Written by Tim Capps and Mike Friese in WD16 (PDP-11) assembly language.
RAM CHECK may be freely distributed but not sold without prior arrangement with ProVUE.
RAM CHECK is a public domain utility provided by ProVUE Development, the makers of the Panorama database package. It checks your Random Access Memory (RAM) to see if there are any problems with it. If you are experiencing strange, inexplicable problems with a Macintosh program that cannot be duplicated on another Macintosh, perhaps you have some bad memory in your Mac.
To check as much memory as possible, run RAM CHECK under the regular Finder, not MultiFinder. Though it is MultiFinder compatible, running RAM CHECK under MultiFinder will test only the memory allocated to the RAM CHECK application. (Masochists can even run RAM CHECK in the background under MultiFinder.) RAM CHECK will check both the application heap and as much of the system heap as it can.
There are two ways to check your memory with RAM CHECK. Choosing the “Check RAM (one pass)” menu item performs 17 different checks of your memory. It takes less than a minute to run (depending on the amount of RAM), and is basically a quick test of you Mac’s RAM. Choosing the “Continuous RAM Check” menu performs the same 17 checks over and over again until you stop it. Continuous checking is useful in detecting intermittent problems with RAM that do not always crop up with just one pass. For example one Mac recently tested did not indicate a problem until the 500th check! So to be really sure about the reliability of your RAM, choose the “Continuous RAM Check” option and let it run through about 1,000 passes.
Under most circumstances, your RAM will check out just fine. If there are problems, the RAM CHECK program will report the “longword” location where the error occurred. Like a street address helps you locate a house, the longword location can be used by a technician to locate the damaged memory chip.
Or perhaps the problem is the socket the chip is stuck into. If you suspect the problem is with a socket, try swapping your memory chips around. If the longword location stays the same, then the problem is with a socket. If the longword changes, then a bad memory chip is the problem. And possibly, the problems could just go away at this point, due to a chip being poorly seated in a socket. Simply removing and reseating chips could correct the problem.
Another cause of strange problems might be an INIT that is conflicting with an application program. (INIT’s are those startup applications that put a little icon on your screen every time you turn on your Mac, like Tops, On Cue, Pyro, and Capture.) Try moving every INIT out of your System Folder, restart your Mac, and try to duplicate the problem again. If the problem still occurs, and your RAM is okay, it’s probably a bug in the application. If the problems stop occurring, then there is an INIT conflict. Try reloading each INIT one by one and see if you can narrow down which INIT is causing the problem. This information will be useful to the developer of the application program, and will probably get the problem resolved quicker.
RAM CHECK is brought to you by ProVUE Development Corporation, the makers of Panorama, a database that combines the speed and simplicity of a spreadsheet with powerful forms capabilities. Panorama won MacUser’s Best Database of the Year award in 1989. Here’s a handful of its capabilities:
• more data entry features than any other Mac database. Panorama makes entering data as fast, easy, and accurate as possible. In addition to automatic capitalization, data entry buttons, and duplicate checking, Panorama has a “mind reading” feature call Clairvoyance®, which figures out what you’re typing and finishes entering it for you.
• powerful analysis tools, like numeric, text, date, time and financial equations, automatic spreadsheet style calculations, on-screen subtotals, averages, cross tabulations, and even charting.
• a MacDraw-style form design window lets you create mailing labels, entry forms, form letters, invoices, etc. You can have up to 25 forms open for a single file all at once. Design your forms using lines, boxes, ovals, and text. Or paste in graphics created in MacPaint, MacDraw, SuperPaint, Adobe Illustrator, and Aldus Freehand.
• tape recorder macros automatically record your steps and play them back later. Create your own custom Panorama menu items. Edit your recordings in a macro scripting window, or write your own macros from scratch. Create macro buttons à la Hypercard.
• high speed data importing. Panorama can import 10,000 lines of data in less than 60 seconds. The Panorama manual contains specific instructions for importing data from OverVUE, Excel, MS Works, FileMaker, MS File, Foxbase, 4th Dimension, Double Helix, Omnis III Plus, and Reflex.
• we’ve only scratched the surface. Panorama also has automatic phone dialing, flexible export capabilities, the ability to store and play back sounds, passwords to restrict access to sensitive data, and more.
