WINCE 5.0 Alternative to Desktop Needed

I have a 4.3" (480x272) GPS, with a "Centrality, ARM926T-AT4X0A" processor(Chinese Manufacture)
operating under WINCE 5.0 utilising Route66 navigation.

The difficulty I have is that the device has an embedded OEM CE which does not permit any persistent addition

of shortcuts to the desktop. That is, while I can launch the desktop with a registry change, and add shortcuts,

these dissapear after the device is turned off. There is no identifiable or a modifiable Shell. I am somewhat

reluctant to try any further unlocking procedures on the desktop in case I brick the thing completely.


As an alternative to the desktop, I have renamed the R66 Nav program MobileNavigator.EXE to NAV.EXE and

installed a small Windows Explorer like application called GSFinder.EXE and renamed this as

MobileNavigator.EXE. On startup I will get the device menu, which in turn activates the renamed GSFinder to

bring up the contents of the memory which allows me to get to the applications I want on the SD card. If you can

follow this you can see that it is a convoluted but workable solution.


A simpler and more elegant solution is to find a CE 5.0 compatible .exe menu program which can be renamed

to MobileNavigator.EXE to provide a surrogate "desktop" to launch applications in the flash and SD card memories.


I would be grateful if any member can direct me to a simple menu program which might allow me to accomplish

these objectives, or indeed any other constructive suggestions. Thanks.

It is easy to get R66 PNA to always boot into desktop via a change to shell.

I have a replacement PNAshell file wich will boot the desktop. However, as you say it will not hold shortcuts on desktop when unit is totally switched off or re-set.

There are alternative shells as used by other satnav hacks that do offer links to applications but with my pnashell it is possible to pop open links to all your programs on the route of the SD card so it is just a case double tapping my computer then sd to get all the apps you want.

Not sure if it helps but thought it was worth mentioning.

Also if you do it this way I think you can add a config line to the settings file for R66 (hasshell=y or somthing like that) which will give you an exit button in R66. Means you don't need to re-set to exit the R66 software).

John

Edited by mr-mac 2008-10-27 8:28 AM

Thanks John

There is no accessible shell, I have previously attempted to install a shell but without any sucess, the real problem lies in the nature of this perverse beast and its lack of a persistent memory, hense my current, albeit clumsy method to work outside of the Wince desktop. Similarly the R66 is tightly bundled with no apparent means to modify the settings.

It works fine on all the apps on SD, as well as the OEM R66 supplied with the device in its memory. It is the utilising method that I want to change if there is a readily available solution.

If there is none, I will probably live with what I have. I'll continue to hold out a rapidly diminishing hope.

Ken

Look in the flash drive and I am sure you will find a file called PNAShell.exe

This can be moved and replaced with a file that starts explorer or any other program you like. There have been quite a few Apps designed to act like a shell and allow you access to programs etc.

If you can't find any I will look and post some links.

John

HKey_Local_Machine\init\Launch50

What it currently should be: PvShell.exe
What you need to change it to: explorer.exe

CeRegEditor is free and will allow you to do this.

Now if I could stop 'out of memory' errors when I run my own apps from the SD card I'd be happy. Any ideas?
The default programs seem to run fine, maybe there is a way of allocating just as much 'priority' to programs running from the SD card. Like I said, any help here would be appreciated.

Read through this forum thread for more:
http://www.gpsaustralia.net/forums/showthread.php?s=0e7b1f55ddf23ee...

Over the past 2 months I have tried all of the suggested registry changes to launch desktop however the setup of the embedded wince is such that it prevents a persistent change, that is on restart it is back to square one. Similarly, there is no ready visibility or means of modifying any shell.exe programs. I have had a similar lack of success in attempting to intall other shell and launcher programs.

The only working solution I have come up with is to use GSFinder as described in my initial posting. I just imaginged that tapping on a larger shortcut icon was easier than pecking away with a stylus to make changes on the go. Lets face it, the system works fine for R66 (embedded) and Oziexplorer and IGO8 (2gb SD) with no hangups, and it is not as if I need to change continuously between these execept when I want to travel through a town en route.

Judging from various discussion forums this seems to be a universal problem faced by a range of Chinese developed embedded systems which do not have accesss to a modifiable shell.exe.

WiNmaKlIn, I cannot give you any particular guidance as this device is configured quite differently to that descibed in your suggested forum thread.

Thanks for your responses and suggestions.