Edward Jong wrote:
>
> My friend just bought an Omnigo. Can he buy flash memory PC-Cards
> to use on the OmniGo? Or is he stuck with those SRAM PC-Cards?
> Thanks
>
Here is what I've been able to figure out so far, listening to the newsgroups,
mailing list and talking to some vendors:
Most SRAM cards should work, but you may have problems getting some of them
formatted. (may need to be formated first on a 200lx or a laptop)
Linear FLASH Ram cards will NOT work. They require built in support or drivers f
or FFS (Flash File System) or FTL(Flash Translation Layer). The Omnigo has no
built in support for this.
Some ATA FLASH Ram cards will work(Pretec, Magicram ...) but may require addtional
drivers. The Omnigo, I've been told has ATA drivers built in (Not well publicized)
The Pretec ATA FLASH cards are supposed to work without any additional drivers.
I have one on the way. The only catch with this card, is the installer program
cannot currently right to it directly. I was told by the salesperson at Pretec
that GEOS will be updating the Installer program soon to work with ATA FLASH cards.
The difference I've been able to see between the cards is speed, cost and power.
The SRAM cards should be faster. (Probably insignificant on a slow PDA). They also
require a lithium battery backup to retain their memory. The cost per Megabyte is
also higher with SRAMS cards (1M ~ $120, 2M ~ 160). The ATA FLASH cards come in
higher densities and cost less per Meg(4M ~ $169, 8M ~ 256). The power draw by the
ATA flash cards seem to be about half that of the SRAM cards. 0.6ma vs 1.0ma for
standby and 30ma vs 100ma for read/write. The price I listed are for new Ram cards.
Direct Moblie is selling 1M used SRAM for $40.
Before buying, don't forget to ask if the card will work with an OGO.
If I made any mistakes or anyone else has more to add, I like to know myself
Dom
dom.romeo@worldnet.att.net
romeo@cs.lmco.com