slow access to apps on sd card

[wyattke]

I have been a Visor Prism user and just purchased the m515- I wanted to be able to store and access many references on the expansion card-- I have a 128 mb SD card. The problem: when I open a reference on the card it is SOOO SLOW to open. Also if I want to switch back to an app on the handheld, also takes forever-- I'm tired of staring at the "PLEASE WAIT" screen. What can I do-- please reply in language the non-computer wizard can understand. HELP!! thanks wyattke

[Telyx]

I noticed that too, going from a Visor Deluxe w/8MB Flash springboard to a Palm m125 w/16MB SD card.

It's all in how each device communicates with the expansion card. The springboard has all those pins because it basically ties directly into the system bus, so for "read" operations it's about as fast as RAM. You just can't write to it without using FileMover or something similar. The SD card has only a few contacts (compared to the springboard), so the Palm can't read it anywhere near as fast. The springboard becomes an extension of RAM (again, for "read" operations) and the SD card is more like an external drive.

When you access a database on the SD card, it has to be copied into RAM to be read, and when you switch back to another app, the RAM copy of the database has to be deleted; that's why you get the delay. (The Visor can read that same DB right off the springboard.)

[djmangen]

The technical explanation given above is quite accurate, with the implication that there is very little that you can do but wait and be patient.

I personally haven't found it to be that excruciatingly long of a wait, but that is obviously based on expectations! Being a relatively ancient sort, I remember how long it took to start programs from 5.25 floppy disks -- and how much we loved those slow 10 MByte hard disk drives.

[Telyx]

We had a cassette tape drive for a Commodore 64. Talk about slooooowwww... but at least you could save programs somehow.