*sigh*
Ok, I'll take the plunge and throw some info out for ppl to dissect. I haven't been able to verify this for certain and because of that I've kept silent up till now hoping someone would offer up solid information. I've been told that any capacities beyond 1gb sdcards must be achieved by using a dual channel memory architecture.
If anyone remembers/noticed - Sony's memory sticks had a similar problem when they went up to 256mb capacities, the 256mb cards would be labeled as 128mb x2. The largest "plain" memory stick media sizes were a 128mb card and the 256mb card that was 128x2. The "128mb x2" edition would only work in a handful of devices properly. All sizes from there went to the memory stick pro, or memory stick duo designations in order to achieve higher capacities and faster transfers.
At any rate these 2gb and higher "dual channel" sdcards work in just about any FULLY IMPLEMENTED SD slot or SDIO slot controller. And there's the fly in the ointment- The sdcard controller on the Zaurus is NOT a fully implemented sd controller as it is crippled to MMC compatibility mode! Likewise the SDIO is unusable for WiFi cards because of the proprietary hardware/coding issues. This fairly well answers why the 2gb sdcards won't work for us, (but again I haven't gotten concrete validation on this but everyone I've asked or told about it that would/should know agrees that it has the ring of truth, and my source has never led me astray yet so I honestly believe it to be true.)
This fairly cool info brings us no farther along however because we are still "stuck" at the question of Will 2gb and larger MMC cards work in Zaurii?
Maybe YES! After all the sd card controllers ARE being run in MMC compatibility mode aren't they?! This would be a natural assumption....(remember what happens when you assume...)
Maybe NO! The formal MMC specifications, while capacity has blossomed, have stayed pretty much the same but manufacturers have "softened" their adherance to it since nowadays most MMC cards are going into SDcard sockets. This "softening" or cheating the specs, (basically adhering to the minimum performance issues and staying within MMC specifications on the low end but borrowing some performance enhancing bits and pieces from the Secure Digital specs in order to enhance their performance at the "high end" of the spectrum), has allowed the newer very large capacity MMC drives to perform at speeds heretofore unkown to MMC. In fact equipped in Zaurii the new MMC cards are VERY close to the maximum performance you can get out of ANY SD card right now- so for the most part this practice of bending the limits has benefitted the consumer!
So because the manufacturers have strayed from the strict MMC specifications path it is rational to seriously doubt whether these high end 2gb MMC cards will work in our Z's. After all the only reason we had to even HOPE they would work to begin with was if they DID comply completely to the MMC specs.
Good grief I just reread the last two paragraphs- I'm not sure I could have said that any more awkwardly if I tried. *boggle* My apologies, I was NOT born with a silver tongue for sure and certain.
My source said that in the end, in his opinion (and being that he works in a partner industry he would know if anyone does) whether they work or not will NOT depend on the adherence or nonadherence to the MMC specs, but rather like it's SD card brethren- it will depend completely on whether or not the 2gb MMC cards are using a single or dual channel memory format.
A whole buncha words that end up meaning "I don't know", makes me look a tad silly, but I hope I brought us a little farther forward with information. Maybe now someone can use this info to get us all the way to a final answer.
If the answer doesn't present itself, then eventually, when their prices drop to somewhere around the $75-85 range I'll volunteer to be the first "test monkey". But until the prices drop heavily it's just too much of a financial gamble since I have no other devices that could use MMC cards. Now, to the contrary if I KNEW for SURE they did work then imho their present price range is pretty sweet. An extra gig for my Z is always a plus!
Have a good one folks,
-NeuroShock
