Home >> Blog >> Displaying items by tag: pocketpc

Displaying items by tag: pocketpc
Subscribe to this RSS feed
Saturday, 01 March 2008 00:00

Connecting Mandriva Linux 2008 to Windows Mobile 6 PDA

When I switched my desktop over to Mandriva Linux 2008 I knew it wouldn't be without some shortcomings. One of the most frustrating experiences I had was connecting my HTC Touch phone (a Windows Mobile 6 PDA phone) to my Linux box in order to synchronize it. I stumbled along the way, finding the not too apparent solution to my problem.

First of all, the reason why Mandriva couldn't connect to the device was some apparently faulty version of rndis_host driver that came along with the distribution. As a result, every time you upgrade the kernel, you'll have to follow these steps.

Mandriva 2009 works with Windows Mobile 2003 / 5 / 6 out-of-the-box. Moreover, they now use HAL-based connection to your PocketPC, making odccm obsolete. You'd better stick to their approach, it's much more robust - and convenient!
Published in Blog
Read more...
Friday, 17 July 2009 09:08

Get the CellID in WinCE using Lazarus

One of the greatest aspects of Lazarus, the free Delphi-like RAD environment of the FreePascal project, is its ability to cross-compile applications targetting Windows Mobile devices. I was taking a look at various CellID-based geolocation software lately and I thought I could probably write something of my own. However, it seems that most information pertaining to obtaining the CellID on WM devices is written for the .NET CF and there is - of course - nothing about Lazarus. So, I wrote my own simple unit to query the Cell ID, LAC and MNC codes of my Windows Mobile phone using nothing but Lazarus.

 

Published in Blog
Read more...
Tuesday, 03 March 2009 13:43

Keeping Wi-Fi always on, on Windows Mobile devices

I was at a coffeehouse yesterday and I observed the waiters with those PDA's. Once they switched them on, they could take an order, which implies that their PDA's wi-fi connection was enabled even when the device was in standby mode. A bit dissapointed that both my HTC Touch and my Mio P560 would turn off their wi-fi connection upon entering standby, I decided to get to the bottom of this. And I did!

Published in Blog
Read more...
Thursday, 24 January 2008 00:00

Developing for .NET Compact Framework, without Visual Studio

If you own a Pocket PC device, or any Windows Mobile based device (i.e. PDA phone) and you know how to code, you start feeling the urge to develop for it. The possibilities seem endless: highly portable, natural (touch screen) interface, integrated mobile communications (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, 3G, you-name-it), camera, GPS... it's all there, ready to be combined in fun ways.

Now that you want to use your skills to that end, this seems impossible without spending big bucks on Microsoft's Visual Studio (I assume you don't use pirated software, right?). The Express editions are fine for small to medium sized desktop apps, but there's no support for .NET Compact Framework. You are stuck, right?

Well, actually, not exactly.

Published in Blog
Read more...
Tuesday, 25 March 2008 00:00

Four user interface customizations for HTC Touch (and other Windows Mobile 6 touch screen phones, too)

Having a Windows Mobile powered cell phone has its advantages over a "regular" cell phone. The larger screen, the wealth of added value applications and the power of almost infinite user experience customization being the spearhead of these devices, it came naturally to me wanting to personalize every aspect of the user interface. In this post I'll present some user interface customizations I dug up from the web. Some of them are only applicable to HTC devices (and therefore marked with "HTC" on the title), others apply to any device powered by Windows Mobile 6 Professional or Classic.

Most of these tricks require messing with the registry. This is potentially risky and could get your device stuck; in this case, you'd have to hard reset it to get it working again. Take a full backup of your device data before trying any of these tricks! If you need a PocketPC registry editor, here's one which is free. For some tricks, you'll need to replace files in the \Windows folder, which isn't possible with the included File Explorer. In this case you can use the Total Commander CE program, which is also free.

I have also stumbled upon a very comprehensive blog on Pocket PC tips (some of the entries are in Greek, though), a great source of inspiration for this blog post.

Published in Blog
Read more...
Monday, 16 February 2009 15:20

Ελληνικά SMS μεγάλου μήκους στα Windows Mobile κινητά

Έχω ήδη παρουσιάσει μέσα από αυτό το site ένα πρόγραμμα που έχω φτιάξει για την αποστολή SMS στα Ελληνικά από συσκευές που "τρέχουν" Windows Mobile χωρίς περιορισμό 70 χαρακτήρων ανά SMS. Αυτή η λύση λειτουργούσε αρκετά ικανοποιητικά, μεν, αλλά απαιτούσε την εκτέλεση του εν λόγω προγράμματος ακόμη και στις απαντήσεις μηνυμάτων, δε. Αυτή η λύση δεν ήταν ιδιαίτερα πρακτική, οφείλω να ομολογήσω. Γι' αυτό, βρήκα μια καλύτερη και ευκολότερη στη χρήση λύση, την οποία βελτίωσα περαιτέρω.

Στην πραγματικότητα, το μόνο που χρειάζεται είναι ένα πληκτρολόγιο οθόνης (γνωστό και ως SIP ή on-screen keyboard) Που να υποστηρίζει ταυτόχρονα τρεις "γλώσσες": Αγγλικά, Ελληνικά και Ελληνικά για SMS. Αυτό υπάρχει και λέγεται PocketCM Keyboard, γνωστό και ως PCM Keyboard, το οποίο διατίθεται δωρεάν.

Το μεγάλο μειονέκτημα των "εργοστασιακών" ρυθμίσεων για την Ελληνική γλώσσα είναι ότι απ' το πληκτρολόγιο της κατάστασης SMS λείπουν κάποια απαραίτητα σημεία στίξης (όπως η απόστροφος και οι παρενθέσεις), κάτι το οποίο κάνει την χρήση του κατά την αποστολή SMS – το λιγότερο που μπορώ να πω – προβληματική.

Καθότι μου αρέσει το "πείραγμα" των ρθυμίσεων, έφτιαξα μια βελτιωμένη εκδοχή της Ελληνικής γλώσσας που επιτρέπει την σύνταξη SMS χωρίς να απαιτείται η αλλαγή μεταξύ γλωσσών για την εισαγωγή των πιο κοινών σημείων στίξης. Φυσικά, μπορείτε να την κατεβάσετε από αυτό εδώ το site!Κατεβάστε την βελτιωμένη Ελληνική γλώσσα για το PocketCM KeyboardΟρίστε πως φαίνεται το PocketCM Keyboard "εν δράσει ", κατά την σύνταξη SMS:

 

Η εγκατάσταση είναι ιδιαίτερα απλή. Μετά την εγκατάσταση του PocketCM Keyboard, αντιγράφουμε το αρχείο Greek Plus.layout στον φάκελο \Program Files\PCMKeyboard της συσκευής. Στην συνέχεια μπαίνουμε σε κάποιο πρόγραμμα που απαιτεί εισαγωγή κειμένου, π.χ. στο Word Mobile, και επιλέγουμε το PCM Keyboard σαν μέθοδο εισαγωγής κειμένου. Κατόπιν, πηγαίνουμε στις Επιλογές του (options). Πατάμε με το πενάκι στο drop-down box με τίτλο "Keyboard layout" και από την λίστα επιλέγουμε το στοιχείο "Greek Plus". Πατάμε το OK πάνω δεξιά και τελειώσαμε. Απλά και εύκολα Smile

Published in Blog
Read more...