#: 16646 S15/Hot Topics
    10-Oct-92  22:25:46
Sb: RAM for the KiX\30
Fm: Frank Hogg of FHL 70310,317
To: all

NEW PRODUCT FEELER

Mike and I were talking about the 8K battery backed RAM that is on the KiX\30.
Among other things we talked about is that this RAM can be used in conjunction
with the power fail circuit on the MB to store vital system information. We
rambled on about a variety of uses when we discussed using it as a mini RAM
disk. It would only be 32 sectors but if we did a simple variation of the 'ram'
driver it could be done. This conversation started running a bit wild when I
asked about doing a battery backed RAM board for the bus. Mike added that he
had been thinking of a EPROM board for the bus so we combined both ideas and
came up with the following:

     Full 32 bit, full speed card
     4 banks of 4 32K chips. (128K per bank, 512K total)
     Use Static RAM
     Use Battery backed Static RAM
     Use EPROM

The above options would be via jumper or DIP switch for each block.

     On board battery and a connector for off board battery.
     Max of 4 boards in the system. (2 Meg)

Each bank of 4 chips would have to be the same type. But each bank could be
different.The off board battery connector would allow larger capacity batteries
for extended use. Useful if the on board battery was too small.

For example:

     You could have one bank of EPROM (128K) for OSK
     Two banks of static RAM for runtime use. (256K)
     One bank of battery backed RAM for a RAM disk.
          (128K, 512 sectors.

Other combinations could be used. You could also have up to 4 boards in the
system. For speed freaks Static RAM is 10-20% faster than Dynamic RAM.

The projected cost would be $200 for a zero K board.


What do you think?

Frank Hogg  --  FHL