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Re: CFFA for IIc and IIc+?
a2retro wrote:
To: Michael J. Mahon
Michael J. Mahon wrote:
Apple never built a RAMWorks-style memory card.
I know but the Ramworks card was just an extension of Apple AUX memory
card (with more then one bank) so in effect Apple did design it.
Quite true--the underlying architecture is Apple's--all AE did was
fill out the bank register.
There was never any software for the Apple II that required a "Slinky"
memory expansion--they all supported RAMWorks, since it existed first
and was widely used.
Actually Appleworks makes very good use if it in my //c. The slinky
interface can be used in block or byte mode and once the start address
is setup there is no more penalty then reading/writing a regular ram
address. While the memory cannot be cached, access can be accelerated as
there is no reason to slow down read/write access to the card.
I didn't say the Slinky wasn't *supported*, only that it wasn't
*required*.
WRT caching, the benefits of caching can be a factor larger than just
single-instruction access to RAM. Cached memory is accessed at high
speed in accelerated machines. And being able to execute from RAM and
directly address it is a huge speed advantage compared to reading it
sequentially or indirectly by storing into a register.
The only thing that the Slinky is really good at is sequential access,
and any deviation from purely sequential requires an address reset.
Displacing the internal drive would provide an access hole and internal
volume entirely disproportionate to the size of an SD card and socket,
in my opinion.
Just an option I was thinking of for a CF Connector .... knowing your a
big fan and all ;)
Right! But I'd drop all my CF cards for SD cards in a minute!
For an Apple II, there is no advantage in SD cards at all (once
a microcontroller is required to read them), and there are numerous
conveniences.
There aren't any CF card slots in laptops anymore.
-michael
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