ROAM - Accelerate your ROM!

What is ROAM?

ROAM copies the ROM into RAM, and then causes the ROM memory to be accessed from the RAM based copy instead of from the actual ROM DIMM. This can possibly speed up PowerMacintoshes that do not already map ROM into RAM.
 

Status

Question: (Updated Mar 22, 2001)
Why do the ROAM benchmarks show very little or negative improvement in ROM access times under MacOS 9.1?

Answer:
ROAM does not work properly under MacOS 9.1. If you are having problems with ROAM under 9.1, please uninstall ROAM. If you use ROAM, it will certainly not cause your machine to crash, but the benchmarks will seem to indicate that ROAM seems ineffective. This is indeed the case. A workaround is possible, but I have chosen to work on other projects instead. Sorry, ROAM 1.6.1 only works on MacOS 8.x (possibly back to MacOS 7.5) through MacOS 9.0.4.

ROAM Control v1.6.1 is now available. (Oct. 1, 2000)

What's new?

The GUI uses the terms Activate and Deactivate in reference to turning ROAM on and off (instead of Install/Uninstall).
ROAM deactivates itself when running under the MacOS 10 Classic.app environment. This means you can leave ROAM installed on your normal MacOS 9.x.x boot disk instead of disabling ROAM when booting MacOS 10's Classic.app.
The installer notifies the user that ROAM is not meant for MacOS 10.
Bugs in Load/Unload (which affected the Deactivate button) were fixed.
What else is there to say?
The ROAM Benchmark results are always changing. I'm trying to make it more precise. I plan on eventually releasing the benchmarking code publicly. In other words, if ROAM 1.x reports a speed increase of X and ROAM 1.y reports a speed increase of Y, it would be wrong to say that ROAM 1.y makes your Mac faster than ROAM 1.x did.

Note however that 1.6.1 does fix a bug in deactivating ROAM. But still, please don't email me about crashes or nasty memory allocation problems that occur when you rapidly click on Activate/Deactivate inside ROAM control. Using the "Deactivate" button in ROAM is for ROM hacking purposes. It is not meant for you to reclaim system memory to play games that require as much RAM as you can spare. :-)


Read the "Frequently Asked Questions." It has been updated to reflect ROAM v1.6.1. If you have a question, see if it has already been asked.

ROAM is MacOS 9.0.4 compatible. (Past versions have been backward compatible to MacOS 8.0. ROAM is coded to work back to MacOS 7.5 though even though this has not been tested.)
ROAM requires 8MB of RAM.
ROAM works with RAM Doubler 8 and RAM Doubler 9.
ROAM works with Speed Doubler.
ROAM works with Symantec's Norton Utilities' Disk Light when you use Disk Light v5.0. Disk Light v4.0 has problems with ROAM.
ROAM has problems with FWB CDT. See the FAQ for more info. This is CDT's fault, not ROAM's.

Check out MacInfo for ROAM 1.5.x benchmarks.
 

News

If you have a StartupScreen active, and ROAM is causing crashes (Macsbug says the crash is in DeactivateFloatingWindows), try removing your StartupScreen. (Dec. 13, 1999) Someone said that 1.6b8 fixes this problem. (Dec. 26, 1999)

See the ROAM Technical News page for current and future ramblings that have appeared on this page. From now on, the ROM Accelerator page will contain less technical release details and notifications for when new topics appear on the Technical News page.
 

License:

You are NOT permitted to use ROAM's MacOS ROM to RAM mapping in your own software without my permission. You are NOT permitted to reverse engineer this software.

I accept no liability for the suitability, craftsmanship, or use by you in any part. If ROAM works, kudos. If ROAM doesn't, or has some undesirable side effects, that is YOUR responsibility. By downloading this software, you agree to this license.

ROAM © 1999, 2000, Steven Bytnar (sbytnar at kagi.com)

This program is my own product, and is not representative of the host of these web pages.

The ROM Accelerator home page is http://www.stg.com/employees/sbytnar/projects/rom_accelerator.html
 

Download - read the license above

ROAM - ROM Accelerator

(HTTP) ROAM v1.6.1 - most recent release version

Shareware:

TRY ROAM BEFORE YOU BUY IT! If ROAM works to your satisfaction, you should register ROAM.
Secure online registration for ROAM (US$10) is available. Normal online registration is also available for web browsers without encryption support. You can also use the enclosed Register program to generate a registration email also.

ROAM is non-limited shareware. The registered version does not differ from the shareware version other than removing the reminder to register the software. That is your opportunity to try the software before you buy it! Cool, right! Try it out. If ROAM causes your Mac to crash, please email me, as I am always interested in fixing crashing problems. ROAM may work on your Mac in the future, but you should not register it in the meantime if this is the case.
 

How does it work?

It relocates ROM into RAM. Read the Frequently Asked Questions for a lot more info.
 

Bugs:

Successful ROAM running machines:

The base machine is what is important, not the exact configuration. Please read the ROAM FAQ's Compatibility Criteria for a more general description of machines that do not work with ROAM.

Machines ROAM does not work on (or not well on):

History: (what's new?)

Read the version history in "About ROAM".
 

The future:

It might not be possible to load and execute the NewWorld ROM on older PowerMacintoshes. The NewWorld ROM might not contain all the necessary code to support older Macintosh hardware.
 

Thanks

..to all the registered users...
..to my employer, Software Technologies Group, Inc., for hosting my web pages...
..and to everyone else for the feedback.

Products and names mentioned on this page are copyright by their respective holders.

ROAM © 1999-2001, Steven Bytnar (sbytnar at kagi.com)