Opera Mini and WinCE 4.1

Hi friends,

I've been using Opera Mobile 8.65 and RedGear on my Sigmarion for a while. It's really a good browser, but recently, the webpages are not rendering well on Opera 8.65 anymore. So I searched for a better browser and found the Opera Mini 5.1. I already use Opera Mini on my W Phone and it's great! I downloaded the Opera Mini 5.1 for PPC2003 on Opera website. It installed fine and using RedGear I was abble to open it. But it was too good to be true... I don't know why, the browser and interface works perfectly (exacctly as on my phone) but it can't open ANY webpage. It says that I'm not connected to internet even when my wifi is active. I looked in the configuration menu and changed the connection protocol from Socks to HTTP. The error of "no internet connection" disappeared, but the page remains loading forever and my device hangs

Does anybody have an idea of how to solve this? Is there a missing DLL needed for connection?

Thanks!!

Well, just to update you guys of what I'm doing to try to run Opera Mini on my Sigmarion. I read on the forums here that I can get the java version instead of the stand alone application. I got it, but any of the JVM that I found worked on the Sig3. What is the right JVM to run Opera 5 Mini and where can I get it.

Also, I tried an updated version of the Opera Mobile that could be better than the old Opera Mobile 8.65 that I'm using right now. So I tried the Opera Mobile 9.5. WinCE refuses to install the .cab saying that it is not a valid CE .cab. So I extracted the .cab contents on my PC using MSCEInf and copied the folder to my Sig3. It ALMOST run. There are 2 executables on the folder, one is called Opera9.exe and another OperaL.exe, both with the same logo. I guess that one is for newer devices (Opera9.exe) and other is for older (OperaL.exe). With execcheck I checked that Opera9.exe needs many dll's that are not available on WinCE4.1. OperaL.exe instead needs only coredll aygshell toolhelp and ole32.dll. The first 2 are emulated by RedGear. I only got toolhelp and ole32 from izemize (http://www.hpcmonex.net/izemize.htm) but it still doesn't work. Do you have any ideas please? I really NEED a better browser on my Sig3, and I think I'm almost getting it.

Thank you guys.


PS: Probably Opera Mini 5 is easier to solve since the interface is loading fine, it just refuses to open pages. Maybe it is a problem with ws2.dll?? Who knows... I'm still checking it.

What happens if you don't use Redgear with Opera Mini? I wonder because I use Opera Mini 5 on my 900C without Redgear and it works fine. I've never been able to use any newer versions of the regular Opera beyond 8.65. I wonder if the OperaL stands for the landscape version versus the default portrait mode...

Maybe if you just rename it it will work differently. Also, rather than useing MSCEInf, try WinCE cabmanager and change the cab file so that compression is not used and that will normally resolve the non-valid error you get when trying to install a CAB. Some cabs have registry entries built into the installer that might be missed trying to install manually.

Wish I had a Sig III to play with....

Thanks for your suggestions Rich! I tried to disable RedGear and Opera Mini doesnt open. Checked with execheck and realized that it needs at least WinCE 4.20 and a better coredll. Changed the version with execheck and downloaded a pack of coredll's from hpcmonex.net. Tried ALL versions of coredll available on that package (except for the x86 ones obviously) and none of them worked (the app doesn't even open, or if it opens, gives a fatal error just after opening and I have to reset. The only coredll that worked was the RedGear one. I copied the _oredll.dll from windows folder to opera mini folder, renamed it to coredl2.dll and opera mini launches normally, but still with no browsing. I think that it's not a dll problem. Maybe it is something with Opera configs not seeing my internet connection. I tried to open some .ini configuration files with a texteditor with no luck. Maybe I should try the .jar version. Please, can someone point me a link to IBM websphere J9 trial or any other JVM that works on .NET devices like mine?

Thanks again!

It's too bad about it not accessing the internet. It sounds like it is either a problem with the ws2.dll (in which case you've already tried RedGear's DLL), or a cellcore.dll problem. Try editing the Opera Mini exe to call a different name, e.g. cellcor2.dll so RedGear doesn't replace it. Then rename Hou Ming's cellcore.dll to cellcor2.dll and put it in Opera Mini's folder. It's worth a try...

The best JVM for Opera Mini is PhoneME, but I'm not sure if it will work on Sigmarion.

Well... let me understand the dll stuff here. What is cellcore.dll and ws2.dll for? If cellcore.dll is just for interface stuff, the RedGear cellcore is perfect. It's opening the Opera Mini interface exactly the same as my phone does. So maybe the problem is with ws2.dll. Is it responsible for communication? If so, where can I find another ws2.dll?

I heard somewhere that opera mini uses a proxy based browsing (like skyfire 1.x). Is it right? Maybe opera is not connecting to their servers. I heard that you must have the right version for your country or it will not connect to opera server. I tried to change the language from the opera site to download but it always point me to the same file. I realized that if I change my regional preferences in WinCE's Control Painel, the Opera Mini interface changes automatically. I changed my region to US and Opera started in English (with no browsing again). Then I changed to Brazil (that is my country) and Opera launched in portuguese, but still without browsing.

I think that the problem is with either ws2.dll or some blocked port that Opera Mini is trying to use and WinCE is blocking it. Is it possible?


Thanks again folks!

ws2.dll deals with the actual network communications. It sounds like the ws2.dll on your Sig 3 doesn't work, since even when disabling RedGear it didn't work. And it sounds like RedGear's ws2.dll doesn't work either... If that is the problem.

However, it could be cellcore.dll too. On Windows Mobile this DLL lets programs know whether the user is connected to the internet or not and/or initiate a connection. So it is possible that Opera Mini is trying to connect and/or thinks no connection exists due to a faulty cellcore.dll. I think what I described above would be the last avenue to try to get it to work.

Hi again!

Continuing with my brave attempt to run Opera Mini on my Sig3, I hard-reseted my HPC. This time at least, I was abble to run RedGear without changing RedGear's aygshell.dll to HM's one. The secret is to install RedGear BEFORE the English MUI Interface, and then install the MUI. I don't know what changes after the MUI instalation with aygshell, but I know it works (I did it twice!)

But unfortunately, even after hard-reseting and installing RedGear by the right way, Opera Mini refuses to connect to internet. I downloaded some versions os ws2.dll from izemize and tried with all of them. Most of them didn't even open Opera Mini (lack some exporting funcions). The ones that oppened almost worked. It stays loading the webpage for a while but then finally gives the "no connection" error. The ws2.dll from RedGear doesn't even give time for loading. It instantly gives the "no connection" error.

What should I do? Is it better to return to JVM version of Opera Mini? IBM J9 can't run even Opera Mini 4.1. People here said that PhoneME is the best one, but it doesn't work right on my Sig3... It displays a blank screen and thencloses. Will try again after hard-reset

PS: Opera Mobile 8.65 is now much better with RedGear's aygshell. THANKS ISOTHERM for your great software.

I was never able to get Opera Mini to work correctly on my Wabook CE6 machine...it would just hang there trying to load the web page as you describe with your Sig3. Yet on my Tinybook it works fine. Must be something different in the OS build that allows it on one and not the other, even though they are both CE6.

As to your dillemma...I wish I knew...

I'm running Opera 5.1 on a stock install of WinCE 4.2 just fine. I've got a link if needed, it's a cab file. Only thing is I have to set the task bar to autohide or else it gets in the way making things a little difficult to do.

Wish you luck in your endevours. I'm experiencing the web on my MP900 and it's nearly as good as my desktop!

Definely, Opera Mini is the best browser EVER for mobile devices. Solidus, what is the difference between your .CAB file and the one offered in opera.com website?

Please, everyone that is trying to run Opera Mini on their WinCE devices (specially the newer ones) and it is not working, send me a message. I'm considering write to Opera and ask about this "no connectivity" bug on WinCE machines.

Interesting - on my TinyBook it never loads the web page, just like on other devices.

Friends, it seems that it's a common problem for many of us. Why don't we ask Opera about this issue. Does anyone hve netbooks with CE 6.0 or CE 5.0 to test Opera Mini on it? If this is not loading webpages either, I can write them asking about compatbility issues on WinCe from version 4.1 to 6.0.

Absolutely no difference, I got it off the Opera site.

I posted a message on the opera mini forum at opera.com. I hope that the people there can help us!