Hey HPC People, I just got my Jornada 720, now what?

Hey Everyone,

As you may suspect by the title I just got a brand spanking new(and by that I mean a dusty worn-out device that is new to me) off of eBay and I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with it.

I've always been a fan of small devices, and the looks of the Jornada 720 tickle my fancy.

I like its looks, but I also wanted to use it on a day-to-day basis.

Here's what I fantasize about doing with it:
- I have a small home lab (don't Google it if you don't know what this is.. It's another time and a money sinkhole, you've been warned!).
Now, I'd love to use my Jornada as the terminal in which I manage my homelab. Connect to the network, ssh into my servers, that sort of thing.
- I love the idea of tinkering with hardware, so I'm researching a way to make my own serial cable so that I can connect it to my PC and transfer some files.
So far I found some diagrams that seem promising, I'm hoping to share my "creation" here sometime soon. What could go wrong? Worst case I share my failure so you can at least find entertainment for it.
- My purchase on eBay came with a broken J720 as well. So, hit me up if you need parts. Also, I might use that broken carcass of a J720 to transplant the guts of an older Android phone in it. The screen seems to be the same size and I can make the keyboard work with a custom version of Android. Why you may ask... to that, I answer: Why not?! just let me dream!

So today is day two on my journey in the HPC world. So far I got a new 64GB CF Card, and a USB CF Card adapter so that I can copy files from my laptop into it.
I also got a brand new, old stock Aironet 350 PCM WIFI Card.

The good news:
- CF Card works great.
- Can copy files and open some of them in the J720.
- It comes preloaded with Solitaire.. as a side effect my productivity is now -20%.

The bad news:
- My wifi card does not work even though my device has the Aironet utility software pre-installed in it. (makes you appreciate modern software, things are so much easier nowadays)
- I can seem to find any software to run in it. All the WinCE 3.0 I've downloaded will not launch on the device. It says it is not a WinCE executable , and It won't listen to me when I say otherwise.

I'm at the point of downloading the SDK and trying to compile my own hello-world app just so I can install something in it.

Anyway, my post is getting long, I just wanted to say Hi and share my excitement.

If you can point me to useful resources, or know where I can find software that runs on this thing, let me know.

Best,
Antman.

Hi and welcome to the site.

If you have a legit 350, pull the firmware and driver updates from the HCL here on this site, then try again.

Apps, see: https://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/200267/understanding_the_different_ways_to_install_software_on_windows_ce/ which will explain why you are seeing the exe error.

For software, see the SCL here on this site.

The Hardware and Software Compatibility Lists are linked on the homepage, support section and downloads section.

Congratulations on receiving your Jornada 720!!!

The Aironet 350 does work but I think you need to reduce your security settings on the router as it only supports WEP not WPA2 (I use mine offline), I can confirm it will sync with Windows 10 (rumours are it will also work with Win11 - It's on my list of things to try) allowing you to sync with 32bit outlook up to 2013 edition.

The 1st thing you need to install on that 64GB card is DOOM, this will dramatically reduce your productivity
Then try Slay, one of my favourites a deceptively simple strategy game, then grab pocket artist and embrace your creativity while listening to MP3s on winampAQ all the while monitoring your system recourses using WR-Tools Resinfo...

Most of all have fun with your new toy

When installing directly from the CF card you need to make sure you have downloaded the "CAB" file, this will then self extract as long as it ifs the correct version

Thanks for sharing the links and for the software recommendations!

As soon as I heard DOOM and Winamp I knew I was on the right track!

I thought I'd update you on what I managed to do so far.

Wifi Access Point Setup
My Wireless APs don't support WEP anymore, so I just created a new SSID with "Open" security and allow-listed the Mac address of my Cisco card. That should be good enough to keep unwanted guests out of my network.

Cisco Aironet 350 Series PCM Card Setup
Attempt 1:
I was able to find the right page that lists the drivers for it on the Cisco website. It requires that you create an account to download the files. Turns out that once you create the account the files are not really there, so that was frustrating

Attempt 2:
Looking at the Cisco website I was able to find the name of the EXE file containing the drivers I needed. With that info I tried to Google for that and found exactly one match on the whole internet. Downloaded that. Copy to CF card. got the classic "This is not a valid Windows CE application".

Attempt 3:
I now think I need to execute this exe on my Desktop version of Windows. Try to execute that on my Windows 10. "Can't execute this.. Missing CEUTIL.DLL"
At least this confirms my suspicion that this is an x86 binary.

Attempt 4:
This software was available around Windows XP time.. maybe that is what I need. Onwards to install a Windows XP Virtual Machine.
Try again, same error, missing CEUTIL.DLL.

Attempt 5: Some Googling and wading thru the many pages trying to get me to download their "official dlls packs" of malware, I found some official documentation, mentioning that this DLL comes with the ActiveSync pack for desktop.

Attempt 6: Some search on the internet archive and I manage to find ActiveSync, install it, and execute the drivers binary successfully.
This unpacks the cab files that are ready to install when I dock my device. (I don't have the sync cable, so I copy those cabs to my CF card and try executing them from there)

Attempt 7: I repeat the step above, many times over as I find other versions of the firmware. What ended up working was an older version of Windows CE 2.1( I thought I had Windows CE 3.0, go figure).

This allowed my card to "associate" and get an IP address.

I launched Internet Explorer and I was online!! My celebration was cut short as I look at the time, it is 3:00 AM! Time to go to bed.

My plan for today is to explore some of the great recommendations you guys provided here. Looking forward to engaging further with this community.

Often when you install software for the HPC on your desktop it will create a program folder in C:\Program files (x86)\XXXX and in there will be the CAB file that you need, just copy it to the CF card and launch it. Many programs do this.

Hope this helps

Or in C:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\.

Thank you! I was able to install find and install some programs that way. It's interesting that in some cases once the cab is installed it disappears (I'm guessing it is by design as it was meant to run once when installing via active sync).
In any case, I was able to play some Doom the other day. Lots of fun!

The CAB file will always self-destruct after installation unless you mark it read-only (by right-clicking on it and selecting "Properties" ). I always mark mine read-only so I don't run the risk of losing a CAB file for good and no longer being able to download it anywhere (part of Windows CE's legacy )