DISGO WinCE 5.0 device

I bought one of these in London for 99GBP ... looked like a good replacement for my aged Jornada.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/10823678/Disgo-Net-Browser-3000-64MB-2GB-7-Windows-CE-Netbook/Product.html

[SPECS]

# Processor: ARM AK7802Q216 248MHz
# Display: 7" High resolution TFT (800 x 480 pixels)
# Internal Memory: DDR 64MB / 2GB Nand-flash
# External Memory: SD card , U-Disk , USB-HDD
# Connectivity: WIFI RIEEE 802.11 b/g, Ethernet RJ-45
# Connections:
# USB 2.0 x 1 (supports external memory)
# USB 1.1 x 2 (supports keyboard & mouse only)
# SD / MMC card slot (up to 8GB)
# Microphone jack x 1
# Earphone jack x 1
# DC jack x 1
# Speakers: Built in 2 x 0.5W
# Keypad: QWERTY 86 keys
# Mouse Pad: 2.2" mouse pad
# Battery :
# 7.4 V 1800Mha built in Lithium battery
# Battery life 4 hrs
# Adapter: 110~240V input , 9V 2A output
# Operating system: Win CE 5.0 professional plus version
[/SPECS]

I like it but there seems to be one showstopper ... there doesn't seem to be a way to suspend it ... only shutdown. Now this wouldn't be a problem as the shutdown and/startup is quite fast but it also seems to be the equivilent of my Jornada of almost a hard-reset e.g. any shortcuts of the dsktop I have made are gone and all the ones I deleted are back.

Has anyone seen one of these before and have any ideas?

TIA

This seems to be the way these CE 5 netbooks are set up - no suspend mode, persistent registry that wipes the RAM clean on each boot. Check this tutorial for a possible workaround:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/s/0127.asp

Thanks for the quick response ... I'll check it out ..

That worked for me

The folders were slightly diferent from the Razorbook setup i.e. Flash2 instead of NANDFlash and there was not already a Windows folder there but these are minor. Created the folders, made the registry changes and all is hunky-dory now.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Edited by iforevans 2009-10-17 6:01 AM

Hi CEGeek,

Sorry to ask another question, but you seem to know what you're talking about

I have just installed Warefare Inc, and GAPI from WinCEsoft. This used to run great on my Jornada but my DISGO isn't listed in the list of GAPI devices and it won't run without selecting a device. I can run in GAPI emulator mode but this is really slow

Do you know which device in the list matches the DISGO and/or a way to force GAPI to accept it? (it seems to detect the device and refuser to run if there is a mis-match)

Thanks again.

So far I'm not aware of any GAPI for HPCs compatibility with any of these CE 5.0 netbooks thus far. I'd suggest you contact Frank Weseloh over at wincesoft.de to see if he's willing to give it a shot. He's pretty good about responding to user input.

(BTW, thanx for the compliment, but I only know what I know because of the help of the real experts here - other users. )

Hi,

I was just about to buy one of these but am a bit concerned about the OS - all I want the device for is to keep spreadsheets and email them to my accountant - is Spreadexcel in Win CE compatible with Excel in XP or Vista and vice versa? I'm guessing that Spreadexcel doesn't have the functionality of fullblown Excel but all I will need is basic formulas. I came across this post in a quest to find the answer so I hope someone can help me!

Many thanks

Sam

I think it's pretty good, some of the more complex formala are missing but its ok for standard stuff. To be honest I don't use it though, I use PlanMaker (Exel equivilent) & TextMaker (Word) from Softmaker does pretty much everything that Excel can do.



Edited by iforevans 2009-11-03 4:40 PM

Both SpreadCE and PlanMaker can handle .xls (desktop Excel) files, which should be all you need.

One point that I would make is that I have reverted to using TextMaker/PlanMaker 2002 on this device. The reason for that is that this version stores it's config files, Templates etc etc in the "Program Files" folder (which I have on the storage card). The newer version that I also have (2006) insists on storing this data in "\Application Data\Softmaker" which unfortunately on this device gets wiped every reboot :-(

Textmaker/PlanMaker 2006 still work but all my settings and preferences are lost.

As for GAPI, it's worth to try Microsoft's gx.dll and first and second gx.dll from cmonex's package (gx dlls on http://hpcmonex.net/izemize.htm). Last two allow setting the framebufer adress manually (as well as some other options), which in presence of luck can be found somewhere in registry or some settings file.
The other dlls from TFGBD (included in package) may also work.

Read infos inside archives.

That's what I've been doing with my RazorBook thus far. Some of those gx.dll files can do the job with some programs, and some can't. It's strictly trial and error.

I'll give them a try. Any idea where I can get the MS GX.DLL?

BTW I've been talking with Frank over at WinceSoft he has had reall problems getting a version of his to work with this device. Seems to be a problem with screen refresh. He's tried building 4 diferent versions so far with no joy

Yeah, we had similar difficulty with the Airpanel 100 in 24-bit color mode. Never hurts to try, though.

The Microsoft version of gx.dll can also be found in the gx.dll ZIP package on cmonex' site (link posted by Alt Bass above). It'll be in the TFGBD folder inside the ZIP package, in a subfolder named "gapi12."

Thanks for that, I'll try the dll's in CMONEX's package tonight ... BTW did Frank ever get his GAPI wworking with the airpanel?