🚀 go-pugleaf

> 
> My question is for anyone out there with RamFactor
> experience.  Is my "dream" achievable with Appleworks and
> the non-copy protected Dollars & Sense?  Any input about
> this would be appreciated.

Yes, the battery backed-up Ramfactor works well with Prodos (or Dos 3.3,
CP/M and Pascal for that matter).  The one I have worked fine until I
put in an accelerator board from Titan technologies.  The combination
seemed to work well most of the time but the ramcard would get trashed
about every other day.  I presume that the Applied Engineering Transwarp
is more compatible with the Ramfactor.  The problem with this setup is
that it won't eliminate disk access.  The RAM is still volatile and
an extended power failure could destroy all of your data.  On top of th      
that, the 1meg on the Ramfactor is not enough room to store both pdata    
and programs.  The RAM chips used on the card are of a special type,
so upgrading is expensive.  For all around data security, ease of use,
freedom from disk swapping etc. I would get a hard disk, especially
since you already have a Ramworks card for Appleworks.  Once you add
up the cost of the Ramfactor, memory chips and battery back-up, the
cost will be about the same.
> 
> By the way.  With the expanded RAM from the RamWorks, a
> 3.5MHz clock from the Transwarp, and a battery backed up
> RamDrive, it seems the ][e really becomes super-useful.
> How close to the ][gs would an '816 processor upgrade to the
> RamWorks card and an added sound board make the above ][e
> configuration?

Not very close at all.  The power of the //gs is in the programs built
into the machine to use those things and the fact that developers know
that all //gs machines will have those things, so great application 
programs will be written for the machine that won't run on your //e
no matter how much you soup it up.  One suggestion: Upgrade your //e
to a //gs.  It will cost about $500 (retail) and will still work with
either the Sider or Ramfactor if you get them.  It also has a built in
RAM disk.  Insist that your dealer return your //e motherboard (after
all you paid for it) or remove it yourself and take your case only in f     
for the upgrade.  Then go out and get a $100 clone //e case and put your
motherboard, Ramworks and Transwarp in this case and you'll have 2 c      
2 computers.  You may need to get a power supply also, the connector
for the //gs is different from the Apple //e so I presume the new
power supply is included with the upgrade, but maybe not.   

To get the near instant response of the battery backed-up Ramfactor
you might try just turning your monitor off (and hard drive if you use
one) and leave your Apple with Ramworks ramdisk on 24 hours a day. This
wont hurt the machine (in fact it is probably better for it since you 
avoid the voltage surges that occur on power up) and will use less 
electricity than a 60 watt light bulb.  Most of us turn our machines
off like a TV set but it isn't necessary.  Turning the monitor off is 
a good idea though because it may etch the screen to leave it on all the t         
the time and it uses more power than the computer and may overheat and become 
become a fire hazard.  Since the computer itself has no moving parts
and uses only 5 volts it is perfectly safe.  I would shut off a hard disk         
disk too, because it has moving parts.

With a relatively small investment you should be able to get both a //e
and a //gs, both running 3 times faster than a stock //e, with lots of
memory.  Then you can always run your old reliable //e programs and 
have the ability to run the new things that are sure to come out for the     
the //gs.

Rick Fincher
ranger@ecsvax
> 
> Terry Penrod
> AT&T Network Systems
> Holmdel, NJ