PE> converter for existing SIMMs = $60

RS> Thats a rather expensive converter. I meant to say that
RS> on the phone and got side tracked by the other detail.

I think I'll take a punt on the selling of the RAM, and skip the
converter.

RS> Yeah, bit tricky. It can be done with OS/2 tho with some care.
RS> Install the new 2GB drive in your CURRENT machine, and use OS2s
RS> capacity to bypass the 1024 cylinder limit with no LBA in your
RS> current motherboard. Move all the data over to the 2GB drive.

Translated, does this mean "take out one of my IDE drives, then
replace it with the new IDE, and then use fdisk and format as
per usual under OS/2"?  I'm planning on making a 1.5 gig HPFS, 
and a .5 gig HPFS, the latter to be clobbered later on by Linux.

RS> You cant DOS boot and have full access to that 2GB drive, but you dont
RS> need to do that in the current machine. Move it over to the new machine,
RS> but be careful, some drives have their data become invisible if you
RS> enable LBA support in the new system. Likely it will be fine tho.

"enable LBA support"?  Is this something you do in the BIOS?  So
you mean I can NOT "enable LBA support", and I will still be able
to read the disk using OS/2?  I am not going to have any FAT
partitions on the drive, so maybe that's not a problem.  But maybe
I would one day like to scrub the Linux and create a FAT or 
something, so it would be nice to have it working.

How about I create a 1.5 meg HPFS and a .5 meg FAT, and copy a little
bit of data onto the FAT, and if in the new system, I can't read the
FAT, then I need to do something special.

What is that something special?  Partition on the new system with
LBA active or what?  Can I use OS/2 to do the partitioning?

PE> I am planning to stage it, by copying all the data from
PE> the small (500 + 420) IDEs to the big (2 gig) IDE in the
PE> new machine, then copying the SCSI data onto the small
PE> IDEs in the old machine, then back onto the new machine.

RS> There isnt any point in including the small IDEs in that shuffle tho
RS> unless there is some quirk caused by how you want the drives organised.

I just thought that I couldn't read my new 2 gig IDE on my old system.

PE> I'm a bit worried about the RAM too, I've looked through
PE> AUST_TRADING, doesn't seem to be a large number of buyers.

RS> Its almost entirely sellers, few advertise wanteds. I'll
RS> have a look at the prices in the latest Computer Market
RS> mag too, if they aint in here, it means I have forgotten.

You've forgotten!

BTW, I have one other thing, which is 4M * 1 80ns RAM, which is
coming back from my BIL, because my BIL has independently upgraded
his machine!

RS> Thats right, but if you calculate the cost of the new 72pin
RS> SIMM you only need to get $25/MB to come out even, so ask
RS> for that and dont worry about whether you might have got $30.

I'm worried about not getting $25/meg, not failure to get $30, at
least with the 4 meg.

RS> Thats what I meant on the phone tho, SIMMs are pretty easy to
RS> post. You should end up with atleast one antistatic bag, even
RS> if you dont have one right now. Buy a padded bag at the post
RS> office, they sell them, and you are laughing. Insure it if you
RS> want, thats about $10. Or it was on $800 item I just posted anyway.

Do you have to sticky-tape them to the antistatic bag to prevent
them from banging into each other?  Maybe I can just fold it 4 times
and then stickytape it.

Thanks + bye.  Paul.
@EOT:

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