Re: Apple II memory expansion card

[et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)]

Michael J. Mahon (mjmahon@aol.com) writes:
> Michael Black wrote:
> 
>>Michael J. Mahon (mjmahon@aol.com) writes:
>>> Bender MX asked:
>>> 
>>>>  I recently got my hands on an Apple II memory expansion card
>>>>the Apple Computer version, not an AE Ramworks.  What I'm
>>>>wondering is what type of memory chips does it take, and where
>>>>can I get them?  Currently It has the base 256k ram on it and I'd
>>>>like to go the full 1 Meg route!
>>> 
>>> They are plain 41256's, and any you find will be fast enough.
>>> 
>>> Old (286-vintage) PC's are a great source of 41256's.
>>> 
>>Just yesterday, I found one of those lying in the snow.  Just the
>>motherboard and the bottom part of the case (no drives or power supply).
>>It had a half inch covering of snow.  I wiped away enough to see
>>what the motherboard was, the banks of DIP memory gave it away before
>>I had a chance to uncover the CPU, and I dropped it right back in the snow.
>>
>>Had it been dry, I likely would have dragged the motherboard home for
>>the memory, though realistically I have plenty of it already from
>>other junked motherboards I've found, but wet with snow it wasn't worth
>>it.
> 
> Actually, snow is usually quite pure, and, after a little drying out,
> you could expect it to be good as new.  Chips are quite water-
> resistant, and would survive unscathed.
> 
I wasn't concerned about snow damage.  More that cold and wet
the board was too much trouble to extract from the casing, and bring
home, versus the parts that I already had plenty of.

I once brought home a nice digitally tuned stereo receiver I found
in a snow bank, and because at the time it was better than what I
was using for the same function, it was worth lugging home, and then
washing the salt out.  If I found something like that today, in that
condition, I'd leave it there since I'm well stocked.

If the board hadn't been covered in snow, and it hadn't been cold,
I probably would have brought it home, even without having any
need for it.  When I find similar computers in the summer, it's always
worth the trouble of extracting some key parts, or the whole motherboard.

And nowadays, the level of what's being tossed out has progressed beyond
286's with loads of 256K rams.  I upgraded my 200MHz pentium from 64megs
to 96megs because I found a pentium (minus the hard drive or else I likely
would have brought the whole thing home) in the garbage last spring
and it had to 16meg SIMMSs.  Indeed, around the same time I found some
smaller density SIMMs, that filled out the used HP laserjet I bought cheap
a while later.

    Michael