School me on RAM expansion

InfernalKeith · Post by **InfernalKeith** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:54 pm

OK, VIC is alive and well, Datasette (the old school model!) is working great... now on to the next great question. I have an 8K expansion cart. I've seen reference to 16K and 32K expansions. There's a 24K expansion module up on ebay right now.

Are 32K expansion modules hard to come by? I'm assuming I'll need one if I wanna play the new Realms of Quest game.

If anyone could break it down for me, or point me to where it's already been broken down, I'd appreciate it. I assume when you talk about writing a program for an "unexpanded" VIC you're referring to the actual 3.5K that's in the console, with no expansion at all?

Thanks, all!
Keith

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 11:44 pm

InfernalKeith wrote:Are 32K expansion modules hard to come by? I'm assuming I'll need one if I wanna play the new Realms of Quest game.

They're not that hard to find because one of your fellow Denial members, eslapion, designed and builds 32K RAM expanders. There's some info in a post I made last month which you can find here.

I assume when you talk about writing a program for an "unexpanded" VIC you're referring to the actual 3.5K that's in the console, with no expansion at all?

Right.

Vic20-Ian · Post by **Vic20-Ian** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:29 am

Final Expansion is what you need !

Diddl · Post by **Diddl** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:03 am

Maybe it would be better for you to buy a Megacart or a Final Expansion.

This modern carts can act as a software configurable RAM expansion and has many other features additionally.

saehn · Post by **saehn** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:54 am

The Mega-Cart is highly recommended and should meet all of your RAM expansion needs for the conceivable future. It's also available for sale now, although it's true that you'll be on be on a waiting list for a couple of months before you receive it. Still, it's worth it. I have one, and am very happy with it. It includes cart game images, disk game images, utilities, etc.

http://www.mega-cart.com/

Vic20-Ian · Post by **Vic20-Ian** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:20 am

I have both the Megacart and the FE3.

They are both very good.

I prefer FE3 as I can flash tape games and utilities of choice to the cartridge for very fast loading and eventually I will have all my Vic20 software on one SD card on the built in SD2IEC floppy disk replacement.

It is a very neat solution to have floppy support via SD card and a mega configurable rampack and configurable flashcart all in one device.

Other modes untested include use of 512kb expansion in 64kb pages!

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:32 am

Vic20-Ian wrote:I have both the Megacart and the FE3.

They are both very good.

Yes, my opinion is that the FE3 (that user needs to assemble for himself) is directed to "power" vic users while the Megacart is directed also to peoples that are new in the vic world, and just want to quikly play/test all cart games ever released for the Vic plus an easy to configure ram expansion and much more.

saehn wrote:The Mega-Cart is highly recommended and should meet all of your RAM expansion needs for the conceivable future. It's also available for sale now, although it's true that you'll be on be on a waiting list for a couple of months before you receive it. Still, it's worth it. I have one, and am very happy with it. It includes cart game images, disk game images, utilities, etc.

http://www.mega-cart.com/

From the Mega-Cart order page:
Units are currently in production, due order backlog there is about a 3 week lead time between order & shipping dates.

If you are lucky maybe a little bit less too

saehn · Post by **saehn** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:58 am

nbla000 wrote:From the Mega-Cart order page: Units are currently in production, due order backlog there is about a 3 week lead time between order & shipping dates.

If you are lucky maybe a little bit less too

Whoa, that's even better! Nice.

Mermaid · Post by **Mermaid** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:03 am

3 weeks? I ordered my Mega-Cart on the 29th of September...

...and it was shipped October 7th!

Much faster than I had expected :)

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:08 am

Mermaid wrote:3 weeks? I ordered my Mega-Cart on the 29th of September...

...and it was shipped October 7th!

Much faster than I had expected

You were very lucky

InfernalKeith · Post by **InfernalKeith** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:34 pm

It took me two years from my first (non-working) Vic 20 purchase until I finally got everything out of boxes at our new house, set it up, and got it working. What's a few more weeks?

Thanks for all the information, guys. I'm not much of a hardware builder, so I think the Mega-cart will def. be the way to go for me. Now if I can just resist the urge to start collecting all the original tapes and carts, like I try to do for the TI, I'll be fine -- oh, who am I kidding.

School me on RAM expansion

School me on RAM expansion

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