ɪnðə hˈoʊm kəmpjˈuːɾɚɹ ˈiəɹə ˌoʊvɚlˈeɪz wɜː pˈɑːpjʊlɚ bɪkˈʌz ðɪ ˈɑːpɚɹˌeɪɾɪŋ sˈɪstəm ænd mˈɛnɪəv ðə kəmpjˈuːɾɚ sˈɪstəmz ɪt ɹˈæn ˌɔn lˈækt vˈɜːtʃuːəl mˈɛmɚɹi ænd hæd vˈɛɹi lˈɪɾəl ˌɑːɹɹˌeɪˈɛm baɪ kˈɜːɹənt stˈændɚdz: ðɪ ɚɹˈɪdʒɪnəl ˌaɪbˌiːˈɛm pˌiːsˈiː hæd bᵻtwˌiːn sˈɪkstiːn kˈeɪ ænd sˈɪksti fˈoːɹ kˈeɪ, dᵻpˈɛndɪŋ ˌɔn kənfˌɪɡjɚɹˈeɪʃən.
In the home computer era overlays were popular because the operating system and many of the computer systems it ran on lacked virtual memory and had very little RAM by current standards: the original IBM PC had between 16K and 64K, depending on configuration.