Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!tybalt.caltech.edu!toddpw
From: toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: info wanted on IIgs memory upgrades and HD's
Message-ID: <1990Jul7.051453.5153@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu>
Date: 7 Jul 90 05:14:53 GMT
References: <1990Jul05.222546.245@csuchico.edu>
Sender: news@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Lines: 48

robin@csuchico.edu (Robin Goldstone) writes:

>I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher and owns a IIgs.  She
>is interested in upgrading the memory and/or adding a hard disk.  So please
>excuse a Mac user for intruding on your territory to ask a couple of stupid
>questions on my friend's behalf:

Your questions are in no way 'stupid' -- lots of gs users have been asking
this group exactly the same things.

>1)  what options are available to increase the memory on a IIgs?  Can
>standard SIMMs be used?  

The vast majority of memory options have used DIPs but I personally the SIMM
options, of which there are two (jeez): The OctoRAM (eight 256k or 1 meg SIMMs)
and the GSs Sauce (four 256k or 1 meg SIMMs). The OctoRAM may or may not be
discontinued; I've heard too many conflicting rumors and I don't care anyway
because I am buying an empty GS Sauce for about $70 or whatever the going price
is when my next couple of paychecks come in.

>2)  how 'bout hard disks?   Can the IIgs support SCSI drives?  

You betcha. The two best SCSI options right now are Apple's High Speed SCSI
Card ($100 mail order) and the CV Technologies RAMFast SCSI card (about $200
mail order -- i think). Both cards peak at 1 megabyte/sec (halfway between
an SE and a Mac II, if anyone cares) but caveat emptor: if your friend
still runs a lot of non-desktop applications then the CV Technologies card is
a better deal because it has a dedicated coprocessor and 256K of disk cache on
the card -- meaning that it runs at full speed 99% of the time with ALL older
software. Apple's card doesn't really perform for everyday use (according to
reports which I haven't been able to verify) but this would be because of
inefficient driver software, which can be replaced.

>3)  if one had to choose between more memory and a hard disk, which
>would be increase productivity more?

Depends on what she runs. If she is swapping disks a lot then the hard drive
is probably better. If the programs are running out of memory a lot and she
has two 3.5" drives, then the hard drive probably isn't as crucial.

>4) while I'm here, are there any good archive sites out there that
>have software that might be useful to an elementary school (2nd grade)
>teacher?

I'll pass on this.

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu