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Apple IIc RamExpress II+

User’s Guide

Copyright © a2heaven.com

Apple IIc RamExpress II+ User Guide

Version 1.02 February 2017 © a2heaven.com P a g e | 3

Table of Contents

Description ...........................................................................................................................................................4

Contents of Package .............................................................................................................................................4

Ram Express II+ Installation ..................................................................................................................................4

Preparing for Installation & Use ...........................................................................................................................4

Installing the Battery ........................................................................................................................................4

Determine Compatibility ..................................................................................................................................5

Determining Logic Board Compatibility ...........................................................................................................5

Installing the RamExpress II+ ...........................................................................................................................6

Diagnostics and Troubleshoting ...........................................................................................................................7

Using the Disk Utilities………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………8

Using Build in Clock ..........................................................................................................................................8

Boot the Utilities Disk.......................................................................................................................................9

Set the time ......................................................................................................................................................9

Loading the Driver ............................................................................................................................................9

About the RamExpress II+ Battery ..................................................................................................................... 10

Replacing the Battery .................................................................................................................................... 10

Frequently Asked Questions .............................................................................................................................. 11

Where to find further help ................................................................................................................................ 11

About a2heaven.com ........................................................................................................................................ 11

About This Guide ............................................................................................................................................... 12

Warranty ............................................................................................................................................................ 12

Some other a2heaven products ........................................................................................................................ 12

Conventions Used Throughout this Manual

Items displayed on the screen appear in Intalics.

Commands to be entered by the user are displayed in BOLD.

Keyboard keys to be pressed are indicated as [RETURN].

Program/disk filenames appear in ALL CAPS.



Description

The RamExpress II+ Memory Expansion Card adds extra random-access memory (RAM) and a Real time clock to your Apple IIc computer. The standard memory expansion card comes with 1024K (1Megabyte) RAM.

The RamExpress II+ Memory Expansion Card can be used with any Apple IIc and Apple IIc+(Plus) which has a logic board containing the memory expansion connector. The clock keeps track of the year, month, day of the month, day of the week, and time, right down to 1/10 and 1/100. An on-board lithium battery maintains the RAM content and current date and time even when the computer is turned off.

Contents of Package RamExpress II+ card

Preparing for Installation & Use

Before installing and using your RamExpress II+ card, you need to get the following:

□ CR2032 Lithium Ion 3v battery

□ RamExpress II+ Disk (download from A2Heaven.com)

□ DClock Utility Disk (download from A2Heaven.com)

Installing the Battery

Insert the CR2032 Lithium Ion battery into the RamExpress II+ card:



Make sure that the battery is seated properly and being held by the retainer clip. When you push

the battery down, you should hear a click, which ensures that the battery is properly seated.

Determine Compatibility

Apple IIc computers with model number A2S4100 (Apple IIc ROM 3 or ROM 4) and A2S4500 (Apple

IIc Plus) contain the connector and circuitry necessary to install a RamExpress II+ Memory

Expansion Card.

Apple IIc computers with model number A2S4000 (Apple IIc ROM 255 or ROM 0) originally did not

have the memory expand connector and therefore do not support RamExpress II+ board!

Caution: Many Apple IIc owners have upgraded the ROM chip to make their systems ROM 3 or

ROM 4 to take advantages of the upgrades the chips provide, in particular, support for the Apple

3.5” floppy disk drive. Therefore, if you purchased your Apple IIc used and you issue a PRINT

PEEK(64447) to check the ROM version and it returns a ROM number of 3 or 4, your computer does

not necessarily have the expansion RAM connector. It might have a ROM 255 or ROM 0

motherboard with the upgraded ROM 3 or ROM 4 chip installed.

Similarly, people have swapped motherboards and cases. For example, if their case was damaged,

they might obtain a non-working, “for parts” Apple IIc and use that case for their working IIc, which

may or may not have been upgraded to the ROM 3 or ROM 4.

For these two reasons, it is very important for you to check your Apple IIc by opening it up and

determining that it does, indeed, have the memory expansion connector, as described in the next

section, before making your purchase on a RamExpress II+.

Determine Logic Board Compatibility

1. Turn off the power to the IIc and disconnect the power cord and any attached peripherals

(such as an external disk drive).

2. Open the Apple IIc case.

3. Gently and carefully lift the keyboard up and turn it over and set it carefully on the floppy

drive enclosure to expose the front portion of the motherboard.

Apple IIc PLUS caution: Be careful that the keyboard’s slider button does

not come off! It is easy to not notice that it has come off and is setting

somewhere on your motherboard!

4. Compare the motherboard with Figures 1 and 2 below. If the logic board looks like the one

shown in Figure 1 then a logic board is compatible with RamExpress II+ .



Figure 1. Motherboard with memory expansion connector in lower right corner.

Figure 2. Motherboard without memory expansion connector.

Memory expansion connector

Installing the RamExpress II+

1. Carefully align and insert the pins of the RamExpress II+ connector into the IIc’s memory

expansion socket and press in until the card is completely seated. Make absolutely sure that

all pins are aligned with their respective connector holes BEFORE you push the card

completely down to seat the connection! You MUST install the card in the proper

orientation, as shown in Figure 3 below.

2. Reassemble the Apple IIc.

3. Turn ON Computer and check that it boots up properly.



Figure 3. Mounting Example. Make sure that the RamExpress II+ is oriented as shown below, with the front of the computer at the bottom in the photo.

Diagnostics and Troubleshooting

1. Connect a video display to the Apple IIc.

2. Connect the power cord to the Apple IIc and turn on the computer. The words Apple IIc will

be displayed at the top of the screen.

3. Simultaneously press the [CONTROL] and [RESET] keys to enter the monitor.

4. Enter CALL -151 and press RETURN. The machine language monitor prompt (*) will appear.

5. Enter C40AG and press [RETURN].

6. The following display (Figure 4) will appear. Verify that the card size which appears is the

actual size for the card installed (in our example, a 1024K Memory Expansion Card is

installed). The dots appear on the screen as the card is tested. The test will repeat until

either the <ESC> key is pressed or an error is encountered.



Figure 4. Monitor screen during the test outlined above.

MEMORY CARD TEST ESC TO EXIT

TEST WILL TAKE 180 SECONDS CARD SIZE = 1024K

…………

………… …………

…………

PASSES = 0001

CARD OK

NOTE: A complete card failure is indicated if the internal diagnostics will not run. In that

case, remove the RamExpress II+ card and inspect it to make sure none of the pins are

bent or broken off. If you see any pins bent, carefully straighten them. Then reinstall

the RamExpress II+ card and check that all pins are inserted properly, that the card it

oriented as shown in Figure 3 above, and that it is completely inserted into the

connector.

Error Code Interpretation

If an error is found during the internal diagnostic, it will be displayed in one of the following

formats:

DATA ERROR XXYYYY – ZZ (indicates a RAM or card failure)

ADDRESS ERROR XXYYYY - ZZ (usually indicates a card failure)

Using the Disk Utilities

Using the Built-in Clock ProDOS does not automatically recognize the clock. However, the ProDOS compatible drivers on

the RamExpress II+ disk allow ProDOS to recognize and use the clock.

When a ProDOS startup disk is booted, the operating-system file, PRODOS.SYS, is copied from the

disk to a protected area of the computer's memory. ProDOS then runs the first .SYSTEM file on the

disk. The RamExpress II+ disk has a program, DCLOCK.SYSTEM, that installs the required clock

driver to the image of ProDOS in memory. When executed, the DCLOCK.SYSTEM program will first

check for the presence of a clock and, if found, install the clock driver. It then executes the next

system program (with a filename suffix of .SYSTEM) in the disk's directory.



Booting the Utilities Disk Boot the RamExpress II+ disk. You should see the message DClock Copyright (c)19— Applied

Engineering in the upper left corner of the screen as DCLOCK.SYSTEM installs the proper drivers to

the image of ProDOS in memory. It then runs the BASIC program. The BASIC program displays the

message Loading drivers... and brings up the Time Utilities Menu.

If you get the message Cannot find clock, it means either (1) the battery is

missing or needs to be replaced, or (2) the battery is improperly installed.

Whenever the battery is removed and replaced, the system will find the

RamExpress II+ card and set the time and date to zeros. You will need to set the

correct time and date as described in Setting the Time below.

Choose the option Install Clock Driver in Memory.

If the program does not find the clock, turn the system off, unplug the power

cord and check that the RamExpress II+ card is properly installed and that the

battery is installed properly, then reboot the computer with the RamExpress II+

disk again.

Setting the time From the Clock Utilities menu, select Set the Time. Follow the on-screen directions to set the date

and time in the format:

Month (01 - 12)/Day (01 - 31)/Year (00 - 99)

Hour (00 - 23)/Minute (00 - 59)/Second (00 - 59)

Note: The system uses a 24-hour clock, so that 8:00 pm is actually 20:00 hours.

Press [RETURN] to set the time, or use the [ESC] key to return to the Clock Utilities menu without

changing the clock.

❖Note: If you enter a value outside the range of a particular

parameter (ex: Month = 13), you will receive an error message and

be returned to the Set the Time screen.

Loading the Driver to Your ProDOS Boot Disks

To automatically install the proper clock driver each time the computer is booted, install

DCLOCK.SYSTEM on your ProDOS boot disk.

To patch any ProDOS boot disk to recognize the clock, insert the write-enabled disk to be modified

into any disk drive and choose the option Install clock driver on disk. The installation program will

scan the system and display a list of volumes currently on-line and their location. Select the target

volume and press [RETURN]. The DCLOCK.SYSTEM file will be inserted as the first system program

in the patched disk's directory. Each time the modified startup disk is booted, DCLOCK.SYSTEM will



be executed, displaying DClock Copyright (c) 19— Applied Engineering in the upper left corner of the

screen; then the next system program file in the disk

❖Note: DCLOCK.SYSTEM requires 4 blocks of disk space.

Whenever you create or modify ProDOS files under the modified operating system, the files will be

automatically tagged with the current date and time. Also, any application programs which read the

time and date directly from ProDOS will now be able to find the clock.

About the RamExpress II+ Battery

What it is. The RamExpress II+ battery is a 3 volt, 20 millimeter lithium battery (type CR2032) with

a life of about 1-2 years. You can order these batteries directly from your local computer parts store

or camera supplies store.

Replacing. To replace the battery:

(1) Remove the memory expansion board from the Apple IIc

(2) Turn the RamExpress II+ card over to access the battery.

(3) Using a small flat blade screwdriver, push the retaining clip back to release the battery

(Figure 6 below), then lift battery out.

Figure 6. Removal of the battery.



(4) Insert the new battery, positive (+) side up by sliding it into the battery holder. See

Installing the Battery on Page 4.

(5) Carefully reconnect the RamExpress II+ card into the Apple IIc.

(6) Close the Apple IIc’s cover, connect the power cord and boot the RamExpress II+ disk to set

the correct date and time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Who makes the RamExpress II+?

A. The adapter was designed and built by Plamen Vaysilov from a2heaven.com. This includes the

software (VHDL design)/firmware, circuit design and the PCB.

Q. Can I use RamExpress II+ on other computers?

A. NO! You can use RamExpress II+ only on an Apple IIc having the memory expansion connector or

an Apple IIc Plus.

Q. I Want to Add more that 1Mb RAM is this is possible?

A. No, this card not designed to support more than 1 Mb of RAM.

Where to find further help

Phone: +359 888 810 993

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/a2heaven/

About a2heaven.com

A2Heaven is a small company that implements new technology for use on vintage computer

hardware.



About this User Guide

This User Guide was written by Martin Crockett and Plamen Vaysilov, using materials from the

RamExpress User Manual by Applied Engineering.

Version 1.01…..22 November 2016….. 1st public release.

Warranty

A2Heaven.com warranties the RamExpress II+ adapter for 180 days from the date of purchase. This

warranty assumes the RamExpress II+ adapter has not been tampered with in any way.

Other a2heaven products

Apple SAM (Semi Automatic Mouth): A high quality speech synthesizer.

Mockingboard-T: A sound card for all Apple II computers, no speech chip.

ALF MC1 Clone: A music synthesizer that allows you to program music into your Apple using

standard musical notation.

Ramworks III Clone: Comes with 64k, expandable to 1M or 3M with 2M expander board. For Apple

IIe only.

Ramworks III VGA adapter: Option board for the Ramworks III Clone. Generates VGA compatible

video, only for NTSC, 60Hz Apple IIe.

dClock: Clock option for Ram Express or Apple IIc Memory Expansion card.

Senior PROM IIe: Add debugging commands to your Apple IIe, such as entry to System monitor at

any time, copy memory to and from auxiliary memory, plus much more.

Trak Star II: Gives constant digital read of any 5.25” Apple II drive, great for seeing what that pesky

protection scheme is up to. Supports full, half and quarter track movement.

SDFloppy II: Store up to 36 “DSK” images on an SD card, replaces 5.15” floppy drive.

RamWorks8M : RAM memory Add 8MB RAM to Apple IIe .

RamFactor8M : RAM memory Add 8MB RAM to Apple II+ .

For more products check www.a2heaven.com

www.a2heaven.com

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