TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

Brent Chiodo recently reviewed Softick Cache. Back then, no information was available on the exact meaning of the various parameters. However, 1src poster hgradeca managed to get such a description from Softick’s support:

…You are using “Cache Write operations” options, so the software doesn’t write data immediately
after receiving request on write operation, but optimizes write operations for performance increase.
So you can lose your data if your SD card will be removed without data flushing.
Data is flushed automatically each few minutes, but we can’t perform the flush operation when you remove
SD card.

Softick Cache manual is in work at this time.
Small manual about main Cache settings you can find below.

Unfortunately, I can’t offer you the best Softick Cache configuration due to the fact,
that software efficiency greatly depends on your device software configuration.

There is a description of Softick Cache options.
“Enable Cache After Reset”.
Softick Cache will start automatically after soft reset if the option is enabled.
The option is currently disabled due to beta version of the software, but it will be enabled by default
in the release version.

“Cache Size”.
This parameter defines how much dynamic heap memory is allocated for cached data.
In theory, the bigger cache size is the better , but in this case some application will not have enough memory
for their work (big games, GPS software etc).
So cache size is set up in 70% from largest free memory block by default.
Please decrease cache size if some installed applications display “Not enough memory” error message.

Try to play with cache size and compare cache effectiveness in each case.

“Optimize FAT Access”.
Your cards FAT area is cached independently from the rest of the cache, and FAT is not evicted from memory,
if this option is enabled.

“Cache Write Operations”.
All written sectors are placed in the cache. In most cases, Cache is more efficient if this option is enabled.
However, you can try turning off the option and compare results.

“Use ahead-read for 8 sectors”.
Softick Cache tries to predict which sectors Palm OS will read further.
8 sectors is the optimal size for most devices we have tested Cache on.
However, you can try changing sectors count and compare results.
Ahead-read will be disabled if 0 sectors are defined.

I hope this description will allow you to use Softick Cache most efficiently.”

What about letting us know the settings that work “best” for you?