First, the deals on offer. Buy 64 or 128MB memory for a Risc PC - in either original FPM or later EDO flavours - and a whole five earth pounds of that goes to the Unix Porting Project, of which Firefox is the headline application. To put than in perspective, it's about 14% of the asking price for 64MB of EDO memory, so it's no small chunk of change. The prices in full:
- 64MB EDO 35 GBP
- 64MB FPM 40 GBP
- 128MB EDO 60 GBP
- 128MB FPM 65 GBP
Now, those prices don't look bad, but I was pretty sure I did better when I upgraded my main machine to 128MB a couple of years back. I seem to recall it was two 64MB EDO SIMMs for about 17 pounds each, probably ex-VAT and carriage. So, I went on a quick round of my usual online shopping haunts, and it quickly became apparent that CJE's offer is actually pretty good. Firstly, getting anything above 32MB seems tough - for instance
Amazon UK and Insight had nothing in stock (using euphamisms like "limited availability" or "ordered on request"), and of those companies that did have EDO RAM, 32MB seemed to be the largest - perhaps only - size available. eBuyer had 32MB for £26 inc. VAT, which if you bought two to make 64MB, and factored in the postage, comes to well above 35 quid. Aria did have 32MB SIMMS for about 11 quid inc. VAT, so two of those plus delivery might squeak below 35... but as the Risc PC is limited to two sticks or memory, your maximum is 64MB, which Firefox could eat whole. Of course, these prices don't factor things like Firefox support, or the fact that you know CJE's memory is definitely going to work.
So in conclusion, get it while you can. As well as supporting two worthy causes (a cutting edge browser, and that rarest of beasts, a RISC OS dealer still in business), the prices are actually pretty good.