I don't know the 8201 very well (yet) but it looks like you could do essentially what I do with my option RAM kludge, i.e. make a shim board that plugs between the option ROM socket and any optional ROM to pick up the address and data lines, and also straddles one (or more if necessary) of the RAM sockets to pick up the RAM-specific signals (/WE, Vbb, etc.)
Just making a short expansion RAM 'cassette' should be pretty simple with modern chips, although as Steve says because of the door you'd have to either install it permanently or put it in a housing of some sort. Thoughts? ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen Adolph To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 3:02 PM Subject: Re: [M100] NEC Memory Module Bank 3 If one ignores the side connector altogether one could imagine a board that plugs into the ram sockets and provides both bank2 and bank3, as well as the 2nd 16k of bank 1. I think such a board might need a few wires as well. On Tuesday, April 16, 2019, Kurt McCullum <[email protected]> wrote: I was thinking more along the lines of something that would live inside the case itself so a housing wouldn't be needed. Is there enough room for that? On Tue, Apr 16, 2019, at 11:30 AM, Stephen Adolph wrote: Thought about it but never pulled the trigger since I would for sure need a solution for a housing. On Tuesday, April 16, 2019, Kurt McCullum <[email protected]> wrote: Quick question for you hardware designers on the list. Have any of you designed a RAM module that plugs into the system bus on the NEC 8201, similar to the SideCar that Purple Computing created. I would imagine that with todays chips, adding the 3rd bank of RAM to the NEC could all be done with a module that fits inside the NEC rather than sticking out the side. Kurt
