All Macintoshes have had the capability to remember some settings between uses of the Mac. Information such as the sound volume or key repeat rate is stored in a Parameter RAM (or 'PRAM' for short). Mac Pluses, SE's, and newer machines also have an eXtended Parameter RAM (or 'XPRAM'). This XPRAM stores information such as the type of custom beep sound from the Sound Control Panel device (cdev) or the latitude and longitude coordinates from the Map cdev. Unfortunately, Mac 512KE's do not have XPRAM and therefore cannot take advantage of these cdev's. This prevents a 512KE from running some of the software that a Mac Plus can run even if these 512KE machines have had a memory and/or SCSI port upgrade.
This program changes that. The 512KE XPRAM INIT (catchy name, eh?) will make your Mac 512KE think that it has this XPRAM by storing this information somewhere else instead. A small bit of data is appended to the System file and is read from and written to instead of the XPRAM. In addition, if a piece of software asks the operating system what kind of hardware it is running on, it will report that you are running a Mac Plus instead of a Mac 512KE.
To use this INIT you will need:
• A Mac 512KE (_not_ a 512K with the older 64K ROM's).
• A desire to use the Sound cdev, Map cdev, or other software which expects to find an XPRAM.
• Enough memory to effectively use these features (this may mean 1 megabyte or more for the Sound cdev).
To use, place the 512KE XPRAM INIT into your System Folder. Reboot the Mac. That's it. You should now be able to open the Control Panel desk accessory and click on the "Sound" icon to select a custom beep sound.
Revision History:
June, 1988: Version 1.0 release for System 6.0
September, 1988: Version 1.0.1 release for System 6.0.1/6.0.2
February 1990: Version 1.0.2 - added startup icon, rewrote this document.
Permission is given to use 512KE XPRAM INIT free of charge and to distribute it as long as this documentation is distributed at the same time and that if you charge for the program that you do not charge more than the cost of distributing it.
