NODE.THD --- Copyright 1987 by Phil Wheeler An original compilation of Compuserve Model 100 Forum messages for use by Forum members only. Third-party RAM expansion modules have allowed the Kyocera laptop computers to perform well byond the level originally conceived by their developers. One such device has been marketed by Node for the Tandy 200, and allows a 256K contiguous RAM disk. This file captures only the more recent of the many messages on this unique expansion hardware. Message range: 141978 to 143834 Dates: 2/28/87 to 3/25/87 Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: Bert Cohler 70065,204 Bert -- here's a undocumented mind-blower I just discovered about the NODE Datapac: You can save files from within the Datapac directly to disk. I accidentally forgot to kick a file from the Datapac to the main memory ram where I had Disk Power installed, and instead, I was in the text-editing mode of Datapac. I did a "save to:0:file" -- and low and behold, the file was saved to disk!!! Apparently, the Node works in dead-on parallel with the rambank underneath. That VASTLY increases the flexibility of the Node. Combined with the discovery I made that Disk Power accesses the full 200K of the TDD2, it means one can dump the better part of a whole ramdisk onto a single TDD2 disk. Fm: Bert Cohler 70065,204 To: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 It's clear that I'll have to give up TS-DOS and shift to Disk Power. Gossip abounds that there is a revised ROM for Node which will have the Disk-Power OS within it. That should be mind blowing. I move programs back and forth all the time; alas, I can't save with TS-DOS since I have to take the ROM out when I'm working with Node's ROM. I hope Thom enojoys his Node as much as we do. Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: Bert Cohler 70065,204 In followup to the first message, I've just discovered that, if you rename a file as you save it to disk from within the Node, it will enter a new file of the same new name and number of bytes into the ramdisk! I keep on thinking that this is going to crash in flames somehow...and it may yet. But the save are showing no signs of corrupting the 80byte RAMDSK file on the main menu... Somehow, there's a way to access Telcom from within RAMDSK. Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 Have you tried direct jumps via a CALL? For the Tandy 200, jumping to the TELCOM entry point is CALL 24573. Jumping directly into TERM is CALL 25454. Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: Bert Cohler 70065,204 No doubt about it...with the features that Disk Power has, small size, no headroom needed, direct saves from RAMDSK to disk, telcom extensions, basic extension (single-key) from telcom...plus TDD2...plus RAMDISK... and the MS-DOS machines are getting FARTHER AND FARTHER away! Fm: Peter Amschel 70415,114 To: all Now that some of the new ness of the finally released RAM upgrade for the T200 has worn off, how do the users feel about it? Also, will it run at the same time as my travelling software hardware? Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: Peter Amschel 70415,114 No...but if all you're really using in the TS ROM is the word processing program, see Jim Irwin on this SIG for the parent program, Lapword...and if you want an Idea!-equal outliner, see Larry Groebe for an M200 version of Think. With 256K of RAM, one really doesn't need ROMS.. Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: Thom Hartmann 70007,1176 Thanks for the wishes. Here's an "undocumented" way to get the stuff from RAMDISK to TDD --- FAST! Just access RAMDISK from any M200 rambank in which you have either Power Disk or Disk Power installed...enter the RAMDISK file you want to save to disk...and do an F3 save with a 0: prefix...and you can save the file directly from the RAMDISK to the TDD! Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the little bugger...I only wish UltraSoft would come up with a miniprogram that would allow the file transfers via modem -- sans the TDD DOS -- so I could put the TDD DOS in one bank and run the Node from the other 2. I am still working on being able to run Lapword from basic online, so I could upload formatted files through the RS232. The problem is, when I attempt to runm"lapword" and push F5 for "print", the RTS/CTS lines seem to jam, and nothing goes out over the modem. Strange...but then more I work with this M200/Node/DiskPower combo, the farther away an MS-DOS system looks to me... Fm: PHILIP PERKINS 76510,1020 To: 70136,1007 MEL, CAN YOU ADVISE WHETHER OR NOT ONE CAN DOWNLOAD TO THE RAMDISK CONTINUALLY, OR DO YOU HAVE TO KEEP CREATING DIFFERENT NAMRD FILES OF ABOUT 16K EACH. THE PROBLEM I HAVE ENCOUNTERED IS THAT EACH TIME THE RAM GETS FULL, YOU PRESS CONTROL-S, AND MISS A LITTLE INFORMATION, AND YOU ALSO LOSE A LITTLE INFORMATION WHEN CREATING A NEW DOWNLOAD FILE. ANY ADVICE OR OTHER SUGGESTIONS MOST WELCOME PHIL PERKINS EDIT Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: PHILIP PERKINS 76510,1020 You have to keep downloading to files of about 16K -- ands if you don't do a control s before you run out of space, you will drop copy. So you are best to 1. Hit control S 2. Hit F2 to stop download 3. Run "Save.BA" from basic 4. Kill your file (.DO) from basic 5. Open new file with F2 That all can be done in about 10 seconds, with practice!