Help IIgs How much RAM
kevin kuk
Hello,
I've look over the FAQ and could not find a answer to tell how much
RAM a IIgs has?
A little back ground on my situation:
My sons kindergarten class had a IIgs donated last school year.
After asking if the children would get a chance to use it this year , I
found myself volunteering to get it running.:)
Inventory of the system:
Apple II gs ROM version 01
color monitor
3 1/2 disk drive
5 1/4 disk drive
Apple IIgs Memory Expansion with 32 memory chips on it (I opened the cover
and looked)
software:
Tour disk of the Apple IIgs
Reader Rabbit
The system will run the tour program and the Reader Rabbit program.
I see from the FAQ that I can get a copy of the system 6 GS/OS from
the Apple site but I don't know if I have enough RAM to make it work?
Thanks for any and all help,
Kevin Kuk
Nathan Mates
In article <5313sk$i...@fnnews.fnal.gov>,
kevin kuk <k...@polaris.fnal.gov> wrote:
>I've look over the FAQ and could not find a answer to tell how much
>RAM a IIgs has?
Thanks for the reminder. I'll see about adding that real soon
now. :) [Tonight, if work doesn't get hyperbusy]
Short answer that I'm likely to drop cut and paste into the FAQ:
Go to the control panel (control-open apple-escape), and select
the RAM disk. Look at the maximum possible size reported. Add 128K.
(The system reserves a chunk of memory for programs, no matter what.)
That's a good estimate.
Sequential Systems (http://www.sequential.com) sells 2MB and 4MB
ramcards.
>Inventory of the system:
> Apple II gs ROM version 01
256K RAM on the motherboard.
> Apple IIgs Memory Expansion with 32 memory chips on it (I opened the cover
> and looked)
If that's the Apple card, then it provides extra ram in 256K banks,
8 chips per bank. Thus, you should have 1.25MB of RAM-- System 6 will
run, but it's a tight fit.
Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/ <*>
# What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
# Shun wishful thinking, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
# think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? -R.A. Heinlein
Nathan Mates
In article <5313sk$i...@fnnews.fnal.gov>,
kevin kuk <k...@polaris.fnal.gov> wrote:
>I've look over the FAQ and could not find a answer to tell how much
>RAM a IIgs has?
Doh! Got the response wrong in my first reply. The amount of total
RAM in a ROM 01 is the 'Largest Selectable' amount reported by the
RAM Disk option under the text control panel plus 256K, not 128K
as I misremembered.
Adam Myrow
On 3 Oct 1996, kevin kuk wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've look over the FAQ and could not find a answer to tell how much
> RAM a IIgs has?
Hold the option key down while powering up and select control-panel from the
menu that will pop up. From the control panel, select RAM disk and press
return. Below the section about RAM disk size, you will see a section that
shows how much free ram you have, how much is in use, the current RAM disk
size, and finally how big you can get your RAM disk. You should be able to
get a good idea of how much RAM you have.
Adam Myrow
Marvin
: I've look over the FAQ and could not find a answer to tell how much
: RAM a IIgs has?
: The system will run the tour program and the Reader Rabbit program.
: I see from the FAQ that I can get a copy of the system 6 GS/OS from
: the Apple site but I don't know if I have enough RAM to make it work?
Just try to get a System 6 system disk and boot it. Most old machines
are 1.25 MB systems, some old systems have only 512 or 768 K and the
most machines of the people who are still active on comp.sys.apple2
have 4 or 8 MB. Eight MB is the maximum. GS/OS System 6 works fine on
a 1.25 MB system. You may need to 'shift-boot' the System for some
memory-eating applications. There is an option in the finder to display
system information, including your current memory. 1.25 MB is enough
for 95% of the current software, Hypercard GS and a few of the newer
programms need more. You will also need more RAM if you like to use
a lot of desk acessoires. A 4 MB card is nice, and not too expensive.
- Marvin -
Jim aka Simon Hall
Or boot into the Finder and choose from the Apple menu About this
Apple II gs!
jim aka simon
Nathan Mates
In article <53210s$a...@bertrand.ccs.carleton.ca>,
Jim aka Simon Hall <be...@freenet.carleton.ca> wrote:
>Or boot into the Finder and choose from the Apple menu About this
>Apple II gs!
Problem: the original person was asking if he had enough RAM to
be able to download and run System 6.x, including the Finder. In
other words, he didn't have such stuff available.
Remember the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The text
control panel is always available unless 1) an application has
locked out interrupts, 2) the jumper on the ROM 3 motherboard is
set. Thus it's the most reliable method of the lot.
Auri Rahimzadeh (Auri Man)
In article <5319hq$f...@sun.rhrk.uni-kl.de>, gue...@student.uni-kl.de
(Marvin) wrote:
> Just try to get a System 6 system disk and boot it. Most old machines
> are 1.25 MB systems, some old systems have only 512 or 768 K and the
> most machines of the people who are still active on comp.sys.apple2
> have 4 or 8 MB. Eight MB is the maximum.
If you want to run GS/OS very efficiently, as with any system, you should
have more memory. 4 meg is great, 8 meg isn't necessary. A hard drive is
almost a must, since who wants to swap floppies all day? :)
> GS/OS System 6 works fine on
> a 1.25 MB system. You may need to 'shift-boot' the System for some
> memory-eating applications. There is an option in the finder to display
> system information, including your current memory. 1.25 MB is enough
When you get System 6 (make sure you get 6.01, not just 6), select "About
this Apple IIgs..." from the Apple menu (just clarifying where to get this
info).
> for 95% of the current software, Hypercard GS and a few of the newer
> programms need more. You will also need more RAM if you like to use
> a lot of desk acessoires. A 4 MB card is nice, and not too expensive.
>
> - Marvin -
Hope that helps :)
-Auri
--
"I can only believe, yet not know the truth, as truth, in concept, is only a belief held by many." -Me.
David Empson
kevin kuk <k...@polaris.fnal.gov> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've look over the FAQ and could not find a answer to tell how much
> RAM a IIgs has?
The easiest way is to call up the Control Panel, go to the RAM Disk
screen, and look at the "Largest Selectable" line. Add 256K to this
figure, and you have the total amount of RAM installed in your IIgs,
including the motherboard "fast" RAM, motherboard "slow" RAM, and the
memory expansion card.
In a ROM 1 IIgs, this figure is equal to the amount of RAM on the memory
expansion card. (The ROM 3 has more than 256K of RAM on the
motherboard, so the calculation is a little more complicated.)
In case you don't know how to get into the Control Panel, there are two
methods:
1. If the computer is currently switched on, then press
Control-Apple-Escape. This takes you to the Desk Acessory menu, and
Control Panel is the first item in the menu.
2. If the computer is currently switched off, then turn it on while
holding down the Option key. This will give you a menu with four items,
number 1 of which takes you into the Control Panel. (You can also get
to this screen while the computer is on by pressing
Control-Option-Reset, but this forces you to reboot the computer.)
> Inventory of the system:
> Apple II gs ROM version 01
> color monitor
> 3 1/2 disk drive
> 5 1/4 disk drive
> Apple IIgs Memory Expansion with 32 memory chips on it (I opened the cover
> and looked)
I can tell you now that you have 1.25 MB of RAM in total (1280 KB),
assuming your memory card is correctly configured. That is sufficient
to run System 6.0 or 6.0.1 with a minimum of add-on options, but you
will find it difficult to do much with only a single 3.5" drive.
You should consider adding a hard drive to the computer if you want to
be able to make full use of System 6. A second 3.5" drive would help
somewhat, but it will still be limited.
If you want to be able to use more features of the system software (e.g.
the ability to copy files to and from Macintosh 3.5" disks) you will
need more memory. A 4MB memory expansion card for the IIgs shouldn't
cost more than US$120 (plus shipping costs).
--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz
Snail Mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand
Tom Zuchowski
My own experience with 6.01 is that, while it runs OK in 1.25MB, in
practice you are pretty limited in what you can do. If I remember
correctly, I only had something like 330K of free RAM. Many nifty GSOS
apps require 2MB or better.
I fully agree with you that 4MB is the "sweet spot" in GS RAM capacities.
Big enough to run everything that's Out There.
TomZ
Mitchell Spector
In article gue...@student.uni-kl.de (Marvin) writes...
>
>Just try to get a System 6 system disk and boot it. Most old machines
>are 1.25 MB systems, some old systems have only 512 or 768 K and the
That method isn't fool-proof. I've been able to launch the stock
'System Disk' (System 6.0.1) on a 768K Apple IIgs; even the Finder
desktop and mouse-pointer appear. Obviously it cannot launch any
software like this and I doubt it would take much to crash the Finder,
so 1.125MB _is_ the minimum (you'd no more want to use less RAM than
you would want to fly a plane with less fuel to reach your destination;
in both cases, sooner or later you'll crash! ;-)
To check your memory, either examine the RAM Disk's 'Largest
Selectable' size in the Control Panel, or pop the lid and look
at the card in the Memory Expansion socket (assuming your familar
reading chip part numbers and calculating that).
>most machines of the people who are still active on comp.sys.apple2
>have 4 or 8 MB.
I'd definitely recommend at least 4MB these days, considering how
inexpensive memory is. I have a Sequential Systems RAM-GS board in
both my GSes, the first cost me US$110 two years ago and the second
only US$25 just last year (although the latter was a bit unusual :-)
The current cost for a new board is US$89 and roughly half that
or less second-hand. It makes little sense to fuss with the old
1MB boards Apple original sold or shipped with GSes.
Mitchell Spector
sp...@vax2.concordia.ca