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View Full Version : Comparing RAM and ROM on different PPC/CE devices


Jonathon Watkins
04-14-2004, 06:58 PM
:?: Guys, I was curious about comparing various devices in regards to RAM and ROM.

On my Axim X5 advanced, I have 64Mb of Ram and 48Mb of ROM, as per the spec. When I go to 'Start, Settings, System, Memory, Main', it shows the 'Total Main Memory' as 63.33MB. In 'Start, Settings, System, Memory, Storage Card, Built-in Storage', the 'Total Stage Card memory' (i.e. the file store) shows as '21.33 Mb'

I am interested in finding out these RAM and ROM figures for as many PPCs and Windows CE devices as I can. I'm also interested in the default Storage and Program memory used by the devices. (This can be seen in the 'In use' memory figures when the unit is new out of the box, or has just been hard reset - NOT that I am suggesting that just to get these figures). :wink:

Would it be possible to post the figures for your device (if not already mentioned in this thread) in the following format:

Device Name: Dell Axim X5 advanced
Operating System: PPC2003
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64Mb
Total RAM shown in System: 63.33Mb
Total ROM (as per device specs): 48Mb
Total user accessible ROM: 21.33Mb
Default Storage Memory 'In use': ??Mb
Default Program Memory 'In use': ??Mb

Each device should only be listed once, apart from where the Operating Systems are different, e.g. a Dell Axim X5 with PPC2002 should still be submitted, as the amount of user accessible ROM will differ. Many thanks for your help. :D

Kevin C. Tofel
04-14-2004, 07:30 PM
Device Name: Toshiba e805
Operating System: WM2003 Premium
Total RAM (as per device specs): 128Mb
Total RAM shown in System: 126.79Mb
Total ROM (as per device specs): 32Mb CMOS Flash & 32Mb NAND
Total user accessible ROM: 31.22Mb

Additional Note: 2Mb memory dedicated (not shared) to video

Thanks,
KCT

dean_shan
04-14-2004, 09:09 PM
Device Name: Toshiba e750
Operating System: WM2003 Premium
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64Mb
Total RAM shown in System: 61.12Mb
Total ROM (as per device specs): 32Mb NAND
Total user accessible ROM: 31.10Mb

Steven Cedrone
04-15-2004, 01:44 AM
Device Name: HP iPAQ 2215
Operating System: Windows Mobile 2003
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64Mb
Total RAM shown in System: 57.11Mb
Total ROM (as per device specs): 32Mb
Total user accessible ROM: 3.84Mb

Device Name: HP Jornada 548
Operating System: Microsoft Pocket PC (2000)
Total RAM (as per device specs): 32Mb
Total RAM shown in System: 31.86Mb
Total ROM (as per device specs): 16Mb
Total user accessible ROM: 0

Steve

Ryan Joseph
04-15-2004, 02:09 AM
Device Name: AnexTEK sp230 PPC Phone
Operating System: Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64MB
Total RAM shown in System: 63.29MB
Total ROM (as per device specs): 32MB
Total user accessible ROM: 3.19MB

DustyLBottoms
04-15-2004, 03:25 AM
Device Name: HP iPAQ 5455
Operating System: Windows Mobile 2003 Premium
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64MB
Total RAM shown in System: 62.64MB
Total ROM (as per device specs): 48MB
Total user accessible ROM: 21.71MB

pdantic
04-15-2004, 03:59 AM
Device Name: HP iPAQ 4150
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® Mobile 2003 Premium for Pocket PC
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64Mb
Total RAM shown in System: 56.77Mb
Total ROM (as per device specs): 32Mb
Total user accessible ROM: 2.8Mb (iPAQ File Store)

I'd post more but for some strange reason the 4150 is the only Pocket PC I've got in my stock right now and I'm sure nobody wants to see memory specs for a pa1mOne Tungsten T3.

:iamwithstupid:

Darius Wey
04-15-2004, 08:06 AM
Device Name: HP iPAQ h1940
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Professional
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64MB
Total RAM shown in System: 56.7MB
Total ROM (as per device specs): 32MB
Total user accessible ROM: 13.24MB (iPAQ File Store)

Steven Cedrone
04-15-2004, 01:05 PM
Device Name: Compaq Aero 2150
Operating System: Microsoft Windows CE 2.0
Total RAM (as per device specs): 16MB
Total RAM shown in System: Does not have this info!
Total ROM (as per device specs): 10MB
Total user accessible ROM: 0

one504
04-15-2004, 03:58 PM
Device Name: TDS Recon 400
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64MB
Total RAM shown in System: 58.24MB
Total ROM (as per device specs): 128MB
Total user accessible ROM: 111.84MB

buckyg
04-15-2004, 04:01 PM
Device Name: HP iPAQ 5555
Operating System: Windows Mobile 2003 Premium
Total RAM (as per device specs): 128MB
Total RAM shown in System: 126.63MB
Total ROM (as per device specs): 48MB
Total user accessible ROM: 17.4MB (iPAQ File Store with ROM v1.10.10)

omikron.sk
04-15-2004, 08:49 PM
Device Name: TDS Recon 400
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64MB
Total RAM shown in System: 58.24MB
Total ROM (as per device specs): 128MB
Total user accessible ROM: 111.84MB
Interesting. So far the first device I've actually seen that has bigger ROM than RAM.

Jonathon Watkins
04-16-2004, 02:02 AM
Device Name: TDS Recon 400
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003
Total RAM (as per device specs): 64MB
Total RAM shown in System: 58.24MB
Total ROM (as per device specs): 128MB
Total user accessible ROM: 111.84MB
Interesting. So far the first device I've actually seen that has bigger ROM than RAM.

Omikron.sk, see our posts on this device here (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25728&) and here (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24944).

One504 - very interesting device - cheers.

Lets keep this thread to the point - more devices please - it's appreciated!

One question though - especially on the HP devices - there is often 8Mb of RAM that can't be accessed. Does anyone know if this is this dedicated to the Kernel, or if something else is going on?

Don't forget to add the factory default Storage and Program memory used. Cheers.

Kowalski
04-17-2004, 12:16 AM
this is because of the ROM structure. most of the ipaqs have nand flash roms and it is impossible to execute a program directly from nand memories.
but nor memory is different.(like found in axims) you can execute directly from nor roms.
this is the reason for axims only having 1-2 megs of unavaible RAM

Jonathon Watkins
04-17-2004, 03:51 PM
this is because of the ROM structure. most of the ipaqs have nand flash roms and it is impossible to execute a program directly from nand memories.
but nor memory is different.(like found in axims) you can execute directly from nor roms.
this is the reason for axims only having 1-2 megs of unavaible RAM

Thanks Kowalski. Does this mean that the iPaqs have 8Mb less memory available to the users overall, or does it balance out? I.e, with most PPCs, 24Mb is used for the Kernel and some of this is loaded into Program memory when the unit is initialised, say 8Mb. Is this the same 8Mb that the iPaqs use from the Memory, or do the iPaqs then use an additional 8Mb of SDRAM Memory on top of this?

Is the 'ROM' of these units actually FlashRAM in NAND and NOR flavours, i.e. non-volatile storage media?

Kowalski
04-19-2004, 12:21 PM
the rom contains the operation system and operation system is consists of both data and executables.
it is impossible to execute a command directly from NAND so when the system is initialized all the executable code is copied to the RAM and executed there, but the data can be read from NAND.
in a technical perspective NOR memories have the abilitiy to address every single bit of memory but NAND can only access to chunks of memory. this is the reason for above statement.
the drawback of NOR flash is that they are expensive then NAND but also faster.
in our case the speed doesnt matter because ipaqs execute the OS directly from RAM
i may be wrong but axims use NOR flash
if you have more questions feel free to ask. since i am a student of engineering of electronics, i have some knowledge about these devices.
ill be glad for further help

Jonathon Watkins
04-19-2004, 12:36 PM
Thanks. That's pretty much what I put up on the front page - so it's good to see that it is correct! :wink:

Talon
04-26-2004, 04:40 PM
OK I'm a little late spotting this thread but...

this is because of the ROM structure. most of the ipaqs have nand flash roms and it is impossible to execute a program directly from nand memories...

Generally you are correct, you can't run directly out of NAND. At least not easily. However a few newer CPUs (not the xscale, I think it's in the OMAP but not documented.) can boot and run directly from nand. They have a state machine that handles it in hardware. But even without that support you don't have to waste 25-30MB of SDRAM in order to run if you use NAND flash.

The TDS Recon (and the Parent company's GeoExplorer PPC range) both use NAND flash for their storage (hence the 128 or 512MB of flash, you couldn't do that with NOR) but still have a huge amount of free RAM. A new feature in PPC2003 (and CE 4) allow you to effectivly page the OS in and out of RAM, this means that you can use NAND flash and still have most of your RAM free.