Neta 980 Lost its Mind

Nate Thanks for the trade. The new battery works great. I'm glad to get full use of my Neta 980 back!

I hope the cradle works for you!

Cool beans... glad you got the cradle Nate. I just got the one I bought and have successfully loaded the cisco aironet 350 drivers on all three airpanel 100's and now have full network functionality... I can browse, ping, and otherwise use the network at will.

There is one thing however I have not been able to accomplish. Which is the reason I bought these units to begin with. I can not RDP to any XP Pro machine... at all. These are machines I RDP into all the time from other devices however the airpanels just plain will not connect to them. I get a "The remote connection might not be enabled or to busy to accept new connections." error. Again... I can remote to the machines from any other machine... just not any of the airpanels. Any suggestions? Oh... I should mention that I can ping these XP machines from the airpanels with no issues.

I know that I was able to RDP to my old XP Pro machine with my Neta 980 in the past. I can't remember if there were any special tricks. All I can seem to remember is that you have to have full log on on the host machine. I know that I only tried it while inside the local network using the Neta.

I wish I could remember more. Maybe someone else can fill in the blanks...

Say cmonex.... do you have one of these airpanel 100's? I remember you saying earlier in this thread that you might be ready to do some experimenting with the firmware. I believe there was another early on in this thread that talked about the "feasibility of porting 5.0" over to the v100 as well.

Any desire to try to move forward with this? I have three of these units and am willing to participate and perform 'trials' on one of them.

While I am content with the units if I can just get the RDP to work with xp pro... if there's an opportunity to expand their short comings... I'm all for it. Haven't been able to find much that runs on it otherwise... have tried loading some stuff but obvious not all the 'basic' files are loaded that need to be. Kinda sucks. $999.00 for a damned ce device and M$ chooses to jilt you out of the complete OS. I would love so much to place my hands around the little scrawny neck of Mr. Gates... and just throttle the hell of him. Just for all the times he has personally made my life a living hell. Did I just type that out loud? Ooops.

I am surprised that after having downloaded the dll's from cmonex' site and loading them... that the cisco utility's loaded just fine... but even something as simple as a fricken calculator won't work once installed. Plenty of other files missing apparently.

Is it possible to find/identify the missing files from a fully functional install of .NET 4.1 on some other device... and 'copy' them on the system here?

Edited by hdokes 2009-01-11 10:39 PM

I never tried to RDP. All my Windows PCs run XP Home.

I got the Airpanel to use it as a light tablet. It's doing a spectacular job, considering the price.

What are you trying to load? Most of my usual Windows CE software works just fine. Then again, I'm running WinCE 3.0 not 4.1.

If you want help finding compatible software, it might be best to start a new thread.

Well Nate... was actually trying to find ANYTHING that would work at this point. Simple utilities and added functionality type items would be nice. I have a 'remote control' program that I've used on my pda's (which is useless with a screen so damn small) and tried to load that here... no go.. loads fine... just depends on other files not there apparently.. same with calculators and conversion utilities... network tools such as subnet calculator and the like. I'm guessing that if I can't get these to load... then it's a lost cause to try to load any of the fancy stuff being used for 'home automation' that's out there for CE devices.

I also have the SOTI Pocket Controller Pro program... again... used it for all my other CE devices and it's quite handy. Would love to be able to use it with the airpanel as well however again.. while it will install without error... the program itself will not run on the airpanel.... again.. I'm sure... due to missing OS files.

About the new thread thingy... I'd been thinking for quite some time now that there has been enough conversation about the v100 here in this thread... effectively commandeering the original discussion going on that it might warrant it's own space on the board here.

Edited by hdokes 2009-01-11 11:10 PM

Hmmmm... Nate... you may have identified the very reason it makes sense not to go to .NET 4.1 on the v100. Not sure why M$ would provide the full OS on 3.0... or at least enough to run the progs... and not do so with the .NET upgrade. I'm thinkin it's a communist plot. You know... the typical 'dumming' down of America. Oh wait... that's for a different thread.

The first thing you should do is download and install ActiveSync. You'll need it for a couple of the files I point you to.

Over in the download section of this site are 2 utility packs, HPC Pro Plus! and HPC Pro Power Toys. Download them and run on your XP machine. Files will be extracted to \program files\microsoft activesync\whatever. You want the CAB files with "arm" in the name. These 2 packs have a bunch of useful basic utilities like a resource meter, registry editor, paint, and some basic network tools. All should run fine on your device.

As for your pocketpc software, you first need to buy RedGear. It's a compatibility layer that allows you to run WindowsMobile and PocketPC software on your WinCE device. It's not very good yet.

Here is some basic stuff on WinCE devices as ebook readers:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=295075#post295075

If you need something specific, let me know.

It's not Microsoft but Viewsonic that made the 3.0 firmware more complete. The 3.0 firmware is actually for the Viewpad 100, which was conceived as a "superpda". It has the exact same hardware, though.

Perhaps I should give a bit of history here. I cut my teeth on the original Apple IIs... started at the handheld level with the Newton, I have been using CE devices since nearly it's conception and also developing applications in them. To date they include devices such as the Jornada 680 and 720, Everex, AudioVox, and Samsung to name a few... all of which I still possess... it's like a fricken mini museum around here. I am quite versed in the symbiosis that is there between Windows and the CE devices as it relates to activesync, developing/loading software, etc. I have developed database programs which tie cellular CE devices to a primary secured web page allowing for real time update of field data to the web server which resides within an office environment thereby allowing for immediate internal access and history of project/job data collected out at customer sites etc.

What I haven't been used to is a CE device with all it's basic features/files stripped out. I wasn't suggesting that M$ added anything... quite the contrary... I was lamenting they promoted and sold an environment that was much less then the standard CE OS they were already putting out. After all, it was M$ who pleaded and begged outfits like viewsonic and other CE device makers to build hardware around their 'smart' CE concept which thus far... I believe we can accurately say... hasn't been so smart. As you correctly state... Viewsonic had the good sense to add some of that functionality back into the 3.0 product.

Once I received the cradle for the airpanel I invoked activesync which was a necessity to get the cisco wifi drivers loaded on the .NET platform and any other software I have attempted. I have been downloading apps that I have acquired over the years into the .NET unit trying to get any of it to actually run. They actually install without error... but... none of it runs. I was not familiar with the RedGear product. I appreciate the heads up and will certainly give it a go.

Of the 3 v100's I have... I intend to use two of them for home automation interfaces... and the 3rd to be permanately mounted in my service vehicle, tied to cellular connectivity and gps, and used in the same fashion as I have used my pda CE devices if it is at all possible. I have obvious routes I can go to make this happen but if I can add some if not all of this functionality to the airpanel without having to have it tied into a full blown computer then that would be icing on the cake. I think it may be possible... but still in the early stages of a lot of this. If I can at least garner functionality in the airpanel to the extent that a good portion of the CE programs out there will run on it... then I can also develop from scratch applications that capitalize on it's larger touch screen which... sadly to say... as I grow older... I find typical pda devices much more difficult to use because of the insanely small display. The eyes just ain't what they used to be.

I also have a very extensive back ground in electronics and automation... both design and development... which assists me very well in the implementation of devices such as the airpanel in such environments.

Soooooo... that's why I am here. I figure if I can find myself in the company of other airpanel users who have a desire to take the unit beyond it's original intentions... through our conversations... sooner or later we are bound to throw something at the wall that actually sticks.

Sorry for the lengthy dissertation here.


Edited by hdokes 2009-01-12 7:30 AM

Ah, okay. I thought you were comparing WinCE to XP. I misunderstood.

Yes, WinCE 4.x does have fewer features than 3.0. But i have been told by other members here that MS did not intend to release 4.x as an operating system. Instead, it was developed so it could be the core of Windows Mobile. The same applies to WinCE 5 & 6.

Actually, WinCE 3.0 is also a core, not an OS. The WinCE OS based on it is HPC2000. Also running on that core is PocketPC 2002 and 2003.

no I do not own a viewsonic or neta. what I can help with is provide files and patches that make programs run easier out of the box (similar hacks I did for 900c). then these can be cooked into a new ROM. btw, there's only cenet 4.1, not 4.2, or am i wrong?

as for RDP server on XP (only works on xp pro): simply enable remote desktop in control panel/system/remote, then make sure your login to XP has a password enabled, if not add one, you can add new logins in control panel/system/remote as well.

then if you are planning on accessing it outside the local network, make sure your router has port 3389 forwarded for this PC.
also enable 3389 in any sw firewall you may have on the PC.

almost forgot: if you plan to reboot the PC remotely, and have RDP come back properly, make sure terminal services (in services.msc) is set to automatic, not manual.

that's about it (I also disable fast user switching for other reasons but I don't think that's a requirement)


PS: redgear for ce.net will also be useful

Edited by cmonex 2009-01-12 2:44 PM

may I clear up some confusion?
4.x is an operating system obviously. what it isn't is a platform for HPC's. for example, WM2003 is ce 4.x platform for pocketpc's.
platform = OS + added apps like ms pim, ms office

what you called core is the OS. and what you called an OS is a platform.

ce 4.x does have more features than ce 3, as an OS. a lot more features. (better wlan support, mui support finally official, and a lot more, these two were the first I could think of)

Thank you for the correction, cmonex.