Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andy Thomas who wrote (24035)	8/4/2000 1:15:47 PM
From: wily	Respond to of 24154

Hi Andy, Nice of you to show up. Great idea to check out PocketPC! I checked out a couple reviews and it turns out that the Windows CE o/s is loaded into 16MB of ROM -- which is a nonvolatile memory. It operates at about half the speed of DRAM, but a LOT faster than Flash, which is the standard now for erasable nonvolatile memory. The PocketPC uses Flash cards for mass storage (i.e., a solid-state hard-drive). Additional notes on ROM are that you can't write to it (duh) and it is truly randomly accessible (I'm pretty sure) as opposed to Flash, which has to be accessed and erased in blocks. pcguide.com I don't know how expensive ROM is -- I have some more checking to do. Why don't desktops do the same thing (i.e., load the O/S into nv RAM)? I guess a PC o/s needs to be more flexible and updatable. Isn't it modified every time you add a peripheral? The PocketPC is more of a sealed unit. It's also possible that ROM would not be fast enough for a PC since a PC cpu operates much faster than a PocketPC processor, which I think are about 160MHz. I still find it interesting that they used ROM to hold the O/S. Thanks again for the pointer. So, I take it you're agreeing with me that nv RAM would not require much fiddling with Windows to adapt. Pretty much just the boot-up and shut-down routines, right? wily