Re: AppleWorks 3 + RamFactor + RamWorks 3 = what?

[Warren Ernst <wernst@gmail.com>]

On Oct 3, 9:24 pm, applework...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Boot the AppleWorks 3 startup disk (backup copy). Get to the Main
> Menu, then select 5. Other Activities. Then select 6. Select Standard
> Settings.
>
> Then select 1. Change Preloading. Setting preloading to a high setting
> instead of "None" will load AppleWorks into memory AND give you a very
> large desktop on the AUX Ram card.
>
> I honestly don't remember if AppleWorks 3 needed a Ram Driver to
> initialize the AUX Ram disk, or if AppleWorks 3 and SEG.AM took care
> of that itself. If it does need a Ram driver, the ones on ProSel 8 are
> preferred over the Applied Engingeering ProDrive.
>
> That said, never mind what I just said. There is a better way to run
> AppleWorks on a //e or //c with an AUX memory card. I wrote about it
> at great length in my articles and newsletters. It is called
> "Installing AppleWorks 3.0 on a Ramdisk using ProSel 8 and
> Partition"  (c) 1991 (and earlier and later) by Beverly Cadieux, with
> acknowledgement and thanks to John Intondi and Rick Oshlo.
>
> Once the boot disk is set up and booted from a 3.5" disk drive, the
> Prosel Ram Driver sets up the ramdisk in the size you want - you set
> this with AE's Partition. Then ProSel, AppleWorks 3, 4, 5, or whatever
> you have, including all TimeOuts, patches, and other accessories, are
> copied into /Ram. It takes a few minutes to load, then you land at the
> ProSel menu. From ProSel's menu, you select AppleWorks, and it all
> runs lightning fast because you are working from /Ram (just like a
> hard drive but much, much faster; in fact you do not even need a hard
> drive with this setup).  Nothing overruns each other because you have
> set a partitioned Ram disk.
>
> When you make changes to the Ramdisk contents, you must back it up so
> that the changes are available in future cold/warm startups.
>
>  After you tinker with it for a while (months.... years...),
> eventually you will establish a super-fast setup which I use on my AUX
> and Slinky //c's to this day. I also use the setup on one of my IIGS's
> which has only 1024k memory (on the IIGS, the Control panel setting
> sets the ram disk so no Ram Driver is necessary.).
>
> If you would like a copy of my article, please  e-mail me, with your
> U.S. postal mailing address.  It is long and complicated, but well
> worth the effort once it is done.  Please use my e-mail address "A2MG
> at AOL.com" to e-mail me, because I'll probably miss anything sent to
> the e-mail address at Yahoo.
>
> You'll also need ProSel 8 (which I have), and the Applied Engineering
> software containing the Partition program (which I have) - OR - a
> later version of SPELLCOPY by Randy Brandt (which I have), which
> contains the AE Partition program with AE's permission.
>
> Gary Utter (I believe it was he) wrote an article years ago about
> putting both an AUX and a Slinky into a //c.  If that article is still
> around, I would start searching the A2-Central newsletters (the
> ORIGINAL A2-Central, originally called Open-Apple).
>
> Beverly Cadieux
> TEXAS II an International Newsletter for users of AppleWorks(R) 5.1

Beverly,

It's great to finally have a conversation with you "in person," as
I've been a fan of your work for many years.

Thanks for the kind offer, but at least for me it really isn't
necessary. Since 1988, I've run AppleWorks/TimeOut/Other Stuff from my
1MB RamFactor (Slinky) card. I've been using ProSel's Backup and
Restore program to simply load up the RamFactor with my stuff and then
I run it all directly from the RamFactor - rather like a solid state
hard disk drive. If I make changes to the setup, then I use ProSel's
backup to just save the image to floppies. This was some really "Hi
Tech Stuff" back then, but it made my little //e just about the
fastest AppleWorks engine in the Beagle Building back in the day. The
leftover "free" ram in the RamFactor left me with about a 100k
desktop, which was ample for me back in college. I used to leave the
computer on for months on end, 24/7, to keep having to reload the
RamFactor. It got me through 4 years of college.

(That desktop memory statement just about blows my mind - my current
laptop uses 1GB of memory, and my desktop 2GB of memory, and in many
ways AppleWorks is still faster than Word 2007, and I never had a
problem with documents being too long for my memory back then.)

Anyway, it seems AW3 is smart enough to utilize the RamWorks in a
meaningful way while running from the RamFactor, so I guess I'm good
to go.

Thanks again,
Warr