Zaurus Newbie--memory Problem Sl-5500

[PortieOwner]

I am a brand-new Zaurus SL-5500 owner.  I just bought a factory reconditioned Zaurus on Ebay.  The unit seems very nice and is basically brand-new except for the battery which appears used.  This PDS should be a nice upgrade from my old Palm Pilot Professional.

Anyway, I have encountered one problem which I cannot find an answer to in the manual or in the HowTos and FAQ.  When I go into the "system Info->Memory" application it shows the Memory Tab has 28815 kb total memory and under the storage tab, the total is 32619 kb.  I thought these units came with 64MB or RAM??  

The software/ROM has not been altered since I got the unit.

Thanks, Portie

[JohnX]

The Zaurus SL-5500 has 16MB of flash ROM, which is not writeable in the stock software configuration.  The basic operating system and applications are stored on this.  In addition it also has 64MB of SDRAM, of which 32MB is used as RAM for running applications and 32MB is used as a RAM disk for storing applications, settings and files the user may want to save.  The RAM disk will hold information through a reboot and is battery backed by a small NiMH (NiCd maybe? I don't remember) so even if the main battery goes completely flat or even if the battery is pulled entirely the RAM disk will retain it's data hopefully long enough for you to find an outlet or replace the battery with a spare.  If you do a hard reset though (by pushing the little switch found inside the battery area) you WILL lose the data in the RAM disk.  Most people who use other software besides the software that the unit was shipped with just get a secure digital card and put most of their stuff on that to prevent it from going up in smoke if they have to do a hard reset. HTH.

-John

[PortieOwner]

Thank you!  I am relieved that  my Zaurus memory looks normal.  I could not find this info in either of the paper manuals I got with the unit.  

Portie