aggie

I have the 300 mhz axim and i'm looking to buy a GPS card. Do you think 300 mhz ought to be enough? please share your experiences.

I have decided that i want to use Routis with the Deluo CF GPS. Is anyone using this setup on the 300 mhz?

jbalbany

I have the 300 Mhz Axim with routis and the serial gps.

It works, but it loads slower when I have 118MB of Maps loaded(NY, NJ, MA, VT, RI). I had to remove most of the programs I had installed on the internal memory.

There is no waiting when I have a 125 mile radius installed. I am very happy with it.

-JB

commoved

It depends on how much stuff you have installed. You do need some RAM for GPS, especially if you like to load a lot of maps all at once. Worst case, you might have to move some aps to a memory card. The 300 MHz is plenty fast enough.

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The world may not be perfect yet, but the Axim is (almost).

dunal

Quote:

Originally posted by commoved It depends on how much stuff you have installed. You do need some RAM for GPS, especially if you like to load a lot of maps all at once. Worst case, you might have to move some aps to a memory card. The 300 MHz is plenty fast enough.

I also just bought an axim 300,

1) if I load all GPS program +map on the 256mb sd card &

2) overclock processor to ~400+

will that help or should I trade up for a axim-400?


thanks .....

Islanti

The issue with the Axim X5 Basic (300MHz) version is that you only have 32 MB RAM for Storage and Programs. The Advanced (400MHz) has 64 MB RAM.

I have an Advanced and my wife has a Basic. I can load Mapopolis on her Axim with LA, Orange County, and Riverside (~14 MB). I can load LA, OC, Riverside, San Bernadino, and San Diego (~24 MB). Obviously the Axim Advanced means more coverage.

I haven't done much searching or GPS routing with the Basic, so I can't comment on those features. I can't imagine an O/C 300MHz would be noticeably slower.

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-Islanti

aggie

i know that i only have 32 mb ram, but i also have a 128 mb sd card and a 128 mb cf card. does that help? or do i still need that built=in memory for maps?

dunal

Quote:

Originally posted by Islanti The issue with the Axim X5 Basic (300MHz) version is that you only have 32 MB RAM for Storage and Programs. The Advanced (400MHz) has 64 MB RAM.

I'm also wondering if loading all gps related program/map on SD card will eliminate insufficient RAM problem?

Heard some people had good result in viewing video after o/c axim, just how taxing are gps task compare to viewing video on the processor power?

Islanti

There are 4 types of memory:
* Built-in Storage: This is really the unused portion of the Flash ROM and is a fixed amount. It's like a small hard disk, and is faster than CF or SD.
* CF / SD Storage: This is the memory on your external card. It's more like a hard disk in your PC than "memory".
* Main (Internal Storage) Memory: This is part of the 32 or 64 MB RAM your Pocket PC has. All your ActiveSync databases (Contacts, Tasks, Email, etc) are in Main Memory.
* Program Memory: Whatever of your 32/64 is not used for storage is available for programs to execute. The OS uses some of this no matter what for the basic programs you have running (Today apps, start menu bar, etc).


So you can store your maps on the Axim's "hard disk" (CF/SD card). You can install the GPS software on the hard disk as well (CF/SD or Built-in). You will need to do this, in fact.

When you run the GPS software, though, that uses program memory. Loading the maps into program memory so the GPS software can run uses more program memory.

At this point you might be saying "but I never install anything to Main Memory, so what's the big deal?" Unfortunately, almost every application you install puts *something* in the \Windows directory, which is stored in Main Memory. Sometimes it's help files, sometimes it's DLLs, or it could be fonts, etc.

So, the more apps you have the more Main Memory you use. The more Main Memory is used the less of your 32 or 64 MB is available for programs to run. Generally you will use 6-10 MB of Main Memory even if you're aggressive about moving things to CF/SD. You'll also use 6MB of Program Memory for the OS, some today plug-ins and a task switcher.

If you assume you'll use 14MB of your total memory, then you've got 18 MB free for the GPS software and maps on a Axim Basic. With the Advanced, you'll have 30MB. Obviously a big difference.

This becomes an issue in a few situations:
1. If you drive a wide area in a densely populated area (such as Southern California). You may have a hard time keeping enough maps loaded for your GPS to be useful.
2. If you're trying to plan a cross-country trip. Typically the GPS software has to load maps for the entire route to calculate the best route. Even with highway-only maps, you might have a tough time loading Bangor Maine to San Diego, CA on the Basic.
3. When you have POI (Points of Interest) files as well as maps. These are typically separate from the maps and show you gas stations, restaurants, schools, post offices, etc. They take a LOT of memory to load.

Hope all this helps clear up the confusion!

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-Islanti

JSnoddy

I have the basic Axim, a Deluo cf-gps and use Mapopolis. Works great. With Mapopolis, I run into licensing restrictions on map data before I run out of space on my SD card. I typically have PA, MD and WV maps loaded, plus 6 hours of WMA music files on a 256MB SD card. The basic runs media player & mapopolis simultaneously. I've got routing, voice prompts and tunes on my trips. The Basic Axim rocks!

dunal

Hi, JSnoddy & Islanti

Thanks for sharing your experience & clarification!

Islanti, since you have both basic & advance version of axim, is there any major difference btwn these 2 while using gps normally (other than loading different size of map coverage area)?

thanks

Islanti

I haven't had a chance to use the Basic for in-the-car GPS navigation. I have used it for point-to-point routing using Mapopolis Navigator (kind of like an off-line MapQuest). I didn't notice any appreciable difference in the O/C Basic vs. the O/C Advanced. It might be on the order of a second (out of 15-20 seconds to pick the route).

As I said, it's my wife's Axim Basic. She doesn't let me touch it very often. :rolling:

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-Islanti

aggie

everyone, thanks for all your help. i really appreciate y'all posting your experiences here.

mfox

Interesting thread. I am considering purchasing the basic x5, but I also am concerned about being able to put in large sets of maps. I'm curious if anyone has run into a situation where GPS mapping software running on a basic x5 was unable to calculate a route because of RAM limitations. Perhaps it depends on the software designer, but I would expect an intelligent embedded program to be able to dynamically load and unload maps to and from main memory. This would allow an iterative route calculation. But this is only a possibility, what would be interesting if someone with an x5 basic and mapping software go ahead and try to calculate a trans-US route. My hopes would be that the software could deal with this and calculate the route, though it would be slower then if more main memory were available. I would also expect the documentation that comes with the mapping software to mention the limitations.

Perhaps there are other ways to get around limitations on main memory. I have never programmed on PPC 2003, but does the OS have a memory manager that would allow the user to define a RAM disk on one the the external flash cards?

Thanks for any input you may have. This is my first post to this forum, but I'm really getting excited about the possibilities of the latest pocket PC's and the price is finally getting into my range.

Mike.

PeterK

I was able to load all Mapopolis NC maps for Canada in the same time. 17mb loaded out of 19mb reserved for programs.

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DELL Axim X5/Basic (child of DELL web pricing error) + SD128Mb + Holux 270 CF GPS + CF WiFi Wireless