One little paranoia that has kept some from trying to put swap on flash memory: that this will wear out the memory fairly quickly --- has always been at the back of my mind in general about the unit.

What is done with the /proc and /tmp directories? If they are stored in the devices onboard flash and being written to as often as they are on a regular linux system does it pose any threat to the devices life?

Would it make more sense to mount these directories in ram?

Am I too worried?

cAPS

/proc is a virtual file system, so it doesn't actually reside on the internal flash memory and thus cannot cause wear. All the information in /proc is stored in the kernel's RAM and is called upon directly in response to file system queries. For example, if someone tries to "cat /proc/cpuinfo", the kernel doesn't physically read some file on the flash - it just gives the calling process the data as if it were a file, but the data iself is generated dynamically by the kernel.

/tmp is easier to explain - your intuitions are correct, and /tmp is actually mounted in RAM as a tmpfs.

Well I am glad it was all done right.

Still the flash memory on the device is going to take a pounding over time, even moreso than most PDAs and of course more than cell phones.

Only timw will tell how it holkds up I guess.

Not sure I'm with you here - why do you come this conclusion? I can't see the flash in the 770 being updated more anywhere near as often as a typical USB pen drive, and these are guaranteed for many years.

Sure, when I reflash it will be updated - done that 3 times in the last 4 months - and when I install apps - done that maybe 15 times in 4 months. All in all, a pretty low number of writes to the internal flash (which I assume has wear levelling) and I expect it to last for many years - certainly outlasting the 770 device itself.

My 1GB RS-MMC flash will take more of a pounding than the internal flash, as I keep deleting and copying over new music files to carry around.

Likewise I've reformatted my 1GB USB pen drive 5 times, and copied several thousand files on to it in the last 9 months.

He's talking about creating a swap partition though... And knowing how much RAM this thing has...

IMHO, my desire for the next generation tablet will be the reason I replace my current one, and that will be well before the flash wears out.

If not, there's always brain surgery

One could also mount the most active filesystems on the mmc.

Sorry - my bad, I thought cAPSLOCK was referring to the internal flash when he said "Still the flash memory on the device is going to take a pounding over time, even moreso than most PDAs and of course more than cell phones."

By referring to the memory "on" the device I assumed he meant internal flash.