New HPC owner with a couple of questions

Hello all,

I have been interested in HPCs since I first heard of them a couple of years ago, and I've been reading reviews and other info on this great site off-and-on for about as long. The price that perfect-working units go for always prohibited me from owning one, but that changed a couple of weeks ago when I finally got a *supposedly* perfect NEC MobilePro 900C for $40 shipped on eBay. Unfortunately, the seller failed to mention, and their blurry pitch-black photos failed to show, that someone painted the outside of the unit a very ugly (and sticky) grey, the stylus isn't original, and the USB port cover is missing. However, it works perfect, the inside of the unit is immaculate, the seller included a Linksys WPC11 wireless card, and even the battery is still good, so I'm happy anyway.

I've used the unit quite a bit since I've got it, and I really love it. The seller did include a CD full of software, so I've been having fun going through that and seeing what works (much of it is Pocket PC or Windows Mobile software). I also have a 4 GB MicroDrive on the way (yeah, yeah, I know, but at $6 it was the cheapest CompactFlash drive I could find), so I'll be able to update the bootloader and firmware when that comes. I may try cmonex's ROM, as well.

Anyhow, as a new HPC user I have a few general questions. First of all, is it normal for these to freeze up a lot? I find that whenever I use it, I have to poke the reset button at least once or twice a day. Most of the freeze-ups happen while I'm browsing files on my USB flash drive, so perhaps it's just my cheap drive? Also, once in a while when I soft-reset it, it ends up acting like a hard-reset, so I've learned to keep a backup using ActiveSync.

Second, what's the best overall web browser to use with CE.net 4.2? I haven't done much browsing yet, but so far on IE 6 I've only been successful in loading this site, cmonex's site, and the mobile version of Facebook. I couldn't even get Google to load, and I've never found a web browser that couldn't load Google!

Third, is there any way of putting battery and sound applets beside the clock, like in desktop Windows? I hate having to go to the Control Panel to check out those things.

My apologies if these questions have already been answered. I've done some searching on here and I've googled, but I haven't come across any answers yet. Anyhow, I really love this thing, and I'm happy to finally have an HPC to tinker around with, and maybe even get some use out of.

Thanks,
Trent







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Hey Trent;

I can't answer your questions (although I'm sure others can) as I don't own a 900 ('m a 700 guy myself), but what part of the Martitimes are you in?

Rick (a former Maritimer)

Edited by Richard Plume 2013-03-03 1:40 AM

Hi Rick, nice to hear from a (former) Maritimer! I'm in New Brunswick.

Trent

I'm from Nova Scotia myself, both Halifax-Dartmouth and Shelburne.

Rick

Welcome to the H/PC world!

As for the H/PCs freezing up a lot, to be honest yes, they do freeze up. It's not just you.

But I love H/PCs that they can do writing and web browsing well. You should try out Opera Mini on MP900C, they should work well.

I own a Sigmarion 3, which is also made by NEC, and I use Picsel Browser. Not bad even using it today. I also own a MP900C, but I haven't tried the Opera Mini on it yet.

There should be many friendly people here on HPC Factor to help you out!

-stingraze

Right,

First off look for a 900c custom rom made by cmonex should include updated dll's to make wm software run, comes with useful software built in and other improvements. Also opera should run out of the box

2nd get a cf card and store all your user data on that docs photos etc.

3rd use qmail or npopuk for email and set up the software to use the CF card to store emails.

Lastly store nothing on internal storage, keep it empty, and then slide memory slider to give a large chunk to system ram which will improve speed and stability.


Once all done you'll have a much more useful and stable device that doesn't loose all your data should you need to hard reset (but this will likely need done a huge chunk less).

Hope this helps

John

Looks like you can download the custom rom here

http://leoromo.net/temp/hpcmonex.net/nec900/customroms.html

And 8.6 opera mobile trial is here
http://leoromo.net/temp/hpcmonex.net/izemize.htm

There may be better places to grab them now as it's been a while for me but hopefully those two work.

OMG...that is ugly...I'd have to refurbish that lid.

Black colors on these DSTN screens do stink...just one of those things you have to live with.

Be sure to check out my website...I have nearly every program in the world that will run on these things...although you might just find it here on HPCFactor as well since we've been updating the SCL.

Hope you got a microdrive with a CF interface and not the IDE interface...otherwise it won't work. Lots of posts here on HPCF about microdrives...those that work and those that don't. Most of the inexpensive ones won't work.

I think you will like the Cmonex ROM...most do. I prefer my own homebuilt one and it is easy to brew your own..lots of info on how to do that here as well.

Probably the most common problem with freezing has to do with memory...it is easy to overwhelm these things, especially when surfing, or when viewing huge directories, etc. Always allocate the max memory to program versus storage when you can.

I think you will like Opera Mini 5 better than Opera 6.5 or 6.6 however...smaller and faster...at least for me.

There are a lot of utilities that will allow you to access the service tray near the clock. Microsoft's Mute program will install there to turn sound on and off, and SoundWidget will also reside there to do the same thing, plus allow quick access for volume control. WRTools is another one that resides there that will do a lot of things. Or Microsoft's Resource Meter. You will just have to play to discover all of them.

Anyways, a full sanding, then fine sanding...1500 grit will make the lid as smooth as a babie's butt...and ready for your favorite plastic spray paint...

Thanks for all the info guys. It's good to know the freezing isn't anything I'm doing wrong. Looks like I'll be trying the Opera browser and the system tray utilities. While I do want to try the Cmonex ROM, I read that it also introduces custom icons and stuff. I want the OS to look original, so is there a way to keep the original icons?

I did ask the seller, and they said it was the standard CF interface that will work on any CFII device. Feedback from people who bought them is good, too. It's a Seagate ST1. They have what appears to be hundreds of those and Hitachi Microdrives they are refurbishing and selling, all for $6.

Any cf card will work a cheap 2gb should do nicely (not sure if larger works) uses less power than a Microdrive.

I'd go with the custom rom regardless. You'll find the 900 night and day better with it. You can flash back if you want. Without it you'll likely need to redirect to replacement dll's to make opera work.

John

This site is your best friend, listen to Richard Hawley and visit his pages, hpcfactor has downloads too you just have to test things out and see what works, activesync helps. Definitely get cmonex v2.0, it will give you more add-ons and more compatibility than the off the shelf OS that comes standard on the 900c

I can't wait until pico itx and smaller powerful chips and mobos are cheaper and more readily available, then we can start taking these things apart and re-making them with new parts. ARM and VIA make a couple nice ones. They are 4x4'' and 800mhz- 1.2ghz low voltage

Edited by Grasshopper 2013-03-04 5:51 AM

I'll definitely be trying cmonex when my Microdrive comes. Most attractive to me is the compatibility with PPC and WM software.

So I installed Opera Mini 5... Holy cow! I never knew how capable these things could be on the Internet! I'm typing this on it, as a matter of fact. I'd say it's doing a better job on the web than my PlayStation Portable. The taskbar is covering the bottom bar in Opera, and it's unresponsive for as long as Opera is open, but apparently that's a known bug.

I tried to get Opera 8.65 working, but after I installed Redgear, not a single application would open! Opera, Wordpad, Calculator... nothing! It would just say "[blank] is not a valid WinCE application". I had to delete redgear.dll, then uninstall Redgear to use this thing again. I assume there must be something else to install for Redgear to work?

Thanks again, this is lots of great info. I'm having fun with this thing!

If opera mini is good just use that be better anyway

Glad you liked the Opera Mini 5.