What if I told you that without even opening up the cover to your Macintosh you could double the amount of memory that you had inside? No expensive hardware upgrades to buy; no need to guess what type of SIMMs you need to order; no problems with installation; and no worries about invalidating your warranty. And all for around fifty bucks. Too good to be true? If you currently have eight megabytes of memory, then you can have sixteen. If you have sixteen megabytes of memory now, then you can have thirty-two. If you haven't checked recently, a sixteen megabyte SIMM can cost over six hundred dollars! Would you be interested? I think anyone would be. Well, read on while I tell you about Connectix Corp.'s RAM Doubler, the system software extension that can do just that for you (double your RAM) and soon you will be writing me to say "thanks for the memory".
Memory (sometimes referred to as RAM) for our computer is something we all need. Computer memory is where the applications that we open are loaded when we want to use them. Often we want to have more than a single application open, or loaded, at a time. We need more memory to do this. If we attempt to open one too many applications, then we get that nasty "Out of Memory" message on our monitor screen. On the other hand, plenty of memory lets our whole machine run smoother, and let's us do our work more efficiently. I heard an expression the other night on Melrose Place, "you can never be too rich, or too thin, or have too much memory". What with all of today's beefed up software applications and our desire to have most of them open on our machines all of the time, well a person just can't get enough memory. Have you seen the size of Word or Excel lately, or run Netscape and Marathon together? Show me a user with too much memory and I'll show you someone who doesn't have enough to do.
RAM Doubler works on just about every Macintosh currently being produced and most older Macintoshes as well. RAM Doubler runs on Quadras, Performas, Centris, PowerBook, Mac II family, and Power Macintosh models. It does not run on Plus, SE, the original Classic or LC, or the PowerBook 100. (As usual, check the product information for specific hardware and software requirements.) The installation is simple and easy. Once RAM Doubler is installed, you don't have to do a thing, it automatically doubles your memory. Most importantly, system performance is preserved. Most users will notice no impact or degradation of their system's responsiveness. Furthermore, RAM Doubler is fully compatible with most software, and its use is transparent to almost all Macintosh applications.
I know what you are thinking. Apple's built-in virtual memory lets you more than double your RAM, so why should anyone pay for what Apple gives away for free? The answer is simple: RAM Doubler is generally faster and requires much less disk space than virtual memory. Instead of swapping memory to disk (paging) when RAM is low, RAM Doubler first scavenges running applications reclaiming any unused memory. When that isn't sufficient, it quickly compresses application code and data already in memory. And if all else fails, RAM Doubler swaps portions of memory to disk (although this should occur rarely if you have at least eight megabytes of `real' RAM).
Okay, so perhaps I'm a little too enthusiastic about RAM Doubler and maybe its not for everyone in all circumstances. But for many folks it will be a wonderfully easy way to get a little bit more from their machine for a very small investment.
If there are things that you would like to see discussed in this column in the future, please send your suggestions (as well as any comments, questions, or complaints) to peter.furmonavicius@yale.edu.
Peter Furmonavicius is a senior research programmer for C&IS Technology and Planning.