BIGRAM.REV -- Review of New PG Design RAM and Menu Utility ---------------------------------------------------------- Phil Wheeler -- 71266,125 Source: PG Design Electronics, Inc. 37560 31 Mile Road Richmond, Mich 48062 (313) 727-2744 1. Hardware The PG Designs RAM modules for the Model 100 are now available in 128K and 224K sizes (I have the latter, and have not seen the former). I believe the 32K and 64K units are still available. Physically all look the same and install identically. This is some of the best looking electronics I've seen. Solid! The (lithium) battery is firmly mounted in the board, and easy to replace yourself, without removing the RAM board. The 224K unit (256K total memory when installed) gives you 8 banks of memory. For my use of the Model 100, this is (next to a TDD) the most useful accessory I own. I'm able to keep M/L programs such as X-TEL and TMPC resident in high RAM in dedicated banks, ready for instant access. And I've literally crammed Bank 8 with utilities (CHANGE, QIKCHK, RESEQ, COLD,etc.), and back-ups of ADRS.DO and such. Very handy if this is your portable machine. But the value of 8 banks (or even 5 with the 128K unit) is a very personal thing, related to your "pattern of use". The 224K unit is a bit "bulgy", with the original cover installed -- due to thicker chips being used in the production unit than originally planned. However, PG Designs provides a replacement cover with a "hog out" for the thick portion of the RAM. Works fine. The RAM can be used with the Chipmunk, if you have an adapter cable from PG Designs (they have a "better" connector to the system bus). But the 'Munk header board will hang out the back on a short cable, not my idea of a good solution. With lots of RAM, you will use the disk drive less. I find the TDD quite adequate (especially with one of the commercial OS packages); my Chipmunk is attached to my wife's Model 100 I've been asked about battery drain. Peter Van Heusden, President of PG Designs, tells me that the new banks draw no more current than the older 64K unit. Given the advances in chip technology, this makes sense. I've found none of the physical compatibility problems noted with other products. In particular, the tabs on the Polar ROM carriers (e.g. Ultimate ROM II) do not interfere with the chips on the PGD board. 2. Software The latest version of the software (received mine on Friday 10/3/86) has two programs on a cassette: MENU.BA and INVISO.BA. When installed, MENU.BA requires the bottom 1600 bytes of RAM. This new software appears compatible with all the PGD RAM modules, except the first 32K unit (batteries in the ROM socket). a. Installation/Removal The new software is very easy to install. Just CLOAD"MENU" from the cassette, and then hit F4 to run. It will prompt you for the number of the bank you are in (1 to 8) and the total number of banks (2 to 8). After the second input, it runs -- installing itself as the lowest program in RAM, and making itself invisible. At the main menu type '0menu' followed by tapping ENTER to start the program. Note that you can save MENU.BA to disk by doing SAVE"MENU" after loading from cassette and then saving to disk (before running MENU.BA). There are no removal instructions with the new software (manual needs updated to this version!). This is my approach: o Run INVISO.BA to make MENU.BA show up on the menu; o Hit F8 (with the cursor over a non-ROM menu entry -- see below) to turn off the MENU program; o Go to Basic and Kill MENU.BA. The old software required SHIFT-F8 to remove; with this version F8 and SHIFT-F8 seem to have the same effect. The above procedure appears to do the job. b. Operation With the cursor over any ROM program (BASIC, TEXT, etc.), the function keys show Bnk1, Bnk2,..., BnkN -- where N is the number of banks installed. Pressing Key n takes you directly to Bank n. With the cursor over a non-RAM file, the keys show: Key1 Key2 Key3 Key4 Key5 Key6 Key7 Key7 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Bnk1 Copy Kill Name Lfon Exit The first takes you right to bank 1, from wherever you are. Key 4 copies the file under the cursor to the bank you specify (use a number key, not a function key, to specify the bank!). Key 5 gives a prompted kill of the file under the cursor. Key 6 lets you rename the file under the cursor; unlike the previous software, names will always be upper case, and extensions will be preserved. Key 7 toggles the added printer linefeed function (becomes Lfof). Key 8 turns off the menu utility (required for some programs, DSKMGR being one example); restart MENU.BA by typing '0MENU' at the main M100 menu. c. Performance So far as I can tell, all of the bugs and design problems of the old MENU.BA have been dealt with. I have been unable to get a cold-start by using any of the functions (e.g., copy to Bank 7 from Bank 1 after turning off in Bank 7 with a file open -- a certain cold-start with the old software!; with the new software you get a very safe BEEP). Copy between banks is FAST (faster than Chipmunk load/save, I would judge). Renames require no extension, a handy and tardy feature. Nor can you now rename a CO file as a DO file -- another quick road to losing all your files with the old software! The only "problem" I've had is ergonomic: If the cursor is over a ROM file and you press a key (say F8) without looking at the labels, you suddenly find yourself in another bank! This is a bit disconcerting, but should matter only to users familiar with the old software. Old habits will disappear in time. d. Compatibility MENU.BA is compatible with the latest version of Supera; neither of these programs is (currently) compatible with Disk Power 100, since DP-100 wants the same low-RAM residence. I've also used POWR-DOS with the utility, and seen no interaction. Ultimate ROM II has a minor interaction, in that it turns off MENU. Just type '0menu' when you leave UR-2. 3. Conclusion I find both the hardware and the software to be excellent. Only the price ($575) prevents me from making an unequivocal "buy" recommendation for the 224K unit. It was and is worth it to me; you must make your own decision. Fortunately, the smaller units are more affordable (64K: $300; 128K: $425), and can be upgraded to the full 224K at a later date. Phil Wheeler [71266,125] Torrance, CA 5 October 1986