[NTLK] Linear Flash Card Questions

[Dan]

Something that also should be mentioned here, the larger the card the
more "heap" or "RAM" is used to keep track of every byte on the card.
So the larger the card, the more heap is taken if you use the space or
not.  Therefore newtons with less heap (ram) such as 1.x should stick
with smaller cards such as 4 or 8mb.  Personally I would go with 4 and
carry a few cards, as it is better than frequently running out of heap.

While you can freeze unused packages to save heap (every installed
package takes heap if you use it or not), it does slow down usability
since you have to thaw it before use.  Sure it only takes a second or
two, but if you have to do a it a lot, it gets annoying.  Still it is a
way of carrying more packages around (especially if not used much) than
you normally would without running into the heap "the system is unable
to do what you asked, restarting may fix this problem" wall.

-Dan

On 8/24/2012 5:29 AM, Matej Horvat wrote:
>> 2.) What is the maximum memory card size for Newton OS 1.x?
> 
> I don't know, but I've been using a 20 MB card for years without problems. However, I've hardly ever used more than 5 MB of it, because you either run out of heap or your Extras drawer gets full. You can use NewtCase to solve both of these problems, but it can get kind of messy, and it's too slow for frequent use.
> 
> So I think it's best to get more smaller cards if you want to store packages on it. But for data and backups (note: the built-in backup functionality in 1.x can only do full backups), it's OK.
> 
> Matej Horvat