Hi! My mailserver cannot send mail to the OGO mailing-list, so I'm sending
this directly to you. Please forward it to the list on my behalf. Thanx.
Yes! I just received my Pretec 12MB ATA flash card yesterday, and as far
as I can tell... it works!! I have just about all my Ogo/Geos stuff
installed and working on the card. Used up ~2.2MB so far.
Some key notes:
1. The card came preformatted and fully operational @ only ~11MB :-( So I
only(;-!!) have ~8.7MB left. Mmmm... if (and when?) I can run some DOS
apps... 8^]
2. I did run into a few minor hitches since using the card, but I have no
conclusive evidence to indicate that the card was the problem. I have
tried the following w/ the card: a) Used Omnicomm and the GPK installer via
serial connection w/out problem.
b) Installed GPK's and general stuff via a generic laptop w/ pc-card slot
w/out problem, except w/ the EXTENDED.GPK I downloaded from Max Mansour's
site and one copy of the Inedim Bible Demo. I had another copy of the
Bible Demo GPK that worked, and had to run CHKDSK to recover lost blocks
because the installer hung while installing EXTENDED.GPK.
c) BMS File Manager choked (and hung) whenever I tried to rename the card's
volume label. It also hung on a couple occasions when I was moving files
around between the ramdisk and the card. I think the latter might have
been caused by potential conflicts when moving (copying then deleting??)
files between mirrored folders. Anyway, the card was originally labeled
[UNUSED], but then became [Ai]. I don't remember what I did that cause the
change, and apparently it's not a DOS label since DOS (on the laptop) did
not show the same label and using LABEL did not change what the File
Manager showed. BTW, the card does show up as the E: drive, so I can't use
OgFile unless I fiddle w/ CONFIG.SYS and GEOS.INI. I think I'll live w/out
that.
d) GEOS crashed a few times since I started running most everything off the
card, including the data files for the built-in apps. I usually got a KR-
09 error when it happened, but it seems to happen more often when I have
started and switched between several apps (both built-in and added) in
various assortments. KR-09 is a "Bad handle" error, so it could
conceivably be caused by the card (or the way I'm using the card). Of
course, my Ogo is so hacked up by now that trying to figure out what's
causing it may be futile. I think I can live w/ it for now.
e) My Ogo had some difficulty rebooting on a couple occasions (after it
crashed). It just seemed to hang at the splash screen, but rebooted fine
after I enter the test mode upon 2nd reboots. Haven't had to use a
paperclip yet.
3. My Ogo does not seem to have taken any speed performance hit in any way
since using the card. If it has, it is very minor and hardly noticeable to
me. I did decide to keep a few smaller apps that I run as Desk Accessories
on the ramdisk. I may not need Free ever again w/ 300+K left on my
ramdisk. Well, maybe not never. :-)
BTW, is there a way to increase the Ogo's heap space w/out losing stuff in
the ramdisk? I always assumed that increasing the heap space would shrink
(and reformat?) the ramdisk.
4. The card came in high-performance/higher-power mode by default, and
there is currently no way for an end-user to switch between
performance/power-usage modes. I called up Pretec tech support, and was
told that if I wanted to change modes, I needed to return it to them for
the firmware to be changed. I asked him if end-user software for doing
that is forthcoming, and he told me that they plan to, but is uncertain
when. So I'm going to leave it at the default mode for now and see how
significant is the battery drain before deciding to return it for a little
tune-down. If I can live w/ it, then I'll just wait until they release end-
user software for changing modes.
FYI, Pretec is not yet certain about the performance hit of using power-
saving mode, but power usage is reportedly a little less than 3.5:1 w/ high
mode at 65mA/85mA max read/write. I didn't run into any problems
installing stuff onto the card via the serial port w/ ~2.6 volts left in my
Duracell alkalines, so that's a good sign. I'll let you guys (and gals)
know if my Ogo gets flaky at lower battery levels.
5. Oh, the card has no write-protect mechanism, if that concerns you...
6. What else is there to tell?? Ok... I love this card!! ;-) Go for it!!!
Well, maybe will a little caution. ;-)
Enjoy!!
_Man_