Re: Memory usage and partitions?

Mika,

> /dev/mtdblock/3 15360 13736 1624 90% /
> ramfs 15464 260 15204 2% /mnt/ramfs
>
> In addition, the "System Resource Tool" informes that the current
> memory usage is about 20 %.
>
> If I understand correctly, this mean that I have
>
> - 1.6 MB of memory for storage purposes
> - 15.2 MB of memory free for running applications

Not quite.

/dev/mtdblock/3 represents your Flash 'root'. As you surmise, you have 1.6MB
left, there. Assuming you're running Familiar 0.4, and using JFFS2, this is
still a bit misleading, since JFFS2 compresses. You might be able to fit
somewhat more than 1.6MB of uncompressed information into that space.

ramfs is not your application-running memory, but a RAM-disk that claims up
to half your available RAM. I believe that this is self-adjusting -- if you
haven't filled the space and your applications need more memory, the
RAM-disk will shrink. This RAM-disk is just as volatile, however, as the
rest of RAM -- if you actually reboot, or if your battery drains, this
'disk' is lost.

The memory usage being reported by the System Resource Tool the actual
application RAM, so on a 32MB iPAQ, if 20% is in use, you should have about
13MB of RAM free for applications.

> If I upgrade the memory from my IPaq to 64 MB, will I get more memory for
> running my applications, or will I only get more storage space for them?

When people speak of upgrading memory, they usually mean RAM. An upgrade to
64MB will result in a ramfs that will take up to 32MB of RAM, and 32MB of
RAM actually available for your applications.

If you want more non-volatile storage, you will need to either obtain either
a CompactFlash sleeve or a PCMCIA Card sleeve, and one of the many Compact
Flash or microdrive storage solutions. I believe there is a company that
will actually upgrade the in-built Flash, as well, but I think this voids
the warrantee.

Mikey
Received on Wed Aug 22 2001 - 07:34:46 EDT