As a clarification.
As far as other devices that use Linear Flash
memory...
Cisco (and I assume other) routers
Sony Magic Link
Motorola Envoy
BellSouth (IBM/Mitsubishi) Simon
hmmm, and I just slapped one of my Magic Link cards
into my AT&T EO 440 and yup, it works in that also!
(but I found out that the penpoint software isn't Y2K
compatible!)
Ed
Web/Gadget guru
--- Gary Moody <gmoody@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Actually, the ATA format was a later development in
> flash memory cards to
> try to bring some standardization to the way the
> cards are written and read,
> whereas the linear flash cards relied on the vendor
> that used it to figure
> this out and everyone had a different way of doing
> it. Witness the number
> of devices that can read a card used in a Newton
> (with the exceotion of
> another Newton...none!).
>
> The ATA format dedicates a small portion of the
> total flash to an area
> roughly analagous to a FAT on a hard drive. It uses
> this area to index the
> contents of the card in a standard way, so other
> devices can read it. So,
> ATA cards used in one device can be taken out of
> that device and read by an
> entirely different device (digital camera cards in
> the ATA format come with
> software so you can read the cards on a laptop or a
> desktop if it's equipped
> with a PCMCIA card slot). The Newton has no idea
> how to use ATA cards, no
> drivers, nothing built into the ROM. Apple was
> rumored to be considering
> this move when the Newton was axed.
>
> The reason that linear flash is so expensive is that
> it was 1st generation
> flash RAM. By the time the manufacturers worked out
> all of the bugs, got
> yields to acceptable levels, established
> distribution channels and a market,
> the compatibility issue had already reared it's
> head. Some smart engineer
> came up with the ATA idea, it was widely adopted
> very quickly, and most
> manufacurers shifted their Flash capacity to the ATA
> format beause the "new"
> devices were being designed to use it. Only
> manufacturers that had existing
> large markets for linear continued to make it,
> yielding an oligopoly,
> keeping prices artificially high. And so it
> continues, even though the
> equipment is probably fully depreciated. As more
> manufacturers fall out of
> the market, the prices will go higher untill they
> can't be sustained,
> killing residual demand and the continued production
> of linear RAM.
>
> If and until someone looks through the Lantern DDK
> and seriously attempts to
> write an ATA driver for the Newton, we're
> stuck...and the likelyhood of
> someone expending this much effort to do this is
> low, but stranger things
> have happened...recently...with the very quiet
> release of the IrDA
> enhancements for the Newton.
>
> I hope this helped...
>
> Regards,
>
> Gary
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "MYQ Y. Q. LARSON" <MYQ@cc.usu.edu>
> To: newtontalk@planetnewton.com
> Subject: Re: NTLK Compact Flash Memory PCMCIA
> Adaptors
> Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 20:51:39 -0600 (MDT)
>
> something to do with the way the Newton OS stores
> it's data. It needs
> linear
> flash, which I guess is more like RAM, as opposed to
> ATA flash, which is I
> guess analagous to a hard drive. I'm not really
> sure what linear nor ATA
> mean, but give it a try if you've got access to one.
> I could be wrong.
> Check
> the Newton FAQs. I know one talks about memory
> types.
>
> myq
>
> >Why is this? Is there a voltage difference?
> Supposedly the card will
> work
> >with laptops and macs.
>
> >> I believve the answer is "no". Sorry.
> >>
> >> >Anyone know if Compact Flash Memory will work
> on a Newton with a PCMCIA
> >> >adaptor?
>
>
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