Oh! Pocket PC

My home WiFi router sucks

2008-02-13T05:42:00.000-08:00

My office WiFi router, the one I brought last Thanksgiving works beautifully. My PocketPC can access other side router thought Internet profile (while I was waiting for my ballet class to start), and still able to access the office Wifi with WPA setting. I can't say the same with the WiFi router at home, though. The WPA pass phrase of that router was kept losing. And it still DIDN'T work after I enter the pass phrase properly. Well screw it. I use my Tablet PC at home to access the Net anyway.

Only one password saved for each WiFi profile

2008-02-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

Sigh. After I assigned the office WPA setting to the profile Internet on my Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PC, I lost the WPA setting for my home WiFi connection which I also assigned to profile Internet when I was at home. I need to spend some time to figure how this profile thing works so that I don't have to reenter those horrible WPA setting when I shift from office to home WiFi.

WiFi fun

2008-02-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

I don't understand why I kept putting Pocket PC related blog in my deecaywonder blog. :-E

I brought and installed a WiFi router in my office, and I setup my Dell x50v to access the WiFi route, and it was awesome. WPA works perfectly on my Pocket PC and my laptop. The only gotcha I had, thought, was that I previously set the connection profile to "Work" instead of "Internet". As the result, I can Remote Desktop to me office desktop, but I couldn't do anything else. I couldn't get on the web using Internet Explorer or Opera 8. I couldn't ... do anything. But once I set to profile to "Internet", disconnect and reconnect again, I got all the web application working, and I could even listen to web radio using Resco web radio.

A bit painful, but gradually getting back my working Pocket PC

2008-02-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

After update the ROM of my Pocket PC, I started putting back stuffs, and then I realized that I didn't wrote down enough detail about how I did it right last time, and now I have to redo everything again.. Sigh.

First the Monster Chinese thing. DO NOT install Monster Chinese 6. I can't believe that I didn't wrote that down, but the fact is 6 doesn't register at all. It's a mess. So be SURE to use Monster Chinese version 5.3 (on APPS_071104).

Then it's about setting up the Internet connection. I was so frustrated finding that everytime I reconnect to my WiFi home network, I have to reenter the WEP account, until I realize that I need to explictly create and save the setting. Here's how:

Got to the WLAN Utility page (you can access it by click on the WiFi logo, or go to Control Panel.
Turn on Wifi by clicking [Turn On] button.
Click [Setting] button. If you don't have WiFi already turned on, you won't see the right connection setting page. So make sure you have your WiFi on. Now you should see "Configure wireless Network" page.
Go through the process to enter all the preshare key setting. For my home network, I need to set authentication to "Shared", Data Encryption to "WEP", key index to 1, and then enter the key.

Once the setting it's doen, I found that web surfing on Pocket PC is ... well .. OK.

Next it's time to put back Resco Keyboard Pro 5.0.1. It's has a iPhone like keyboard, but the problem is that on my PDA, it's just way too slow.

Then it's time to install Resco Media Suite 6.1.7. All is well, and the package is super.

But finally I still need to complain about the stupid WiFi on the Pocket PC. It seems like it has some sort of amnesia. After I turned off the WiFi and Turned on again, I found that it will forget about the WEP key that I entered before, and asked me to enter again! That really pissed me off. What irriated me was that while it was not working last night, this morning I found it works pretty well when the batteries are all charged up. Strange. I shall keep observing it.

PPC not working with Vista

2007-11-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

Somehow my Pocket PC does not connect to the Vista ... damn it...

Updating DELL x50v firmware to WM6 RC2

2007-11-02T05:16:00.000-07:00

After struggling for not able to get Monster Chinese 6 running probably, I tried to solve the solution by something extreme: update the fireware from A01 to A02 RC2. Once again I went to the ROM site, get the ROM, and the following the instruction I wrote down. As of now, the update is still processing, but it seems to be going pretty well as far a I know.

I love Windows Mobile 6

2007-09-10T02:41:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I update the OS of my PDA from PocketPC 2003SE to Windows Mobile 6. So far the experience was totally awesome:

- No more mysterious crashing was using NotePad.
- No more mysterious crashing when using Monster Chinese 6
- Response time of the whole system greatly increased.
- Almost no slowdown on whatever application I tried. Even when I found some applications that failed, I could always find a Window Mobile 5 compatible version.
- The OS effective takes advantage of the internal storage, thus makes
installation a lot software much less a burden to the system.

Resco Photo Viewer 6 - Totally awesome

2007-08-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

This is one hack of a great photo viewer. I use it to read comics all the time. However there are some tidbits that I learned along the way. For instance, sometimes when I double tap on the screen, it will turn form portrait to landscape mode. Turns out it's because [Rotate][Auto Landscape] was turned on. So I have to go to [Option], and then in "View Settings", Set Default rotation to "Do NOT ROTATE" to make my comics book viewing life more enjoyable.

Also, the "Use Photo as WallPaper" feature is working very well.

新時代日漢辭典 no a freeware

2007-08-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

I was told that 新時代日漢辭典 is a green and portable Pocket PC app. It's not. :-<

Sluggish Chinese input

2007-08-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Somehow, Monster Chinese 6 on Windows Mobile 6 is still slugglish on applucation like Chinese dictionary and Word, and sometimes even on NotePad. Releasing all software does NOT resolve the problem. Hopefully a new version in the future may solve the problem.

More fun on Windows Mobile 6

2007-08-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 days since I last updated the PPC to Windows Mobile 6. Overall the OS itself seems petty solid. So now the challenge would be trying to see if the apps are still running properly under this new environment.

I tried Pocket Player 3.2 and I was disappointed to find out that it's not much better than 3.o1. In fact I found it somewhat slower. Maybe I should just stick with GSPlayer or LyricsPlayer. Speaking of LyricsPlayer, I found that it has some interruption problem during playback when there are other applications running. Once I closed all the background apps, the playback was pretty smooth.

I was organizing my apps (portable ones) by making shortcut to the "\Windows\Start Menu\Program" directory using Resco FileExplore by hold click and select "Send To ... short cut to menu". It worked pretty well, but then I realized that there's a size limit on that program page, that I may need to create some folder, and then put some shortcut in the newly created folder, in order to make all shortcut displayable. Actually that's a great idea since it allowed me to organized apps in a better fashion.

Agile MObile Agile Messenger is no longer free

2007-08-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

sigh, well, I am deleting it from my Pocket PC now.

Bluetooth is still messy to play with

2007-08-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

I had some painful time getting Bluetooth on my office laptop working with my x50v. I guess maybe I need to fresh restart both machine... we'll see.

Finding a good Bible software for Windows Mobile 6

2007-08-13T18:56:00.001-07:00

After using Windows Mobile 6 for a while (like... a few hours) I was so far pleased with it's performance. The system is more responsive comparing with PocketPC2003SE, and the ability to install Windows Mobile 5 application is a pretty important thing. For instance, now I can using my Pocket PC to run Flash application, and I can use it to test new Windows Mobile application.

Bluetooth ActiveSync seems to work as long as long the PDA and the machine were in "good shape", which usually means that both needs to be restart in order ot get back to the clean state. The speed is not really that great, but at least it works.

WiFi also worked pretty well. In fact I am listening to WiFi radio now using the PDA. Pretty cool.

My journey of finding a NIV Bible that works with Windows Mobile 6 is finally over. The winner is: Laridian Pocket Bible 3.039 with NIV Bible 3.x

I also tried Pocket e-Sword (ppc2005setup301.exe) but it just didn't start properly on WM6. So eventually I gave up.

Found video that actually plays on TCPMP 0.66M but not Core Player

2007-01-24T17:17:00.000-08:00

I always enjoy watching Lynda.com tutorial video on my Pocket PC using TCPMP 0.66m as a way of beefing up my technical skill while I am on the road, and I was a bit surprise that those Quicktime video was not playable on Core Player 1.0 and yet playable on TCPMP 0.66. Well at least I have a workable way.

More about Pocket PC

2007-01-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

- I found out that installed Pocket PC app thru BlueTooth Sync is terribly slow! So I definitely won't do it again, and instead rely on using the USB cable.

- I installed Skype on Pocket PC, and at first it was stuck because in my default network setting, it was set to use proxy. Cleaned the tab up and the Skype connection started working fine.

- Even with most of the app NOT installing app but instead being Green app, my Pocket PC is still too ultra slow. I wonder why ....

Finally got BlueTooth Hotsync working at home, but ...

2007-01-20T05:35:00.000-08:00

I spent quite a lot of time trying to make HotSync working with my BlueTooth USB Dongle, and I figure out that:

- The USB does work well when connecting thru USB Hub or with extension cable. In fact, for my home machine, I only managed to make it working with HotSync when the dongle was connected on the USB slots on PCI cards. The BLueDongle LOOKS LIKE it's work on USB hub, but it's not (at least on my home machine).

- I need to reboot my home machine after unplug the dongle from on USB port and plug into another USB port. So much for the hotplug.

- I need to pair the PDA again after I moved the Bluetooth USB dongle to another USB port.

PPC Tidbits

2007-01-20T03:59:00.000-08:00

- I tried viewing JPEG photo thru WiFi network, and it worked fine. But playing video doesn't work that well. I guess for video I need to copy to my PDA first.

- I turned on Enhaned GAPI on x50v, and .... really see no different comparing with before. BTW, I only change the setting by choosing "Enhanced Driver".

- I tried "MDM Zinc v2 Pocket PC Edition". It sucked. The resolution on the screen is terrible. It was so pixelated . I much rather use Bryth Player.

Fun/Pain with WiFi network on Windows platform, and then PPC Wallpaper

2007-01-20T03:45:00.000-08:00

I spent almost half a day to re-setup all my WiFi devices so that they can all work with the router that I have. Here's my device list:

- Pentium 4 desktop (Physically connect to the WiFi Router)
- Compaq Presario 1720US Laptop with TP-Link WiFi card
- DELL Axim x50v with Wifi support
- Nintendo DS with WiFi support

It turns out that the most tricky part was realizing that the WEP Key on the web base admin screen MAYNOT be the correct key. Also each device has different degree of complexity on setting up WiFi configuration. Sometime the setting has to be very specific or else it won't work. Below is the configuration that I eventually used. Notice that this may not be the best setting. For instance I should use 128 bit encryption instead of 64 bit, but now I am a bit too tired to mess with it again.

Here's how I set up the TP-Link router on the Wireless Settings screen ([Basic setting][Wireless settings]):

- Security Type: WEP (Because this allows all my WiFi devices to work)
- Security Option: Shared Key (Some device like my PDA require specify security Option, thus I cannot leave it to automatic)
- WEP Key Format: Hexadecimal
- Key 1 choose, WEP Key ........ , Key Type= 64 bit.

Next I setup my laptop computer. It's a pretty standard Windows XP SP2 box. Select "View Wireless Network" on Wireless Network Connection Status windows brings you to a list of available WiFi network. I then click [Change Advanced settings] to get to the [Wireless Network Connection Properties] screen. Now click the [Wireless Networks] tab. In the preferred networks list, I clicked my WiFi router and then click property. Here's the most important part, because here I entered all the important configuration:

- Network Authentication: Shared
- DAta Encryption: WEP
- Network Key: .... (that hexadecimal chain of key that I entered)
- Key index(advanced) : 1

The laptop was then working right.

Now, the DELL PPC x50v.

First, I didn't use Odyssey Client since I don't use WPA. So I tapped DELL WLAN Utility. I click [setting], selected my WiFi Router name from this list. And then click the Network Key tab. Here I entered the following:

Authentication: Shared
DAta Encryption: WEP
Network key: (that hexadecimal chain of key that I entered)
Key index: 1

Then I selected the WiFi Router name, tap and hold, and select Connect. AFter a while, it was done.

Finally the NDS. It was ultra simple. I just get into the WiFi setting, entered the key, and that is.

Now all my WiFi devices are using my WiFi router.

I was particular pleased to see that my Pocket PC become a more prominent member in my home network. For instance, I can use Resco File Explorer to access a shared folder on my Windows network and use it to copy file. It saved me from a lot of cable connection.
BTW, to check the IP address, just go to WLAN Utility, and the click Advanced tab, the IP should be there.

Alone the way, I figured out the best way to set WallPaper on my Pocket PC:
- Pick a photo from Resco File Explorer
- Select open with "Pictures"
- It will open the photo in the build in Picture tool.
- Use crop to select the portion of the photo you want to be used as wallpaper. Notice that the area of the wallpaper will be a bit square. So adjust the crop area accordingly.
- now select the menu "Use a Today Wallpaper"
- Adjust the brightness of the photo, and this is the most useful part, because usually you don't want to full brightness as it makes to hard to select stuffs on the screen. And by the way the app is ultra stupid slow, so be patient.
- Quit the application. When asked if you want to save the changes, say no.
- Taht's it.

Actually Photo Viewer 6.0 also does a good job in turning photo into Wallpaper. But somehow it doesn't work consistent enough.

Play MP3 with lyrics on Pocket PC

2006-12-08T23:21:00.000-08:00

It was started when I was on the MTR platform, seeing a billboard Promoting the Nokia phone which has a feature of displaying lyrics while playing an MP3 song.

"Pocket PC should be able to do that too," I thought.

So I searched and found a software called Lyrics Magic 2.1. I tried, and it really worked, but a few gottchas:

- Make sure you TURN OFF the "Include SubFolder" on the file navigation process. Otherwise next time when you try to navigate songs, it will take FOREVER to bring up.
- The .LRC file cannot be UNICODE. It has to be a normal ANSI file.
- A regular text file with lyrics in it does not work. You need to have some time code in it. That's why you need to create a proper timecode lyrics file by using tools like LRC Editor (see below).

Next I need to find ways to either download a lyrics (.LRC) file or create my own .LRC file based on some lyrics I found using Google. So I came across this page while mentioned some tools (hate those A movie related link above and below the page though). I tried the LRC Editor 4.0 and it really worked, even with Traditional Chinese character, but I getting paste Traditional Chinese in the edit screen, and instead I have to first put the Traditional Chinese in a .LRC file, and then open the .LRC file using the LRC Editor. Very strange, but at least this is a work around.

And then I found another awesome tool called EvilLyrics . It's basically a plugin for Winamp, and it DOES able to find lyrics I need by simply playing the file in Winamp. Totally rules!

One important thing to remember it that EvilLyrics DOES NOT work well with Firewall. I had ZoneAlarm turned and it stopped EvilLryrics functioning properly. I have to turn it off in order to make it work.

Resco Photo Viewer 6.0 for Pocket PC - Buggy in new features

2006-12-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

I tried Resco Photo Viewer 6.0 for Pocket PC today and was disappointed that most new features I tried seem pretty buggy. For instead, you are supposed to be able to pick a photo and convert it into wallpaper and have option too select what portion to use and what darkness you want to wallpaper should be. That feature works fine if you take the default setting with a portrait photo. But if you change the darkness value, move the crop size, or use a landscape photo, the result will be a messed up wallpaper.

So until bugs got fixed, I better stick with the old Viewer 5. The old one was pretty darn stable as far as I know.

Feed up with the the x50v battery compartment lit detection ...

2006-12-05T02:31:00.000-08:00

I was so feed up with the the x50v battery compartment lit opening detection that I finally did something drastic to fix the problem. I jammed a short wire into the knob so that no matter the compartment door is open or not, I can still turn the machine. I mean, I figured that I don't really care if the memory was lost by me ACCIDENTALLY removed the battery while turning the machine on, because besides the fact that it NEVER happened, I don't even care if it happens. They sure is much battery then my PDA constantly turned itself into sleep mode because the stupid knob given the machine a false negative signal, which totally ruin my video watching and music listening experience.

Let me see if my life is slighly enhanced because of this so called hack.

Pocket Player seems picky on MP3 ....

2006-12-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know if Pocket Player 3.01 is really picky on the MP3 encoding, or the cross fading thing makes the app does something strange if the MP3s it play weren't well prepared, but I found out some major skipping when playing certain album I downloaded online. The interesting thing is that while one of the file indeed has problem playing in even other mp3 player application, another file was fine on other apps. Luckily I found another version of the same album. Lower bitrate, but at least it runs OK.

Gappless payback requires "Fill input buffer before playing"

2006-11-30T22:33:00.000-08:00

Just found out: in Pocket Player 3.01, I have to turn on "Fill input buffer before playing" option in Advanced Setting in order to make Gappless playback working right. It's not too much a problem. I just need to remember to set it.

CorePlayer 1.0.4 totally rocks

2006-11-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

I was using TCPMP very a long long time, almost ever since I start using my DELL Axim x50v Pocket PC. It's my favorite video player on PPC because ... well .. there's simply no competition. It plays a lot of formats that others simply cannot handle. So I didn't think of a day that I would switch to another player until today I tried CorePlayer 1.0.4, and my life was changed.

CorePlayer 1.0.4 has all the feature that TCPMP has, plus several more. The most important thing is that is plays EVEN MORE file format that TCPMP does. There were a few Podcast like Geekdrome and Diggnation that I previously couldn't watch directly on my Pocket PC with TCPMP, and I had to use some Windows conversion application to convert those video to PPC friendly format. With CorePlayeer 1.0.4, NOT ANYMORE.

I also tried 1.0.2 and while the feature are mostly already there, it didn't have to HotKey management, and I NEED that hotkey to turn off the screen sometimes while I am listening to This Week In Media enhanced Podcast. With 1.0.4, they finally put in the hotkey management.

Done deal: CorePlayer 1.0.4, start now on, will be my defecto video player, just like Pocket Player 3.0.1 becomes my defecto audio player.

My action to rescure broken Chinese character and slow machine

2006-10-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

Even since I installed some handwriting recognition application on my Pocket PC, the whole thing becomes a slow slow and irresponsive device.

So last night I tried to simply wipe out the whole thing and tried to rebuild the whole device. I then changed my mind because:
- Even since the Monster Chinese environment added to the device, I experience decrease in performance. But I HAVE to use Monster Chinese. And thus I realize that there's really not much performance gain even after I rebuild the machine.
- I got ultra tiny menu text after I reinstall Chinese environment from scratch.
- There are some apps that I use frequently and found that they are not really that "green".

So I simply restored form a 2006-08 backup. It turned out pretty well. I got all broken Chinese character problem fixed. And after I uninstalled a few more application, the device started to run reasonably responsive.

However, one note to self:
- Be aware that if you sync your Outlook to a clean device, all your older appointment book records will be wiped out.

Pocket e-Sword not working too well with Chinese

2006-09-19T04:06:00.000-07:00

Pocket e-Sword is by far the best Bible software for Pocket PC. Too bad that it does not work well with Chinese. It won't line wrap at the end and makes it difficult to read a long passage.

Here's some info about the situation:

-Chinese Bible on iPAQ
- The problem
- Chinese bible in Pocket PC

New version of AvantGo

2006-09-19T03:15:00.000-07:00

Today when I tried to use AvantGo on my Pocket PC, the application failed to launch. So I went to the web site and found out that there's a new version of the client ( version 6.2 build 52 ). I downloaded it and resolved the problem. But the client has several changes, both positive and negative.

Positive:
- Full VGA support. Fonts look much better now.
- Slightly improve in performance.

Negative:
- Sync is now done on the PDA, I have to explictly run AvantGo on the PDA and click [Sync] while the PDA is connected to PC.

Good to keep an old version of Apollo DVD to iPod

2006-09-08T02:16:00.000-07:00

I was so glad that I kept the old version (2.0) of Apollo DVD to iPod, because I just found out that the new version (3.1.5) ripped videos from a few of my dance DVDs WITHOUT sound. That's horrible. The ironic thing was that the new version worked OK with my Pet Shop Boys Pop Art DVD. So I really don't understand what's going on. But I have to re-rip some of the DVDs I ripped today and yesterday. It's not the end of the world, but still, anonying.

Key mapping bug on iMusic Player on Pocket PC

2006-09-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

There's a minor bug on iMusic Player. After a failed attempt to map a key (either user abort of what not), the app will fail to accept any key setting, and I have to quit and lanuch the app again to get rid of the problem.

Other than that, the app works pretty nice, and after I made the setting I mentioned in previous blog, I haven't experience heat problem that i reported before so far.

Using Terminal Client on Pocket PC. Good in concept, suck in reality

2006-09-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

I was always wonder what it is like to access my desktop computer using my PocketPC with Terminal Client on PPC thru WiFi. I finally tried it today. It ... worked, but the operation was so clumsome that I don't think it's worth it to setup a WiFi just for that purpose. It's still cool that it's possible though.

MP3 Players for Pocket PC

2006-08-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

Not all MP3 playback applications for Pocket PC are created equal. Each of them has its strength and weakness, and using them at the right time for the right purpose can enhance your enjoyment by providing the best flexibility with least resource consumption on your gear. The following are my experience on some of the applications I used so far.

iMusic 2.0 with MP3
Pros: Good interface. Automatically create a playlist by scanning all files in a given folder.
Cons: More CPU intensive, and thus generate more heat than other apps.
Best Usage: For random playback all music files for a given directory.
Tidbit: I change the following option:
[ ] Play at open
[ ] Auto Repeat
[x] Shuffle Play
[ ] Disable system powersave
[x] No display welcome dialog

GS Player
Pros: Low power consumption, fast response.
Cons: No autoscan folder to generate playlist
Best Usage: Listen to specific files, like Podcast

Pocket Player 2.8
Pros: Allow bookmark audiofile
Cons: Slow. Sometimes TOO slow.
Best Usage: Listen to audio book

Tidbit about AVI Video Convert Apsect Ratio

2006-08-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Make sure you go to Option and check whether the Source Aspect Ratio is correct. I used the AUTO setting and found that the resultant video was distorted in aspect.

One thing I was confused though: the application only provides two setting: 4:3 and 16:9. Oh well, that means I may need to do some trial and error in order to find the perfect setting.

RVMB to MP4 or VCD - A great alternative solution

2006-08-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

I recently encountered some rmvb files that cannot be converted to MP4 properly using my favorite PocketDivXEncoder 0.3.60. The audio was totally messed up after the convertion.

Luckily these days there are many other solution on the market that can handle rmvb properly. I tried WinAVI Video Converter 6.4 and it converterd rmvb files without the problems PocketDivXEncoder 0.3.60 had. The only downside is that it does not support trimming or setting start and end point to extract from the original video. Fear not, because there are a lot of non-destructive MPEG1 trimming software on the market. So you simply convert the video in MPEG1 (not VCD since your orginal source maynot be in the same resolution as the VCD format), and then trim it using tools like VCDCutter.

A Trick to convert DVD video for PPC using Apollo to iPod

2006-08-24T00:31:00.000-07:00

I always use "Apollo DVD to iPod" to convert video for my Pocket PC viewing pleasure. Most of the time it works flawlessly. But sometime it will encounter some audio convertion hichup or Subtitle conversion crash problem, makes it hard to convert a movie into a big file. For instance, I was covnerting StreamBoy the movie. With Chinese subtitle, it crashed at around Chapter 2. It does not, though, have problem converting Japanese subtitle.

My solution? Instead of convert the whole movie into open file, I convert the movie into twenty something chapters. And then I nail down what chapter caused the app to crash, and SKIP it. For SteamBoy, I skipped Chapter 2. So far so good after then.

Similar problem I had with Big Fish DVD. Using by chapter conversion, I got no ACC sound conversion error.

One side effect: I need to manually change the file name from Chapter 1 to Chapter 9 to Chapter01 to Chapter09 so that TCPMP can sort the file properly.

Great way to "Trim" Divx file: PocketDivxEncoder

2006-08-18T03:41:00.000-07:00

Since I realized that there is NO WAY to losslessly trim a Divx file, I started to look around and tried to find a solution that at least yield me the best quality. It turns out that the faithful utility PocketDivxEncoder does the triming job very well. As long as specify the destination resolution device (640x 480 for my always since I use Axim x50v), I got pretty great result in general. All I need to do is click "Cut Clip", and the specified the start and end of the clip, and that's it. However, when dealing with rmvb file, the app can go understable and then crash. And even when it does not crash, the navigation for start and end in "cut clip" does not work too well neither, so I have no choice but first concert the video from rmvb to xvid and then use the Cut Clip feature.

Two disappinting finding

2006-08-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

First, I downloaded and Installed Flash 7 for Pocket PC last night, and found that it does not come with any GUI at all. And it also failed to work with Bryne Flash player. So I had to rollback my machine to Flash 6, and everything worked fine since then.

I also had problem finding a tool that losslessly trim avi video. In fact based on my testing, there's NO Divx lossless trim application in this world. Everything invloves some sort of conversion one way of the other. Even SpiltMove failed on me.

Something no so happy about PPC Sync support

2006-08-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

I was reseraching about how to use PocketPC to sync with database server, and found that:

- RDA (Remote Data Access) only works with Microsoft SQLServer (Sorry, Oracle, no luck for you)
- Web Service could be a nice solution for Sync data between PDA and RDMS.

Developing Mobile App on VMWare Server remotely (with Windows Mobile device conencted)

2006-08-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know this is a strange configuration, but I had a need to develop a Windows Mobile application for my Pocket PC 2003 SE. The development environment is Visual Studio .Net 2005 on a Windows XP OS inside a VMWare Server 1.0 on a remote machine.

If that's not complicate enough, I want to connect my actually Pocket PC (Dell X50V) to the remote machine so that the VMWare session can see my PocketPC and use it for development. You may ask why don't I use the Pocket PC 2003 emulator. The problem is partly because of the slugglish performance, but the even bigger problem is that the emulator cannot network connected to the hosting machine, and thus I cannot use it to write network sync application. Installing the virtual PC network driver doesn't seem to work (or that I didn't dare to spend them figuring it out).

So the option I took was physically connect the Pocket PC device to the machine hosting VMWare Server, and then use Pocket Controller to view and manipulate the Pocket PC. To do so, I need to first install ActiveSync on the VMWare Server hosting machine. And then install ActiveSync inside the VMWare Windows XP session. And finally in the VMWare Server Console screen, I selected menu [VM]->[Removable Devices]->[USB Devices]->[Dell computer USB Device Port 1]. By doing so the device will not be available for the hosting OS environment , but will instead available sole for the VMWare OS instance.

And by then I can do my sweet PPC development on my own workstation without using resources form my workstation. Yeah, this is my way of distribute computing, using other mahcine's resources as much as possible and leave my own machine free most of the time.

PPC not powerful enough to satisfy my JPEG browing need

2006-08-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

I used SPB Imageer 1.5 to proved that even with all the memory available, I may not be able to zoom JEPG as big as I expected.

I tested it by resetting the machine, thus nothing is in the memory. It's basically back to the out-of-thg-box kind of mode. And I already assigned the most, like 5xMb for running application, and I still cannot zoom in a simple 1024 x 768 JPEG to 200% size. Forget it I say.

The Pocket PC did ran much smoother without any application installed, proving that there are some memory resided application that caused my PPC to run a bit slow. But then it's in an acceptable range. Besides with all the .Net Framework support, Divx codec and so on, it's meant to be like that, and I can live with that.

BTW, the whole reason to zoom a JPEG is for reading comics books, which were scanned in JPEG format.

HK$308 to buy a 2Gb Toshiba SD card for storing music. Worth it?

2006-07-28T03:32:00.000-07:00

After I started using the Pocket PC MP3 Playing application Pocket Player 2.7 , I found listening Mp3 on a Pocket PC a much better usage experience comparing with using iRiver H140. For instance, I can serach music file with Pocket Player. I can definite play list. I can create bookmark for each audio file (especially those eBooks). I can .... hell, it's just cool.

In fact I was even considered whether I should get a 2Gb SD card to hold nothing but music.

There is, however, a few problems.

First, the startup time for the Pocket Player 2.7 is a bit too long (Almost 30 seconds, or even more). And then, 2Gb of Toshiba SD card only gives me 320 songs of space. Not enough to cope with my ever changing (within a day) music taste. Since the Toshiba card is a slow one, it took 10 minutes to fill up a 1Gb Toshiba SD card with all mp3s, thus it will take about 20 minutes to fill up that 2Gb card. A bit too darn slow I should say.

So I guess I won't specifically get a 2Gb card for music, but instead use my current 1Gb card to do the job.

Again, "Apollo DVD to iPod"

2006-07-27T02:19:00.000-07:00

Here's some more experience I had with "Apollo DVD to iPod"

- It seems like whenever I tried to rip an Orginal DVD Disc, I always got volumn over blown problem. Honestly, I think it's a disc specific issue. The bigger problem is that no matter what i set at the output volume on "Apollo", I pretty much got the same result. So maybe I should forget it and simply leave it to the default 80%. I mean, I tried 40% and even down to 10%. WEll it does affect the volumn of the result video a bit , but the audio quality is still ... overblown. Why, why?

- Picking the right File to convert: Different audio setting (with or without commentary, and so on) means different chapter in the list. Solution? Freaking trial and error.

The battery latch was opened (DELL Axim x50v)

2006-07-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

"The battery latch was opened! The system was put into sleep mode to avoid any data lost. "

I got this message a lot these days. Checking these forum messages (1, 2, 3, 4) and I start to get some glue about what is going wrong. I just applied some tape on the plastic and will observer and see if it solved the problem. One question I don't underestand was that how come no one post a photo of how to fix this problem?

Apollo DVD to iPod converter, really like screw up on the HP laptop

2006-07-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

I gave the Apollo DVD to iPod converter running on the HP laptop another trial on another DVD, and it still gave me those stupid error message very once in a while. In fact there was time when it simply quited without any error message. What the hell is going on.
The strange thing, though, is that the converted videos mostly looked fine. Strange.

Also, the app found two versions of each chapter (each music video), and ripped them out. I watched and listened to both version and they look pretty much the same to me.

I also checked the "Add Letterbox to Keep Aspect" setting, but the screen still look like stretched. In fact, with the extra black area on the movie, there's no way I can fully utilize my PPC screen (I was using 4:3 NTSC on the PPC screen by the way). Conclusion? Uncheck the "Add Letterbox" setting instead.

Picking the right chapter to convert can also be tricky. For instance, I got a big chapter converted but with no audio. Good that I was just merely testing, or else I would be really pissed.

GraceNote

2006-07-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

GraceNote, could be the reason why the auto lyrics download thing that worked before failed to do so now. *uck RIAA.

The Apollo DVD to iPod converter failed on laptop

2006-07-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should forget about using the office laptop for ripping DVD to video for PocketPC, because more than 50% of the stuff I ripped from the office HP laptop was not working. The video either hanged in the very beginning or prompted some error message (and I got a lot of it). Sigh.

Apollo DVD to iPod converter

2006-07-24T01:24:00.000-07:00

The Apollo DVD to iPod converter continouely giving me the following message:

MPEG2Dec: Error during decoder Installation

Wonder what the hell is that.

Converting DVD to watch on PPC

2006-07-24T01:13:00.000-07:00

I was using "Apollo DVD to iPod" to convert video to watch on my PPC. When it works, it works OK, but there are a few problems:

- The video screen ratio was distorted. It's OK since the player on PPC can change it back to normal, but that means I won't keep the converted video for good. It's just a one shot for watch only thing.

- I encountered some error when converting a few of my DVD. Don't know why. It bitched about the audio codec, shit like that.

- The conversion speed is ultra slow, so try NOT to use your main workstation to do the convertion. I will try to use my laptop instead next time. It tooks 3 hours to convert a DVD.

- Again, making it work is like trial and errorr. Funky.

Where are all the lyrics site gone ...

2006-07-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

All started when I was trying to read lyrics while using the Pocket PC Mp3 Player called Lyrics Magic 1.33. And the I remember that there's a Winamp plug it that automatically retrieve lyrics from the Net. So I tried to find that plugin but forgot what it is. I tried a plug it called LyricsFX but it only support handful of lyrics. Sigh ...

The battery latch was opened! (on DELL Axim x50v PPC)

2006-07-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

I am recently fustrated by the following error message:

"The battery latch was opened! The system was put into sleep mode to avoid any data loss."

But when I checked the latch it was alright. I kind of suspected that it's partly because of some software I installed recently. But then I read a few messages here and it seems like it's more of an hardware issue.

Still I have to wait a while before I have time to continue investigating this problem.

Optimal Setting for Band Practice music recording

2006-07-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

My iRiver H140 was not available for band practice music recording, so I had to use my PocketPC with the application Resco Audio Recorder 3. However, due to the slower processing power and bus rate to transfer data to and from storage media, the Pocket PC cannot handle high quality audio recording, or otherwise there will be skip and drop most of the time, render the recording into something useless.

After a lot of trial and error, I found the following setting worked very well for me:
- Media Destination: Kingston 50X 4Gb CF Card
- File Format: Mp3, 24000Hz, 16 bits, mono, 56 kbps

Battery life is also a big "Gotcha". My regular battery ran out of battery at the end of th session. My estimation is that the total audio recording time was about an hour. That's a bit disappointing since based on such data even the long life battery can only record 2 hours of audio. That makes my iRiver H140 a much better audio recorder.

Ok De.Eye Japanese-Chinese dictionary is not green ready

2006-07-08T06:18:00.000-07:00