September 1999, Issue 110

Get Smart Media—(Part 1):
What's It All About?

PHYSICAL VS. LOGIC FORMAT

The physical format described here is all that is necessary to write data to and read data from SmartMedia. All SmartMedia comes preformatted. So, all pages are erased to 0FFH, with any invalid pages marked at location 517 (6 bytes into the spare 16-byte array) with a 00H data. To help standardize SmartMedia and ensure compatibility, the devices are also physically formatted in a familiar file structure.

By now you should have a grasp on what SmartMedia is and how it is interfaced. No other nonvolatile media is lighter, smaller, and less expensive.

Even though SmartMedia is not byte writeable and the I/O structure makes it slow for random access, it’s an ideal device for applications requiring large amounts of storage. Its small size and transportability make it a good match for digital cameras, PDAs, and games.

In Part 2, we’ll look at how the SSFDC forum has attempted to keep SmartMedia universal to all devices that use it. I’ll also show you some hardware to demonstrate how you can use SmartMedia in one of your own projects.