You can disable RAM Doubler at start-up by holding down the escape or ` keys, located in the upper left of your keyboard.
When using RAM Doubler, do not increase the memory allocation of your applications unless you experience "Out of Memory" errors. Many RAM-intensive programs (for example, Adobe Photoshop and FileMaker) perform better with their default partition sizes than artificially larger ones.
NOTE: If you use Apple's RAM Disk, the memory for the RAM Disk is unavailable for doubling. Therefore an 8 MB Macintosh with a 2MB RAM Disk will have 6MB of application memory available for doubling with RAM Doubler (i.e., it will have 12MB of application memory after installing RAM Doubler). Also, to protect against performance loss, the amount of your physical RAM, minus the size of your RAM Disk, should never be less than 4 MB.
NOTE: RAM Doubler can not fully double a Macintosh with more than 128 MB of RAM. Under this case, RAM Doubler will only extend memory up to 256 MB.
You can disable all extensions by holding down the shift key at boot (restart) time.
You can disable all extensions except for RAM Doubler by holding down the shift and option keys at boot time.
We strongly suggest you install System 7.5 Update 1.0, which fixes a number of long-standing bugs in the Mac OS and provides some speed improvements. One notable problem that has been corrected with Update 1.0 is that floppies were not recognized in 24-bit addressing mode with RAM Doubler installed.
Because of the increased system requirements of System 7.5, 8MB of RAM is required for RAM Doubler (and recommended by Apple for System 7.5).
RAM Doubler is not compatible with accelerators that do not support Apple's Virtual Memory. These accelerators include: the Radius Rocket or Fusion Data System's TokaMac, Mobius Speedster 040, or Applied Engineering Transwarp accelerators.
Similarly, non-accelerator hardware add-ons that are not compatible with Apple VM may have problems with RAM Doubler as well; all third-party PowerBook display cards, notably the Envisio display adapters, are not compatible with RAM Doubler.
On the 6100 DOS Compatibility Card, with RAM Doubler installed, a freeze occurs when transferring a file to a floppy in DOS mode. The source of this problem is currently under investigation. The solution, when available, will be posted online where software updates are found.
RAM Doubler is not compatible with every FWB SCSI JackHammer. If an incompatibility exists, RAM Doubler will detect it and warn you of it; contact FWB for more information and the requisite upgrade.
Some hard disk drivers, notably early versions of Alysis' eDisk, allocate memory in a way that prevents RAM Doubler from extending RAM. Contact your hard drive vendor if you receive the alert concerning a driver not in the system heap.
Hewlett Packard DeskWriter print drivers may exhibit slow performance or failure under extended memory (while running with either RAM Doubler or Apple virtual memory). This is because they attempt to allocate and make use of all available free memory while printing, even when they don't need to. The solution is to reduce this memory before trying to print, for example by opening several applications, or a special copy of TeachText with an unusually large partition, so that the "Largest Unused Block" reported by the Finder is smaller (we recommend trying to lower it to below 1500K if you are experiencing this problem). We are working with Hewlett-Packard to correct their DeskWriter driver problem.
RAM Doubler is not compatible with versions of usrEZ's UltraShield and UltraSecure prior to version 3.52 (for UltraSecure) and 2.52 (for Ultra Shield).
The following items are not compatible with extended memory environments (more total memory than built-in memory); therefore, these items are not currently compatible with RAM Doubler. NEC's DPI on the Fly, Texas Instruments' Paper Tray Manager for microLaser printers, and the "AV DSP Power" plug-in for Adobe Photoshop on the 660AV and 840AV,
MacTCP 1.0 and 1.1 are not compatible with RAM Doubler; we suggest upgrading to version 2.0.1 or later which is compatible; as of this writing, 2.0.6 is the current version.
If you are using a Macintosh 660AV or 840AV with System 7.1, make sure you have at least version 1.1 of the "Enabler 088" file. Version 1.0 causes problems with the Express Modem when RAM Doubler is installed. You can acquire Enabler 088 version 1.2 by installing System Update 3.0 (for System 7.1) from Apple; or, by upgrading to System 7.5, which has the latest enabler built-in.
In general, you should use the latest System Update from Apple. As of this writing, for System 7.5, this is System 7.5 Update 1.0; for System 7.1 it is System Update 3.0.
The most current version of Network Software Installer is version 1.5. If you are using EtherTalk, we strongly suggest you install this version. DO NOT install versions 1.4.2 or 1.4.3.
If you see the message that RAM Doubler may not fully double RAM:
RAM Doubler may not fully double your memory if your Mac is using 24-bit addressing AND you have more than 5 MB of physical RAM. This is because 24-bit addressing can only manage a total of 16 MB of memory, of which some is used up by hardware (serial ports, floppy drive, ROMs, and video, network or other NuBus cards). You can still work in 24-bit addressing; however, you will not be able to use as much additional RAM as if you had switched to 32-bit addressing.
To switch to 32-bit addressing, you must be using System 7. If you are, you'll need to open your "Memory" Control Panel, and then click the "On" button for 32-bit addressing. If you have a newer Mac model, and do not have the 32-bit addressing option in the Memory control panel, you are always in 32-bit addressing mode, there is nothing to adjust. If you have a Mac II, IIx, IIcx, or SE/30, your Mac needs MODE32 from Connectix to have the 32-bit addressing option. MODE32 is available through free distribution. You can acquire MODE32 from on-line services, user groups, local Apple Dealers, or directly from Apple or Connectix.
Before switching to 32-bit addressing, you should check that all your programs, including applications, system extensions (of any kind), NuBus cards, and hard disk drivers are compatible with 32-bit addressing. If you do not check, you may run into unexpected difficulties with your computer, not because of RAM Doubler but because of enabling 32-bit addressing.
If you have trouble restarting your Mac with 32-bit addressing on, restart your Mac and hold down the Shift key to disable all extensions. Next, remove all non-Apple software from the System Folder, and Extensions and Control Panels folders. Then, place one extension into the System Folder and restart. Repeat this process and eventually you should find the extension that is not compatible with 32-bit addressing. You should contact the manufacturer for a compatible version.
RAM Doubler will not load if System 7 virtual memory is enabled; you will see the message "RAM Doubler did not load because Virtual memory is turned on. Open your Memory control panel and turn virtual memory off". RAM Doubler and virtual memory are mutually exclusive because both require control of the Memory Management Unit (MMU), which is part of the 68030, 68040 and PowerPC processor. You can disable virtual memory by turning the feature off in the Memory control panel. With virtual memory disabled, RAM Doubler will load and you will see the message "Connectix RAM Doubler Installed" at Welcome to Macintosh.
For most Macs, RAM Doubler makes virtual memory obsolete - RAM Doubler provides better performance without decreasing hard drive space. And for Power Macs, RAM Doubler provides "file mapping", which reduces the memory footprint of Power Mac native applications; do a "get info" on a Power Mac native application to find much memory is saved by using RAM Doubler's file mapping.
