Don't laugh - simple ][e questions

From: Eric Fischer <eric_at_fudge.uchicago.edu>
Date: Thu May 29 09:27:54 1997

Nick Challoner said,

> I just picked up an Apple ][e complete with DuoDisk box and orange
> monitor. ...
> Opening up the case reveals that it has a number of cards plugged in
> including a memory expansion card - does anyone know what size RAM
> this gives me? how can i check (forgive me for i have not RTFM yet!).

If it's the standard Apple-issued card for the Aux slot, there are two
varieties: a 2k board that adds only enough memory to make 80-column
video work and a (more common) 64k board, which gives your Apple a total
of 128k. You should be able to tell which of these you have by looking
at the chips on it -- the 64k model will have eight 4164 chips or two
of whatever the later 256kbit chip's model number was (41256?). Other
manufacturers offered Aux-slot boards with more than 64k. If the
memory expansion card is not an Aux-slot one, but fits in one of the
standard seven slots instead, these were normally populated with 256k
but could be expanded up to 1mb.

> It seems to work fine, so my big question is can i use any old 5 1/4"
> disks in it? is it capable of formatting any old 5 1/4" disks? I ask
> for two reasons: 1) so i can make back-up copies of the DOS 3.3 disks
> and 2) so i can save stuff.

The Apple format was single sided, single density, so almost any disk
should work. The DOS 3.3 system master disk should have a program called
COPYA which will make backup copies of disks.

eric
Received on Thu May 29 1997 - 09:27:54 BST

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