The APRICORN RAMPro IIGS

A hardware review by Kent Hayden, Beagle Buddy for the NWAP


The Apricorn RAMPro IIGS is a memory expansion card that adds
1, 2 or 4 megabytes of memory to the 256k or RAM built into
the Apple IIgs.  It uses the one megabyte memory chips in
banks of 8 per megabyte of memory.  The amount of memory
actually added depends on how many banks of chips you install
on the card.

The RAMPro IIGS has been available only recently, and since it
has been introduced it has been catching on quite rapidly. 
Originally, it was introduced to compete with the more widely
known memory expansion boards, to sell at a lower price. 
Often, what sells for less can also be counted on to perform
less ably than the more expensive products, but this is not so
for the Apricorn RAMPro IIGS!  This little card does all the
things the more expensive boards do, just as well, and it is
decidedly less expensive!

If you own an Apple IIgs, you already know that you need at
least a megabyte of memory expansion to run most GS specific
software.  In fact, you probably already own a memory
expansion board such as the one furnished by the computer
manufacturer.  This gives you 1 1/4 megabytes of total memory
(only 1 1/8 mb if you own the new ROM 3 GS), enough to run
most software.  Of course, it does get a bit "snug" if you try
running AppleWorks GS on a machine with only 1 1/4 or 1 1/8 mb
of memory, but most software will run OK within those limits.

Why then would you want more memory?  Well, if you use the new
System 5.02, you will find that the System uses an awful lot
of memory!  I found, for instance, that under System 5.02 with
only one mb of memory expansion I could not do a disk copy of
an 800k floppy disk in one pass any more!  And what finally
broke the straw for me was when I found that I could not use
the Backup utility on my Prosel 16 because I kept getting the
message "Insufficient memory" when I tried! More memory seemed
the only solution if I wanted to continue to use the software
I had chosen.

The RAMPro IIGS installs in the same slot in your IIgs as the
Apple Memory Expansion card.  The card is a little bit smaller
in size than the Apple card, and is adequately served by the
existing power supply.  It expands the memory immediately to
the 4096k promised (or whatever you have installed on the
card).  The configuration of the card is accomplished by the
setting of two dip switches rather than jumper blocks. 
Instructions on how to install the memory chip banks, and how
to set the dip switches are simple and straightforward.

A side benefit I encountered is that the RAMPro IIGS card is
fully compatible with the Checkmate Memory Saver Card!  I
installed it on the back side of my MS card, and found that I
was able to test it using two of the suggested card
configurations, including the Juice Plus card configuration. I
have installed a ROM disk of 1200 blocks, and copied my Prosel
16 files and enough System 5.02 files to get it to recognize
all the GSOS files and run.  I still have an extra 300 blocks
for temporary non-volatile RAM-speed storage as well!

Boot up time from a cold shutdown is 17.5 seconds when using
the ROM disk, as opposed to 26.5 seconds when booting from my
hard drive.  This doesn't seem like much speed increase, but
where it really shines is when I quit from a ProDOS 8 program
and return to the Prosel 16 program selector screen. The
transition is lightning fast!

Now all the software I wish to use will function as it should!
 I have enough memory to set up a ROM disk, a sizable memory
cache, and still have a RAM disk available while leaving over
two megabytes of desktop for AppleWorks. It even gives
AppleWorks GS the room it really needs to operate efficiently,
although I have to admit that the use of a TWGS card and
System 5.02 have a lot to do with that too.  Proterm gives me
a scrollback capability of 2510k, which is adequate for even
the most demanding of telecommunications sessions!

The Apricorn RAMPro IIGS is manufactured by

		Apricorn
		10670 Treena Street, Suite #10
		San Diego, CA 92131

It can also be ordered through Charlie's AppleSeeds; see your
friendly Beagle Buddy for a really good deal!  The card is
warranted to the original purchaser for as long as he/she owns
the product.  This is the best hardware warranty I have seen
anywhere!  I recommend