26 January 2003
W N Richardson & Co now offer internally 'expanded' memory Z88s. These are available on new machines, or as an upgrade to your existing Z88s.
As defined in the user manual, an expanded Z88 gives extra workspace to Pipedream and Basic.
Up to now, the usual way of getting an expanded machine was to add ram packs. Bill Richardson now offers Z88s with internal memory of 128k or 512k ram with OZ4 operating system. This internal memory, as well as being available for normal file storage, can be directly used by Basic and pipedream as workspace.
After hard reset, some ram is reserved in any Z88 for internal use. This means that the 128k and 512k expanded Z88s will provide respectively 5 and 20 times the working ram of the 32k unexpanded machine.
This internal memory replaces the internal 32k RAM and consumes about the same working and standby current. Compare this to an external ram pack which decreases the normal battery life in standby mode quite a bit, and increases the current requirement in normal use.
RAM of course will lose its content on hard reset, or loss of battery power.
An upgrade service for your existing machine is also offered.
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