Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!xanth!src From: src@cs.odu.edu (Scott R. Chilcote) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Free RAM from Atari Keywords: Santa Claus := Tramiel Message-ID: <10085@xanth.cs.odu.edu> Date: 3 Oct 89 17:37:58 GMT Reply-To: src@cs.odu.edu Distribution: usa Organization: Old Dominion University, Norfolk Va. Lines: 55 Sorry if this message is a repeat. I was told that nobody saw it go by at a couple of local nodes... ============================================================================= I opened my Mega 2 last week to install TOS 1.4, and discovered a TRULY AMAZING thing. The machine had a complete set of RAM chips, a total of FOUR MEGABYTES worth, installed!! I was freaked out! The machine was shipped in a Mega 2 box, and all of my system utilities agreed that it had two megabytes of RAM operating. And yet, there, on the motherboard, I had thirty-two 1-meg RAM chips, FOUR MEGs worth! (One strange thing about the computer, though -- it was supplied with a Mega ST4 sticker on the front. The bottom of the machine, however, had a Mega 2 sticker. The salesman told me that it was a mistake that had happened on a couple of Mega 2s they'd been shipped.) Somehow, Atari had disabled the second bank of RAM and sold this unit as a two-megger! The question was, how? I looked at the board and the schematics, and found no handy jumpers, no labels of any kind. It was even speculated that perhaps bad chips had been used. Not so! I took the board out completely and went over the bottom side. After intensive searching, I found that the RAS2* line -- the Row Address Strobe for the upper banks of memory, had not been soldered. I soldered. So, for the cost of soldering one pin of one IC to the motherboard, I have a FOUR MEGABYTE computer!! THANKS, ATARI!Next, I'm going to be peering around in there for a 25 MHz 68030 chip with some unsoldered leads! ----------------------------------------- Usenet: src@xanth.UUCP DDN: src%xanth.cs.odu.edu ----------------------------------------- -- ___________________________________________________________________________ |.--------------------------------..---------------------------------------.| || Usenet: src@xanth.UUCP || || || Arpa: src@xanth.cs.odu.edu || Q: Why did the chicken cross the || || Earth: Scott R. Chilcote || Moebus Strip? || || || || || ||| "Sure, Jack, we || A: To get to... er... umm... || || ||| trust you. But will || || || / | \ will you respect us || -----=====#####=====----- || || / | \ in the morning?" || || |:________________________________:'---------------------------------------'| '---------------------------------------------------------------------------'