Changing shells on NETA 985

I recently purchased a NETA 985 web tablet. It uses Viva Shell on top of Windows CE .Net 4.1. The documentation indicates that it is possible to revert to the standard Windows CE shell, but it does not tell me how to do it. The Viva web site mentions a program called shellswitcher.exe, but offers no download and the file does not appear in my file mgr. Can anyone tell me if reverting to the CE shell would be unwise and, if not, how I should go about accomplishing this feat? I have emailed people at NETA and Viva, but so far no response. Many thanks in advance for any assistance or advice.

thegillions, you should be able to do it with a registry change. I'll need to check on the reg keys to modify. Its definitely under HKLM ...

oh and do back up before you modify, I tried something like that and missed out a key, and the system froze whenever it started ... 'cos I tried to load some other shell before the system drivers are fully loaded!

btw, please do not multiple post on different forums, especially when it does not apply to that forum. (Referring to the duplicate post on HandheldPC Professional).

Snappy, thanks for the help. I decided to takle a look at my registry last night and I can't even find it, much less the editor. I'm just not used to this OS at all, and the Viva shell confounds me even more! My main complaint with the Viva shell is that I can't X out of IE Explorer, have to use the menu button and click on "Close"...very annoying. And I wish I could close the virtual keyboard this way, too.

Otherwise, after rearranging the toolbar using the utility, the shell is not too cumbersome. The machine itself is quite nice!

Sorry about the dupe posting...I posted in error in the other forum before I realized it...tried to edit out the message but an hour had elapsed and couldn't do it. Will be more careful in the future.

Have you telephoned Futurecom Global? I have a 985 (and 980 as well). I talked to some of their folks a few months ago and one of them seemed to indicate that they could provide a means to get the CE shell up.

I know this kind of vague but this was related to another question that I had at the time and I didn't pursue it. You may want to give them a call.

Could you upload some screen shots? It sounds very interesting.

Nick

Here is the web site:

http://store.futurecomglobal.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=A30-NET985-TBLT-702&Category_Code=103

I like the 985 very much. I have been frustrated by the Viva Shell, but I'm getting used to it.

You should be able to switch shells via a simple registry change. Just go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Init\" and look for a Launchxx(where xx is a number) string that contains the name of the shell application you want to switch (for example Viva.exe). Now, rename "Viva.exe" (or whatever the shell application is named) to "explorer.exe"(the standard CE shell). Soft reset and on next boot you should be running the standard CE Explorer shell, assuming its in ROM.
If you need a registry editor, try PHM regedit available here:
http://www.phm.lu/Products/Embedded/

On a different, though unrelated note:
I was looking at your device's specs and it looks like your device has an x86 based processor. This can be a big problem if you wish to run any kind of third party CE software. As very few x86 CE devices are sold to consumers, there is very little native software compiled for them. In my quest for x86 CE software, I have counted roughly 20-30 commercial/freeware apps that have a native x86 binary available. However, all is not lost! Applications that are written in managed code such as those written in eMbedded Visual Basic, the .NET Compact Framework, PocketC and others should run perfectly, provided they have an x86 runtime available. In addition to the managed languages above, you should also be able to compile an application for x86 if it has source code available. There are plenty of open source CE applications out there that should work fine. If all else fails, try emailing the author of an application you'd like to run and see if they will send you an x86 build. You may get lucky.

In addition to the above tips, you may want to have a look at my less than complete listing of software that is known to work on x86 CE devices. It includes navive, open source and managed applications. Most were tested and work on x86, but not all.

See this thread for my list:
http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=546&start=5

Edited by TFGBD 2005-10-05 2:20 PM

Hello, I just bought these as well, if you email me I will forward you the shell changing app they sent me to change the shell....real simple stuff......ajd at sprengerent dot com

TFGBD: Nice extensive list... I even quoted it in a thread similar to this one...

Adam can you forwad me the utility and instructions to change the shell on the NETA 85 unit as well? My email address is bluegilltwo2@yahoo.com

Thanks,
Blu