6 replies to this topic

[AndyCr15]

I thought I'll risk looking the n00b and ask someone to clarify for me (and maybe others) the difference between the RAM and ROM and what they do.

My understanding is ROM is where the Android operating system sits.  The Nexus One has 512meg of this.  Do apps installed sit here too?  How do I check what is free and what bad things happen as this gets ever closer to 0mb?

RAM is the memory used as the phone is running, effected by how many apps you have open.  There is also 512meg of this, unlocked by the addition of Himem to the ROM's found here.  The free RAM is what a Task manager will tell you is 'Free Memory'.

Are either of these two split down further in anyway or is it as simple as that?

Can someone confirm this and maybe answer the questions posed?  

Many thanks.

[bobtentpeg]

There is a 1gb(1024mb) NAND flash chip in your N1.

This chip is divided in hald to get a 512mb system partition for all you caches, firmwares, etc.

The RAM is the random access memory portion of the NAND chip, or the second 512 portion


Depending on what app you're using, some actually report the wrong number but the majority list the RAM as the "free memory" and "used memory"

[codington]

AndyCr15, on Feb 4 2010, 01:41, said:

I thought I'll risk looking the n00b and ask someone to clarify for me (and maybe others) the difference between the RAM and ROM and what they do.

My understanding is ROM is where the Android operating system sits.  The Nexus One has 512meg of this.  Do apps installed sit here too?  How do I check what is free and what bad things happen as this gets ever closer to 0mb?

RAM is the memory used as the phone is running, effected by how many apps you have open.  There is also 512meg of this, unlocked by the addition of Himem to the ROM's found here.  The free RAM is what a Task manager will tell you is 'Free Memory'.

Are either of these two split down further in anyway or is it as simple as that?

Can someone confirm this and maybe answer the questions posed?  

Many thanks.

Suggest you download Quick System Info from the market.  This program gives you a nice representation of what you have.  There are Shell commands you can run from an ADB shell that will tell you about the size of partitions and free memory - "ADB shell free" will confirm how much memory (RAM) you have available.  I don't remember the command to look at the size of the partions (ROM).  

ROM is where the OS sits as well as storage for all your data and programs.  Here is a snapshot of my Quick System Info.  Internal Storage is ROM - There may have been 512MB available, but the OS, Radio, etc, take up all but 196MB.  From the screen shot, you can tell I have 69MB of programs/data installed on the phone's internal memory (ROM).  I have 386MB of RAM available for programs to execute - using 163MB with 223MB free.

Attached Files

•  new_kernel_recovered_memory.png   41.55K   38 downloads

[AndyCr15]

Okay, thanks.

My Internal Storage is down to 22.49 meg.  Am I going to have a slower moving device as the internal is running short?

I would install Apps2SD from Cyanongens ROM, but people seem to be having problems with it...

[Dayzee]

AndyCr15, on Feb 6 2010, 08:14, said:

Okay, thanks.

My Internal Storage is down to 22.49 meg.  Am I going to have a slower moving device as the internal is running short?

I would install Apps2SD from Cyanongens ROM, but people seem to be having problems with it...

The teacher in me kicks in here  - ROM is the number of filing cabinets you have to store all your stuff.  RAM is the number of secretaries you have to find things fast and use them then put them back correctly   So more ROM means bigger space to put more things, and More RAM means faster access to all those things, and finding more things/doing more tasks at once.

As for A2SD, it is working just fine for me - You need an EXT3 partition say around 600mb and the rest FAT32 (If formatting via the recovery, it will ask for SWAP too but its not used, just put 32mb - it doesn't break anything )

I just checked if I had the sd folder in system - everything else went smoothly xx

[AndyCr15]

Thanks

My SD card is still partitioned from use on my Hero.  I don't recall what sizes I used, but I would assume they would be the same needed for the Nexus One?

[xkonni]

AndyCr15, on Feb 6 2010, 17:27, said:

Thanks

My SD card is still partitioned from use on my Hero.  I don't recall what sizes I used, but I would assume they would be the same needed for the Nexus One?

should work fine