Introducing RAMX!

RAMX is a new RAM upgrade product line from JD Micro. The first off the rank is RAMX128K, a Saturn 128K compatible card that will be available for sale in the next couple of weeks.

This card is best used in slot 0 of an Apple II or Apple II+ to increase the available RAM from 48K to 176K. If you don't already have a memory expansion card in slot 0, then this will take your system RAM from 48K to 64K. The rest of the memory is banked into the upper ROM space and can be used by programs such as Locksmith to speed up disk copying.

If you have a Language Card or 16K RAM card in slot 0 then you can most likely swap it out for RAMX128K. The only caveat would be with the Apple Language Card and its onboard F8 Autostart ROM. If you don't already have an F8 Autostart on the motherboard (or even better a ROMX) then you'd want to move the Language Card F8 ROM into the motherboard. And if your current slot 0 RAM card has a ribbon cable connecting it to the RAM socket at position E3 on the motherboard, then you'll need to unplug it and then take a RAM chip from the slot 0 RAM card and install it in the now empty motherboard RAM socket. All this will be covered in the documentation which is yet to be written, but will be done by the time the RAMX128K cards are available for sale.

RAMX128K is the first product built on my new pick and place machine! And by new, I mean new to me - it's a second hand unit that came up for sale locally here in Brisbane. The boards are assembled on a small panel of 4.

And if you are wondering, "JLCJLCJLCJLC" on the tooling strip was where JLCPCB were supposed to put their part number - somehow they missed this and put it on the other side.

I've been wanting a benchtop pick and place machine for a while and this machine was listed with a good quantity of feeders and other accessories plus I calculated that it would fit on my workbench (just). It took a bit of an effort to collect it (it weighs 150Kg) and install it, but it's up there and running.

It looks like a big unit (and it is), but it's actually the baby brother of the machine I have at work (day job) so I am familiar with the software and electronic feeders. It's not fast, but it's a lot faster than what I've been using to assemble JD Micro products to date (tweezers). It's an Autotronik BS281 for anyone interested in the details.

At present I have only loaded the components required to assemble the RAMX panel - 9 x 8mm reels and a couple of trays for CPLD and SRAM. With the CPLD's being loaded from the tray area (versus a tape feeder) it means I can pre-program them before assembly. After cooling post reflow, a visual inspection is done, and then they can be immediately tested with no further programming steps required.

The machine will hold up to 64 x 8mm feeders (there are 32 feeder ports on each side) with larger feeders using multiple feeder ports. An assortment of 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, and 44mm feeders were all supplied with the machine along with a 10 lane vibration feeder for loading components supplied in tubes rather than tape/reel. It also came with a couple of cut-tape strip holders, manuals, spare parts, and the machine stand. I've put the stand in storage for the moment as I just don't have the floor space in my work area to set it up on the stand versus on my workbench.

It looks pretty bare in there with just the 9 feeders installed, but I'll be populating feeder ports as I set the machine up for ROMX products and I'm confident that it will save me a fair amount of assembly time.

So RAMX128K is just the beginning of a series of RAM products that will be developed and built by JD Micro in the coming months - stay tuned!