Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!apple!agate!ucbvax!NIC.GAC.EDU!scott
From: scott@NIC.GAC.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Memory configurations
Message-ID: <9009291751.AA04291@mcs-server.gac.edu>
Date: 29 Sep 90 17:51:30 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 34

ls1i+@andrew.cmu.edu (Leonard John Schultz) writes:
   The NeXTstation has main memory configurations of 8-32 megabytes.  It
   simply has 8 simm slots that you can fill with 1 MB, 4MB, (or 16MB)
   simms.  

I don't know that it could use 16M simms.  That'd mean you could get
+32M, I think.  16M is listed in the /usr/include/nextdev files in
one or another place, but supporting simms that won'd be out for a couple
years could be expensive.  Maybe next year's machine?

   But the color NeXTstation specs say it has 12-32 megabytes of main
   memory.  What is the slot configuration on this machine?  Where do the 4
   extra megs on the low end come from and why does it disappear when you
   replace all 1MB simms with 4MB simms?  Main memory isn't used for color
   video since the machine has 1.5 MB of VRAM.

I suspect that they changed this to add speed, probably because it
wouldn't cost all that much more for them (in that volume).  I've
been wondering what the real memory will be, since I've seen these
conflicting quotes, too.

I have also seen something in one or another documents listing the
price of 2 4M simms.  My first thought was "why in the world would
anyone sell 2 simms for a NeXT rather than 4?"  That would solve the
12M problem - 12M=2*4M+4*1M.  Or maybe you can put in 3*4M? :-)
This is sort of surprising, though, as I could imagine it would
1) be a nightmare for engineering, and 2) slow down memory access
(can you say wait states?)

scott hess
scott@gac.edu
Independent NeXT Developer	(Stuart)
NeXT Campus Consultant		(Not much, really)
GAC Undergrad			(Horrid.  Simply Horrid.  I mean the work!)