Reply 40 of 60, by Jo22
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Now that I think about it, there's merely so much you can do about badly coded software.
How about a more analog solution?
Is it possible to physically reduce the memory on the RAM modules?
Like, using a hot air station to carefully get rid of some chips?
Or, is it possible to disable some modules by cutting their power pin?
So they could still reside in the slot, but have no power?
A good old electro-mechanical relay (miniature, maybe DIL version) could do that, remote controlled over a cable by a battery and a switch.
Edit: The idea was that the RAM module(s) could be enabled/disabled via switch on a front panel.
That way, the PC could be physically limited in memory for the sake of compatibility.
The same could be done to the motherboard's slot, which would look more elegant.
But on the other hand, if something goes wrong.. Modding a single RAM module is safer.
The idea came to mind because my generation (or my previous one) did such mods in the 486 days.
We added switches to toggle IDE HDDs between master/slave, added reset buttons, wired the PC speaker output to an external cable (not the best idea maybe, since the system timer could be damaged).
Or we wired 3 floppy drives and a awitch to a two floppy cable et cetera pp.
Here's the IDE example (mod done by someone in 2006): http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/ide_dual_boot.html
Of course, such a hacky hardware modification needs more courage, time and dedication than tinkering with software alone.
Some old toggle switches sticking out of the front side
may also not be very cool looking in your glossy piano black PC case. ;)
But to the software, it's a more compatible solution in the end.
No software solution beats a physical RAM reduction.
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