Re: Flash Cards

[jokim@superdec.uni.uiuc.edu (John H. Kim)]

On Mon, 10 Apr 1995 11:45:27 EST you wrote:

>> > I am curious about how flashcards, that is pcmcia memory cards, work
>> > on the ThinkPads.
>> > 
>> > I saw one listed for about $300 that was provided 2.5 MB.  That seems
>> > like expensive memory to me!
>> 
>> 	It certainly isn't cheap.  The price you're quoting is quite a
>> bit on the high side.  I'm fairly certain you can get a 5 MB card for
>> about that same price.

>I think the fact being lost here is that these are SRAM (Static RAM) 
>cards, there fore the added expense. SRAM is more expensive that DRAM 

No, it's flash RAM.  It's non-volatile -- doesn't need any power to
maintain its contents.  That's why you can use it like a hard drive.

SRAM can be accessed while power is being supplied to it (refreshed)
so it doesn't impose wait states.  DRAM is inaccessible when being
refreshed and you wind up with wait states.

It's still expensive.  Then again, I can remember trying to save up
$200 for a 16k RAM expansion on my Atari 800.
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| | John H. Kim          "Just try telling the IRS you don't feel like    |
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