Missing RAM - Touch HD General

HTC state that the blackstone has 288MB of ram installed .Throught the various roms a have tried the avalable total ram varies between 195mb and 207mb nowhere near the 288MB that is installed. the question is where is this missing ram bqing used if at all ans if not where is the controll for the ram useage and how can we fully utalise the ram imstalled.
hows can we use all the ram installed on our blackstones there must me some modification or change that will allow us utilize ram fully.

A quick reply :
Its used by ROM-- its like running explorer.exe in windows, or something!!!
But I dont know correctly and I would also wish to hear the full storyof "why is ram missing???"

Just a little google result: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/11/29/498154.aspx
Afaik stuff like the page pool is used for this. Also the built in GPU is using this part of the RAM as its own.

i know that the rom some how takes this ram why i dont know or if its evan useing it because othere htc devices with basicaly the same hardwear setup show the full ram and other devices from htc all show the full amount or ram installed.
if anyone knows the full reasons ans mechibism for this please can you inform me. evam if its being used maybe theres a way to optimise it and use more for programs.
i know its not fixed cos between different roms iv used ic seen it vary between 93 and 81mb

i know that the rom some how takes this ram why i dont know or if its evan useing it because othere htc devices with basicaly the same hardwear setup show the full ram and other devices from htc all show the full amount or ram installed.
if anyone knows the full reasons ans mechibism for this please can you inform me. evam if its being used maybe theres a way to optimise it and use more for programs.
i know its not fixed cos between different roms iv used ic seen it vary between 93 and 81mb missing. so it can definatly varie but can we get full use of it.

i think i've read somewhere that the gpu itself uses 64MB as its cache. so 288-64=224MB
subtract the bootloader, bios (not sure if pdas have bios, but from my understandings, it should...)
nobody really cares that a HP comp with integrated gpu onboard, with 1024MB ram installed, shows smth like 980MB in windows.. its the same, bios, gpu cache etc..
On this pda its more visible cause 64MB from say 2048MB is nothing, 64MB from 288MB is 22%
but, i can be wrong...

clarity
ok iv done a bit of testing. its definatly not the page pool iv used a tool to adjust the page pool and it had no effec. the bios dosnt use ram they use eeprom. and the bootloader shouldnt segragate ram so the ram it uses should still register in windows. but someone who knows exactly what the missing ram is doing would be able to tell us for sure. so anyone out there that dose know please help.

x1 use some of the ram for "video card" mem
not sure if the same is true for blackstone

shazk21 said:
HTC state that the blackstone has 288MB of ram installed .Throught the various roms a have tried the avalable total ram varies between 195mb and 207mb nowhere near the 288MB that is installed. the question is where is this missing ram bqing used if at all ans if not where is the controll for the ram useage and how can we fully utalise the ram imstalled.
hows can we use all the ram installed on our blackstones there must me some modification or change that will allow us utilize ram fully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
256 MB RAM + 32 MB for GPU = 288 MB RAM

They included the RAM used by the radio core to device specs, 32 out of 288Mb are used by the radio core, so main core is only able to access 256Mb directly. Frame buffer for GPU, kernel log, etc. are allocated from these 256Mb too, so you get even less for the OS. OS kernel (data) resides partially in RAM, so you would typically get <192Mb available after kernel boot that goes down to <128Mb after all drivers, services and user programs are loaded.
I never ran out of RAM on my Blackstone so far, why is this a problem to you?

stepw said:
They included the RAM used by the radio core to device specs, 32 out of 288Mb are used by the radio core, so main core is only able to access 256Mb directly. Frame buffer for GPU, kernel log, etc. are allocated from these 256Mb too, so you get even less for the OS. OS kernel (data) resides partially in RAM, so you would typically get <192Mb available after kernel boot that goes down to <128Mb after all drivers, services and user programs are loaded.
I never ran out of RAM on my Blackstone so far, why is this a problem to you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not talking about crashing and freezing constantly but it dosnt take much to bog the system down.
hit about 65% it starts to slow more than 70% and ur living in slow motion more than 80% and your grinding to a hault. the % iv stated are representative of used ram as shown by htc task manager.
i do alot of surfing and that alond can gets me into the 60s and 70s espetialy if there more complex graphic based sites. i also use my phone as a remote client amoungst otherthingsand multi tasking is out of the question as you dont have much room to move memory wise.
secondly its about optimisation from what i can tell from the specs the blackstone can perform much better than it dose an varying fields if we can resolve something holing back its performance then were one step closer to fully utalising the heardware.
as gregy74 informed us 32mb is for the gpu which makes the numbers make sence. the radio heardware wont share memory arcitecrure withe the devices main memory its also very unlickly the gpu dose that would mean that 225mb of heardware was installed, now knowing what i know about memory (not specific to pdas unfortunatly) that is very hard and uneconomical.
as iv stated there has been qute a varyance in total ram visable to the os if some of this ram that is partitioned away is used by kurnals y such a varyance and would it not be possable to use the internal flash to load these perhaps in a seperat partion.
lastly and importantly to be clear step w i am not talking about the amount of ram avalable after a full boot (oh and the kurnals drivers ect are part of the os) i am talking about the total amount of ram visable to the os.

Related

MDAPro Just a few questions?

Forgive me for not really being able to search deeply into this matter, I've seen threads detailing updating with the JasJar ROM or an amalgamation of the the MDA/O2 ROM.
1) I have 43.72mb total storage and 47.93mb Program storage. This results in 91.65mb total storage??? Right, at 128megs where has 40mbs gone? I have pretty much the exact same set up on the MDA3 yet the two figures more or less add up to 128mb. Can someone confirm these figures with me?
2) Is there a new ROM coming out and soon? I'm not one to complain if results are going to happen, but the memory issue is a biggy to me as there is one more program I want to install on the thing and I doubt there will be enough free memory.
3) Software, I'm sure there was a better suite of software on the MDA3 when that came out. Okay time consuming it may be but sometimes I do like to run Messenger when I'm on the train - where has it gone? And if Microsoft think I'm going to pay £10.99 more for that feature they can go swivel. I followed a thread that said it's included in Windows - it's not on the MDA Pro.
I really love the design of the thing but the software just seems to be a joke. Where do I start? I have posted the MDA3 for sale on Ebay and I want to honour that sale, but I also want a device that replaces my MDA3 100%.
This includes getting TomTom 5 to work with my BT GPS receiver!!!
1. Sorry not sure about the memory
2. I havent heard of a new T-mobile ROM being available and they never seemed to work on any updates for the MDAiii
3. The software suite was better - I miss my messenger too and like you I am reluctant to pay microsoft a tenner! The backup software isnt avialbel either which is an arse.
4. Good luck with TT5 I had to upgrade my co-pilot to get it to work on new os.
If at all possible could anyone with the MDAPro and the carrier ROM please do a memory check on theirs to compare with mine?
If you're not sure how to do it - Start/Settings/System/Memory, I just need the total figures for Storage and Program
I have the same memory CONFIG as you have stated!
In WM5 you have separate ROM & RAM configuration unlike WM2k3...
So here's how ur memory is split up -
1. RAM 64MB
Out of 64 megs of RAM, you loose roughly 17MB on internal allocation. For the device to run perfectly it has various fixed RAM permanently allocated (DMA buffers (for ur cameras etc.), kernel level memory allocation, GSM memory, video memory, mem swap space, cache etc.). This total memory fixed can vary from device to device, and each company can tweak it accordingly. Eventually, the OS has roughly 47MB for use. Now again, when WM5 powers up, it again consumes around 17megs of RAM, giving you 30-32 megs of ram to use for your programs or apps!
2. ROM 128MB (permanent storage)
This is divided into the following -
a. OS install: This is where WM5 related files etc. gets stored. This is a total of 64Megs
b. Extended ROM: This is used by maufacturers to store their customizations etc. Another 20megs allocated for this
c. User storage: This is the space available for you to install programs, and for windows to bloat Thats 43megs that you find!
Hope this clears out
Cheers,
San
Thanks for you response having had an XDA for some time and then the MDA I was just quite suprised to see a Memory low warning message so quickly as I never saw one on the MDA3. I wanted to confirm that I wasn't having memory issues.

Simple questions on memory allocation

It took me a while to realize I'm confused, but it seems I'm confused about Hermes/WM5 memory allocation.
I've been using PocketPC's since PPC2000, there (and in PPC2002, PPC2003) the o/s resides in flash, and RAM is partitioned between storage and program memory. Thus, loading lots of applications to the device reduces the amount of program memory available for actually running programs. Those o/s had a slider to influence the balance of memory allocated.
Since I got my 8525 I've been assuming that it worked the same way, despite the loss of the memory slider. There have always been indications that I was wrong though - I never saw the memory balance shift, and nothing I've done seems to increase the program memory. Even removing several applications from Storage and installing them in Extended ROM didn't help. I'd LIKE to free up more program memory so apps like Mapopolis can use a LOT of it....
My Start->Settings->System->Memory page shows 56.22MB (Total) for Storage and 49.08MB (Total) for Program. When reading about the Samsung "stacked" (aka MCM) processor I realized that none of the variants listed had more than 64MB SDRAM, and 56.22+49.08 > 64!!!
It seems like either "Storage" now equals flash memory (vs volatile RAM in PPC2003 et al.) and/or there's more the 64MB of SDRAM in the Hermes or something. If all 64MB were available I'd expect more Program memory than 49MB....
I'm confused - Can someone explain or point me to an explanation of how the Hermes/WM5 allocates that SDRAM?
TIA,
Richard
Hermes has Samsung KD5657ACA-D090 chip provides 128Mb NAND Flash + 64Mb Mobile SDRAM. See here:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Hermes_HardwareOverview
pof said:
Hermes has Samsung KD5657ACA-D090 chip provides 128Mb NAND Flash + 64Mb Mobile SDRAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks pof! That's the one I thought it was - but I'm even more confused about the allocation of the 64MB now. If all of it goes to Program, how come I only get 49MB? If it gets split, how come Storage + Program is more than 64MB?
Ugh, I'm confused
Richard
rsolomon said:
Thanks pof! That's the one I thought it was - but I'm even more confused about the allocation of the 64MB now. If all of it goes to Program, how come I only get 49MB? If it gets split, how come Storage + Program is more than 64MB?
Ugh, I'm confused
Richard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These sometimes confuses people...
But, the stated "Storage: 56.96" is the 128MB part, in that resides the whole OS, ExtROM etc. So in the end there is only 56.96 available for the system to use, plus the other installed programs that cuts it down to about 30MB free after a clean boot (that's just the way it is thanks to our lovely microsoft programmers <3)
The thing is that when you boot your device, the machine loads the whole OS to the running program memory and allocates some of it to important system files, that's why there is 48.80 total and then there is the rest running programs that take space, and about 30MB is free after clean boot on my device.
That's the way it has been programmed, mobile device programming is alot frustrating than on desktop PCs, so the memory handling is very important.
And don't mix those two when you said "56.22+49.08 > 64!!!", they are two separate memoryes. (56.xx being the 128 part and 49.xx being the 64 part).
Don't ask why microsoft excluded the memory allocation slider, maybe the older devices and OSs were differently programmed (memory handling).
gvoima said:
But, the stated "Storage: 56.96" is the 128MB part, in that resides the whole OS, ExtROM etc. So in the end there is only 56.96 available for the system to use, plus the other installed programs that cuts it down to about 30MB free after a clean boot (that's just the way it is thanks to our lovely microsoft programmers <3)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That much is logical - not all 128MB of the flash is allocated to the file system mounted as "Storage" - clearly some is for Bootloader, Radio, etc.
Are you really saying the OS and user-writable storage share a filesystem? That seems counter-intuitive to me, though presumably there are user-inaccessible flags to prevent over-writing system files. In PPC2003 there was a ROM file system and a RAM filesystem overlaid so they appeared together. You seem to be saying that in WM5 the user filesystem lives in a portion of the flash - unlike a portion of RAM as it did in PPC2000-2003.
gvoima said:
The thing is that when you boot your device, the machine loads the whole OS to the running program memory and allocates some of it to important system files, that's why there is 48.80 total
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're saying WM5 hides ~16MB worth of RAM usage? Did PPC2003 execute O/S files in place then? I mean I can see that the o/s and running programs would take up space, but it's unclear to me why WM5 would report total memory lower than 64MB in that case.
TIA,
Richard
See also this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=278903
Got it
pof said:
See also this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=278903
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, that's got it - the MSDN blog links (that Lurker0 linked http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1027392) at least squared me away. Lemme see if I can summarize my own questions:
0) Prior to WM5 most of the OS *was* eXecute In Place (XIP) - certainly on the devices I owned. Now most devices do not support XIP for most of the O/S so more RAM is used in general to compensate.
1) Prior to WM5, PocketPC "Storage" *was* in RAM (for user data), with WM5 it's ALL in flash. Thus there's no sense installing to ExtendedROM vs Storage, because you still can't free up any RAM
2) WM5 *does* hide ~15MB of RAM usage - because they want to. So "Program" really is RAM and it's just stupid that reported Total doesn't match physical Total.
I was tainted by my previous PPC exposure I guess. Half the RAM means that Mapopolis for instance will then always be slower on my WM5 device than on my PPC2003 device - half the SDRAM clock speed doesn't help here either (iPAQ 5555 vs Hermes)
Thanks all!
Richard
1. There are still reasons to use Extended ROM instead of the Storage. The Storage is required for many tasks by the OS, it is wise to keep at least some megs of it free. But, as you can read around, not everything is recomennded for installing on a flash card. Here the External ROM can be in help, adding the storage that is always accessible by OS, and is not used by other means.
2. You may call it "hide" but WM5 actually uses it. Well, the way it uses such an amount of RAM makes it hidden from the tools that calculate total available RAM. But that paging pool is a wise solution. For instance, Symbian OS 9.1 phones (S60 3rd edition, UIQ3.0) use RAM uniformly, and, as such, the same 64MB is just not enough for all (OS, built-in apps, user installed apps). WM5, employing the virtual memory, uses RAM a smarter way.
Lurker0 said:
2. You may call it "hide" but WM5 actually uses it. Well, the way it uses such an amount of RAM makes it hidden from the tools that calculate total available RAM. But that paging pool is a wise solution. For instance, Symbian OS 9.1 phones (S60 3rd edition, UIQ3.0) use RAM uniformly, and, as such, the same 64MB is just not enough for all (OS, built-in apps, user installed apps). WM5, employing the virtual memory, uses RAM a smarter way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed - by "hide" I simply meant not reporting it. I'd be fine with MS showing 64MB total with 14MB used - I just got thrown by showing 50MB "Total". I grok their rationale for that reporting choice, I just don't agree
As I alluded above, I have a specific target app which performed well on a PPC2003 system with 128MB of RAM and which is performing much slower on a WM5 system with 64MB RAM. Reducing the app's dataset (maps in this case) brings performance back in line, so I believe I have a memory issue. I'm running an older version of the app due to a bug which is still outstanding against the WM5-certified versions, so I'm likely not getting any help the app COULD be giving the OS. Bummer for me
On the plus side, I've learned a bunch about WM5 memory usage which I didn't know yesterday....
Thanks!
Richard

RAM size smaller?

Why is it certain devices doesn't allow all RAM to usable?
for example ASUS A620 has 58MB out of 64MB RAM. Does it depend on PocketPC 2003 OS is in it?, does this limitation dissapear if Linux or other is used?
The operating system is copied into RAM when the phone starts up. On any OS, even if the bulk of the OS can run directly from ROM or flash memory, some RAM will be required in order to store volatile data.
RAM ISSUES: = http://www.emobistudio.com/memoryup_wm.html
Jinty said:
Why is it certain devices doesn't allow all RAM to usable?
for example ASUS A620 has 58MB out of 64MB RAM. Does it depend on PocketPC 2003 OS is in it?, does this limitation dissapear if Linux or other is used?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of the RAM is used in PagePool, some is used for the Radio ROM, some is used for the XIP, all of which are system usages, and cannot be prevented. 58 out of 64 is pretty good going, on my Prophet I get 48-50 depending on the PagePool

20080616> Can WM 6.1 have 64 MB Program Memory?

Requests/suggestions please for WM 6.1 cookers considering their next release:
- 64 MB Program Memory
- Absolute bare skeleton WM 6.1
- essential candidates for removal:
> customer feedback
> windows live
> any windows help & support related bloatware
> error reporting
> search
> windows media player
> any animated items, icons, etc..
> junk items under \windows; unnecessary gif,jpg,bmp,png
etc, text files
- single boot screen, no splash, animations etc..
minimize WM 6.1 boot time
- removal of other misc bloatware, vaporware that are not
core to the function, speed and stability of WM 6.1
======================================================
To the site Administrators:
-------------------------
- can we initiate a donation bucket in which people may contribute
and pool donations?
- 1 month period (or other) in which donations can be collected and
cookers may submit their best releases
- the people (users) vote during the period on what they find to be
the most efficient, stable, fast, clean and best performing rom.
- at the end of the period the donation pool is distributed to the top 3
most voted cookers, e.g. 60%/25%/15% respectively.
======================================================
Suggestions, ideas, recommendations, criticism etc certainly
welcome.
Thanks to all
--kara
64M program memory mean No WM.
why?
is there a maximum?
Thanks,
ks1781 said:
why?
is there a maximum?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are really someone )
Trinity have only 64MB build in , how come it have 64MB program memory ? DId you have brain ?
--yes,
if the device has 64 MB SDRAM, why is it that most cooked roms
generally present approx. 50 MB of that?
is this a limitation or is missing 14 MB used for a special purpose?
Thanks for any advice.
?? because it takes up space to install the operating system.. even a 'bare bones' operating system is still an operating system..
did you ever wonder why there's space missing from your hard drive after you install windows xp?
http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=470
Memory ROM: 128 MB
RAM: 64 MB SDRAM
What is the ROM 128 MB designated for?
Thanks for your patience with me.
--kara
if i understand him correctly, he is referring to the program memory i.e. RAM not ROM. the 128MB ROM is meant for installation of OS (WM) where the 64MB RAM is the execution power. we normally get ~20MB-25MB RAM free out of 64MB total. i believed the rest (64MB - 25MB) was used for other services once WM started.
yes, that is what i'm trying to understand..
in this p3600 specification from HTC:
http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=470
it lists>
128 MB ROM
64 MB RAM
=================================================
for the 128 MB ROM
I assume the 128 MB ROM contains the OS installation, with
some component of this ROM hidden/reserved.
E.g. some cooked roms released have 'Big Storage'
~70 MB available to the user for NV storage
the remaining 58 MB comprises OS installation and a reserved
area.
=================================================
for the 64 MB RAM
This is the volatile memory available for the OS to boot & run, and
for program execution.
However, on most cooked roms I have used, under
Settings -> System -> Memory
'Program Total' is reported as ~50 MB.
So my question is - where is the remaining 14 MB RAM??
as dum as it sounds i've wondered about that too
even formatting issues aside (like how hard drive capacity is always lower than reported), 14MB seems like a lot to 'go missing'.
why doesnt WM even report it? because its being used by the system for services? so then why does it ALSO report itself using around 20MB of what's left?
that way, it's like 14 MB used (hidden) + approx. 20MB reported (shown) = approx. 34MB total? :/ hmm
ks1781 said:
So my question is - where is the remaining 14 MB RAM??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK - You have a PC with 1GB of RAM say. Once say windows xp has booted up - your AV started etc. you probably have 684MB say of RAM left, so Where did the other 340MB of RAM go to?
Think about it.
wtf i still don't get it... dont be mad
i mean mine reports 2096236 KB... a full 2048MB of RAM
BUT of course 100-300 minimum will always be in use for the system itself
whereas in WM, it reports like 48MB total, AND say approx. 20MB in use
ok so the 20MB minimum in use will ALWAYS be in use because of windows mobile itself. FINE.
but why does it only represent 48MB as available?
and if that is the case, there's that missing unreported 12MB, PLUS that minimum 20MB always in use
that's what im curious about
Just think that Windows XP takes 250/300 mb of ram space....
PS: Please edit your title... Someone could understand that you really have a 64mb free ram rom......
joncgde2 said:
wtf i still don't get it... dont be mad
i mean mine reports 2096236 KB... a full 2048MB of RAM
BUT of course 100-300 minimum will always be in use for the system itself
whereas in WM, it reports like 48MB total, AND say approx. 20MB in use
ok so the 20MB minimum in use will ALWAYS be in use because of windows mobile itself. FINE.
but why does it only represent 48MB as available?
and if that is the case, there's that missing unreported 12MB, PLUS that minimum 20MB always in use
that's what im curious about
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it is for the Radio Rom etc...or maybe Microsoft are stealing Ram and stockpiling it....lol
This is actually a valid question.
The system has 64MB of ram, some how 14MB of this ram is allocated away before the OS loads. This leaves 50MB of ram left for the OS, which uses about 20 MB and leaves 30 MB of ram for applications.
I think everyone understands this part.
The question is, what part of the phone is pre-allocating 14MB of ram.
My only guess is the videocard, if not that then it might be the pagefile.
tetsuo55 said:
This is actually a valid question.
The system has 64MB of ram, some how 14MB of this ram is allocated away before the OS loads. This leaves 50MB of ram left for the OS, which uses about 20 MB and leaves 30 MB of ram for applications.
I think everyone understands this part.
The question is, what part of the phone is pre-allocating 14MB of ram.
My only guess is the videocard, if not that then it might be the pagefile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it really matter where it goes? Obviously if that memory hasn't been exploited yet by the excellent cookers etc in here....then it can't be of any benefit.
I concur with tetsuo55.
The reasoning proposed by Andych and others still does not quite
correlate.
i.e. 64 = 14 (OS) + ~20 (progs) + ~30 free
the ~20 is supposedly attributed to basic progs,
e.g. phone, filesys, mail etc..
A listing of such process summates to approx. 8 MB total.
That still leaves 12 MB of unaccounted for basic function
and userland process consumption.
Regarding the ATI video chip, general investigation and
settings check of tcpmp would suggest at best it is a
4 MB chip (whether dedicated or shared)
I cant see the 'remaining ~14 MB' that I'm searching for
being used for paging. Paging is part of overall virtual memory,
and involves page outs/ins to a location on some type
of physical media. Additionally, with the usual ~ 30 MB
ram free, in the context of these devices, a swap requirement
is unlikely given the 'free' memory available.
Although 14 MB may seem peanuts compared to standard desktop
ram configurations today - with a p3600 + WM, recovering the
14 MB (if possible) would provide a much welcomed bonus to
the trinity.
--kara
ahh now we're onto something good work ks1781...
i fully agree with the need to just find out the answer to this... most likely it's something that will be perfectly explainable and make sense and we won't be able to do anything once we find out
but it sure would be nice to know
OK I have the 'answer' - straight from a Windows Mobile blog - I'll post it here cos it's all straight to the point and interesting (somewhat) Link is HERE
The Page Pool
Applications use RAM in two ways. There is code that runs, and there is data that is created while it is running. On a NOR device, the code can run directly from the ROM and not be loaded into RAM first. This process is called XIP (eXecute In Place). NAND devices can't XIP, so their code is loaded into RAM and executed from there. If you don't have a Page Pool, this code is loaded into normal RAM. The Page Pool is a mechanism to limit how much code is loaded into normal RAM. With a Page Pool, we can unload code that hasn't been used in a while and reload it later if we need to. We can't do that without a Page Pool.
On a typical NAND-based WM5 device, the Page Pool is 4.5M.
The Radio Stack
Devices with a Cellular Radio have a complicated bunch of code to make their radios talk to cell towers. On some devices, the radio is a self-contained module with its own RAM and ROM. On others, the radio code is stored in the normal system flash. If so, it either needs to XIP, or it needs to be run in RAM. If it's run in RAM, that RAM is taken away from the system.
A typical radio stack takes 4M.
DMA Buffers
Some hardware can write directly into RAM without using the CPU to do it. This is called "Direct Memory Access" or DMA. DMA is very efficient and lets you get a lot more data transferred in the same amount of time, usually for less power. But it's best to set aside your DMA buffers before the system boots. This guarantees that they're there when you need them. PocketPCs have been doing this for a decade. But, back in the old days, the main use for DMA was audio capture. Audio data is small, so the DMA buffers are also small. Video, on the other hand, is big. More data requires bigger DMA buffers.
An OEM will tune the size of the pre-allocated DMA buffers based on what the device is intended to do. If the main goal is still photos, you can use a much smaller buffer. If the goal is recording video, it needs a much larger buffer. If the goal is video conferencing, it needs a bigger buffer still.
DMA buffers range in size between 300K and 6M. For a video capture device, it's likely to use around 4M.
XIPKernel
There are portions of the deepest parts of the OS that have to XIP. If you're on NOR, that code just XIPs like everything else. Not so on NAND. For a NAND system to boot, it needs to load this code into RAM first and then run it from there. When the system is running, it can't really tell if it's running from RAM or ROM, so it assumes it's running from ROM and doesn't count this space.
The XIPKernel region tends to be between 1.5 and 2M.
The Frame Buffer
There is a chunk of RAM set aside to hold everything that's on the screen. (If you want to know more about it, read this.) On most devices, every dot on the screen needs two bytes. A typical Pocket PC has 240x320 dots. That would be 300K. If you have a 640x480 screen, it's 600K. Sometimes, for performance reasons, devices will have two frame buffers. So this could take up to 1.2M.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks joncgde2 - good find which provides a sufficient explanation as to the 'hidden' 14 MB.
There is still another question.
WM reports ~24 MB in use (per earlier screen captures) - where 'in use'
is attributed to running applications.
Checking a process listing via task manager shows the total
apparent RAM in use by these 'running applications' to be ~8 MB.
Can anyone provide an explanation to account for the
remaining ~16 MB??

2 Hardware related questions

hi guys!
i just received my HD2 and i already have 2 questions:
1. isn't supposed Hd2 to have a microUSB conector? it looks thiner and wider then connector i had for my old HD. i didn't have guts to stick the old cable in to check if it works. can somebody confirm the compatibility?
2. what the h**l is that 200Mb (more or less) storage memory? on my old hd i never had the memory problem? HD2 isn't supposed to have 512Mb RAM? isn't all available for instaling things omto them? i am totaly confused
thanks a bunch for enlightning!
mini usb - micro usb..... two different things.
512 ram is for programs and the system to use to run things, like ram on your pc, 200 rom is where programs get installed to, liked the hard disk on your pc. don't forget you can instal to your sd card too.
samsamuel said:
mini usb - micro usb..... two different things.
512 ram is for programs and the system to use to run things, like ram on your pc, 200 rom is where programs get installed to, liked the hard disk on your pc. don't forget you can instal to your sd card too.
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thanks for answers
mini vs micro = ok
the other one is not ok. i am not refering to RAM but to ROM memory. my bad!
so, again - ROM memory should be 448Mb (or 576MB on some custom ROMs)
how come is not all available?
i said before, on my old HD i never had a memory problem and it took me by surprise
incorrect, there is 448(576 with the right cooked rom and radio) ram not rom.
there IS 512 rom on the device,yes, and windows plus the other pre installed stuff takes around 250 meg leaving around 200 for user stuff.
noris08 said:
ROM memory should be 448Mb (or 576MB on some custom ROMs)
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No, RAM is 448 or 512. ROM is always 512MB. But, about 200-300 of those are used to store the system components (OS).
you guys are right. i am too new with hd2
however, the question is valid - how come is not enough?
i used cooked 6.5.x roms and same apps in my hd with no memory issue
I must say I don't have a problem. small apps get installed to main memory, anything large like sat nav software I instal to memory card. most apps are very small, not much more than 1 or 2 meg, difficult to fill all 200 meg.
Who said it's not enough?
I have around 70MB free now with quite a few apps, no problem so far. But yes we need to think about putting big programs on the storage card indeed (games can be 10-40MB each, typical "big" apps 1-5MB), so yes with a few you can easily fill the internal memory.
But it's also like always, people always want / "need" more even if it's useless... mostly about RAM in this case and the sooo popular 448->512MB fix. With 448MB, you have about 185MB free RAM upon boot. On my previous WM device, I had 80MB free on boot... and never came even close to filling that even with more running programs you'd want to have. So with 100MB more, I'd want to see someone who actually *needs* the extra 64MB...
Its actually an extra 128 meg, not 64, 448meg standard (with 128 set aside for graphics = 320 useable) and after the tweak its 576 with 128 set aside for graphics = 448 useable.
Indeed... seems I can't use a calculator at 1am anymore

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