Haven't seen one of these for a while...

eBay auction 9706099053

Mobilepro 900 (CE 3.0) to 900C (CE.NET 4.2) ROM upgrade

too bad i don't need it.

hehe i hope this datahaunt isnt the forum member

does that really work? If so, can it be used more than once?

Is that even legal to do? Can't you get the upgrade from Microsoft's website?

It appears to be the same Datahunt, but so what? It sounds legit to me.

Technically the upgrades were meant to be used on a single machine. They came with an instruction sheet, the CF card with software, and a little foil type label with a new serial number that matched the CF card which has a number on it.

You can use them an unlimited number of times. I among others started a rumor a year or so ago that they would self-destruct after 2-3 uses...but that was just so that we didn't receive hundreds of "will you flash mine" for me requests.

I still get them, primarily from people who want to upgrade their 900 to a 900C so they can sell it for more on eBay.

This is one of those areas that really aggravates me. You can't buy the upgrade anywhere...period. So why not make it open to the public domain. As C:Amie once stated, it is not just NEC's property, but that of Microsoft as well, and there are a ton of legal mumble-jumble issues I am sure.

But the auction is legit...and I'm sure it works fine as an upgrade. It is just that your serial number on your machine will be the same as someone elses...but since there isn't any warranty support any longer, who cares?

By the way, my 900C was one of the prototypes and I used the flash upgrade on it as it was a newer build and corrected some errors...and it worked fine. Now if I could just lay my hands on a CE3 flash image...I could have two computers in one...wouldn't that be neat, dual operatings systems if you wanted it?

Rich

I wish flashing my SL4 back and forth was as easy as the 900 procedure. Oh, there's probably some undocumented way to do it with a CF card but I've yet to discover it.

I heartily agree with the "who cares" after the product is no longer sold or supported for that matter. One day perhaps copyright will change to reflect it.

BTW, I read somewhere that older Nintendo (maybe all game companies older roms) became public domain just for the reasons mentioned.

CBC, nope, LOL. this was a 150$ upgrade.

waly, dont envy nec 900 owners. a nec 900 cannot be flashed back to hpc2000, a simpad can, and you can choose from several images... nec: only one, very hard to get image, not even legal officially any more.

forgot to reply to this..

hmm, why not make it public domain? i've always been against this idea, because it is a one way upgrade and a little risky as well (simpad flashing involves much less risk!!!).
i just don't want everyone to flash every 900 to cenet... for some, hpc2000 is just better. really sad we don't have a CE3 image

lol this serial number issue, i didn't know of this until now..

I'm not sure about the games... But the NES/Famicom system spec is now free to use. There had been a few NES/Famicom clones poping up last year or so. They are usually small or handheld and play original NES/Famicom cartridges.

(sorry for the OT...)

Is the 900 upgrade one way because there's no hpc2k image? Or has NEC rigged it so you can't go back?

there's no hpc2000 image.
no idea about your other question

Nobody has managed to rip a hpc2k image from a 900? I'm a little surprised at that.

yes you can copy the rom but two issues arise:
1. is this image valid? we cant afford any errors
2. how to flash it in?