NTLK System upgrade

From: Mike O'Brien (obrien@leonardo.net)
Date: Mon Nov 29 1999 - 03:03:39 EST


The estimable Robt. Benschop sez:

> Paul, I think you're mixed up there, whenever you do a brain wipe you should
> lose your system upgrade, so why that didn't happen to you in the past beats
> me, maybe the root of your problems?

        Um, I don't think so. I have brain-wiped my 130 and my 2100 several
times each, as well as the occasional eMate, and in no case have I lost my
system upgrade. There's a reason:

        Remember that the system upgrades and the user data both live in
internal flash RAM. Flash RAM doesn't need continuous power to maintain its
state: that's its primary characteristic. So, if user data in flash RAM
is wiped by a hard reset, it's because the OS has done it on purpose. No
amount of taking the batteries out, etc. will wipe flash RAM. It has to
be actively cleared.

        System updates, if I recall correctly, are loaded into a "reserved"
portion of flash RAM, along with the calibration data. If you truly wipe all
of flash RAM, you'll lose not only the system update, but the system
calibration as well, and we all know what happens to a Newton which has
lost system calibration: "Your unit has lost factory calibration and must
be returned immediately for service."

        Units which lose the system update don't lose it because of a hard
reset. They lose it, I think, because the OS has done something silly.

Mike O'Brien

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