How much memory, old notebook?

[High_order1]

I have been having the *worst* trouble lately.

My venerable old programming laptop finally unrecoverably died. So, I bought a new one on eBay. They said it was one speed, they lied. So, I bought another. It's finicky as hell. It doesn't like my sandy ganz rib or something, because it will NOT let me program about half the radios I used to (including maxtracs).

Now, I am trying to do some Sabers. Using R03.00.2 and B03.04.00, I get file block errors no matter which way I try to crack the codeplug. Using Astro portable R08.50.00, I get out of memory errors. Another version gives me a busy serial bus line error.

How much RAM does the most greedy DOS package need to be happy? (As I search ebay for another candidate)....


Thanks,

-Shawn

[Terry_Glover]

I'd say at least 64mb would work for you. I started off with an old Packard Bell Win95 desktop with only 16mb installed. Got the memory errors with several RSS packages. I added another 64mb module (to total 80mb) and it's worked fine ever since.

[tvsjr]

I'd say at least 64mb would work for you. I started off with an old Packard Bell Win95 desktop with only 16mb installed. Got the memory errors with several RSS packages. I added another 64mb module (to total 80mb) and it's worked fine ever since.

Huh? You realize that the majority of the RSS packages (with the exception of MTSX, Astro, and maybe one or two others) don't even use extended memory, right?

My steam-powered programming laptop has 4MB in it. It runs everything up to the last versions of MTSX and Astro just fine (admittedly, large codeplugs do take a while to "validate").

Shawn - your new used computer is clearly jacked.

[Terry_Glover]

I'd say at least 64mb would work for you. I started off with an old Packard Bell Win95 desktop with only 16mb installed. Got the memory errors with several RSS packages. I added another 64mb module (to total 80mb) and it's worked fine ever since.

Huh? You realize that the majority of the RSS packages (with the exception of MTSX, Astro, and maybe one or two others) don't even use extended memory, right?

My steam-powered programming laptop has 4MB in it. It runs everything up to the last versions of MTSX and Astro just fine (admittedly, large codeplugs do take a while to "validate").

Shawn - your new used computer is clearly jacked.

OK then. Disregard what I said...

I think you should find a steam-powered programming laptop with 4MB in it. They'll run everything up to the last versions of MTSX and Astro just fine (large codeplugs may take a while to "validate" though).

[motorola_otaku]

8 MB in both the 386 and 486 laptops here. Both will run anything DOS and read/write smoothly, although MTSX and Astro are slower than creeping bullfrog Jesus at everything (press F4... 10 minutes later, the next mode appears. )

[High_order1]

So, you don't find the 486 too fast for the earliest stuff? I have a 486/100 toughbook that I tried, but didn't have much luck at all. I even found a way into the UARTS to slow them down, and still had all kinds of errors.

What I thought I would look for is a 286, but maybe this 386 I have now should be working, and somehow I have botched things up?

I appreciate all the responses



-Shawn

[escomm]

There are really NO radios that REQUIRE a 386/486 any more! Only ones that I'm aware of are Genesis (HT600 etc) series and R100 repeaters. Prior to these most everything was "programmed" with rocks!

Jedi will program just fine with a Pentium. You need REAL DOS though. Anything after Win98 is NOT real DOS. Emulated DOS produces mixed results.

[motorola_otaku]

So, you don't find the 486 too fast for the earliest stuff? I have a 486/100 toughbook that I tried, but didn't have much luck at all. I even found a way into the UARTS to slow them down, and still had all kinds of errors.

What I thought I would look for is a 286, but maybe this 386 I have now should be working, and somehow I have botched things up?

I appreciate all the responses



-Shawn

The only thing the 486 just absolutely won't run is Syntor X9000 RSS. Even the 386 is really too fast for that (Compaq Contura notebook, 25 MHz processor), but miraculously it works.. probably because my radio is a barebones lowband unit with no crypto, MDC, or other fancy stuff.

Jeff is partly right.. most everything will run on a newer Pentium platform. Before it died a mysterious death, my daily-driver laptop was an IBM Thinkpad T23 w/ 1.13 GHz P3 processor, set up to dual-boot into DOS 6.22 and XP Pro. Only issues I had with it were using Saber, System Saber, MX1000, and STX s/w.. they'd load, but wouldn't read a radio. Saber and SysSaber would read and try to write, but crash when pulling tuning data from the radio. The 486 (Compaq Contura Aero 4/33c running DOS 6.22), however, runs and reads/writes all of the above just as smooth as can be.

[Will]

I have been having the *worst* trouble lately.
It doesn't like my sandy ganz rib or something, because it will NOT let me program about half the radios I used to (including maxtracs).

-Shawn

The Sandy Ganz RIB may need to be moded to work on some serial ports. The Motorola RIB and the Sandy RIB are much the same and do NOT follow the RS232 standard. We found this problem with some computers many years ago and provided these two articles on BatLabs.

A modification you may be interested in for the RIB. There have been reports of problems using the RIB on different computers. It looks like one of the problems might be a lack of negative voltage swing on the Busy out and RX (data out) lines back to the computer. You might want to try and change the value of R14 to 1.5k and R11 to 1K.

Some research has been done with the original RIB, and some modifications have been make to some of the values to make the circuit more compatible with RS232. The modified schematic can be found here. http://www.batlabs.com/images/rib_mod.jpg

[High_order1]

Will -

funny that you mention that, as I read it was actually reading that very topic! I figured my DMM might not give me what I needed, so I am planning on bringing my scope home and seeing how much of a difference in states there are.

OR, I may just blindly change the values. I have radios backing up waiting on me.

I also was reading about disabling FIFO and caching. This computer has an 8250 UART, so I believe it has no FIFO buffer in it.

Otaku -

Only issues I had with it were using Saber, System Saber, MX1000, and STX s/w

See, the MTS2k, Saber and STX are the bulk of what I do. So, I am guessing my old 486/33 will remain benched. The guy I do paid work for uses a Contura as well. I can't ever remember him having a problem.... maybe I just need to start looking for one of those.

I rarely had a problem with that old Compaq LTE that I had. The problem was physical. The screen literally fell apart, the bottom was falling off, and I had to keep replacing a power jack on it. Had I realized what a PITA this would turn into, I woulda duct taped it together and kept trucking.... lol

Escomm -

I am using real live Dos 6.xx (something, I forget). I have the original disks I bought waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day.

I guess I'll continue to poke...

-Shawn

[High_order1]

So, I am guessing my old 486/33 will remain benched.

doh. someone needs to reread a post, huh.... sigh


-Shawn

[motorola_otaku]

Compaq Contura 3/25c 386/25 MHz, 8 MB RAM
-Reads & writes Syntor X9000s
-Reads & writes Analog Sabers & System Sabers
-Reads & writes MX1000/2000/3000s
-Reads & writes STXes
-Haven't tried with HT600 or R100, but given that it works on X9000s it should work on these too

Compaq Contura Aero 4/33c 486/33 MHz, 8 MB RAM
-Won't read or write Syntor X9000s.. in fact, the s/w won't even run.
-Reads & writes Analog Sabers & System Sabers
-Reads & writes MX1000/2000/3000s
-Reads & writes STXes

There you go. If you can find either one cheap, go for it; the 4/33 was a gimme and I paid $25 for the 3/25.

BTW, that was all done with a stock RLN4008 RIB. I've never heard of the mods or the RS232 issues before now, but I might give those a whirl since my old IBM Thinkpad would occasionally barf when trying to read Astro Sabers.