What is Connectix RAM Doubler 2?

Every software revision should be this good. RAM Doubler 2.0 uses the same basic premise as the original — increasing memory without adding actual RAM — while introducing new features.

Version 2.0 gives you a control panel to change how RAM Doubler manipulates memory. By moving the slider control all the way to the left, RAM Doubler performs “File Mapping” without any other effect. File Mapping reduces the amount of memory a Power Mac-native application requires by leaving the data fork on the hard drive, which can result in huge RAM savings. For example, Excel 5.0a only needs 4096K to run with RAM Doubler’s File Mapping, but it requires 10643K without. File Mapping is available only for Power Mac users running native applications; the same setting will turn off RAM Doubler for 68K users.

At the other end of the memory spectrum (move that control slider all the way to the right) , RAM Doubler 2.0 can perform three tricks (in the following order) to effectively triple the amount of available RAM: It relocates unused application memory; it compresses the least-recently used memory; and it swaps compressed memory to the hard drive. Performance can degrade at higher settings (one percent to five percent according to Connectix), but in practice, performance felt about the same as it did before RAM Doubler 2.0.

RAM Doubler 2.0 does one thing, and it does it well. It’s transparent, nearly problem free, and needs almost no attention after it’s installed and set. If you heed the primary RAM Doubler Rule (don’t make the apphcation memory partition larger than the amount of physical memory), then you’ll hardly know RAM Doubler 2.0 is there — high praise for a background utility.

Reynolds, David. (November 1996). RAM Doubler 2.0. MacAddict. (pg. 71).

Download Connectix RAM Doubler 2 for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.0

Compatibility notes

Minimum Requirements

• MC68030 processor
• 8 MB RAM
• System 7.0

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II