Hi all,

For anyone who is interested in using SIMMs with a SIPP-only motherboard (like the 286 board that got me started on this) I have tried using a SIMM socket and can report that it works perfectly as an adapter. I thought this was a new idea, but turns out a few people have suggested it before.

I like this solution because it doesn't involve altering the motherboard or the RAM sticks and is completely reversible.

My contribution to this is that it's not necessary to find an old broken motherboard and desolder the 30-pin SIMM socket. You can buy them new from places like RS Components, and most surprisingly of all, they only cost $6 each.

This piggy-back arrangement of socket-in-socket works fine with my 286. I did a writeup and posted some photos if anyone is interested in what it looks like.

Now all I have to do is find some SIMMs that are larger than 1MB, to see whether 4MB really is the limit of this 286 board like it says in the manual...