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From: vera@cadence.com (Vera VallentinPrice)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Extended Memory Board
Keywords: Extended Memory Board
Message-ID: <1990Jan19.205254.21195@cadence.com>
Date: 19 Jan 90 20:52:54 GMT
References: <6169@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Sender: news@cadence.com (USENET News)
Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Lines: 61

In article <6169@ubc-cs.UUCP> jalbert@cs.ubc.ca (Francois Jalbert) writes:
>Hello everybody. I have been looking for a while without success for 
>the following:
>   4 Mb of extended-only memory starting at 1384 Kb in memory space.
>A) I want to use the board as a huge RAM disk on my 13.8 MHz AT-clone.
	...some stuff deleted here...
>D) I do not care about EMS and all that. I have no need for multitasking
>   and my applications do fine with 640 Kb and temporary files. I believe
>   a board without EMS capability is advantageous as it:
	...stuff deleted here...
>However, I doubt these memory boards are still available now. Technology
>just goes too fast for such things to remain unchanged for 3 years. 
	...stuff deleted here...			
>the Everex RAM-3000. I was sorry to hear it is probably of the fancy breed.

The Everex RAM-3000 can be configured as either, extended, expanded or a mix
of both on the card. The cost is $89 at Fry's right now, you may get better
prices via mail order. Even if you never consider using expanded memory,
some applications make use of it and improve in performance (such as
Ventura Publisher and other larger applications). But then, you may not have
a need to run them. I used such a card for a while and was very impressed about
how easy it was to setup and configure, no troubles whatsoever. I was sorry
to give it back (it was borrowed).

Tall Tree Systems used to make such simple boards about 1986-87. Fry's Electronics
in Sunnyvale is closing them out currently (really good prices). The boards
are called JRAM, JRAM-PC, JRAM-AT etc. The manual said that the Ram is configured
as extended memory, and that you can backfill the base memory. They are only
holding 2Megs at a time, but you could use more than one board if you have
enough slots left open in your machine. They also have Tall Tree's JRAM-JLASER
combination boards for providing memory to laserprinters with insufficient
memory.

There are two hangups about this: Tall Tree's phone number is no longer
valid. A person from Fry's said they might have changed their name (anybody
on the net knows what happened to Tall Tree Systems?). And second, the 
boards were made for 640K motherboards. I found several mention in the 
manuals of the different models that JRAM may not work with a 1Meg
motherboard (leave alone the newer 4 and 8 Meg MBs). However, I was able
to configure the switches on the JLASER board I bought to read the 2Megs
of RAM on my motherboard and use the 2Megs on the JLASER card. It was
tricky and time consuming to switch all possible variations (they are not
documented beyond 640K in most of the manuals). But to me it was worth
it considering that the Laserprinter memory upgrade would have cost me
some 2,000 Dollars for my Laserjet Plus.

Be aware of those potential troubles. Fry's was good to let me try out
three different models until I found the right one I could configure for
my hardware. Considering you would be willing to build your own circuitry
this may not bother you at all.

Good luck!

Vera.
Disclaimer: I have no connections to Fry's other than being one of their 
            customers.
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Vera Vallentin-Price	Cadence Design Systems	  vera@cadence.com
408-954-7605		555 River Oaks Parkway
			San Jose, CA 95134 		:-)
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