200 Mini terminals won't run apps I need.

OK, hi to all and thanks in advance for your accomidation. I recently got a load of 200 some terminals that are winCE .net 4.2 based. The terminals are unbranded and i have no idea who made them.

They have:
Strong ARM CPU SA1110
USB
Bluetooth
PCMCIA


I can't seem to get any software working. I always get "Is not a vaild CE app" or "Cannot find X make sure required libraries are availible" ETC.

I have tried tomtom, winampaq and loads of others. The only app that i've gotten to run is an old HPC version on VNC.

Is there special dlls i need to run these apps?

I have attached photos of the unit

Um, usually, getting Pocket PC programs onto H/PC (in your case, terminal) may involve some hacking, or none at all..If the terminal does not have activesync on it, then that means you will need to download a cab file for a specific product, and make sure you get the ARM cab.. And, you can find many HPC (and terminal i believe) apps on this site.. Also, specifically, what apps do you need, and I can give you links.. Welcome to HPC:Factor, d00dman..

Edited by tenjeangosi 2006-09-21 12:38 AM

THanks the unit has functioning active sync and i am using it with bluetooth.

I would like somthing to listen to stored/streaming mp3 and possibly a GPS app similar to tomtom

What is SIP, Winwatch and aygshell.dll, will these help me?

Edited by d00dman 2006-09-21 12:55 AM

try hpc2000 app CABs. if they still give not valid CE app / missing component error, let me know.

SIP (only if theres built in SIP support on your thing), winwatch and aygshell will all help you, but first check if you have an aygshell in \windows on the thing.

Thank yous

NO, the machine does not have a aygshell.dll in the windows folder. I turned off hide protected system files and turned on show hidden files and still no file.

Is aygshell.dll platform specific? How do I know my device is considered a HPC?


EDIT

Also I forgot to mention that VNC will only connect if I select force 8 bit color. the lcd itself also seems to be 8bit. will this stop me from running most apps?


Edited by d00dman 2006-09-21 1:22 AM

There's some great tools which might help: wceloadext, and executabilitycheck.

Executability check tells you why the program won't run - whether it's due to missing DLLs or wrong processor ID, or whatever.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Cupertino/2039/

WceLoadExt will allow you to install and run programs by patching the platform check that the OS performs to allow pretty much anything to run - successfully or not. I think that might be for the sig3 only, but it's worth a look.

aygshell is historically what makes a pocket PC a pocket PC as it provides some of the interface services for that form factor. Since ce.net 4.2, portions of its functionality have been in the core OS. So in a long winded way, the answer to your question, "is it platform specific", is a caveated yes

d00dman: thats too bad... would have better compatibility with ppc stuff out of the box if it had aygshell.

the OEM will decide if they want to include aygshell with ce.net 4.2 or not. anything lower than 4.2 that is not a ppc doesn't have aygshell.

your device isn't a hpc and isn't a ppc, its some cenet terminal but it is very close to hpc's. so use hpc apps, and hack ppc apps like others hack them for hpcs. especially cenet hpcs. just keep in mind that your platform probably has a very limited coredll. it must be like the dot 340 i have even totalcommander had to be redirected to another coredll.

you very much need execheck if a program won't launch out of the box.

wceloadext is needed only if all cabs refuse to install. it has nothing to do with running the apps, only with running cab installers. and it works on everything that has a problem similar to the sig3 gizmondo, dot 340, etc

oh and the 8 bit thing, problem if the app (usually games) needs gapi (gx.dll)

Thank you for your posts.

You are right, when I try and run tomtom I get the message "coredll.dll doesn't export function ordinary 715"

Where can I find a better coredll and how do I tell the app to redirect?

Strange - Ordinal 715 is GetSystemPowerStatusEx, which really should be supported by everything - it's been in the OS since WinCE1.0. One thing noted by the API documentation is that the call is not provided under emulation, but your machines aren't running under emulation. Perhaps it's not implemented because they have no battery? Either way, a stub routine should still be within coredll.

Truly a weird one! What you got any further info? Manufacturer? That sort of thing?

What do you need 200 for? Consider selling a few to HPC Factor members? I would love a few to use as secondary displays to display info while playing games and other fullscreen stuff on my main box.

see my site & search for execheck as keyword on this forum. then redirect the call to coredl2.dll in the app

chiark, this really depends on the OEM. they can put in or take anything out of the system, just as they wish. these cenet machines that aren't meant to be general consumer devices can have a very limited coredll. as i said the dot 340 (4.2 core device) can't even run totalcommander without using another coredll. so don't be so surprised.

Blimey! I shouldn't be surprised, but I am . I *really* shouldn't be surprised after my experiences of using the G138 SDK and finding that cpl.h was completely and utterly missing, but just copying from the pocketpc sdk worked . cpl.h has been in there right from 1.0 again

It should be possible to automate this hacking, you know... Hmmm . A good start would be collating all the information into one place / one sticky thread...

Edited by chiark 2006-09-22 5:53 PM

i wouldn't use a sticky thread for that rather some kind of manual or faq.
automation, well, a few people suggested that. two problems
1) no one seems to have the time to write it
2) often you cant do it automatically..
but true, it would help in many cases

Thanks again for all your responses.

What do you think would be a fair price to sell these units for? We bought them as part of a lot of medical equipment.

If I put these hacked dlls into the folder of the app i'm trying to run will it override the rom dlls?

Where can I find commctrl.dll?

Thanks agian,
Derek


Edited by d00dman 2006-09-24 4:43 PM

yes the app will first look in the local dir for the dlls.

why do you need commctrl?