I got hold of a PW-A9000 relatively cheap on eBay
(about 80 USD
), and stingraze helped me with the method. In order to access the underlying CE 6 OS, I had to create a folder with a Japanese name on a TF
(microSD
) card.
(Unfortunately, this post won't display Kanji characters, unless another one of our staff here knows how to do it.
) The folders for ceOpener and/or TestCE can then be put inside that folder, where they will be found by opening the app on the home screen that looks like an open box with a variety of objects inside
(on my PW-A9000 it's the icon farthest to the right in the second row
). They then show up on a list on the screen, and selecting one opens that app. Once you have that access, you can then use either ceOpener or TestCE to open explorer.exe, or you can use the Run dialog in either and browse for the app you want to run.
I should point out, however, that the core OS on the device has several limitations:
1
) There is no native CE desktop nor a native CE taskbar/system tray, only the "My Device" file browser. In TestCE there is a menu selection to try to create a CE taskbar, but it only creates an invisible one, though you can open the native Start Menu by tapping on the area where the "Start" button would be.
(And you can do the HKLM/System/Explorer/Shell Folders registry hack to create permanent shortcuts there.
) ceOpener creates its own desktop and taskbar as well as a rudimentary replacement for the Start Menu, but that taskbar doesn't have a system tray.
2
) It dumps any registry changes or installed files other than those on the card or in the NAND folders when rebooted; moreover, the NAND folders don't seem to accept any new files even though each one has quite a bit of space left. So every time you reboot the device, you go back to the Brain home screen and have to navigate through it as above to access explorer.exe again. I tried a registry flush app to save registry settings, but they still get dumped on reboot. Fortunately, the device is suspendable, either by pressing the power button or by folding the device closed
(like some older H/PCs
), so you can at least save your settings and pick up right were you left off as long as you don't have to reboot the device.
3
) There are also plenty of files missing from \Windows, including lots of DLL files [even aygshell.dll is missing] as well as the files needed to make an ActiveSync connection.
The Brain does seem to run a long time on a pair of AA batteries. I must've put in an hour of use on it before the three bars on the battery indicator dropped to two.
(Also, I'm surprised they don't mention changing the boot sequence in HKLM/init [to boot explorer.exe instead of the dictionary interface] once you're in Windows Explorer or ceOpener. Why shouldn't that be possible? 
)
