Virtual Memory

[euanandrews]

See news of it is coming out again, re-affirming the virtual memory comcept for symbian...
Nokia Internet Tablet (N900/Rover) Images | The Symbian Blog

[julienf]

Originally Posted by MohammadAG

It can be done but not by us

As a matter of fact Mohammad, it can be done by you, maybe not for the N97 straight away, but you are more than welcome to check out the OS Package on the Symbian Developer website:
Symbian Foundation - Packages

You'll see there that you can contribute, either by discussing in the forum about the issues, or by committing code to the OS.

I'd recommend anyone interested in making things change on Symbian to join the forums and contribute.
Nokia will not be anymore the main driver for the innovation on the Symbian platform, so let's skip them and make things happen as a community.

Cheers,
Julien.

[Micky]

Originally Posted by NZeeter

Heres an interesting question...

The N97 has the following:
Phone memory = 74MB
Mass memory = 32GB
RAM = 128MB

Memory is obviously not an issue, but it is recommended to install apps on the Mass memory to avoid low memory warnings/errors...

But RAM is an issue...this is why apps run slow or crash, as there is not enough RAM.

So, here is the question:
- Can some memory from the Mass memory, be used as RAM, in the same way Windows can use a hard drive, as 'Virtual memory', a 'paging file'....???

Anyone know the answer to this?

It would be an obvious solution to the pyhsical lack of RAM...

Reading an article found here, it implies that on a forthcoming Nokia Tablet, which has simular specs as the N97 and has only 256MB RAM, that virtual RAM is a reality on Symbian...its states the following:



That sounds exactly what I am talking about...

So....if that article is to believed, it can be done, so hence, how is it done and lets do it on the N97!

But what if this N900 is not Symbian? Maemo.

[celios]

Originally Posted by Micky

But what if this N900 is not Symbian? Maemo.

Pretty sure it is supposed to be Maemo.

Quite confused by this device though - spec wise it looks very similar to the N97, but with more memory and a different O/S.. are Nokia competing with themselves?

P.S.Check out that lens cover - they've placed a little grove on one side so you will avoid pushing down on the middle of the cover as you slide... now why did they do that I wonder :-/

[Dan0s]

I've read a few things saying the n900 wont be Symbian, but i guess only time will tell. Either way though you would have though that Nokia would go down the path for virtual memory due to the fact that a large portion of the users need it.

[Micky]

Originally Posted by celios

P.S.Check out that lens cover - they've placed a little grove on one side so you will avoid pushing down on the middle of the cover as you slide... now why did they do that I wonder :-/

I too noticed this, but thought it maybe a rubber grip strip, to aid the opening and closing of the cover. Something I put in a wishlist to Nokia last year lol.

[Dan0s]

I find it difficult to open the lens cover on the occasion, maybe its a nail groove? I've just come to notice that there is a scratch on the other side of the lens which is a bit worrying.

[roberth]

@ celios nice observation
@ julien welcome to the forums!

dont know if these specs are in any way correct but.....

Maemo 5
Dimensions: 59.7mm x 111mm x 18.2mm
Weight: 180g
3.5-inch 800×480 (WVGA) touchscreen
OMAP3430 500/600 Mhz processor
5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
1GB total virtual runtime memory
Wi-Fi, HSPA, GPS, accelerometer

[julienf]

Originally Posted by roberth

@ julien welcome to the forums!

Thanks :)
But aren't we getting off-topic? ;)

[euanandrews]

Originally Posted by Micky

But what if this N900 is not Symbian? Maemo.

Indeed, and this appears to be he case...

But bearing in mind this tablet's hardware specs are almost identical to that of the N97, and obviously both are made by the same company, I see no reason why Nokia cannot implement the same concept within thier own symbian OS.

If Maemo have proven it can be done and works, then Nokia should do so too, to remedy the obvious lack of RAM.

I am forever having apps in the background closing/crashing without warning...
N-Gage will not run at times, comes back with an error 'lack of memory, close some apps', hence I have to close other background apps in order to even run N-Gage....its not good.

And I don't even consider myself a heavy user.