TamsPPC - the PocketPC Blog

A pretty big PocketPC developer has just posted an open letter to pirates to his forums:

http://www.pocketinformant.com/Forums/index.php?showtopic=11368&st=0

After having worked in the Palm OS sector for a few years, I have come to the conclusion below - feel free to debate me as much as you see fit:

For me, the solution is not teaching the masses, writing open letters or doing anything similar to change the people’s behavior by free will. Instead, the solution is to force people to go legitimate. Brick and mortar shops don’t have a preacher preaching about how bad theft is…they have a security guard and RFID tags to protect their goods. For software developers, I think that a different approach is in order:

Cooperate on DRM
Many developers have decent DRM systems in their applications. If a group of developers would gang up and work together on creating powerful DRM systems for PocketPC, the pirates would have a harder stand as they need to fight shared expertise. There’s a cryptographer here, and a hacker there…together, developers can for sure create a kickass DRM system that is extremely difficult to hack!

Attack pirates and warez communities
While I still stand behind my words about attacking legitimate users, I meanwhile do think favorably about developers creating “logic bombs” that attack user’s hardware/software. The trick behind this is that users must be shown that the crash/damage they are currently experiencing is NOT caused by your app, but rather a virus.

I know of at least one Palm OS house that is currently developing a method that destroys Palm hardware irrevocably, and think that a similar approach is also possible on PocketPC devices.

Releasing such an application into the PocketPC/Palm warez ecosystem will immediately shake up the masses and reduce piracy to a select few elite pirates; soft of like how many users are afraid of using Series 60 warez due to the many virii around.

Have pirates cooperate with you
At Tamoggemon’s, we have a “house pirate”. He gets access to all Tamoggemon apps before they get released, and attacks them. In exchange for the privilege of being the first to get the app, he gladly forgoes distributing his crack and even shares his findings with me…although I didn’t implement much of his hints yet(yes boy, I KNOW that you want me to release that Vampyr Zyklon DRM NOW, yes boy, but I have a girlfriend…).

Bring a server into the game
Last but not least, a company I consulted a long time ago(4 years), simply made their apps “web clients” that needed a server for an essential bit of computing. The server checked the legitimacy…and cya, pirate.

This approach probably won’t work for everyone…but if your app already does some kind of web related service, why not hit it for good?

What do you think?

Dear Readers,
this is just a quick ping asking if anyone of you wants a shoutbox for TamsPPC?

We have had a shoutbox on TamsPalm for quite some time, and had quite a few heated discussions there. If you want one here, just leave us a comment and your wish will be fulfilled!

Best regards
Tam Hanna and the TamsPPC team

When you buy a boxed, non-system-builder version of Microsoft Windows (e.g. Vista), you can usually ask Microsoft for help with the product you just purchased. However, asking Microsoft for help with the Windows Mobile OS on your PocketPC usually ends with them forwarding you to the manufacturer…why is that so?

The reason behind this is that the relationship between a PocketPC and Microsoft is different from the relationship a Windows box purchaser has with the company - if you buy the box, you buy a license from Microsoft. On the other hand, if you buy the PocketPC; you don’t directly buy a license from Microsoft. Instead, you buy a product containing code licensed from Microsoft by the manufacturer.

The manufacturer looks for an OS that can power its new hardware. In the ideal case, he goes for Windows Mobile straight away - or he could just be persuaded by one of the free evaluation cards that swamped austrian embedded designer trade shows a few years ago. Microsoft then helps the manufacturer get his OS running on his box - and that’s it.

The manufacturer, on the other hand, acts as a man in the middle. He receives support from Microsoft for the technology, and in exchange handles end user support for his personal pet mutation of Windows CE(NOT developer support).

So, to cut a long story short. If you have a non-developer question about your PocketPC, go to your manufacturer! He is the only one who can help you…

Thank you John for the idea!

Creating screenshots for Palm OS software reviews is easy - the wannabe reviewer can choose from a plethora of well-done screenshot tools that run natively on the handheld of choice. PocketPc screenshot tools usually are either Pc-based or can’t capture photos of open menus(clicking the trigger button closes the menu). When reviewing Resco Photo Viewer, I noticed that Resco ships a cool screenshot freebie along it - can it stack up?

Starting Screen Capture pops up the menu shown below. Tapping Capture captures the screen immediately after closing the form. Clicking on after 10s closes the form and captures the screen after 10 seconds:

Clicking Settings opens the menu below - you can choose BMP, PNG and JPG image formats:

Here’s a photo of an open menu:

To cut a long story short, Screen Capture is the best screenshot tool for PocketPC. The delayed screenshot facility allows you to capture snapshots of open menus and other things that are impossible to capture otherwise. While I’d welcome a trigger button, the variety of supported output formats completely compensates this omission. This program alone is worth the price of Resco Photo Viewer..

Microsoft’s MSDN is a very useful resource - if you can find the information you need in plethora of information. Microsoft has documented the .NET compact framework pretty well - but you need to find it. Here’s how to:

Step 1: visit MSDN
Visit the MSDN library at msdn.microsoft.com

Step 2: visit the category
In the TOC on the left, click the following:
.NET Development -> .NET framework Technologies -> .NET Compact Framework

As of this writing, the following link takes me right to the correct category:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f44bbwa1.aspx

I am in a pretty bad mood about this…please forgive me the slightly aggressive slant

I am a programmer who takes pride in designing his UI’s himself - and indeed, many of my Palm OS applications have won awards for simple and well-done interfacing. For me, popping up a dialog over another form is a standard issue - it looks like this on a Palm:

The code for doing this is approx 1 line long; and all you need to do is set the form dimensions and popup styles in Resource XML.

Creating such a dialog is next to impossible on the PocketPC in vb.net - for some strange reason, this absolutely operating system insists on making each and every form “full-screen” - even if you set the dimensions differently(even explicitly in code). All this while a MessageBox floats around the screen merrily…

However, I am not alone with this problem. Looking around in the CF newsgroup brought along the following gem of a thread:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.compactframework&tid=57f3a71b-7166-4b7b-98d6-003453f86c7c&p=1

Essentially, it all comes down to setting FormBorderStyle to none. You then have a form that doesn’t get resized automatically and can be popped up with Form.ShowDialog - but it doesn’t have a frame or title area.

Fabien Decret has a writeup on the “gory details” and also covers creating a simple border around the form - visit his blog here:
http://fabdecret.blogspot.com/2007/05/non-full-screen-window.html

How do you create a popup window in .net CF? If you have an idea, please email it to me at Tamog AT gmx DOT at!

After having experienced quite a few applications having huge issues with my hp ipaq rx4240’s backlight(they simply werent ablöe to control it), Yaroslav Goncharov from SPB Software finally provided me with an answer why this happens:

Backlight control code is OEM specific, therefore, we need to add custom
code for every device (sometimes we even need cooperation from the OEM
side). We are planning to implement backlight for hp ipaq rx4240 in one
of future versions.

While I already complained about PalmSource’s ignorance of the hardware button plethora, this really takes madness to a new level.

Why can’t Microsoft define a standard API for backlight control? One that every licensee implements into his hardware somehow, giving developers an unified way to control screen brightness? Could it be that Microsoft wants to promote licensee’s developer programs by putting some of the documentation there instead of at their centralized repository aka MSDN?

What do you think?

Thank you Yaroslav for the information!

In the Palm OS world, so-called replacement “launchers” drop dime a dozen. For PocketPC, user interface replacements are rather rare. SPB’s Mobile Shell is one of them, offering a new launcher, a today plug-in with various features and - last but not least - a new “overview” screen which shows time, appointments, etc. TamsPPC had the opportunity to play with the just-released version 1.5 of the product:

After installing Mobile Shell, the program lets you choose between ‘classic’ and the new ‘professional’ layout:

The first part of the program is a so-called “today popup”. This window can get popped up whenever the PocketPC gets turned on - useful for providing a quick overview of what’s up next:

Mobile Shell also contains a today plugin. This plugin shows a list of the last-run programs; programs that get used often can be “pinned” to the top of the list. It can also show weather information, contacts and the current time in various cities. However, the contacts on my ipaq rx4240 were not accepted:

The today plugin also contains a task manager. This task manager is useful, as it allows you to manage the running programs flexibly. However, once more than 5 programs are open, scrolling gets a bit tedious. SPB should integrate a scrollbar into the list to simplify finding apps…

The third part of Mobile Shell is SPB menu. This is a graphic replacement for the default program launcher, and displays only nine icons at a time:

SPB Menu can be configured to that your favorite applications can be reached with just one tap. However, once more than 9 apps are in a folder, navigating gets tedious due to the lack of a scrollbar:

Last but not least, the program ships with a few pretty cool-looking themes for your PocketPC:

Overall, SPB’s Mobile Shell is a program that has the potential to save loads of time once set up correctly. However, it is not a silver bullet for time saving - and the consistent lack of scroll bars is annoying(for me, although it could be argued as a design choice). The program costs 30$, a free trial is available!

One of the best ways to find out more about a product is to link up with people who work on it every day… . This fact has apparently hit the Windows Mobile team a long time ago…quite a few of them have very interesting blogs that should be a “must-read” for developers!

Most of these blogs are very interesting and contain useful technical information - visiting them definitely pays out!

The full list is available at MSDN’S:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsmobile/bb264323.aspx

While my HP ipaq rx4240 didn’t accept my Hama 2GB SD Card in the review, a comrade has recently reported a success with a 2GB Sandisk SD card taken out of his ipaq(Windows Mobile 2003 model).

If your hp rx4240 supports a 2GB or bigger memory card reliably, please let us know by posting a comment!

BrightHand users have reported success in using 16GB CF cards in a Toshiba e830 here:
http://forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?t=242621

Do 16GB CF cards work in your PocketPC?

There is a new plugin for TCPMP which enables you to watch Flash videos (.flv) on your Pocket PC. You can also download Youtube videos special download application that is also included.

Download location: http://freewareppc.com/multimedia/tcpmppluginforflashvideo.shtml

When Pocket Heroes was first announced back in 2005, it created a huge lot of fuzz. It’s 2007 now, and the game is finally available from its web site. But can it stack up?

Pocket Heroes ships with more than 20 maps, additional ones can be installed. At start-up, the game allows you to select a difficulty and assign players/races to colors:

Setting more than one color to human enables “hot seat mode” - this is a multiplayer mode that works by players physically passing around the PocketPC:

Pocket Heroes maps contain a variety of terrain types and buildings that look very well - the images below show a few samples:

Heroes-style games are centered around castles and heroes. Castles act as “bases” for heroes, where troops can be purchased if the appropriate buildings have been built:

Tapping a castle allows you to recruit units and build buildings:

Tapping a hero shows its properties, army and inventories - heroes are like “vehicles” for moving around the terrain:

Since Pocket Heroes is turn-based, each hero can move only a predefined distance per turn. Pocket Heroes shows the “range” of the hero when a path is created:

Heroes can interact with terrain objects - they can conquer mines, pick up artifacts and resources, and explore the terrain:

Last but not least, Heroes can also fight rogue creatures or other heroes(e.g. to take over enemy castles). The fights also happen in a turn-based style, each unit is given one order, which it executes immediately!

This review focussed on version of Pocket Heroes on a hp ipaq rx4240. The game works quite well on the ipaq(installed onto external media) - reviewing it was great fun. However, “resuming” the game after a dialog pops over it or after switching to another app is slightly unreliable…

Overall, this 19.95$ game definitely is worth it’s price in gold. While the game still has a few small quirks(resuming of game, tapping enemy units in combat), it is one of the best games I have ever seen on a mobile computer. If you like turn-based strategy games or were a longterm Heroes fan, get PocketHeroes by all means!

Immersion’s VibeTonez tecnology promises to add “tactile feedback” to touchscreen-only devices to simplify typing on on-screen keyboards.

CNet reviewed one of the first VibeTonez-enabled smartphones -and found the technology helpful, but not good enough for blind typing. The “little bit of vibration” was “found far more satisfying rather than without”.

Get the full scoop here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/samsung-sgh-i718/4505-6454_7-32465590.html?tag=nl.e404#more

I am skeptical if this compares well to a dedicated keyboard. What do you think?

While the default theme shipped with my HP ipaq rx4240 definitely isn’t ugly, change always is a good idea - PocketPC’s are pretty skinable by default via so-called themes. Themes can change the color of UI controls like buttons and a few images(start menu and today background)…and they come well-packaged in a so-called .tsk file.

Anyways, pocketpcthemes.com has a variety of themes ready for download - you simply beam them onto your PocketPC and activate them in Settings->Today. Here’s an example of what a theme can do - the theme used here is Genexus QVGA by finthamoussu:

However, if your handheld supports screen rotation, be careful to get a theme that supports both portrait and landscape - if not, distortions like the white area shown below will occur:

What about posting your favorite themes?