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| MacMemory MaxSave | |
Posted by: olePigeon on 2021-09-03 19:03:35
Macintosh Plus "MaxSave System" RAM card and software | eBayMaxSave RAM Disk for Macintosh Plus. The box has wear, and is missing the lid. The bag has been opened, but the software folder has not.
www.ebay.com
Just purchased this little doohicky with an unexpected acceptance of offer. Curious to try it out. I didn't see a battery on it. Are those EPROMs maybe? | |
| Posted by: maceffects on 2021-09-05 12:47:15 PLEASE post photos once it arrives. I’m very curious of the structure on this upgrade. | |
| Posted by: olePigeon on 2021-09-05 17:14:40 @maceffects Will do. It's funny, though, because I'm wondering if it's functionally identical to BMOW's Plus ROMinator, but I won't know until I get it. Could just be a bit of RAM used as a RAM drive as it says ... but how it can hold onto that info without a battery is interesting. Maybe it can use the computer's battery somehow? | |
| Posted by: maceffects on 2021-09-05 19:59:14 I can honestly say that I’ve never seen one of these. I’m curious what kind of implementation it might be. Engineers were really crafty back then due to their limited resources, so some kind of hybrid solution would make sense. | |
| Posted by: cheesestraws on 2021-09-06 02:48:25 Yes, this looks bizarre and I'd love to see it in more detail. | |
| Posted by: beachycove on 2021-09-06 06:07:06 RAM disk technology seems to have been improved dramatically with the introduction of the 68020/30, not only because of the larger RAM complements of those systems, but also because of new memory management technologies in the new processor. It interests me that this device for the Plus does not make any song or dance about how much of a RAM disk is provided -- the box says nothing about it, so far as I can see from the listing, which from a marketing standpoint is possibly revealing. Does it piggy-back on the and use the main system RAM, I wonder? In which case, it could effectively be a sort of PMMU add-on. | |
| Posted by: Bolle on 2021-09-06 06:21:04 From the description on the packaging I'd say it is just a RAM disk software combined with a patched ROM to enable the RAM disk on power up, read in the files you want to be on the disk and then boot into it right away. I am pretty sure that no files will be stored on the ROMs on the MaxSave on the fly. The hardware is just patching the ROMs, the rest is done in software. | |
| Posted by: Crutch on 2021-09-06 12:45:07 I think the question about EPROMs etc. was asked because of this claim on the back: “If you crash it isn’t fatal. Recover your RAM disk intact by pushing the reset button.” But I agree with Bolle. My reading (and based on the look of the thing) is that it is just saying that if you don’t actually ever turn off the power (i.e. if you crash you press the Reset button on the programmer’s switch instead of switching the matching off and on) the RAM disk contents will be preserved. So, the thing ensures it doesn’t write junk to the RAM disk at boot time, is all. I don’t think it is getting access to the battery or any other source of power itself. You just need to not turn it off. | |
| Posted by: cheesestraws on 2021-09-06 12:48:58 Oh, that would make sense | |
| Posted by: Iesca on 2021-09-06 18:25:08 Very interesting! Reminds me of the "Excalibur" from Assimilation Process, which is an expandable, external RAM disk with battery backup which I would love to play around with (and it plugs into the floppy port!). I only ever found a single picture of it though from a magazine (it looks very much like a MacBottom): | |
| Posted by: Crutch on 2021-09-06 18:46:05 I didn’t know about the Excalibur, cool. There was a small closet industry of these things for a brief time circa 1986 when RAM became slightly cheaper and hard disks weren’t yet ubiquitous. Two similar products were the MacVenture QuickDrive and Western Automation Dasch. I have yet to see any of these in person, though, and I’ve been on the lookout for years. Mac GUI :: RAM Disks and Disk CacheApple news, photo galleries, downloads, and discussion forums.
macgui.com
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| Posted by: Iesca on 2021-09-06 19:04:41 Ah, wasn't aware it was such a cottage industry! Interestingly, in DogCow's article, they mention Mac•Memory•Disk, which is a software RAM disk also from Assimilation. They must have thought this was fertile ground to have developed an external RAM disk as well. | |
| Posted by: cheesestraws on 2021-09-07 01:03:11 Assimilation do seem interesting—they seem to have built pretty much everything they could think of (?). I have a trackball of theirs, for example... | |
| Posted by: Iesca on 2021-09-07 12:03:55 I would like to do a little write-up on Assimilation, as they have an interesting history for their short time in the market, and they had some interesting products as well. They created what appears to be the first "Turbo" trackball (as the "Mac•Turbo•Touch") which appears to have then been bought by Kensington when Assimilation folded, being re-released as the more familiar "Turbo Mouse". | |
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2021-09-07 15:23:39They created what appears to be the first "Turbo" trackball (as the "Mac•Turbo•Touch") which appears to have then been bought by Kensington when Assimilation folded, being re-released as the more familiar "Turbo Mouse". This sounds like it might explain what looked like design similarities between my earlier Assimilation (non-turbo) trackball and the Kensington one I have that plugs into the same interface? (I mean, aside from the obvious similarities of 'both being trackballs') I'd like to read your writeup. Sorry for thread hijack, @olePigeon 🙂 | |
| Posted by: Iesca on 2021-09-07 15:37:20 Yes, sorry bout that! Would be interesting trying to re-create the MaxSave. | |
| Posted by: olePigeon on 2021-09-09 16:49:32 I don't mind. 🙂 So I received it today and skimmed through the manual, and it appears to be exactly as Bolle predicted. You can configure a RAM disk that will keep its data through a reboot, but it doesn't save after a shut down. Considering it'll run on a 128K (recommends 512K RAM) or a 512K, it's nifty to see RAM disk software that'll work on such early machines. If someone in the Bay Area wants to dump the ROMs, I'd be happy to lend it. But I think this dohicky is pretty much deprecated by the ROMinator. Still a fun piece of vintage kit. | |
| Posted by: Iesca on 2021-09-09 19:35:54 ROMinator is just for a SIMM slot though, no? | |
| Posted by: olePigeon on 2021-09-09 20:29:07 @Iesca There's a Plus version. | |
| Posted by: Iesca on 2021-09-10 00:17:22 Well lookit that! | |
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