Greetings!

Well, I put in the bulk order, and I should have a large number of memory upgrade sets (100) arriving to me by 12 May. I should have enough for everyone that wants them.

These are upgrade chips for the Mark 2A models. The chips are made by Micron, part number MT4LC4M16R6TG-5. These are the same chips that are being used in the first Mark 2A upgrades today. The chips are sold in sets of two (you need two for the upgrade from 16->32MB). They will be shipped via boring USPS First Class mail.

The price of the set is $33. I am not trying to make money on this. My costs are: 2 * $15.45 for the chips (not including shipping to me), $0.37 for the stamp, $1.21 PayPal fees. The rest is for envelopes and for anyone needing more than one stamp...

To order, send a PayPal payment (or email for alternatives) to my primary email: pgrzelak(at)verizon(dot)net. Please make sure that you have a current shipping address in the message somewhere. Also, please have "memory" and the number of sets you want somewhere in the subject line. My apologies for making this more challenging, but with everything else going on (tech support spheres, ebay, etc), this simplification will make my life a bit easier.

Please note, you will receive two chips in their tape packaging. Installation is your problem...

Thanks!

Can you give a total price to include international shipping (to UK) via USPS please?

Cheers,

John

Count me in for sure. How much extra do you think to ship to Australia?

Please count me in for 3 sets.
Would it make things easier for you and/or cheaper for us to collect the european orders and spread them from here? (like skibum did for the spheres)

Let's see....

Added amounts for various countries. I have not really worked it out, but it is no different than a standard letter charge. I cannot see it going above $2 so I will just deal with the difference.

As for group buys, I am not sure that would be better or easier in this case. With the Tech Support Spheres, you had something big, bulky and tangible. This is just a single letter (the chips are small, thin and light). If I were to bunch them up, it might be more noticable.

Hi!

I'm in for 2 sets (4 chips). I'm in Canada

Could you confirm total amount please.

Thanks!


Patrick

Same price - $33. Thanks!

I'll have to make sure I fully understand the install instructions, but sounds like fun:-)

Paypal email on the way...

Any chance of you selling a batch of these to Stu (eutronix)? I'm wondering if I should buy some from you or wait for some to turn up with him since I would need his install service anyway.

-Mike

Greetings!

I spoke with Stu before putting the order in. With the previous order, I asked if he would like to hold chips there or have them shipped with the player. He preferred them shipped with the player, so I am shipping them to individuals to include with the players for installation. I think it a matter of stocking them.

Stu, please correct me if I am wrong or misunderstood. Thanks!

It might be best to hold off from Stu until he gets his first one working!

Cheers

I have sent off my money for my set of chips.. Where could I find instructions for the install?

I have been asked about instructions for installation. This is something that I cannot really help with. I am a novice when it comes to soldering. The best I can do is point you to the two threads where the people who do know what they are doing speak about how to do it... A B

Thanks, thats what I was asking bout, Saw a pervious post about someone reading thru them I was just curious what they read .. Thanks! I probobly wont be doing it my self just wanted to see what was involved.

Greetings!

Just an update for all those who sent in payment via PayPal - I am not ignoring you. I am merely waiting until the parts arrive and I ship before sending a confirmation email. So if you sent payment, it is extremely likely that I received it and I am just waiting for the last step. Thanks!

Okay, I'm willing to do a couple of Mk2a DRAM installs.

If you have the two chips, and are willing to dismantle your player so as to send me ONLY the mainboard (plus the two chips), then I may be willing to install this hack. Note that I am in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

But I have limited time available at present, improving somewhat by mid-summer.

So, initially, I'm looking for two people who don't mind giving up their players for a few weeks -- my schedule is hectic, so I'll do it when I can do it, by early June at the latest for the first two. The introductory fee for installation only (not parts or shipping), is US$50. This works out to only 50cents a pin. Based on experience from the first two, the rate may increase or stay the same thereafter.

dbrashear and yn0t_ have already asked, and they can have the first spots merely by confirming with a reply in this thread. Wait for them to post, and if either of them declines, then the next posters in this thread have a shot.

Cheers

I would like to take advantage of this, but at this time, cannot... So I'll give up my spot to whoever needs an upgrade now.

I would like to shoot for the next available spot. I am waiting on the chips tho cause i just ordered them

Im up for it, I can afford to lose my player a couple of weeks. :-)

Just a question, don't take it the wrong way (not that you would): Why bother? As far as I know I've never had an issue with my empeg having insufficient memory to do ~ whatever it was I needed it to do. I'm all for upgrades, but what benefits would one see of this? It seems like installing 2 Gigs of RAM in a PC. Neat, but not needed.

Sorry for what may be a dumb question for most...

Well, see, here's the thing. I don't already have the chips, or I would. So I think I default my spot.

I'm all for upgrades, but what benefits would one see of this?

Most users would see no benefits at all, you are correct.

Users who want to run many third-party apps on the player simultaneously would be able to do so more easily. I think that's the biggest advantage at the moment.

Theoretically, users who have ginormous collections would get the benefit of more space for the database and cache. But If I recall correctly, the current player app doesn't take advantage of the extra RAM so not even this is a benefit yet (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

I think that theoretically the disk builder image would have less trouble when formatting large drives, but if I understand correctly it would need to be recompiled to take advantage of the new RAM anyway, at which point they could just fix its bugs so it works for the regular-RAM people too.

Theoretically, it should make for faster syncing and/or rebuilds also. I base this on the assumption that swap is enabled for syncing/rebuilding (I can't remember for which or is it both?).

The player software expects to be able to allocate upto 24MB of RAM. Normally this would come from 8-16MB of RAM (depending on empeg type) and 16MB swap.

So having the extra RAM should help there as well which can consume a fair amount of time. Not something you do every day but nice if it was faster at least.

Greetings!

I think Mark said there was also a performance increase in the web server built into hijack as well.

Right now, I don't think anyone other than Stu or Paul have any chips -- the idea is that I expect you can obtain some within a week or two (when Paul's bulk order comes in). And now (as of last night) it appears I'm going to be elsewhere until the end of May, so the timing may just work out right.

Offer's still good...

Yup, the Hijack playlist web server is faster (due to Linux automatically applying any unused DRAM to disk-caching). And Tony's new emphatic stuff (and his even newer unreleased wonders) all can use extra memory to avoid starving the player. I really think the existing diskbuilder software will automatically take advantage of extra DRAM, enabling much easier installation of very large hard drives.

And since my own players may soon all have 32MB, I am quite likely to open the floodgates on Hijack, adding all sorts of new menus and features now that stealing memory from the music player is no longer an issue. Of course, I suppose I'll *have* to still produce a stripped-down crippled Hijack for stock players, but for my own players.. well.. it's time for vertical playlist menus!

And it is very very likely that a future (amersfoort?) alpha release of player software will include some way of having the player take advantage of extra installed memory for larger track buffers == less wear and tear on the hard drives, better .wav and .flac playback, etc..

A really cheap solution for Empeg longevity!

cheers

<amused chuckle>

And the folks on the board had to talk you into this... I think you really wanted the added memory all along for Hijack!!!

Greetings!

Random note. I am getting the chips from the same place Stu got his. I checked with him and got all of his information before placing the order, so they are from the same supplier. The only difference is that I ordered Micron versions of the chips (more in stock) but they are identical part numbers and should be interchangeable in every way.

The first order was really just for proof of concept and experimentation for the installers (and for the insane early adopters who knew there would be a way to do this eventually).

I hope to have the new chips in this week and mailed out by this weekend at the latest. Of course, we are at the mercy of the Postal Service, so delivery date will depend on your location. The timing should work out fairly well for those in the US - arrival of chips early next week so they can ship boards late next week for arrival to Mark during the last week of May...

Does Mark own the only 32mb player so far? Has Stu got his upgrades working?

Ok, then I guess I will order some chips from Paul today (which I hadn't done yet since i haad no prayer of self-install) and hope it all falls together.