17 february 2021
what does Arisotura do when she needs more RAM? simple, make more!
long story short is that the IIfx somehow came with mismatched RAM sticks - 5x1MB and 3x4MB. since the RAM sticks have to go 4 by 4 in this machine, I only had 4MB of usable RAM.
so, just buy some more sticks, right?
peh.
the IIfx uses some weird 64-pin RAM that is only used by itself and by some LaserWriter or something. so basically, it's rare and expensive af. there are some 'new' sticks being sold on eBay (basically NOS memory chips soldered to a new PCB), but these are a tad expensive too - might get a 4x16MB kit, but not sure.
anyway
I took the extra, lonely 1MB stick in what I had, and decided it would be sacrificed. in a machine where these have to go 4 by 4, what is one lonely stick good for anyway? I don't know about the LaserWriter thing, I don't have one.
I got a cheapo 30-pin 4MB stick, making sure its chips were pin-compatible with what my sacrificial stick had.
I removed the chips from the sacrificial stick. then, one of the connections had to be modified to accomodate the new chips. not too bad.
then just remove the chips from the 30-pin stick and transplant them, right? :D
yeah well, have fun soldering these fuckers. the space between them is too tight to use a soldering iron. I had to use carefully applied solder paste and hot air.
then verify all the connections and you're good to go...
the resulting frankenRAM works fine, and my IIfx now has a whopping 20MB of RAM.
I have to see what I'm doing with this IIfx next. I have a few ideas, but I need to finish it... maybe get a 4x16 RAM set, or make one (basically get PCBs and get the required chips off a bunch of cheapo RAM sticks). fix or replace the defective floppy drive. work out something for the video -- the video card I have, albeit rusty, works fine, but only supports interlaced video modes, which my equipment doesn't really like.
then I can try getting an install going, on either the provided HDD or my SCSI2SD.
and of course, the case -- derusting the RF shields, maybe retrobriting the actual case...
welp.