free internal memory

Hi

I think there is some confusion of how people think memory on the 9210 works, unlike earlier machines using epoc operating systems the c drive of the 9210 does not appear to be the same as the run time memory. I will attempt to explain this....

The 9210 has 4 main areas or memory/storage.

c drive
d drive
z drive
and RAM

c drive
This is basically storage space and is about 4mb in size, this is internal to the phone and cannot be upgraded. I think this is there to ensure the machine can still operate if for some reason the d drive is not present. It doesn't seem to make much difference if this is full or empty, mine is more or less empty but it doesnt matter (empty is a relative term as I can't free up more than about 2.5 meg no matter how much i try)

d drive
This, like the c drive, is basically just storage memory. The difference is that this is the memory card area and is usually 16mb. It seems that this can be upgraded easily to 128mb easily enough. I dont know for sure but given that its a seperate card, this is probably a little slower than the inbuilt memory.

The info for this, and the c drive is available using the Memory application that comes with the 9210.

z drive
This is the ROM where the operating system is stored. It isn't adjustable but it can be viewed using a clever few key presses in file manager.

and RAM

RAM is the memory that the 9210 uses to run programs in. It is 4mb which isnt much and its pretty much impossible to clear more than 3.3mb. To see how much is in use there is a usefull little program called Switcher that looks at the ram and sees whats running, and allows you to close apps that you wouldnt be able to otherwise like the Calendar, and Contacts which are normally running from the point you first use them onwards.

To get things to run you need to close stuff with Switcher or another similar app, though be careful what your closing as some are needed when running the machine.

Hope that helps. Hope im not teaching the granny to suck eggs tho.

Steve

That was an excellent explaining! Thank you mate! but I have another question!
In the Switcher if I press the V keyI can see ALL the running programs... which ones can I close???

I always "kill" every application I used with the key combination;
shift/Ctrl/Chr/K

So i'm very sure the memory (ram) it used is free.

I got used to it and it works fine.

If you press this combination several times if you used more applications, it closes them one by one.

The last one is always the telephone list.

If you press this combination again it closes the internal server and reboots the system.

You can also check and refresh your ram memory whit the freeware program idisk.

Coolmatter look which programs are running when you have just booted your machine. Those apps you see running that are (most certain) the ones you better not close

I've noticed that the 9210 doesn't like to have 'Telephone' killed.

Thanks for the above explanation! Top bloke!

I thought it was the 'c' drive that is used as 'runtime memory' on the 9210. The more I install to the c drive the less memory i have to run applications...
I've probably got it wrong tho heh -/
Also I've just had my phone (3.62) replaced by Orange for a 4.13 version..seem to have a LOT more memory now..used to get about 2.7mb free now i get 3.4mb free....cant see how i get that much extra but i'm not complaining hehe

c drive
d drive
z drive
and RAM

c drive
d drive
z drive
and RAM

I thought in EPOC that all memory banks need to be addressed with a drive letter. So which drive letter is used to address RAM? Isn't the cdrive and RAM in fact the same area?

No that's just from the old Psion days, they've learned that *real* RAM is faster than solid state storage.

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On 2002-06-06 0433, SwitchBlade wrote
No that's just from the old Psion days, they've learned that *real* RAM is faster than solid state storage.

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I get your point, but in this sense ER6 appears to be a step back to DOS/Windows compared to ER5. The assignment of "drive-letters" ought to be independent of what kind of memory it is - whether it is Dynamic RAM, SolidState RAM, FlashRAM or ROM. For instance, if you're doing OPL on a 9210, you cannot access the RAM area with IOWRITE etc.