Its not ‘special kind’. Flash memory is a type of nvram. It was a test to see if you would catch on. Theres also neat things like phase change RAM, aka DVD-RAM.
Well it’s special in the sense that opposed to the most common kind of RAM, DRAM and SRAM, it has non volatile storage. Which is why it’s referred to as NVRAM instead of simply RAM. Saying RAM usually implies volatile storage in a PC, certainly does in the context of an OS install on a HDD and SSD, and in that context a SSD isn’t RAM. Yes there are minutiae to the terminology, but I don’t see how that’s relevant here.
Its relevant because its primary use doesnt change how the memory is accessed. The only reason NVRAM doesnt see use as primary system ram is that they are much slower and many types have limited write cycles making them unsuitable for the job.
Muehe@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
A special kind of RAM that is power cycle persistent but has other downsides and thus didn’t really have success on the PC market?
piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Its not ‘special kind’. Flash memory is a type of nvram. It was a test to see if you would catch on. Theres also neat things like phase change RAM, aka DVD-RAM.
Muehe@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Well it’s special in the sense that opposed to the most common kind of RAM, DRAM and SRAM, it has non volatile storage. Which is why it’s referred to as NVRAM instead of simply RAM. Saying RAM usually implies volatile storage in a PC, certainly does in the context of an OS install on a HDD and SSD, and in that context a SSD isn’t RAM. Yes there are minutiae to the terminology, but I don’t see how that’s relevant here.
piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Its relevant because its primary use doesnt change how the memory is accessed. The only reason NVRAM doesnt see use as primary system ram is that they are much slower and many types have limited write cycles making them unsuitable for the job.