Well, here’s a review of a neat add-on that I purchased recently. I was also able to talk the supplier into advertising in QZX, so look for their ad in an upcoming issue. I had been considering the Hunter Battery-Backup Memory Board for some time, and the July 83 Radio-Electronics Magazine construction article sold me. Thoughts of ‘rolling my own’ disappeared quickly when I noted the rather economical price of the kit.
The versatility of this board is unlimited. It accommodates the 6116 CMOS static RAMs, 2716 EPROMs, 2732 EPROMs, and even some mixtures. Cutting circuit traces are recommended for some of the setups, but simple jumpers take care of the majority of configurations. If you like to experiment with different setups, a discounted second partial kit is available. The kit comes with one CMOS 2K RAM, and can be expanded to a total of 8K RAMs or EPROMs or ?? Take your pick. Of course, the EPROMs retain their contents without power but the CMOS RAMs consume so little power in the standby mode, the on-board 3 volt lithium battery keeps them ‘up’ for as much as a year. They are of course powered by the computer power supply during use. They don’t require a complicated PROM programmer, and a simple ‘block move’ makes them smart. Where can this neat 8K memory board be put in the memory map?