I mean no offense to you - and I know that you stated that you did not write this, but were simply quoting it, but this is really a bad article. It is riddles with errors and outright fabrications, inaccurately defines the technology, and in the case of a reader who is new to computing, will make them look like a total idiot when they repeat what they "learned" here.
I won't go through this point by point, since there is no... well... point to that... But I will cover the major errors for you.
RAM and ROM use the same amount of "power" for reading data. Actually they do not use ANY power - the CPU and the system do in accessing them, but left unaccessed and on their own they take no power from the system.
RAM is Random Access Memory.
ROM is Read Only Memory.
There are two types of RAM in the average handheld, and one type of ROM.
RAM - (R)andom (A)ccess (M)emory Type 1 is the processing dedicated memory - like the Simms in a PC, it is only active and only stores information when the system is turned on. When you turn off the system, your Type 1 RAM is also turned off, and anything that is stored in it is lost. It is not used to store information, it is used by the system and OS to be the System and OS.
When you turn on your handheld the base level system runs a POST - another acronym that means (P)ower (O)n (S)elf (T)est. That translates to testing (in this order) the BIOS, the BUS, the CPU, the Type 1 RAM, and the I/O Subsystems. At that point the OS bootstrap code is pushed into the Type 1 RAM and the boot up process begins. Parts of the OS are stored and run from ROM, while other parts - like the kernel - are merely copied from ROM into RAM by the bootstrapper so that modules can be loaded onto them before the system fully boots.
RAM - (R)andom (A)ccess (M)emory Type 2 is the closest thing that we have to NVRAM or Bubble Memory to date, and the reason for that is that it is cheaper. NVRAM in the quantity and quality desired for use as a replacement for Type 2 RAM exists today and has for quote a while, but the per-unit price is still a bit on the high side, so generally speaking only the government and corporate culture can afford it.
Type 2 RAM is what a SDC, MMC, SmartCard, etc memory card uses. It is persistant, but it is NOT NVRAM (Non-Volitile) in the purist sense of the word. When you save your data - contact information, notes, etc., and you do not have an auxiliary memory supply (memory card) this is where it goes. This RAM is maintained in a powered state when the system is off to retain its data. No power, bye bye data.
(R)ead (O)nly (M)emory is just that, and is not memory that you as the user can use. It is a one-time use storage device - you get to write to it once and that is it. The OS, some of the programs, all of the graphical resources, and the system, loader, diags, all of that is stored in ROM. As I mentioned above, some of the data stored in ROM is later swapped to RAM Type 1 for the current session, but when you turn off the system, it is gone until it is swapped in again at next power up.
ROM is NOT where stuff is "stored" - you as the user do NOT store stuff in ROM. ROM is where stuff comes from but it is not where it goes.
SD and CF Cards are NOT ROM. They are a close approximation to NVRAM.
The "deviations" you quote do not begin with 32, they actually begin with 8. They are closely related to the bit structure of the computing architecture - at least that is how and why the standards that govern RAM were originally created. So your example should begin with 8, then 16, then 32 etc.
I don't mean to sound like a know it all, but this is basic computer science... The guy who wrote that is supposed to be a professional... The moon is not Cheese either.
C  |