Missing Memory card?
 

I got my new M800 4/12/2008, second-hand, but never opened (still in sealed plastic).

It came with about a 4 gig card in the external slot, but no card under the rear panel. Is this normal?

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

No. It comes with a 128mb card (uninstalled) and no 4gb card.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

OK.

Well, the guy I bought from did say he would throw in a 4 Gb card & keyboard, but I thought it came sealed, so that threw me off.

Anyway, should I get the 128 Mg card? and why? It seems to work OK without it.

Thanks.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

I wouldn't worry about the 128MB, it's awfully small. Maybe get another card when you have the need. I could be wrong, but I think my N800 is happier, at those times that it has only 1 card, if the card is in the internal slot. That's where I'd put your 4GB for now.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

No, don't bother, the only reason Nokia include it in the retail package is because it's cheaper than a bigger card. If you have a bigger card stick with it.

You don't need two cards, but you can use two cards if you want to.

In fact you don't technically need any memory cards at all, they're only really needed if you want to store large amounts of music or video, or if you want to create backups of your tablet's memory.


There are two slots on the N800 because some people like to use the internal card for enlarging the tablet's RAM using "virtual memory". Most people don't bother doing this though because you don't really need to.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

My personal recommendation to everybody is to enable virtual memory. The benefits definitely outweigh any pitfalls (notably the loss of 128MB of storage and the potential for system instability in the case of card corruption), as it basically eliminates any out-of-memory situations that might crop up in normal usage and makes certain games and applications usable (Wesnoth is a good example here).

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

I use the small MMC card + adaptor in internal socket purely for virtual memory, as I don't care if swapping causes premature failure; I use a 4GB non-sdhc in external slot for all my other files.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

I don't understand "swapping", "swappiness", "premature failure", & related concepts I've seen discussed here. Nor am I conversant in linux. If it's not too much trouble, please give me a thumbnail explanation.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

Do I need an adapter so that the 4GB card will fit in the internal slot? If so, where to obtain one?

Thanks.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

C'mon, Sam, it's not a woman; it's OK just trying to stick it in before asking.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

internal and external are regular SD/SDHC slots; the tablet comes with a miniMMC card + adaptor to fit into normal slot, that's what I was referring to.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

Ha ha. Thanks, I'll try when I get home. I don't have the N800 here at work.

By the way, I've read your "Clone the OS to MMC". Two quick questions:
1. What's the reason/benefit of doing this?
2. Does this only apply to a card in the internal slot?

Thanks, Gerald.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

very very briefly.
Ok, to supplement the nokia's "core" RAM/memory you can pause programs which are idle, and store them, and idle data on the flash card. when necessary, you laod the data back into core. this generates a lot of extra read and writes to the memory card which will wear it out faster.

since the card provided by nokia is too small for any real purpose, using as virtual memory and wearing it out quickly is its ideal fate.

"swappiness" is merely a way of telling linux kernel whether to try to keep things in core or to swap them out any time it feels like it.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

LOL, someone here at least has a sense of humor.

J

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

1. Here.

2. Either slot, MMC2 or MMC1. My guide is written with it in the internal slot, but with a couple changes (subbing MMC1 for MMC2), it works the same. And once you've cloned, you can put the card into either slot. In fact -- and this is cool, I did it for my girlfriend -- you can put it (or a copy of it) in someone else's Tablet as long as that Tablet has fanoush's initfs installed.

You're welcome.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

Believe it or not, I have never, ever had an "out of memory" message in normal usage. (and I don't use virtual memory.)

I haven't had any problems with apps or games either, though I've tried to stick to those with install links on maemo.org.

I suppose this brings up the question of what constitutes normal usage! :)

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

As with any computing device, it certainly varies. After a virtual memory on corrupted SD card induced crash, I tried running without. I believe I made it all of five minutes before an "out of memory" message sent me scrambling for the control panel to re-enable swap.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

Assuming you're using fully-compliant apps (Nokia apps, at least, not sure how many others), when the tablet runs out of memory, it doesn't give you an out-of-memory error. It just closes one of your open (but not foreground) apps, after telling it to save its state quietly, and receiving confirmation that the state is saved.

In the task navigator, the icon is overlayed with the number of windows (if > 1) open, you know? Well, when it closes an app due to short memory, it keeps the app there, and overlays a "ZZ" in the same corner. Now if you click on that app, it will restart (closing another app to free memory, if it has to) and reload its state. S.l.o.w startup, of course, but it comes back just like you left it.

If all apps that can save their state are closed, leaving only apps that can't/won't, and there's still no room, then you get a message indicating that you're out of memory, and asking you which app to close.

So you may have experienced low memory problems, but not noticed it, because with "good" apps, it's handled as smoothly as possible.

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

If you can't tell if a memory problem has happened, can it meaningfully be called a problem?

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

Yes. :p

Behold, filler clones!

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

Let me put the "normal use" into context:

I don't use any virtual memory, and I can't see any evidence of the tablet behaving oddly or doing anything it shouldn't. No slowdowns, no crashes, no "why did it do that?" moments. The tablet is actually one of the most stable devices I use, which is part of the reason I'm a big fan.

To be fair I very rarely multitask, and like I said before I only use the built-in apps or the occasional app from maemo.org/downloads. I'm not anywhere near pushing the tablet to its limits. I try to keep the tablet as "plain vanilla" as possible because I use it in the ITS videos.

If you really did need virtual memory just for basic operation, surely I should have noticed something going wrong by now, after over half a year of ownership?



I don't get it... :(

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

I suspect a lot more "normal" people multitask than you think, and, honestly, where's the harm in enabling it? Why bank on "Well, hopefully they wont push the limits at all"? Better to assume some of them will and recommend using swap when, at worst, the ones that don't wont see any harm (with 2GB SD cards running in the $10 range, 128MB is a drop in the bucket) from it and may even see some speedup.

Fun with minimum character thresholds. ;)

Re: Missing Memory card?
 

I couldn't agree more. I use my N800 like a mobile office and a multi-tasking "iPod Touch." All I need is my cell phone and the N800 and I'm in the office. My laptop is getting lonely these days. I have a 2GB in the internal and a 4GB in the external. The internal doesn't really have anything on it and the external has my tunes. Next, I'll get an 8 or 16GB for the internal and just put everything on it. Maybe put movies I want to watch on a trip on the external?

Recently I took the N800 to a media seminar at a university. Students go from desk to desk asking questions about our various fields. The N800 drew more attention that me. lol As it should be. I was able to play examples of my work. But, the media people were all over it. My friend with an iPod Touch was showing how he could flip through his album covers and I was showing how I could be listening to an internet radio station, check my e-mail and surf the web at the same time. :)

Enjoy!