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From: rich@documail.UUCP (Rich McCallister)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Q: AMAZ. COMP. A1000 RAM EXPANSION HACK
Summary: Experience with Chris Erving 512K add-on
Message-ID: <307@documail.UUCP>
Date: 8 Mar 91 22:37:26 GMT
References: <7229.27ca4872@cc.curtin.edu.au>
Organization: Bell & Howell DocuMail Division, Evanston, Ill.
Lines: 54

In article <7229.27ca4872@cc.curtin.edu.au>, tlynchmj@cc.cutin.edu.au says:
> I'm considering adding ram to my 1000 the DIY way using the method outlined
> in Amazing Computing (1987). The article tells of problems with Kick-Start
> 1.2 trying to configure the RAM in a way that it shouldn't be used. 
> 
> What I want to know is does this problem still exist with KS 1.3???
   Yes.
> 
> Is the extra hardware hack to remove the RAM until the WB disk is validated
> needed with 1.3?
   Either that, or the patch to the Kickstart disk that appeared in Amazing
Computing's letters-to-the-editor column a few months after the plans for the
hack itself were published.  The patch was for Kickstart 1.2, but also works
with Kickstart 1.3.
> 
> Does this form of expansion work with most software and games?
    Yes (at least the Kickstart patch does); I haven't found one that it
doesn't work with.
> 
> Are there any other problems or solutions to problems?
    Yes!  Any patches to Kickstart are likely to be useless with a new
version of the operating system.  However, with 1.3, none of the relevant
instructions moved, so we lucked out.  2.0 has (as I've heard) its own
difficulties with the 1000; I don't know how much this hack adds to those
problems.
> 
> Is it possible to build the AddRAM program into the kick start disk or the
> boot-block on WB disks?
    There is a package called KickBoth or BootKick or something like that,
which actually allows you to install a file system on a kickstart disk.
You thus combine the Kickstart and Workbench boots into one!  The space
available to the Workbench portion is limited, however, but you certainly
could fit AddRAM in there.  This would not solve the problem of making
the extra 512K available for boot disks that you don't want to modify
(like those used for some games).
    By the way, I had some trouble using the program, included in the AC
article, that removes the extra 512K from the "CHIP" ram pool, and adds it
to that of the "FAST" ram. (You only need this if you don't add the hardware
circuitry to hide the 512K while booting, and you don't use a modified 
Kickstart disk.) I think the program assumed that the memory would be all
in one chunk, or would be the last chunk in the list, or something like that.
I modified it to catch all such chunks (er, entries in the MemList), but
felt it was a risky way to go anyway. If the 512K is fragmented before I even
run my startup-sequence, how do I know the memory isn't being used as
chip ram?
    When I built mine, 4 years ago, US$80 for a half meg seemed a good deal.
Now, I don't know if it would be as economical, as the prices of 1 and 2 Meg
slap on memories (for the side of the 1000) have dropped, and 1.5 meg inside
boards are available.  Also, Amiga 500 disks that come with ram expansion
can be used on the 1000, altho you might have a problem with them covering
up the mouse/joystick connectors.
    My 1000 has been on 24 hours a day (except for 5 or 10 weeks in the summer,
when I don't want to heat up the house so much).  The 512K add on has been
very, very good to me.