

               NICKEL EXPRESS JR   up to 8 MHZ !

 The Nickel Express JR turbo boards are ready. The cost is $79.00 plus
 $3.00 shipping.
 There are some compatibility issues to deal with regarding the Nickel
 Express JR. First, the IBM sidecars that we tested worked well on the fast
 speed which is 8 MHz. The JR Hotshot is not compatible (yet).
 We are working on the problem with the JR Hotshot, and it should be
 resolved shortly. It may mean replacing a chip on the Hotshot board.
 The turbo board works fine with Racore DMA in the medium speed setting,
 which is 7.37 MHz. We have tested the Nickel Express JR with a few Tecmar
 boards with success about half of the time. The ones that did work had
 to be set on the slow jumper, which is 6.66 MHz.
 The 128k PCjr works on the slow setting but is not much of an increase
 because software is needed to rearrange the video buffer which
 of course does not work with 128k.
 There are a few extra memory configurations which we have not tested yet,
 such as, Impulse, Microsoft, and others. We hope to be testing these
 in the near future.
 All software that we have tested works fine including a few word processors,
 data base, and spread sheet programs. I cannot test every piece of software
 available, but if there is a problem with a particular one, you can always
 toggle the turbo mode off to run it. All in all, it is a very interesting
 upgrade for the PCjr.

 To install the Nickel Express JR, you will need to unsolder the 8284
 clock chip and solder a socket in its place. Only a skilled technician
 should perform this task. If you feel uncomfortable with this step,
 you can send your computer to Paul Rau Consulting and we will do the
 soldering, install it, test it, and return it to you for $30.00.

 If you have a Font Rom which improves the readability of the PCjr monitor,
 you'll notice that it connects to pin #25 of the 8255 chip, the same as
 the turbo board. If you connect the Nickel Express JR to pin #25, then,
 connect the Font Rom to pin #20 (first pin on the left/top). This will
 leave the Font Rom on all the time.

 There is also a program which will allow you to load the software to
 drive the turbo board. It is of the TSR type, which means Terminate and
 Stay Resident. This means you type the name of the program (TURBOJR) and
 it loads and is resident for you to toggle back and forth by pressing
 left shift and alt. Press the same key combination again and it toggles
 the software again. The program is listed on the back page. You will
 need DEBUG and need to type it in the same as the other three programs.


