Generic CE 6.0 subnotebook - I took the plunge

Cool, have you tried either of these? Do you know what CE R version they are?

I was wondering if it is possible to customise the image files, perhaps removing some programs and adding others. Is this possible, if so, how hard for a Windows "Power User" but a CE novice?

I note that the second download contains a user guide to flashing. It says "Copy the file “script” to your SD card. (Very important, please don’t copy the whole file “ VT8505 Software” to your SD card. Just copy the file of “ script” will be OK)". I assume it means copy the whole folder "script" (and the subfolders).

[UPDATE] I got another source of an image file [download link] direct from the seller of my device.

Edited by nigelmercier 2010-04-20 9:26 AM

There's nothing specifying, but I'm guessing they're the same ROM image that's already on the device, which is R2. (I haven't found an R3 device, let alone an R3 ROM image, anywhere thus far - they're still pretty rare from what I hear.) However, it includes a "System Disk" folder, which has all the standard folders inside (\Windows, \Program Files, etc), so it looks like it might be fully user-customizable. Haven't tried reflashing yet, but I may give it a shot soon since I've acquired a second CE 6 netbook (TinyBook T706).

The 3 images seem remarkably similar.

I'm not sure if this is any use, but I've removed all the identical files that were duplicated between any two, and listed the remainder. Apart from desktop.ini and thumbs.db there are only about 5, see attached.

Edited by nigelmercier 2010-04-20 12:25 PM




Attachments
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Non-Duplicates.txt (0KB - 9 downloads)

Those are all files relating to the persistent registry.

OK, now I've taken the plunge and re-flashed the image file [download link] from the seller of my device. Just for an experiment, and to see if I could change the boot logo.

As you can see, I'm back to the default Desktop - not tacky at all!

Having done this successfully, it would be very handy to be able to further customise the image file. My main gripe is to remove the Soft Keyboard whose icon lives on the bottom right corner - where the Desktop icon should be.

[UPDATE] I've uploaded a video of the process to YouTube (for some reason it has gone 4:3). Note that the "Auto Format NAND Flash" didn't happen the first time, but ran when I repeated the process. I'm sure someone will be able to tell me why

Edited by nigelmercier 2010-04-21 4:39 PM






Attachments
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desktop.jpg (91KB - 0 downloads)

You may remove the screen keyboard driver (registry: HKLM/SIP).

I don't have a SIP entry in the root of HKLM. I've searched the registry, there are two SIP keys:

HKCU \Control Panel
HKLM\Drivers\BuiltIn\SIP

What you think, delete both?
[Later] Rats! Won't let me delete the key in HKLM
[Later still] but I can delete the values

All done, nasty icon gone away! Thank you.

Edited by nigelmercier 2010-04-21 4:58 PM

Sorry, missed Drivers/BuiltIn.
Not at all.

I've just realised that the image I used does not have a folder \script\System Disk\Documents and Settings

So where are the registry settings saved in the image files?

They are not saved in a USUAL file. They are built in OS BINARY IMAGE. They are not accesible from the system.

That's not uncommon. People who've lurked on be300.org will tell you that sometimes repeated flashes of the Casio BE-300 are needed to replace the stock shell with the custom ones. (The BE-300 also has NAND flash.)

I've just flashed it again several times, but I can't get the NAND flash to do it's thing. I've modified the image (removed some dross); is this a factor, and if so how can I make the format run?

Incidentally, I had a look at the loader script file (scriptcmd), see ASCII version attached. Almost makes sense!

Edited by nigelmercier 2010-04-23 5:20 PM




Attachments
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scriptcmd.txt (2KB - 9 downloads)

Not sure if this is a "fix" but I've just got it to run by putting the SD card in then pressing the RESET button for 20 seconds.

I tried reflashing my VT8500 netbook (the generic CE 6 one), and it reflashed fine on the first try. I added some programs (and their shortcuts) to the \Windows and \Program Files folders inside the \script\System Disk folder and reflashed again, and again the first attempt was successful. Looks like it's pretty easy to design a custom ROM for this device.

Do all of the generic netbooks reflash in the same method? That is do you have to have a device up and running and then run some flash software that reads an image file and flashes the rom just like you would do if you reflashing the bios chip in a desktop?

Or do some of them have a built in bootloader that looks for a flash image on the SD card and reflashes even before the OS is loaded?