Curious about these CE subnotebooks geared for kids, I picked up the two models out there once I found them cheap enough on eBay. One has an 8" 800x480 display, while the other has a 7" 800x480 display.
(I actually picked up a second one of the 8" version after the first one turned out not to boot up, remaining stuck in the "Lexibook" boot splash screen.
) Both run CE 5, though strangely both the 8" ones I got have Windows Embedded CE 6.0 stickers on the bottom.
(So far I haven't found any evidence of either CE 5 or 6 ROM images for this device on the Web - yet another device with the Samsung S3C-XXXX processor [in this case the S3C-2416] with no downloadable firmware. All the OEMs using this processor seem to be keeping the firmware under wraps, only willing to flash it themselves after you spend more money to send it to them. Holding down the power button for several seconds on the non-booting one in hopes of finding a solution, I soon learned that the reflash is done from an SD card using this method, as I eventually got an error message saying "SD card error or invalid firmware file."
)
Nothing special software-wise, other than several SWF-based apps for kids to work on homework or play games, as well as a trial version of Softmaker Office 2008 for Windows CE
(not the pirated Pocket PC version found on several of those no-name netbooks
). Both databases and files installed outside the flash storage area are dumped upon shutdown.
(Interestingly, though, a straight reboot without shutdown retains the databases.
) Lexibook named the flash storage folder with the letter C
(I assume so kids think of it like the C:\ drive on a PC
). Installed software and shortcuts are installed there by default: programs in \C\Program Files, shortcuts in \C\Windows\Programs, and support files
(DLLs, etc
) in \C\Windows.
(Needless to say, \C\Windows is one of the locations given by default in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Loader so that apps will find these files.
)
Here's something funny, though: while the device dumps installed data when shut down, the shutdown file itself
(ShutDown.exe
) seems to have the opposite effect on some other devices' databases. It's not a copy-protected file, so I copied it onto a USB flash drive and ran it on several other CE 5 and 6 and WEC 7 devices to see what happens. The only effect it had was on WM8650 devices
(in both WECE 6 and WEC 7
) and on my SmartQ V7
(which has a Telechips TCC89X
): each of these devices, which normally don't retain updated database info on reboot, did so after this file was executed on them.
(It doesn't shut down the V7, though.
) I've uploaded the file below in case anyone wants to have a look at it and see what calls it makes that might have something to do with it.
Strangely, neither model has built-in WiFi. Lexibook sells a USB WiFi dongle for these, but I just installed the RT2501USB driver for CE 5 and use a USB WiFi dongle I already have that uses that driver. There are two USB host ports in the rear.
(No OTG port, so no synchronizability.
)
Also below are photos for comparison. Sorry for the less-than-perfect quality.
(IMG_20151210_225858.jpg)
(IMG_20151210_230254.jpg)
(IMG_20151210_230320.jpg)Attachments
----------------
ShutDown.exe (63KB - 2 downloads) IMG_20151210_225858.jpg (23KB - 1 downloads) IMG_20151210_230254.jpg (25KB - 0 downloads) IMG_20151210_230320.jpg (21KB - 0 downloads)
