Should I install Compact Framework on a memory card?

Question

As our application grows, we need more space on our Windows CE devices.

We have installed SD cards. Launching our applications from the SD card is slow, and there are some serious paging challenges if you run applications from constant paths.

The only option we see is to install the Compact Framework on SD cards to free up some memory.

Should I install it there? Are we having performance issues?

Answer 1

It really depends on what value you use for "value." Installing CF on a memory card will save you about 4 MB of space on the device itself. If you have little storage space, this may be useful for this.

However, it does not improve application performance. In fact, it can slow it down. Applications do not start directly from the memory card; they must be unloaded in RAM to run. Placing a CF on a memory card will not change this requirement. Instead, the CF code must also be downloaded from the memory card.

The performance effect of this paging versus paging from the built-in flash varies by device and memory card. NAND and NOR have significantly different read speeds. The speed of the OEM bus driver for the card can vary greatly depending on how it was implemented.

In short, installing on an external memory card will give you zero benefit, and this can actually make the situation worse. If you want the application to be faster than the page, try a different, faster reading medium or move it to RAM.