[Gllug] Flash-only laptop

[Christopher Hunter]

On Tuesday 07 Jun 2005 13:51, Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
> Prices for flash memory seem to be coming down every week or two.  I
> notice Scan has a 4 gig CF for 160 quid.  Insane!  So I'm thinking, how
> long until we see flash-only laptops?  Imagine the battery life!
>
> So then I got thinking, how about retrofitting it into an existing
> laptop?  How hard could it be?
>
> There are IDE-CF adapters.  Would they fit the laptop conectors?
>
> What about flash wearing?  Can you use file systems like jffs for the
> root FS?  And do they have any impact through an IDE-CF interface?
>
> This is really just a thought experiment, but curious to know if it's
> possible.

It's probably perfectly possible, but the longevity of Flash RAM is poor.  You 
also wouldn't want it to handle something write-intensive like /swap!

The power consumption of the laptop wouldn't be massively reduced, either.  
It's the screen back light that seems to draw the most current!

Chris
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