Want 128 MB of RAM in your iPAQ 2215?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketpctechs.com/default.asp?REFERER=PPCTHTS' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketpctechs.com/defaul...REFERER=PPCTHTS</a><br /><br /></div>Sure you do! The geniuses over at Pocket PC Techs have released a swanky new upgrade that adds on an additional 64 MB of RAM into the iPAQ 2215, giving you a massive 128 of system RAM! The extra 64 MB of RAM shows up as a storage card, and requires a special driver, but when I received my iPAQ 2215 back from PPC Techs a few weeks ago, everything was already set up for me. The drivers are impressive - in addition to allowing you to access the extra 64 MB of RAM, you can move AvantGo and/or Internet Temp files to the extra RAM storage. You can also set the device up to clear the Internet temporary files after each soft reset. Cool!<br /><br />Having an extra 64 MB of RAM in my iPAQ 2215 was cool enough, but here's what really surprised me: when I did a <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/ipaq-comparison.gif">before and after test using Spb Benchmark</a>, I saw a huge increase in ActiveSync performance speeds, specifically in the area of uploading files to the device (the rest of the test differences are statistical anomalies). I thought this was strange, but Leonard Wesson at PPC Techs confirmed that he saw the same thing in testing. Whatever the reason, who wouldn't want a faster iPAQ with more memory?<br /><br />The upgrade costs $159 - it's not cheap, but this is hotrod modding stuff after all, both from a hardware and software standpoint. :mrgreen: Better yet, if you want to save 10% off the price, use the coupon code THOUGHTS when checking out. [Affiliate]

[Autarch]

Very cool. How does Jason get this stuff before it's even announced? (It's good to be Editor :mrgreen: ). This is what I was hoping the 2200 would be when it was first released. Now in a few months I'll need to choose between this upgrade and the 4000 series.

[Boxster S]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just get a larger SD card since this "upgrade" shows up as a storage card anyway and not as extra program memory??

If you just get a large SD card, you'd still have your CF slot for Wi-Fi, GPS, etc. You can get 128MB and 256MB SD cards for cheap nowadays. CF versions are even cheaper. Better yet, spend a little bit more money than this "upgrade" and get a 512MB SD card.

512MB Pansonic SD card -- $189

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3625855

[Autarch]

Guess I was assuming that by "shows up as a storage card" Jason meant it was called a card in File Explorer but still performs like RAM. Isn't that correct?

[Boxster S]

Guess I was assuming that by "shows up as a storage card" Jason meant it was called a card in File Explorer but still performs like RAM. Isn't that correct?
I dunno...When he said that it showed up as a storage card, that made me think that it was being seen as one.

[jage]

The results are completely unsurprising, because the normal Storage memory drivers employ compression, slowing it down a bit.

How does it affect the battery life?

Some miscellaneous thoughts:

Is XIP (execute in place) possible from it somehow (hmm... probably not)? Is it possible to disable the expansion RAM file system driver and get address of the new memory space and use it for other purposes in your own programs? A small .dll heap manager for the memory, maybe? I could imagine for example photo processing software benefiting greatly from that.

Well, yeah, you can always memory map the area, although it's not the same thing... :(

[Jason Dunn]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just get a larger SD card since this "upgrade" shows up as a storage card anyway and not as extra program memory??

I think you're missing the point. This upgrade is for people who want to have more usable RAM without needing external memory cards. If that's not what you want, you wouldn't get this upgrade. Simple.

The fact that it doesn't show up as program memory isn't a concern for me - when I'm installing programs, I just install them to the T2T internal RAM, which performs as fast as main RAM, but is nicely isolated unto itself.

[Jason Dunn]

Guess I was assuming that by "shows up as a storage card" Jason meant it was called a card in File Explorer but still performs like RAM. Isn't that correct?

That's correct. It's full speed RAM, not slower Flash ROM, but it shows up as an internal storage card so you can install things to it, move things to it (like the AvantGo files, etc.).

[rodkar]

Speaking of AvantGo. Does anyone know how to move the AvantGo files to a SD card and let them synch from there permanently? I am surprised the client program doesn't offer such capability.

[jage]

Speaking of AvantGo. Does anyone know how to move the AvantGo files to a SD card and let them synch from there permanently? I am surprised the client program doesn't offer such capability.

No, don't move frequently changed files to SD or CF! Those include Pocket IE's cache files and AvantGo. Flash has only limited life, only 10 000 - 100 000 reprogramming cycles. You might think you're not going to sync avantgo 100 000 times - but remember the file allocation table, a special bookkeeping area in the filesystem, needs to be updated whenever the file system adds a file or removes a file -- that happens pretty many times per sync! Yes, maybe even hundreds of times, on the same physical block on the flash memory.

I guess that's the reason both frequently changed AvantGo and Internet Explorer cache do NOT offer options to do so, while the underlying code supports it.

Of course, you can make a simple registry hack to move the files on CF or SD anyways...