Although most Palm apps are very small in size, you can quickly fill up your Palm memory with database info (e.g., Avantgo pages, E-docs, Emails, etc.). Recently, I decided to install the Avantgo app (which downloads selected web pages and information on your Palm) on my Palm V. I nearly filled my 2 MB of memory with all my apps and Avantgo-generated databases. Purchasing the 8 MB 3rd-party memory upgrade (~$250.00) was a bit pricy for me, so I decided to try the FlashPro app by HandEra (formerly TRG) ($19.95).
First of all, once you load the FlashPro app onto your Palm, you can easily move apps back-n-forth between the 2 MB RAM and FlashROM space (You don't need to use your PC). Figure 1 shows the first screen that pops up when you activate the FlashPro app, asking you to disable all HackMaster hacks before moving apps between the RAM and FlashROM.
Figure 1
Figures 2 and 3 show FlashPro's main
screen, where you can easily select an app or database and choose to move
or copy it to RAM or FlashROM. When you move an app or database to
FlashROM, it is automatically deleted from the RAM space.
Figure 2
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Figure 3
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Typically, you can move apps and non-changeable databases (e.g., Dictionary file) to the FlashROM, while leaving changeable databases (e.g., MemoPad database) in standard RAM. You may notice that I've copied my Address, Datebook, and Expense databases to the FlashROM. I did this in case my Palm crashes, where I can then copy them back to RAM.
Figure 4 shows the free memory present on my Palm V. As you can see, my once filled Palm V is now half empty!
Figure 4
Free memory in RAM after moving
files to FlashROM
So, was it worth the $29.95 to get an extra 1087 K of free memory? You bet it was! I now no longer need to worry about running out of RAM space when downloading Emails and Avantgo pages.
Tips on using FlashPro:
- Although most apps can be loaded in FlashROM, there are some that may not work if loaded in ROM. See the FlashROM compatibility chart for a list of apps safe to load into ROM.
- If you use the app BackupBuddy to backup all your files, rest assured that all your files (both in FlashROM and RAM) will be automatically backed up on your PC during your normal hotsyncing.
- If you want to load your hack apps into FlashROM, make sure you use the latest hackmaster app (version 0.91). Using hackmaster 0.91, I was able to load all my hacks into FlashROM.