[REQ:GLOBAL] WM8505 CE netbook

Currently looking for any of those late 2000s WinCE cheapo netbooks, it seems as if they disappeared off the face of the earth, I'm having a hard time finding anything at all... European Union preferred, but US/UK/rest of the world would be ok as well... would make a nice companion to my 320LX and the Jornadas

Edited by systremor 2024-01-06 10:33 PM

Sorry to say, but the reason they're hard to find is that they were of such bad quality that most of them had problems and threw them in the garbage. If you search for info on them, you'll find many posts stating that either they stopped working or had other problems. And you cannot get parts for them except by buying another one to use it for parts.

If you want something with a larger display and keyboard there are other much better choices.

Just my 2 cents....

Yeah, I know those things are shoddy, I remember them even back when they started popping up and all of their quirks... thought there was at least one that survived through all these years

Offtopic, I did try to build an image for my spare EeePC, but a lot of the drivers or BSPs either don't exist or disappeared, unfortunately. A NEC 900c would be out of my budget so i'd be happy with a WM8505 as well... at least something newer than HPC2000 I did try using one of those satnavs for that purpose, but it isn't really it when you don't have a keyboard as well

Edited by systremor 2024-01-06 11:12 PM

I have a few spare Sylvanias, but they're without batteries, and right now they're buried in storage.

Ohhh. If you find some let us know. Do they work without the battery connected and only on AC?

One seems to have been sold at Yahoo Auctions Japan for an unknown price (it's back in July and the price is hidden).
https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/s1099747808/

Also, the name seems to be different, maybe it's a variant.
AKART Choi Paso seems to be its rebranded name.

https://akart.jp/products/90.html

Model Number seems to be: AK-PC777 or AL-PCAP1.

-stingraze

Edited by stingraze 2024-01-15 11:36 AM

Well I decided to risk on a WM8850 netbook. Unfortunately it's untested so I don't know if it's running Android or WinCE. I did try ordering a German Jaybook twice, but I couldn't reach an agreement with neither of the sellers, so my orders were cancelled.
Anyone here who has a WEC7 ROM for these 8850 devices?

Edited by systremor 2024-01-16 8:15 PM

I found this thread here https://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17122&start=16
which seems to suggest that there isn't a WEC7 ROM available for the 8850, but still worth a read in full.

Why would you want to run WEC7 on it? (Not intended to be mean, just genuinely curious)

I've only ever had a ton of compatibility issues when trying to run older CE software on WEC7 (which makes sense, since MS had stopped directly targeting consumer devices at that point), so there's not really any advantages unless you want compatibility with some newer standard

Because no one ever built a ROM image for the 8850 with anything below WEC 7, and because the 8850 is noticeably faster than the 8650.

What’s your experience with Windows CE 6.0 vs 7.0 on the netbooks, CE Geek?
Other than differences in speed of the processor.

My WM8850 netbook arrived, and it worked for the entirety of two hours before it semi-bricked itself. It hangs on 'Loading Device Drivers' but comes up after 10 minutes with no mouse and keyboard. If anyone has the WEC7 firmware for these things (wm8850wince70), I'd be very thankful.
Edit: found it, if anyone needs it: https://www.mediafire.com/?7j8o4ldq5eaq2bm

Edited by systremor 2024-01-24 3:36 PM

I assume you were able to fix the "Loading Device Drivers" with that firmware you found?

If people are still looking for a netbook here’s one
Needs a power adapter