, which is present 
whether you have a memory card installed or not. Here's how to run
the diagnostic/memory report:

-Press Control-Reset (to get an Applesoft prompt)
-Type "CALL-151" (to enter Monitor)
-Type "C40AG" (4 = virtual slot the card is mapped to) 

Now wait about 2-3 minutes, it'll run a diagnostic on the expansion
card and installed memory DRAM chips, followed by a report of
what size your card is (256K, 512K, 768K or 1 MB). Incidentally,
if the tests all pass, you should also see "CARD OK".

>This was essentially the difference between the ROM03 and the
>ROM04 IIc -

    It isn't necessarily unable to report the correct size, it just 
MAY have issues with some RAM configurations and chip
types from what I recall. No harm giving it a try.

    The ROM 4 improved the detection scheme so it was 
more or less flawless. There were two other issues corrected,
having to do with the serial port and keyboard buffering.
If anyone is interested in all the hardware and firmware
differences between the various IIc's, I covered it in the
Wikipedia article I wrote up for the Apple IIc. I gave
the IIc Plus it's own separate article, and the pictures
are of the IIc Plus from my collection. :)

> I don't remember if the '03 has the beige or platinum
>keyboard.

    Definitely platinum, or really, light grey keycaps (they
also changed the coloring of the floppy drive's door latch 
and the cabling on external powersupply). The ROM 3
was introduced the same day as the Apple IIgs.

    Someone here once claimed there was a late model
ROM 4 that had a platinum *case*, though any I've seen
(apart from the IIc Plus) have all been snow-white so I
think it's just a myth.

Mitchell Spector