> --- Andreas Busse wrote:
> This is all more or less true. 3-chip x9 SIMMs have only few more chips than
> x36 SIMMs. The discussion what SIMMs we should use had no technical reason,
> just a practical. RAMs are going to be more expensive, so it would be
> desirable for most of us to use the SIMMs we already *have*, and these are
> 1Mx9 and 4Mx9 SIMMs, with a few exceptions.
> --- end of quoted material ---
> I think it makes the most sense to design for what we *will be* able to buy,
> not what we have now. Building a "junk box" computer may be fun, but is a
You mean, buy the motherboard, let it sit in a closet until the following
summer when I can afford the memory? Depending on how layout goes, it might
be good to have a daughtercard with (full-speed) simm sockets of x36 or x9,
depending on the card or some of each. If we have enough VLSI chips for
the real work, board space may not be a problem, but beware also creeping
featurism and overflowing the board with all the connectors for the things
the wonder-chips will also do...
> SIMM "shape" is tending from the older x8 and x9 SIMMs to x32, x33, x36, and
> x40 SIMMs. Some of this is due to Wang Labs reaching out from the grave to
> try to strangle other companies. Some is due to benefits of the x32ish
> shape.
Hmmm...more expensive, and yet you need to replace it in larger hunks if/when
it goes bad. Sounds superior to me... /*sarcasm off*/
Keith
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