RAM DISK EMULATION

5.7

Using the ProDOS Filer, which is included on the Utility side of the MultiRam disk, you may transfer the MULTIDRIVE.PRO program to any ProDOS formatted disk. To run the program, simply type “MULTIDRIVE.PRO” after the disk the program is on has booted and has displayed the Applesoft “]” prompt. If the program is on a disk other than the one you originally booted, first type the disk s prefix and then the program name. For example, “—/USERS.DISK/MULTIDRIVE.PRO” would install the RAM disk if you had transferred the program to a copy of your ProDOS Users Disk.

You may also have the RAM disk automatically installed upon bootup if you have the MULTIDRIVE.PRO program and the BASIC.SYSTEM and PRODOS system files saved to a ProDOS formatted disk. To automatically create a RAM disk upon bootup, save this one line program under the name "STARTUP”:

10 PRINT CHR$(4)”BRUN MULTIDRIVE.PRO”

To install the RAM disk from within any Applesoft program, enter the preceding line. Be certain the program is on the same disk as the Applesoft program using this line; otherwise you must precede the program name with the volume name where it can be found.

U s i n g T h e R A M D i s k

The RAM disk drive can be used like any other disk drive with ProDOS. You may transfer programs into the RAM disk from other disks and from the RAM disk to other disks; you may save programs to the RAM disk from memory; and you can load programs from the RAM disk into memory. Unlike other disk drives, however, you should end each session with the RAM disk by saving any files desired to a standard floppy or hard disk as the RAM disk’s memory is lost when the Apple is turned off.

Because the RAM disk can become quite large, you may wish to use subdirectories with the RAM disk. ProDOS allows only 51 file entries in its volume directory. With subdirectories, you may have 51 files stored per subdirectory.

The ProDOS RAM disk’s volume name is “/RAM” by default. Using the Filer volume command “Rename”, the volume name can he changed to any legitimate ProDOS volume name.

To clear the RAM disk of all files, you could format the disk using the Filer’s “Format a Volume” command. If you have renamed the RAM disk, the RAM disk’s volume name will be changed back to “/RAM” after using the Filer format command.