Windows Mobile (Ripping it into CE.NET 4.2)

If you ever turn on your PDA and goto settings and About or System Info, it should have a list of the 'kernel' version for your PDA, which if its WM2003 youll find that its 4.2xxxxx, interesting eh? ^_^
So I decided to download the ROM for my HP Ipaq and play around, sure enough I have been able to make it appear as CE.NET instead of Windows Mobile, oh the horrors I have unleashed...
Ill have more info later on
Stephen

Edited by UB3RATL4Sf00 2006-01-06 2:32 PM

oh, what did you do?!

Okay, first, how? I have an iPAQ rx1950 with WM5, could I do this...
Secondly, please post screenshots

I already knew that from my Dell Axim.



You're not saying that the CE 4.2 .net GUI files are included in the Windows Mobile 2003 ROM image, are you?

You have to modify the GUI so its not loading up the original Windows Mobile GUI, apparently it will re-direct itself to another GUI in place of the lost WM GUI. Ill try to get screenshots soon, the hard part is I have to adjust the GUI so it knows that the screen is not 640x480 but actually 320x280. Thats going to be tricky, so Im going to try to do it from the software level and actually mod out the programming to adjust.
The WM distro is extremely similar to the CE.NET distro the ONLY major difference is the GUI appearence, everything else is pretty much the same.
Micro$oft in all their wisdom naturally decided that instead of having to rebuild the OS for each type of platform, they could simply adjust the apperence the build for each product.
Like CE.NET 4.x = Normally Adjusted for StrongARM, MIPS, RISC CPU's. Also adjusted to fit larger screens (10" 640x480 tablet screens per say) and support more advanced yet limited networking technologies (Is that an oxymoron, advanced yet limited?) It is also geared more towards the Buisness user with wide technical knowledge on hand.
Windows Mobile = Support for StrongARM, MIPS. Adjusted for small screens (Max size for a Windows Mobile GUI from the programming is 320x480) Adjusted to be more lightweight ROM size, built more for simplified users and consumers.

Ill bring the details on modding out the GUI in a bit, plus some snazzy screenshots and stuff.

On and about Windows Mobile Ver 5: It IS CE.NET, but Microsoft has reverted back to just normal CE for designations, your Distro is known as Windows CE 5.0 with .NET support. Basically the same thing, so you SHOULD be able to toy along with us, as long as the file structure and kernel layout remains roughly the same.

Stephen

how?!

the other part of the story isn't new. but an end user (ok, with more serious knowledge about all this) can change the GUI?! now that's new to me, and i'm very interested in how you did it.

Does the CE .NET have the Office viewers? Also, will making my iPAQ CE 5 .NET, will I be able to connect my iPAQ with WM5 to AS 3.8?

any ce.net and hpc2000 device can have them. even mips devices.. (check out the thread where i posted the link to mips cenet viewers... who knows, would they run on hpc pro?! i should try)

Windows CE is a modular operating system. Different components can be added/removed from an OS image as needed. Windows Mobile is an extension of Windows CE which contains, among other things, a shell customized for the small screen. While it is entirely possible that to change the shell on a Windows CE device such as the iPAQs, OEMs do not include the "explorer" shell in the ROM image. You would have to manually compile the shell yourself.

Also if you remove the shell entries in the registry it doesn't load any shell at all and, hence, your device will fail to boot.

So unless you can provide some hard evidence...

cmonex, I know that CE .NET Pro has them and you compiled an HPC2000 version.. I was just wondering if UB3RATL4Sf00's Pocket PC had the viewers in the CE .net on His/Her device...
EDIT: Could I purchase CE 4.2 .net Professional and load the image onto an SD card and boot CE .net there?

Edited by tenjeangosi 2006-01-10 6:03 PM

it is actually independent of ce.net, you can (or could?) even buy the viewers from their developers i think there even existed a ce 2.11 version of them, that's why i should try the cenet viewers on hpc pro too

booting off the SD, you can't really do that... also you need to build the right image with the right drivers, etc...
but PB 4.2 has support for MIPS and SHx too, soo...

Okay, thanks... Could I install the CE .net viewers on my Pocket PC anyway?
EDIT: Free PDF support on HPC Pro... That is very good [if it works]..

Edited by tenjeangosi 2006-01-11 9:09 AM

Is it even legal to talk about this? Just wondering...

well i tried them on an axim x5, they ran fine without any hacking, but the menus didnt look always nice

yes it would be really useful for hpc pro..

I tried them on my iPAQ... They work great