1GB - That is Gigabyte - Of RAM on my iPAQ 3900!

[Ed Hansberry]

I have a friend that works at the local Dell plant here in Nashville TN with a degree in Computer Engineering and specializes in RAM. He did some work with HP on the Jornada 540 series a few years ago and knows a little about RAM and the Pocket PC OS.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2003/20030401-1gbipaq.gif" /><br /><br />He performed surgery on his iPAQ 3900 a week or so ago and has had no issues and offered to do mine this past weekend. I picked it up on the way home last night. The only side effect is the memory slider cannot be moved due to the way the Windows CE kernel accesses memory, it is fixed at roughly 512MB per side - storage and program memory. The next step is writing a driver that can take that 512MB of program memory and cut it down to 64MB or so and turn the balance into another storage partition, sort of like a file store. He has already started on it and should be ready to test on his iPAQ in the next few days. He has no word on pricing yet, but it won't be cheap. You could probably buy an iPAQ 5450 and have enough left over for a 512MB SD card for what this upgrade will cost just because of the expense of the RAM itself. Still, if you have to have RAM, this could be the ticket. :D He expects to have everything nailed down in the next two to three weeks. I'll be able to provide a link at that time which will have final pricing and exactly what devices are upgradable.

[yschang]

WOW!!!! 8O
what do we need memory expansion slots for???
well... with this...installing program in SD card will be a thing of the past...
and also, my pocket will be so empty that I won't have money left to buy food... :lol:
PS: How long does it take you to make this screen shot? Very convincing I have to say...

[krisbrown]

:mrgreen:

:D :wink: :? 8) :lol:

[a_feigl]

Sounds great, and expensive. How badly do you think the battery will be affected??? Would be quite interesting...

[cyp]

:mrgreen:

:D :wink: :? 8) :lol:

my sentiments exactly :wink: :wink: :wink:

[TopDog]

1. of april today !?

[Rok]

:lol:
Cute. Also, the "Palm rulez" over PPCT logo made my laugh out loud :twisted:

On a serious note, if it were actually possible to stuff this much RAM into a current iPAQ, it would probably suck the battery dry in about an hour :(

Cheers,
Rok

[ricksfiona]

It's kinda like Jesse James and his motorcycles....

[nosmohtac]

On a serious note, if it were actually possible to stuff this much RAM into a current iPAQ, it would probably suck the battery dry in about an hour :(

Cheers,
Rok

How does having more RAM lower battery life? I would think it wouldn't be much different than having a 1GB CF card installed. Actually I would think it would be better than a storage card, because the access times would be less processor intensive.

[kao123]

:mrgreen: He He good one :mrgreen:

[jayman]

Well my mate over at Sony gave me the new theoretical 32gb Memory Stick Pro card and all I had to do was snip a bit off the end and cross out the pro with magic marker and it works perfectly in my XDA's SD slot.
He only charged me $3 paypal as well - but sorry he has no plans to make this commercially available as he feels nobody actually wants that much RAM.

[Rok]

How does having more RAM lower battery life? I would think it wouldn't be much different than having a 1GB CF card installed. Actually I would think it would be better than a storage card, because the access times would be less processor intensive.
RAM uses power. That's why you loose data if your battery goes flat. More memory uses more power... Flash memory does not need any electricity to keep the data stored. RAM, unfortunately, does.

Cheers,
Rok

[Pony99CA]

I wondered about this being a joke, because I recalled something about the Pocket PC OS not supporting more than 64 MB RAM. I checked Pocket PC Techs (http://www.pocketpctechs.com/) and found that was correct; their 256 MB RAM upgrade (http://www.pocketpctechs.com/PPC_FAQ/ppc_stacked.asp) partitions the memory into 64 MB of main RAM and a 192 MB storage disk (I don't know if you can run programs directly from it, though).

Steve

[sponge]

The more RAM there is, the more power needed to keep the RAM alive. There would be quite a noticeable difference if one cou... I mean when you get that RAM upgrade :P

[Timothy Rapson]

Will this sync witht the new Sony Pro-VT90 Palm OS laptop? If batter life is bad, you could add the wrist motion charger from the PDA wristwatch that Smaller.com had on their sight 2 years ago today. That was wonderful. Wonder what ever happened to it?

Ed gets all the cool stuff.

[Venturello]

WOW!!! 8O

For a few minutes, I had forgotten the date, and I was totally wowed and praying 'let it be cheap, let it be cheap', heh. 'Cheap' as in my credit card payments, this (which I doubt is doable) would not come cheap with current tech.

[Eitel]

I wondered about this being a joke, because I recalled something about the Pocket PC OS not supporting more than 64 MB RAM. I checked Pocket PC Techs (http://www.pocketpctechs.com/) and found that was correct; their 256 MB RAM upgrade (http://www.pocketpctechs.com/PPC_FAQ/ppc_stacked.asp) partitions the memory into 64 MB of main RAM and a 192 MB storage disk (I don't know if you can run programs directly from it, though).

Steve

Actually, the 39xx supports up to 128mb of main RAM.

http://www.pocketpctechs.com/detail.asp?Product_ID=I39-064-128RAM

[WillyG]

:lol: Dont believe anything you read today :wink:

[Steven Cedrone]

I wondered about this being a joke, because I recalled something about the Pocket PC OS not supporting more than 64 MB RAM. I checked Pocket PC Techs (http://www.pocketpctechs.com/) and found that was correct; their 256 MB RAM upgrade (http://www.pocketpctechs.com/PPC_FAQ/ppc_stacked.asp) partitions the memory into 64 MB of main RAM and a 192 MB storage disk (I don't know if you can run programs directly from it, though).

Steve
We had a discussion (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10213&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) about this a few weeks ago...

Steve

[phenderson]

LOL

You guys should check out some of the jaw droppers at

At Pocket Gamer...
http://www.pocketgamer.org/homeindex.php

[saljamex]

On a serious note, if it were actually possible to stuff this much RAM into a current iPAQ, it would probably suck the battery dry in about an hour :(

Cheers,
Rok

How does having more RAM lower battery life? I would think it wouldn't be much different than having a 1GB CF card installed. Actually I would think it would be better than a storage card, because the access times would be less processor intensive.

I agree with you, the only thing could be the memory access time, hope if doesn't affects the main CPU speed. 8)

[thanos255]

I am not going to be able to handle anything today, I am going back to sleep!!!!

:)

Thanks

Thanos

[huangzhinong]

Good job(Joke!), I knew this guy too.

Anyway, Happy Apr. 1st.

[Don't Panic!]

I almost plotzed when I read this. I'm sending off my 3975 to PPC Techs today for the 128Mb upgrade and now this. You guys are cruel, cruel, cruel. :devilboy:

Got me good. :lol:

Don't Panic!
Bobby

[Will T Smith]

On a serious note, if it were actually possible to stuff this much RAM into a current iPAQ, it would probably suck the battery dry in about an hour :(

Cheers,
Rok

How does having more RAM lower battery life? I would think it wouldn't be much different than having a 1GB CF card installed. Actually I would think it would be better than a storage card, because the access times would be less processor intensive.

Yes, I know these are april fools topics. This is an intersting topic though.

First, the Sytem RAM contributes VERY LITTLE to the battery consumption of a PocketPC style device. The undisputed prize of power consumption is .... The back/side lit screen (transreflective or otherwise). The second power abuser ... the CPU. Yes every component DOES require power but when analyzing WHY the device runs down so quickly one must ALWAYS address the largest abusers FIRST.

In any case, a 20x increase in RAM would imply a 20x increase in RAM power consumption. This isn't flash, it's low-power (somewhat slower) RAM that DOES require refreshes. However, I would speculate that one COULD implement such a scheme, BUT potentially minimize impact.

As memory capacities increase, it's likely that a large proportion of users will simply NOT USE large portions of available RAM. What is needed is a system that
1) Periodically performs RAM defragmentation, and compacts RAM.
2) Memory controllers that can automatically turn of unused banks of RAM WITHOUT affecting the OS in any way.

Beyond that the ever increasing storage capacities MAY lead to different hybrid strategies in PocketPC storage. Right now, it's a unified architecture that draws little distinction between primary and secondary storage (save "backup" storage (the flash ROM and flash cards)).

Programs are installed DIRECTLY to RAM, that's why they have backup batteries to preserve the contents of RAM in case the primary battery fails (as many iPaq 3600 owners (including myself) know WAY TO WELL!!!!!!!). Power failure means a "hard-reset" and loss of all your data and installed apps.

I believe it's likely that higher capacities may lead to a hybrid system that could include different memory banks for different purposes. Higher speed memory for stacks and heaps. NAND style memory (not power sensitive) for user documents and registry. On top of it all would be a memory controller that could would allow for user-directed and dynamic "overflow" into different memory areas depending on need. This of course would be VERY OS intensive.

This may seem complicated. However, as capacity increases, the mode of the traditional primary/secondary storage model may become more and more pressing. In the tablet area, I believe that more use of Flash type memories and NAND may become more prevalent as the TabletXP and Mira type devices become more specialized and more "appliance" like.

A move towards multiple-memory architecture devices may become a serious trend and ultimately unavoidable.

[bljarv]

8O

All I can think of to say is, "WHOA!"

[mc_03]

It's funny how 3 people posting on this thread thought it was real :wink:

[Ed Hansberry]

It's funny how 3 people posting on this thread thought it was real :wink:
That is because I am soooooooOoOoO good! :lol:

[Don't Panic!]

No Doubt, regardless of the poll results this was the best.

Don't Panic!
Bobby