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January 2005 - Posts

Monday, January 31, 2005 3:08 PM

Video, Music, Pictures on your mobile device.

If you have a PC, or Media Center PC at home which has music, photo’s, or video how do you get access to this content while you’re out on the road ? – perhaps give Orb a try. <from the Orb site>Orb gives you secure access to the digital media on
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Monday, January 31, 2005 3:03 PM

RDP or VNC for Pocket PC.

Want to run an RDP client or VNC client on your Pocket PC – here’s two options… From PocketPCThoughts.com – VNC Viewer.NET (a completely managed VNC viewer) or use Nyditot software to set screen resolution and orientation and run the H/PC Pro RDP
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Monday, January 31, 2005 2:59 PM

Pocket PC Themes.

If you’re interested in creating themes for your Pocket PC device then you should check out ThemeMaker McDeb by KAMWare – the tool supports landscape orientation, and up to VGA resolution.– Mike
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, January 28, 2005 10:45 AM

ESC West - Geek Meet ?

Microsoft is going to have a booth at this years Embedded Systems Conference (ESC West) – the event is running March 6–10 2005 San Francisco, Moscone Convention Center.So, I’m thinking it would be good to have a geek meet sometime during
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, January 28, 2005 8:44 AM

Windows CE - GetTickCount - Problems ?

Jack W. Crenshaw has written an article for Embedded.com which is titled “Time to re-evaluate Windows CE?” – Jack looks at a specific API, GetTickCount( ); which returns an unsigned int, this value is incremented every millisecond. The unsigned
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, January 28, 2005 8:32 AM

KITL first, ask questions later.

John Eldridge has started blogging, John has been working in the Windows CE team since 1995, mostly at the lower levels of the operating system, kernel, drivers, bootloaders etc… John is going to be talking about debugging Windows CE operating system
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, January 27, 2005 6:54 AM

Roses are 0xff0000 Violets are 0x0000ff...

I’ve just received the latest newsletter from ThinkGeek – looks like they are getting ready for geeky valentines…There are some cool items on the site including binary clocks, LED watches (remember those ?)– Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, January 26, 2005 5:00 PM

Help ! - how do I get out of here ?

I had meetings today in building 122, all of the external parking spaces were taken (there were a couple of visitor parking spaces free, but it wouldn’t be right to snag one of those) – so I parked in the parking garage across the road from the building,
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Wednesday, January 26, 2005 10:24 AM

Calling Managed code from Native Code.

In today’s Windows CE 5.0 online chat (which was pretty busy from start to finish) one of the questions that came up was whether Windows CE supports the ability to call managed code from native code (kinda like a reverse P/Invoke).There is limited
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Wednesday, January 26, 2005 10:15 AM

ActiveSync 3.8 available for download...

In case you missed the near silent roll out of ActiveSync 3.8, here’s the details and download locations… Microsoft ActiveSync 3.8 is the latest synchronization software for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones. ActiveSync 3.8 contains
posted by mikehall | 12 Comments
Wednesday, January 26, 2005 6:43 AM

Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference (MEDC) Call for Papers...

MEDC 2005 Call For Papers Microsoft MEDC 2005 (Mobile and Embedded DevCon 2005) organizers invite you to submit proposals to speak at MEDC in our conference breakout sessions. MEDC is one of Microsoft’s most important annual technical training events,
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Tuesday, January 25, 2005 10:00 PM

What about documentation ?

Windows CE 5.0 and Windows XP Embedded SP2 ship with a ton of online documentation, but, do the products ship with the *right* documentation, or enough documentation for you to build and deploy the operating system images you need for your device ?If
posted by mikehall | 4 Comments
Tuesday, January 25, 2005 9:50 PM

Windows CE Online Chat - January 26th - and Chat Requests ?

Hey, don’t forget that tomorrow, January 26th we have a Windows CE 5.0 online chat.January 26, 2005 – 9:00 - 10:00 A.M. Pacific time – Go here to enter the chat room.We have regular Windows CE 5.0 and Windows XP Embedded SP2 online chats,
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Sunday, January 23, 2005 1:57 PM

Windows CE 5.0 Live Chat - January 26th

Windows CE 5.0 Live Chat!January 26, 20059:00 - 10:00 A.M. Pacific timeAdditional Time Zones Do you have tough technical questions regarding Windows CE 5.0 for which you're seeking answers? Do you want to tap into the deep knowledge of the talented Microsoft
posted by mikehall | 4 Comments
Friday, January 21, 2005 10:02 AM

Windows CE ChallengE - what's up with the Europeans ?

The Windows Embedded Student ChallengE has close to 100 teams signed up, interestingly there are not many European teams at this point – what’s up with that ???The deadline for signing up a team is extended to Feb 6th 2005
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, January 21, 2005 9:50 AM

Windows CE Video Tutorials available for download...

Hey, excellent news, the Windows CE 5.0 video tutotials are now available for download – when you download the files, run the installer (or open the .ZIP and extract the .WMV files directly) – if you go for the .MSI install process then
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Friday, January 21, 2005 9:18 AM

Project Socrates - Learning Embedded Systems with Windows CE

Jim Y Wilson is working on Project Socrates, this is a project that uses Windows CE to teach embedded system development, it looks like the content is designed for students but would also be useful for anyone getting started with Windows CE
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, January 20, 2005 10:03 AM

New Windows CE 5.0 Articles

Check out the new Windows CE 5.0 articles covering platform development, device driver development and testing, and application development.How to Create, Customize, and Debug an Image for the Windows CE 5.0 EmulatorArticle Summary: This article provides
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Tuesday, January 18, 2005 8:21 PM

Windows Embedded ChallengE

The Windows Embedded ChallengE is back on (note the extremely clever capitalization of “C” and “E” in ChallengE), this time the competition is open to students across the world to enter teams – The competition challenges
posted by mikehall | 7 Comments
Tuesday, January 18, 2005 7:54 PM

Linux - Really Free ?

I received a TON of feedback from my recent post Linux in Embedded Systems - The Windows side of the story.  this looked at Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded and how they compared with Linux (thanks everyone for your comments!) – a number of the
posted by mikehall | 9 Comments
Tuesday, January 18, 2005 9:48 AM

Pocket PC running MAC OS-X ?

This from Engadget – Teddy the Bear has MAC OS-X running on his Pocket PCI’ve seen two versions of this article, the one from Engadget, and one from Wired – To access the Mac, Teddy installed a Virtual Network Computing, or VNC,
posted by mikehall | 15 Comments
Monday, January 17, 2005 9:40 PM

Microsoft and Interoperability

Are you concerned about interoperability between Microsoft and other products ? The month long webcasts will be focusing on interoperability – why it matters to the business, common strategies and methods, and guidance on specific implementation
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Monday, January 17, 2005 5:18 PM

Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference

The combined Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference (MEDC) is coming up in May – are there any specific topics you would want to see covered at this years event ? content topics could cover: Windows XP Embedded SP2 Windows CE 5.0 Native Application
posted by mikehall | 7 Comments
Saturday, January 15, 2005 5:15 PM

Mobile Application Development Toolkit v2.0

Version 2.0 of the Mobile Application Development Toolkit is now available for download.OverviewThe Mobile Application Development Toolkit provides all the resources you need to start building mobile applications for Smartphone and Pocket PC devices.The
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, January 14, 2005 5:32 PM

MEDC - Save the Date !

The Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference 2005 (MEDC) is coming to a Las Vegas near you, MEDC 2005 will be held at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas 9th thru 12th May 2005 – SAVE THE DATES !!!What to expect at this years event…Be the
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, January 14, 2005 10:39 AM

The world of iPod...

This is an odd video from Gizmodo - iPod everywhere... (it's in Apple Quicktime [obviously]). Thoughts ? - Mike
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, January 14, 2005 9:42 AM

The Nerd Test

I spotted the "Nerd Test" on someone's blog over on MSDN so decided to take the test... Here's my score, which makes me a high-nerd - let me know how you fare on the same test (no cheating, be honest with your answers!). - Mike
posted by mikehall | 17 Comments
Thursday, January 13, 2005 1:45 PM

Linux in Embedded Systems - The Windows side of the story.

A few days ago I posted an article from Cots Journal Online which discussed some of the shortcomings of Linux use in embedded systems. Based on some of the comments posted back to the blog it would appear that Linux is used because of the community
posted by mikehall | 132 Comments
Thursday, January 13, 2005 9:35 AM

Gizmodo - Interview with BillG

Gizmondo caught up with Bill Gates to discuss everything from Blogging, Longhorn, Apple Office Suite and more, there are two parts to the interview, see below…Gizmodo BillG Interview Part 1Gizmodo BillG Interview Part 2 – Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Monday, January 10, 2005 3:44 PM

Linux in Embedded Systems ?

At last weeks CES show there were a number of attendees that wanted to know why they should consider using Windows CE or Windows XP Embedded in their embedded system rather than using Linux – there are a number of perceptions about Linux and Windows CE/XPE
posted by mikehall | 14 Comments
Monday, January 10, 2005 9:42 AM

Mobility Blog.

Marcus Perryman now has a blog, if you’re interested in developing for mobile devices or ASP .NET 2.0 then you should go check out the blog – I’ve worked with Marcus back in Microsoft Developer Support and at various events around the
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Sunday, January 09, 2005 3:17 PM

CES - The lengths some people will go to to win a prize...

There were some give aways on the Micrsoft booth, these included SPOT watches and a Portable Media Center (PMC), all you needed to “win” was wear “SPOT Me” badges (for the SPOT watch) or “Windows Mobile” sticker –
posted by mikehall | 7 Comments
Sunday, January 09, 2005 8:52 AM

Thoughts from CES.

Day three of CES turned out to be somewhat quieter than the first two days, I talked to a number of attendees this morning about what they had seen at the event that was especially interesting – most noted that there wasn’t any obvious innovation
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, January 07, 2005 6:56 PM

CES - Day two, the Microsoft Booth...

Day two from CES, another busy day – unless you’ve been to CES you just can’t believe how busy this place is, 115000 people through the event in a handful of days, the Microsoft booth seems to be packed from the time the doors open at the event
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, January 07, 2005 12:01 AM

CES - Out for the evening.

A few of us managed to get out for the evening, a fantastic meal at Demonicos, followed by a walk along the Canal within the Venitian hotel (the canal is on the 3rd floor of the hotel! Note that the gondalas have electric motors, they’ve done
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, January 06, 2005 6:25 PM

CES - End of Day one - a good find...

Day one at CES was pretty interesting, some good write ups of the BillG Keynote, check out the write up on the SmartphoneThoughts.com site – The post mentions an SBC demo which showed how to customize your TV viewing experience, the demo included
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Thursday, January 06, 2005 10:45 AM

CES Day One.

Wednesday was my first day at CES (actually my first CES – I’m normally found at embedded developer events, so I’m looking forward to finding out what’s cool at the event). The first day kicked off with a 5 hour press event called the “Digital Experience”
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Tuesday, January 04, 2005 4:31 PM

Where is Real-Time Linux ?

William Wong (Electronic Design) has written an article discussing real-time support for Embedded Linux – The article seems to make for an interesting read until it dawns on you that there isn’t a single solution to obtaining real-time
posted by mikehall | 4 Comments
Tuesday, January 04, 2005 3:11 PM

Starbucks Everywhere ?

I’ve been known to drop into the odd Starbucks here and there, and it looks like there's a Starbucks at the RIO hotel in Vegas (wahoo!!!), but check out the Starbucks Everywhere site – someone has decided to visit every single Starbucks store in the world,
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 04, 2005 2:53 PM

CEFileWiz Updated for Managed Components.

I had a request from Neil Cowburn to update the CEFileWiz tool to better support managed assemblies (such as the OpenNETCF bits), I went down with the Flu over the Christmas break and found myself pretty much glued to the sofa, so decided to
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments