Hello from Garrett’s Workshop! Just wanted to let everyone know that our model GW4201D “RAM2GS II” 8 MB RAM card for Apple IIgs is available for sale again: https://www.ebay.com/itm/256237573802
The card was unavailable for about two years due to the chip shortage, then we ran out after a lot of demand for our first batch in two years. We have been running our semi-automated factory, making more units, and we think that we can stay in stock for the foreseeable future. In the next few days, we will be rereleasing our model GW4203B “RAM2E II” 8 MB auxiliary/RAMWorks RAM for Apple IIe. It has all of the same features as the RAM2GS but is compatible with the Apple IIe and supports the RAMWorks bank-switching protocol.
More about RAM2GS II—
RAM2GS II provides 8 MB of RAM by default but also has an adjustable capacity feature. Using our GWRAM.SYSTEM utility program, the RAM size can be set to either 8 MB or 4 MB. 4 MB size is useful because most DMA devices do not function properly with an 8 MB RAM card. The RAM size can be set temporarily or saved in nonvolatile memory so it’s restored on power-up.
A new feature since we last shipped RAM2GS II in 2021 is the activity LED. By default, the LED is disabled but it can be enabled using the same GWRAM.SYSTEM utility used to set the RAM capacity. The LED is a soft amber color (605 nm) and flashes only during CPU or DMA RAM access, not during RAM refresh. As with the RAM size, the LED can be enabled or disabled temporarily or the setting can be saved in nonvolatile memory.
RAM2GS II achieves low power consumption by using one modern SDRAM chip. Idle power is 0.15 watts maximum (30 mA @ 5V) and active power is 0.5 watts maximum (100 mA @ 5V), leaving plenty of power available for other peripheral cards. These are maximum figures applicable to the worst-case temperatures and chip process variation. We usually observe about half as much power draw. Power consumption is low enough that the LED represents 5-15% of power usage when the RAM card is in active use. That’s why the LED is off by default.
RAM2GS II is built with a high-quality, four-layer, ENIG gold-plated PCB and is fully EU RoHS-compliant (lead-free). We are particularly pleased with our environmental achievements on this card. Other Apple IIgs RAM card designs using legacy chips cannot be produced in accordance with the latest EU and California regulations restricting the use of leaded solder and other environmentally unfriendly materials. Our design, using modern parts, achieves full RoHS compliance. Modern lead-free solder has been criticized as less reliable than leaded solder so we use copper- and silver-bearing solder to minimize solder joint cracking and tin whiskers.
Great attention has been paid to signal integrity. This is especially important because RAM2GS II runs its SDRAM from a 60 MHz clock signal generated on the card. RAM2GS II has internal power and ground planes, minimizing generation of and susceptibility to electromagnetic interference. Wiring lengths are short and all Apple IIgs bus signals are buffered at the card’s edge connector. Capacitive loading on the Apple IIgs bus has been minimized by careful hatching of the power and ground planes underneath the edge connector contact pads. RAM2GS II uses fast, low-voltage 74LVC or 74AHC-series buffers for input signals. For the data bus output, 5 volt 74AHCT-series chips are used for their slow edge rates and full-swing 5 volt output. The slow edge rate prevents ringing on the IIgs’s data bus and the 5 volt output swing is compatible with the 5V CMOS input thresholds of recent-production 65C816 CPU chips.
Another point of note is that RAM2GS II uses only high-quality Samsung and Murata multilayer ceramic capacitors. There are no electrolytic or tantalum capacitors on the board. All bypass capacitors are X5R or X7R temperature grade and are rated for about triple the nominal working voltage. We also do not use any IC sockets. These can be unreliable over time compared to a soldered connection between a board and a thin, lightweight chip. Because RAM2GS II uses modern components and no sockets, the finished board is under 4.5mm thin. This prevents it from touching a long, thick card installed in slot 7.
We produce every unit ourselves in our semi-automated factory using a pick-and-place machine with vision system and a multistage conveyor belt reflow oven. After reflow soldering and post-assembly visual inspection, we ultrasonic clean each board to eliminate any sticky flux residue from the soldering process. Our subsequent testing steps include automated test vectors as well as functional test on a real Apple IIgs system.
In order to insulate our product from future shortages, we have developed multiple versions of RAM2GS II, each supporting a different CPLD/FPGA chip controlling the RAM on the card. The designs function identically and look almost identical. We have versions supporting six different CPLD/FPGA families from three different chip vendors. This will allow us to continue producing our cards and pricing them favorably in case of future shortages.
We’ve sold nearly 1000 cards in the RAM2GS and RAM2GS II series between 2019 and 2021. For anyone interested, the model GW4201D “RAM2GS II” succeeded our previous “RAM2GS” series of RAM cards in September 2020. The older RAM2GS series had only 4 MB of RAM and was initially released in April 2019. The old 4 MB RAM2GS had three major revisions—GW4201A, GW4201B, and GW4201C—each improving the appearance, quality, manufacturability, and power consumption but still using legacy chips. We replaced the 4 MB RAM2GS with the 8 MB model GW4201D “RAM2GS II” in September 2020. When we added the LED in preparation for the card’s rerelease this year, we considered bumping the revision from -D to -E but decided against it. The addition of the LED isn’t as big of a change as between the old 4 MB A, B, and C variants, which differed significantly in their physical sizes and power consumption.
And of course, we are committed to open-source development. RAM2GS II’s design is completely open-source even for commercial use. This includes all schematics, board layouts, CPLD firmware, and utility software. Altogether, we believe we have the most sophisticated product in this category and we encourage others to build on top of our work if they want. We’re always very happy every time we see a clone of one of our products for sale online.
In the coming weeks we will be reintroducing RAM2GS’s sister product, the model GW4203B “RAM2E II.” RAM2E II provides the Apple IIe with 8 MB of auxiliary RAM and has all the same features as RAM2GS II, including adjustable RAM capacity and activity LED. Then we will be rereleasing our other pair of sibling cards, TimeDisk and GR8RAM. These are Slinky/RAMFactor-compatible RAM disk cards with extra features including a ROM-based restore partition (only on TimeDisk), battery backup (only on TimeDisk), and real-time clock (only on TimeDisk).
