Hi Alex, Mike and list,
I see valid points in both arguments: that mPower has a lot of
potential, but the way OS plays around with memory could
jeopardize performance. In my opinion, what will really
determine
mPower's performance and its fate would be how HW would utilize
availible resources well and are there
other hardware and software resources that they can use for the
foreseeable future. We also have to consider current market
conditions: with new units coming in, there could be lower demand
for older units, but there would be people who'd like to use
their old devices for various reasons.
Now for the whole story of RAM usage: We do have a lot of RAM to
play with. Even with all possible mPower features turned on,
it'll theoretically consume about 20 MB in total. However, given
the OS in use, we have to consider virtual memory limits: that
even though we have plenty of room on RAM, we'll quickly run out
of virtual memory with the culprits being Eloquence and Pocket
Internet Explorer (KeyWeb). This is the main reason for
recommendation from a number of users to use KeyNote Gold when
browsing the web and to do a soft reset when finished with web
browsing to free some memory.
As for feature sets, it is mostly software and hardware, with
some things requiring both hardware and software considerations.
For programs that could ship with last KeySoft release (don't
know when it might be), we can hope for three things: enough
space on mPower's ROM, best utilization of availible hardware and
useful software that provides essential features for users. ROM
space is an issue, since more and more built-in programs could
increase the space used by KeySoft image, which means depletion
of valuable ROM space (mPower has 64 MB of ROM), hence it would
take slightly longer to load the image to RAM (at least things
that'll be stored on RAM). Utilization of resources is important
for performance reasons. Feature sets are important - I'm sure
we don't wish to see more features that adds little value that
eats a lot of memory.
As for processor speed and other hardware, I'd like to take this
from both hardware and software angle. As it was stated before,
mPower has slower processor (the difference is just about 100 to
110 MHz) with less RAM. But what set the mPower apart from Apex
(until KeySoft 9.2 came along) was how the software utilized
various resources to the best of its abilities (not anymore, I
believe).
So in case of "dumping to RAM," I do agree with Mike that more
and more features mean more consumption of RAM, and I too agree
with Alex on mPower's potential; but I'd also like to suggest
that we ponder this for a while: how can software use RAM in such
a way as to maximize performance without taking a lot of wasteful
space on RAM, and what is hardware without a software that takes
advantage of various features the metals offers? I think this is
something all of us should think about before continuing with our
discussion on efficiency versus storage versus performance versus
specs persus - and others.
Cheers,
Joseph
----- Original Message -----
From: Alex Hall <[email protected]
To: Mike Welty <[email protected]
Date sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:51:11 -0500
Subject: Re: [Braillenote] ks8.1 details
I understand this arguemnt, but could the mPower not handle
advanced
formatting, even if opening files takes a bit longer? After all,
they
already put an entire daisy reader on the thing, so is better
Word
support out of the question? Besides which, there are still a
great
many programs that could be written for the bn family, from games
to
unit converters to twitter to a better chat client and so on,
which
could run on any unit. Do they do anything like that? Nope.
What a lot
of people forget is that the mPower's processor is only about
100mhz
slower than the apex. Yes, it has less ram and an older OS, but
it
could do more than what it does now. Joseph, jump in here with
your
hardware knowledge to set me straight if I am off.
On 2/17/12, Mike Welty <[email protected]> wrote:
you're overlooking something pretty big, how is the MPower and
PK going
to handle a lot of what the apex has? Yeah, i don't agree with
8.1
costing money, but do you really see hw brancing completely out,
writing
features for the MPower and stuff, that will hardly run on it?
you're
forgetting the limitations of the MPower, 8 nearly maxes out
it's
hardware as it is.
On 2/16/2012 15:55, Alex Hall wrote:
Hi all,
I read the press release and talked with hw customer service.
Here are
the details of 8.1:
* it is a paid upgrade; either one SMA count or $129 ($20 plus
shipping if you order it already on an SD card)
* the classic is not supported, as expected. The mPower and PK
are
both able to take advantage of the upgrade.
* New features include the ability to read PDF documents in
keyword or
keybook, and the renaming of the "directory" item in the file
manager
to "browse".
Yep, you read it right, and I double checked with hw: a paid
upgrade
that includes only *one* new feature. Of course, the press
release
pushed the trade-in program for mPower owners to switch to an
apex,
but all you mPower owners out there will be happy to know that
you can
now read PDFs. You will pay $129 for the feature, and get
nothing else
for your money, but go for it if you want to.
Sorry if I sound negative, but this irks me. I keep hoping the
upgrades with one or two features will turn around, but they
never do.
I think this is the smallest upgrade I have ever seen. Hw
promised two
upgrades for the mPower; I don't think any of us expected them
to pull
this trick, using one of these promised upgrades on just one
feature.
If they do this again, they will fulfill their obligation of two
upgrades while actually giving mPower and PK users just two
features,
less then we got in each of the 7.x upgrades. Okay, rant over.
--
Have a great day,
Alex (msg sent from GMail website)
[email protected]; http://www.facebook.com/mehgcap
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