PC-8201A price check, isle 6

[chuckcmagee]

I can stand the $35 for the Ultimate rom for the 8201 but is $29 per 8K ram chip reasonable?

I found out what everyone else finds out. An 8201 with just 16K and no TS-DOS is close to useless. So, thinking of adding a OP/SYS rom chip and some extra memory. I would like to add at least 6 8K chips so I would have 2 banks of 32K available. But at 29 a chip, that's a ton of money for a little toy.

Comments/other sources?

[Terry Yager]

Yah, RAM is extremely expensive for them, and completely proprietary. I think I have seen details for rolling your own somewhere on daNet, but I don't recall exactly where.

--T

[chuckcmagee]

web8201 website has some diagrams but too much hassle for me right now. Guess it's +16K instead of +48K then. One bank of 32K would make it useable anyway. Right now I have 12K left when I boot it up. Just doesn't cut it.

[Sharkonwheels]

Am I to assume you received the eBay $30 unit?
What's the condition?
Any accessories?
Got pix yet?

Yeah - I'm rushin' ya :grin:

I thought i saw them cheaper - gimme a day or 2 to hunt it down in my linx


Tony

[Sharkonwheels]

Hey, now that I think about it, there's been a couple broken M100's on eBay the past week - super cheap. RAM is supposedly the same, according to club100.
Isn't that a better route? You might be able to get 1-2-3 chips for like $20-30, no?


Also - I have the .HEX file for TS-DOS NEC ROM.

Need an EPROM? :grin:

I say that, because I remember reading that on the 8201a's, you do NOT need an EPROM carrier, and also read that it's standard EPROM's, not remapped
ones like the M100/M102

Tony

[chuckcmagee]

I see Great Minds Think Alike -- As I was driving home from the grocery store (50 miles away) - I was thinking of making the store that sold me the one an offer on like, 3 more or so. Only problem with that idea is it is very likely they are soldered in. I know, get out my iron and solder sucker. Oh ya, aligator clips to keep from burning the chip up in the mean time. I should have stolen some of those suture deals from the drug addicts, I'm sure they make excellent heat sinks for desoldering.

Okay on waiting a few days. I'm sorry I purchased it at this point. I like esoteric but the 8201 is TOO ESOTERIC for me, like you have to load the .com files into himem to run them. That is too weird!

I'm still waiting for my digital camera to arrive from Amazon, my first one. Not much into taking pictures myself.

[Sharkonwheels]

I don't think the M100's are soldered in. Just zoom in on the pics (most I've seen on fleabay are turned on, and you can see the memory count. Anything over 12xxx bytes free is a GOOD thing.


Lemme know if you need EPROM's for the NEC.
I have the following .HEX files I found:

TS-DOS
Ultimate ROM II
ROM2/Cleuseau
Sardine

I'm working on a PX-8 ROM that contains alot more stuff - waiting for the EPROMmer with the RS232 port to arrive (hope it works!)

Wasted space. In the PX-8 Basic ROM, all there is is Basic. Waste.
I've been shuffling around, and can squeeze most of CP/M, WS, PC into the (2) eprom's. Problem is goig to be carriers. I need to find EPROM carriers, instead of just sliding the EPROM in tensioned against teh socket.

Lemme know on the NEC EPROMs - I'll do all 4 for $40 shipped I paid about $6-7/chip. These are brand-Spanking-New AMD AM27C512's, in the tube, not recycled parts.

Can't beat THAT deal on all 4! PDF Manuals area available at club100, and other places.

Tony

[chuckcmagee]

As they say around here - PM sent.

[Sharkonwheels]

OK. FOund a LITTLE more info...

If you look here:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/kyocera/h/insideb.jpg

zoom the pic, and you see the RAM LOOKS liek it's socketed. Even the option ram is labelled as option RAM, and there appear to be sockets. Hopefully, it's not solder-holes :eek:

This one has 24K RAM (would give you 40K?):
http://cgi.ebay.com/TRS-80-Model-100-portable-computer_W0QQitemZ170038032153QQihZ007QQcategoryZ7 4947QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Dead, RAM is probably good though:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Tandy-Radio-Shack-TRS-80-Model-100_W0QQitemZ280037041902QQihZ018QQcategoryZ74947Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here's a model 102 with 32K - you'd be at 48k, at less than 4 x $29 !!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/TRS80-TANDY-Model-102-Working-Condition_W0QQitemZ320037691695QQihZ011QQcategoryZ 74947QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Tony

[Sharkonwheels]

PM Back at ya...smell 'em burnin' ?


T

[chuckcmagee]

Too funny. I need to look around and see if there is tons more software for the 100. Maybe I'll go the other way, and chop up the 8201 to enhance a 100 :rolleyes: 8201 is only one that has that BANK deal tho. I really like the BANK deal. Wonder if you can copy files from one bank to the other, I kinda doubt it from what I know about electronics. I saw a solid white model 100 that looked really sharp! Much sexier than the "manilla" that the 8201 is.

[Sharkonwheels]

EPROMs lined up like soldiers, ready to go....

The NEC holds double the RAM, though.
Do what all us computer nuts do - GET BOTH! :D

I wonder if the M100 OS chip works in the NEC? That would fix the compatibility issue...I dunno about the 64K vs 32K deal, though...
I always thought (and still think) the NEC is the better looking one.
This is, of course, not counting the Olivetti M10 - it's hands-down
the sexiest of the Kyocera quadruplets (quintuplets?) with that PX-8-style
flip-up screen!!!


Tony

[Terry Yager]

The early M-100s came with one soldered-in RAM module, and three sockets. Later, the standard M-100 was a 24K model, which has three soldered and one socket. I don't recall seeing any 8201a that have the RAM soldered in. If you have a 16K 8201, it might be cheaper to purchace another one from the same seller and strip the RAM. 24-32K is just about the minimum for usefulness on them. (That's why I expressed concern about the memory earlier in another thread).

--T

[chuckcmagee]

Hmmm, getting out my needle nose pliers and a rubber band for heat sink purposes then. I have medium low bids on bunch of model 100s on ebay now. Already scored one model 100 with a TPDD (1 or 2 unknown now). No DATA CABLE WITH THAT THO BOOOO HOOOO. I already read the "skinny" on making my own, barf. Going to try real hard to find one first, don't want to fool around with embedded circuits inside DB25.

P.S. I made an offer to the 8201 seller too, nothing back so far.

[Terry Yager]

EPROMs lined up like soldiers, ready to go....

The NEC holds double the RAM, though.
Do what all us computer nuts do - GET BOTH! :D

I wonder if the M100 OS chip works in the NEC? That would fix the compatibility issue...I dunno about the 64K vs 32K deal, though...
I always thought (and still think) the NEC is the better looking one.
This is, of course, not counting the Olivetti M10 - it's hands-down
the sexiest of the Kyocera quadruplets (quintuplets?) with that PX-8-style
flip-up screen!!!


Tony

Three times, actually. Up to 96K, in three banks of 32.

M-100 & NES OS are not interchangeable, And yes, files can be written from one bank to another.

I've always hated the M-100's layout of the arrow keys, a problem they 'fixed' on the 102, but the NEC's are still the best of the bunch. The NEC Starlet CP/M portable uses the same arrow keys.

--T

[Sharkonwheels]

NEC: 64K onboard (2 x 32K banks), and the third bank in the cartridge port with the PC-8206 32K cartridge.

But, for all practical purposes, 64K - will probably be difficult to find the RAM cartridge now...


Chuck: Check with Club100, and see if they have cables.
Also, Terry - hook us up with that Tandy support link again?
Mebbe National Parts has the cable.



Tony

[Sharkonwheels]

Chuck sent me a PM correcting me - he says he can see bank 3, so, heck, in cases like this, it's *GREAT* to be wrong, because that means I wouldn;t have to hunt down a 32K cartridge!

Everywhere I go, though, all the web sites say the same thing: 2 banks of 32K. I wonder if the 3rd bank is even functional on the mainboard?


Tony

[Sharkonwheels]

Chuck:

As they say.....a picture is worth....


http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/kyocera/h/8201b.jpg



Tony

[Terry Yager]

http://support.radioshack.com/productinfo/

--T

[chuckcmagee]

Tony - are you a Virgo or maybe a Cancer? huh? huh?

I sit corrected. I had thought the ram sockets went 7 8 9 10 11 on the bottom, but NOOOOOOOO, they go 7 6 5 4 3 2

Proving what??? Proving that Mr Tony is correct (a Winner).

Survey Says : (ding) 64K max inside.

[Terry Yager]

Yes, that is correct. 64 internal & 32 on the cart (bank 3). My Starlet is kinda screwy that way too. The only way to access the full 64K is to use a floppy drive or the 32K RAMdisk thinggy, which makes it somewhat less appealing than it could be.

--T

[Terry Yager]

Chuck:

As they say.....a picture is worth....


http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/kyocera/h/8201b.jpg



Tony

Tnx for the pic, to refresh my memory. It's kinda weird tho, cauze the RAMs in the pic are not the original, but some kinda home-brewn thinggy, each using a single 8K (static?) RAM chip, with the pins remapped on the little PC board. I was thinking it had 8 RAM sockets, but from the pic, it's clear that there are six open. Amazing how much sh!t I'm capable of forgetting/misremembering. Anyways, as I recall, the first RAMs are inside, not visible in the pic, for a base of 16K, leaving six more sockets, and two ROM sockets (that's why I was thinking 8 sockets). The one in the pic has both ROMs populated, and RAM in #2 & 3, each being 8K, to bring it up to 32K. To add another 32, all four of the open sockets would be pop-ed with 8K modules.

--T

[Sharkonwheels]

:confused:

I added the picture thinking it proved me WRONG!

Isn't that 3 banks I'm looking at, that you mentioned?
Isn't that the 32k+32K+32K ?


Tony

[Sharkonwheels]

Ahhhhh....OK. Now I get it. There's 2 x 8K hidden.
That would make 8 x 8k = 64K

Man - what was I thinking? 6 x 8K = 48K.

Oh well...I guess less blood gets to my aging brain as time passes...


T

[chuckcmagee]

Web8201 talks about jury rigging cheaper chips for use in the NEC. I would bet that ram2 and ram3 are 2 examples of that way of doing ram. Proving why I would prefer to steal real chips out of other machines ;)

Hmmm, nope, Chuck is wrong. Looks like real pcbs under those chips, like manufactured. I don't see any hand wired runs.

[chuckcmagee]

I looked again at the specs on the TPDD data cable. I didn't look at it long enough the first time. 3 pull-up resistors, 3 diodes, not all that tough. Hardest part will be chopping a 10 pin DIP into a 8 pin DIP for that stupid 8 pin DIP connection on the drive.

[Sharkonwheels]

Heh - more power to ya - make liek 5 at once, so mebbe I can buy one from ya to keep for when I find a TPDD or TPDD2 :D

Tony