ARM CE razorbook for $119

Well, I had a little success.

Textmaker 2008 installed and ran successfully.
The ARM version of Haali Reader (eBook software) runs successfully. (This one has no install, it's just an exe file.)
TascalSearch and TascalGuage will not install.
uBook Reader will not install.
PocketMVP will not install.
GS Player 2.25 from the author's website will not install (I believe there's another hpc version out there also, but I couldn't find it.)

Hope that helps. If you have other specific programs you'd like to know about, I'll sure give them a try.

Also, for what it's worth, the exact error message I get when an install fails is this:
"Setup Failed
The application cannot run on this device type. Please install the application specific to this device type."

Edited by snappyjaw 2009-04-17 1:33 PM

It will likely be as simple as the cab is looking for ce 4.2 or less. Somthing like that.

You could probs make them run by using OCP's cab manager and extracting cab on your pc then moving files across.

John

wceloadext should solve that problem on the device itself.

Hmmmmm. I have used exe check to get things running once they are installed, but have never messed with making changes to CAB files. I will take a look at that and see if I can get something running.

Thanks!

Edited by snappyjaw 2009-04-17 3:37 PM

Many thanks for taking the time to do this: this will really help prospective buyers. You wouldn't happen to have a copy of Textmaker for HPC2000 (ARM) to try out, would you?

Jake

No problem at all, this site has always been such a great resource for me, I'm happy to give a little back.

I can download the trial version of Softmaker 2006 for hpc and see if that will run. Is that the version you're looking for? Other than that, I have no version of Textmaker.

Thanks for the heads up on the CAB file software. Here's what I found so far. The version number in the CABs looked OK, so I tried looking at the processor type. In each, they were listed as ARM. I switched that to "all" and the CABs then installed. What I don't know is whether this will create other problems.

So far, I did this with Total Commander and Pocket MVP. With TC, it installed and ran fine, with MVP, it installed fine but then gave the "PocketMVP or one of it's components could not be found" error. I haven't had a chance yet to run exe check to see what that tells me.

Also interesting, I installed them into the default "Program Files" folder and now that I've turned the device off and back on, they are gone! I must need to install onto the Nand Disk or the SD Card in order for them to survive a restart.

Anyway, my best guess is that the processor in the Razorbook is different in some way from the ARM processors that's been used in the past and that is causing these install headaches.
I'll keep at it and keep you posted.

Edited by snappyjaw 2009-04-17 7:12 PM

Textmaker 2008 supposedly runs great on the Razorbook from posts I've read. You can download the trial version here: http://softmaker.com/english/ofcdemo_en.htm and check it out.

OK, one last post for now and I'm taking a break.

I installed the software onto the Nand Disk and the installed folders now survive a restart, however none of the Start menu shortcuts survive. Maybe there's a persistent registry setting or something?
Also, on the programs that won't start once they're installed, no luck because exe check won't run. It opens and flashes onto the screen for a second and then disappears.
All very frustrating.

On the Textmaker 2006 for hpc, I was unable to test because it requires an Activesync connection and the exe does not generate any CAB files that I can find.

Don't do the 2006, do the 2008. It will lead you to a page where you download a cab file, not a desktop installer....

Thanks Rich, I did get that 2008 CAB installed and run successfully, I think Jake has an older version that he wanted to check compatibility on.

You can use UniExtract on the 2006 for CE version to extract all the files (there is no CAB). However, the PC version for some reason is included with the CE version, so you have to sort out which files to copy over to the device. However, it doesn't look like much work. From the looks of it you just copy the contents of the "arm" and "common" folders to the device and maybe some other miscellaneous files such as the contents of "spell" for example.

Thanks for that help. I copied over those folders and tried to run but got an error. Then I copied the two exe files in the ARM folder into the common folder and ran them from there and it does work. I'm sure it would take a little more fiddling with it to get all the functions and features copied to the Razorbook, but I'd say this software is definitely a go.

Thanks for looking into that older TM version. I do have the ARM 2002 version and just wanted to see if it would run in CE 5.0. Intriguing about your registration card, that softmaker is free with the purchase. Seems generous...

Jake

Thanks to Cmonex I have a wonderfully useful 900c. However the screen size on this razorbook is very attractive and I tempted to buy one. The clincher for me is if it will run the following

1) Realplayer
2) Youtube video

Any thoughts?

Setanta

ps: I would just like to express my heartfelt thanks to Cmonex for the wonderful work she did in turning the nec 900c into a fantastic little machine

I can tell you that Youtube does not work any better on this device than on say a MP 900. The video and sound are quite choppy and unwatchable. You would of course have the option of downloading the youtube video as an flv file and playing it through the Core player, but I find that to be more trouble than it's worth.
I have not tried Real Player on it. If I get a chance, I will do that.