MalFreeMaps moving forward with improved free map

The mapper community supported Malaysia & ASEAN Free Maps Project (MalFreeMaps) releases a new version of free map covering Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei for Garmin GPS every Monday morning without failure.

Today (14 Sept 2009) they've gone to another milestone by releasing an improved version of map with a new versioning scheme, also with new coverage to Indonesia.

The new version is called MFM-Garmin 090914 with the following additional features from the previous version:

• Link to NavNet map in Kalimantan
• Coverage of Southern Thailand (coming soon)
• Optional Chinese POI
• Improved SG Postal Code & Address map with instant search result
• New POI icons
  
• New POI categories with custom icons (coming soon)
• New MFM map generator with option to generate either Full or Lite version
• Topo contours are added into Full-version map
• New multi-language installer
• No more error when uploading map through Mapsource

Click here for more information and download of the free MFM-Garmin 090914 map.

Upgraded Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop RAM to 2.5GB

I have successfully upgraded the RAM of my Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop purchased 3 years ago from the original 512MB to 2.5GB now, and have been using this new configuration for more than 2 months without any problem.

Before this, I heard about the Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop can only support up to 2GB RAM, but now I've confirmed that it can support up to 2.5GB.

The original 512MB RAM residing in Memory Slot 1 of the laptop is of DDR-2 PC2-4200 SO-DIMM running at 533Mhz bus speed. I purchased another Kingston brand 2GB RAM of DDR-2 PC2-5300 CL-5 SO-DIMM which can run at 667Mhz bus speed and slotted it into the empty Memory Slot 2.



As shown in the photo below, the RAM on the left hand side is the original 512MB, and on the right hand side is the new 2GB.



When the laptop first detected the new memory, it displayed a message stating "The amount of system memory has changed." when boot up and seems to be hang at this message. I was a bit worry then, but later found out from Internet that I just need to be patient and wait for a while. The laptop then accepted the new amount of memory and no more similar message appear during boot up therafter.

It seems that both the memory can work together well without any problem, and can even work in Dual Channel Mode. They passed all the stringent memory test in Dell's Diagnostic Utility, and have worked happily for more than 2 months now.

Although the working bus speed has to synchornized to 533Mhz even the PC2-5300 RAM is able to work on the faster 667Mhz, but the performance affected is very much neglegible.

In the BIOS, it correctly detected 512MB + 2048MB = 2560MB RAM has been installed, but it says only 2559MB is available for use. Therefore, the maximum RAM supported by Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop is 2.5GB only, and it will be a waste to install any larger amount than that.



Windows XP detects a total of 2,619,768kB (or 2558.367MB) of RAM.



Notice that I have completely switched off the Virtual Memory by setting the paging file to 0. I have been using the laptop without any Virtual Memory in Windows XP for 2 months, and it just works fine. In fact, it runs much faster than before, and there is less harddisk activity now.

Using Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS as a digital photo frame

The Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS navigator does not have much multimedia function, but it does have a decent Picture Viewer, enabling us to use it as a digital photo frame. Its 4.3" screen is good enough for this purpose.

If your digital camera can store photos into SD card, what you need to do is just to take out the SD card from your camera, and slot it into the Nuvi 255w. Then, switch on the unit and tap on Tools > Picture Viewer.

The screen will then show 9 thumbnails of the pictures found. You can navigate from one screen to another by tapping on the up/down arrow keys.

Tap on the picture to show it fully on the screen. Tap it again and you are able to show it in Full Screen mode, as well as enlarge or reduce its display size.

When displaying a picture, tap on the Info button to see the info of the filename, camera make and camera model. You are also given an option to use this picture as your Garmin nagivator's startup screen when power on.

In the thumbnail display screen, you can also tap on Slide Show to auto show the pictures one by one.