Dell Axim x51v

2011-09-13T13:12:00.001-05:00

Frank J Garcia

Hollywood, FL 33024

ctitanic at gmail.com

MVP ID: 4000400

Objective

To obtain a position in the IT Field where I am able to continue utilizing my skills and expertise to further corporate business development.

Highlights

More than Ten Years of Experience in a Leadership position as an IT Manager.
Proficient in Crystal Report writing, BO Server Administration and Visual FoxPro Application Design and Development.
Experienced in Visual Basic .NET, VB Script, SQL, various Web and Enterprise Technologies including; Website Design, Oracle EBS Administration, Microsoft Office, Access, Exchange and Open Office.
Master of Science & B.S. in Civil Engineering.

Experience

IT Manager, 1999 - 2011

Dayton Granger, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Managing a Team of 3 Employees, in an environment with 13 Servers and 110 networked PCs, providing full support to all IT needs of the company, including Level II/III Technical Support to resolve advanced, escalated issues for more than 250 end users.
In charge of determining what projects to accomplish per year, managing these projects within an available annual budget.
Created more than 100 Crystal Reports for Kewill Max for Windows (ERP), approximately 50 Reports for Oracle EBS with an estimated market value of around $200,000 and a few reports for Abra for Windows Human Resource solution.
Developed 7 Database Systems in Visual FoxPro 9 covering: Accounting, Document Controls, Inventory and the History Files being migrated to VFP from Max for Windows.
Coordinated the project management in the implementation of Oracle EBS and developed all the code needed for the Data Migration from Pervasive SQL to the necessary data structures required by Oracle, this reduced the cost of the implementation in 17%.
Responsible for the Administration of the Oracle EBS Enterprise Resource Planning System.
Recommended and Supervised the implementation of Abra for Windows and ADI Time Employee Biometric Time Management System, drastically reducing human error, the amount of time spent manually calculating payroll and attendance problems.
Developed VFP tools needed for the analysis of Labor Data integrated between ADI Time in Microsoft SQL 2000 and Oracle MES based on Oracle Databases, helping in the Efficiency and Cost Control.
Reduced operational costs by implementing VMware Virtualization Systems, saving in overall hardware cost.
Supervised the creation and implementation of IT Policies including E-mail and Internet Use Policies.
Supervised the migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 and trained all users in the use of this Operating System. Having the same software and hardware in all clients PC reduced the support cost in 40%.
Implemented a video surveillance system with 16 video CCTV cameras around the building remotely controlled from a PC.

Lead Developer, 1998 -1999

Dayton Granger, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Converted 7 FoxPro for DOS applications to Visual FoxPro.

Built small applications Visual Basic .NET

Database Programmer, 1996 – 1998

Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, Cuba

Creating Database Systems in Clipper, Foxbase and Visual Fox Pro. Teaching Computer Basis – How to use Windows, Office, Internet, etc.

Lead Engineer, 1987 – 1995

ECOING 9 - Cuba

Responsible for the construction of Hydraulic and Civil Structures (Drains, Reservoirs, dams, channels, etc.) in Cuba.

Education

Moskovskij Meliorativnij Institut, Moscow, Russia.

B.S. & Master of Sciences, 1982-1987

Honors and Achievements

In my own time, I created Tweaks2k2 (http://www.tweaks2k2.com/), an application in VB .NETCF for PocketPCs and worked as a freelancer and news editor for http://www.todoumpc.com/, http://www.mobilitysite.com/ and http://www.ultramobilepc-tips.com/.

Since 2007, I have been awarded by Microsoft for 4 consecutive years as Most Valuable Professional (http://www.tweaks2k2.comhttp://www.tweaks2k2.com/).

Operating Systems/Languages

MS-DOS
.NET Framework
Visual Basic 6.0, VB .NET for Compact Framework, VB .NET
Linux; Ubuntu and Red Hat
Windows 95/2000/XP/Vista/7 and Windows Server 2000/2003

Languages

Fluent in English, Russian and Spanish

My Axim got a face lift

2008-05-27T21:13:00.001-05:00

Probably I'm not supposed to talk about it here but what the heck, Dell abandoned me on this matter so... I installed WM6.1 in my Axim X51v and I'm glad that I did it. It's like I bought a new Pocket PC. My Axim works faster than when it was using the so called "legal" WM5 ROM from Dell.

One of the reason why I have not done it before was because many of these 3rd parties ROM do not work well with .Net applications and in my work with Tweaks2K2 that's really important. But these ROM have gone a very long way from the point of view of quality. The one I'm using does not have to envy anything to any of the ROM released by Dell in the past.

Tweaks2k2, 3 times winner in the last 3 years!

2007-11-17T12:12:00.001-05:00

Dell x51v WM6 (Football Edition) - xda-developers

2007-08-20T20:57:00.001-05:00

An "unsupported" version of WM6 has been released for x51v at xda-developers. Some .NET applications, including Tweaks2K2, have been known to have problems or do not work at all in these ROMs. Unfortunately in these cases there is nothing that we can do about it.

Sorry. . .

Bye Bye Axim

2007-07-03T21:01:00.001-05:00

Dell's Blog post says all:

First off, sorry for the delay on this. In addition to recent coverage by blogs like Engadget, jkOnTheRun and others, I’ve gotten a few e-mails and a comment from Direct2Dell reader David H. Deans who’ve asked me to confirm whether we’ve discontinued the Axim line or not. The answer is yes, we have.

Tweaks2k2 Review

2007-02-01T16:09:00.000-05:00

Gadgetmix has just posted a review of Tweask2k2 for Pocket PC.

Tweaks2k2.net is great application, which makes registry editing a child's play.
A must have for somebody, who does not want to waste hours and hours of time tweaking his/her device

Tweaks2K2 - 2 times finalist!

2006-10-02T12:14:00.000-05:00

I was just reading JKonTheRun a few minutes ago when I found that Tweaks2K2 won the Pocket PC and SmartPhone Awards this year in the System and Registry Category in it's two versions for Pocket PC and SmartPhones!

Brando Mini BT Keyboard - Review

2006-10-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

This keyboard is the perfect solution for people that own a Pocket
PC and an UMPC. The small size of it make it the perfect companion for
Packet PC like the Axim X51v which does not have it own keyboard. It
will be faster to type using this keyboard than to use the screen
keyboard. When you use this Keyboard with your UMPC you will get
probably the same words per minutes than what you get using Dialkey and
a little bit faster that if you use the TIP in Keyboard mode. I write
faster using Handwriting recognizer than using Dialkey and TIP in
keyboard mode so I find this keyboard useful when I'm programming where
I use commands and variable names that are not common words.

I would like to thank Brando for providing me with this keyboard to write this review.

More...

You can check the first part of this review here.

Tengo New Release

2006-09-26T10:05:00.001-05:00

I just received a new email about the latest release of Tengo:

Just like you to know that we have just launched TenGO v2.1 (www.tengo.net) plus support for another additional 5 more National languages (Danish, Dutch, Italian, Finnish, Norwegian). Some of the features in the new TenGO v2.1 are:

· Improved Memory resource management

· Updated language support (Now includes 11 National Languages)

· Updated security feature - users need to register for a new unlocking license key

· Bug Fixes

· Updated Tutorial

If you don't know what is Tengo, go and click in the above link, you will never regret it.

ChDict .NET v1.2 Released

2006-08-11T07:54:00.000-05:00

This program will allow you to select which language you want to use in the Spell Check option of Pocket Word. It also changes the completion/suggestion dictionary according to the language selected, Spanish or English. This last option has been added in this latest release and it's the first time that something like that has been included in any tool like this one. And on top of all this... ChDict is FREE!

You can find ChDict and many other freewares made by Tweaks2K2 here.

Tweaks2K2 Nominations

2006-08-04T07:45:00.000-05:00

Smart Phone and Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards in one of the most important events in the World of Mobile devices. Tweaks2K2 for Pocket PC - last year Winner - has been nominated for 5th time - consecutively - for this Award. But that's not all, the Second Member of Tweaks2K2 family, Tweaks2K2 for SmartPhone has been also nominated again this year, its second year as nominee. I feel honored to have these two programs nominated for this Prestigious Awards.

Tweaks2K2 has a 3rd Member in its family: Tweaks2K2 PC Edition. This program was specially designed having in mind the small screens of UMPCs/Origamis devices. And even when it's not that well known like its two "older brothers" for me is one of the most important tool that an IT professional in charge of configuring Pocket PCs can have. In addition to the usual PC Registry hacks, Tweaks2K2 PC Edition is armed with more than 75 registry hacks that allow to take full control and configure any Pocket PC without having to install any software on it. All is done from your PC using this program.

What's behind of

2006-08-01T19:15:00.000-05:00

For those wondering what's behind the latest hack included in Tweaks2K2 the answer can be found here.

The above link points to "Tweaks2K2 How-to" section, enjoy it.

AS 4.2 problems

2006-07-19T08:41:00.000-05:00

To all those who have had problems with connecting to the internet from the device when upgrading from ActiveSync 4.1 to 4.2:

ActiveSync version 4.2 made a change to how it interacts with the Windows networking stack to use Layered Service Providers (LSPs) on outgoing Desktop-Pass-Through connections. This allows for improved compatibility in environments where connections to the internet must be passed through these LSPs (ISA Proxy is one such example).

Unfortunately, it appears this change has caused some issues for a small segment of users who have LSPs that interfere with ActiveSync communication.

There is a registry key fix which will essentially remove this change.

Please download and rename the attached text file with the .txt extension to the .reg extension. In other words, change the file LSPvalue.txt to LSPvalue.reg. Afterwards, please double click on the newly renamed .reg file and click on the "Yes" button.

This should resolve your issues.

Thanks,

Edington
--Edington Watt
Windows Mobile Platform
Microsoft Corp.

The file can be downloaded here.

Solution for some of the Axim X51v Problems

2006-07-11T17:21:00.000-05:00

Got a brand spanking new Axim x51(v)? Are YOU experiencing these problems?
* Axim Will not power on after standby?

* White Screen Of Death (WSOD)

* Losing CF or SD cards?

* Battery losing charge while on standby?

* Axim overheating when left in standby mode?

* If Leaving WiFi on when putting into standby, it's light starts flashing for no reason?

You can find a very well written article with the solution in this thread from Aximsite forum.

TenGo Free Edition

2006-06-28T22:53:00.000-05:00

I just got this good news:

Would just like to let you know that we have just released TenGO Free Edition (version 1.0), which can be downloaded at free.tengo.net.

TenGO Free Edition is for individual, non-commercial use only. Users just need to download, install, register with their email address and will be free to use the software to handle all their text inputting needs like email, messaging, note-taking, etc. TenGO Free Edition is built on the core of the predecessor of TenGO v2.0, the award winning TenGO v1.3x, with upgraded compatibility with WM5, some tweaks and a brand new tutorial.

We are very happy with where TenGO v2.0 is now and would like to take TenGO to the next level, to continue to make TenGO even better and be the best mobile text input solution possible. Much of what TenGO has evolved to is thanks in part to the numerous feedback, suggestions and comments from users and non-users alike. The next stage is thus to get as many feedback as possible by proliferating TenGO as much as possible.
Hope that you can help us to spread the word around and post the news of TenGO Free Edition as well as the new website free.tengo.net. www.tengo.net is still available for users
that want to use TenGO v2.0 for commercial purposes or to take advantage of new and powerful features (including the support for foreign languages).
Also, in free.tengo.net is the second installment of TenGO videos showing TenGO users reaching very fast typing speeds. This time its Chen-Yee typing with just one of her hands. Because of the success of the videos and the numerous requests from users, we have now made available for download the trial Typing Speed Test program, for users to see how fast they can type with TenGO and gear up for the upcoming TenGO Challenge.
Thanks for all your help and support and have a nice day.

Sudoku Game

2006-06-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a version of Sudoku game for SP that works OK in WM5. I like this one because it allows you to create your own packs of games in XML format in a very easy way. It's a freeware and the author says that he will make a version of it fully supporting Pocket PCs soon but again, the SP version works in WM5 without ink support off course.

Equilizer for your X51v

2006-03-20T11:32:00.000-05:00

I found recently a software that allows users to control the audion equilizer included in the X50 adn X51v audio chip. The program can be downloaded here. It works in the X51v even when the name looks more like a tool for X50s.

_{Source: Aximsite}

More about MS Security Implementation

2006-03-08T08:23:00.000-05:00

More about MS Security Implementation

I was asked a few weeks ago by one of Microsoft guys how this MS Security Implementation (I’m talking about locking part of the registry and denying applications access to some APIs) could affect developers, users and them too. Well, here and here you can find good examples that help to answer their question. Since the beginning developers have been fixing OEMs and MS mistakes a lot faster than patches that they release to fix this problems/mistakes. If MS/OEM locks devices how the heck we are supposed to do that? Paying the huge amounts of money for those ridiculous certifications? Listen, I have got the best certification than a developer can get: the trust and popularity among users! And for that, believe me, I never needed any MS logo or Signature.

Tweaks2K2 PC Edition: What's coming next?

2006-03-03T13:39:00.000-05:00

Tweaks2K2 PC Edition: What’s coming next?

For the first time users will be able to change the top and bottom bar color in Windows Mobile 5 devices from a program! And for the first time from a PC without having to install anything in their PPCs!

Tweaks2K2 PC Edition
page

MARA Discovers First PC to Handheld Crossover Malware

2006-02-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

MARA Discovers First PC to Handheld Crossover Malware

This was the tittle of a news published recently in AximSite. I would like to reproduce here a fragment (italics) of that news:

Originally Posted by hnelson59
The crossover virus was written in C# (C Sharp) using Visual Studio .NET 2003, and the Communications Library of openNETCF.org.

What a lame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The communication library of opennetcf.org is super but it's 48kb. On top of that the virus needs two files at least: the executable and that library to work. Analyzing all this info provided by MARA, I could recreate the whole process with just one EXE and with a lot less KBs. A proof of that is that in my latest Tweaks2k2 PC Edition I decided not to use the OpenNETCF dll and stay with just one EXE.
But again... these kind of viruses are for stupid guys. There is not need for any antivirus to be safe against these kinds of viruses. Just use a common sense every time you receive an attachment and you will be completely safe. Just remember one thing. Your PPC is slow and it will run slower if you have an AV installed on it checking for these "viruses for Stupid guys".

How these Virus Creators work?
1- they create virus looking for fame
2- fame comes with a huge number of Computers, PPCs or SPs or Phone damages
3- No Huge damage, no fame, so why to create a virus?
Now, if you understand my 3 above mentioned points it's easy to understand why the PPC and SP worlds are not yet attractive grounds for viruses creators.
1- it's almost impossible at this point to create a virus capable of self-infecting PCs and PPC and SP at the same time. To write a virus capable of replicating (infecting PCs without the need of human intervention) you need a more powerful language than .NET.
2- If you create that kind of virus then you will find that it wont run CE because it was not compiled for this OS.
3- if you can create a virus that can infect PCs by itself you need to create a worm and send it by email. What is the possibility of your email reaching a stupid guy that opens it? On top of that, what is the probability of that that stupid guy has a Pocket PC or SP. This cut the whole % of success to very tiny amount. And remember what I say, fame comes with a huge amount of casualties. No casualties no fame, then why I should spend my time in writing something that difficult.

Knowing how hard is to write that kind of virus capable of reaching a huge amount of victims and how low is the probability of finding a Stupid guy owning a Pocket PC (to own a PPC you need money and you need to be a geek) I wont bother at all to spend even a minute into that idea.

More about WM5 Security

2006-02-16T08:12:00.000-05:00

More about WM5 Security

This comment was originally posted in PocketPCThougths forum. I thought that would be a good idea to publish it here due to the fact that I have been talking about this issue since WM5 was released.

“It's definitely a dark day and a pivotal point in the CE platform...Read on if you are a small developer.

We switched from Palm development to Windows CE development a few years ago for precisely this reason: that Palm put up too many barriers for developers. It's one of the reasons we predicted the Palm platform would die -- and this was back in their heyday (about 2001). We new Microsoft would win out because they made things so free and easy for developers. Its the rich and diverse choice of 3rd party apps, as much as the platform itself, that seems to drive the success of CE.

Now, however, Microsoft apparently thinks they have enough momentum and market share to pull back on the free development tools. Maybe they are right.

But the cost of a "legal" copy of VS2005 will now exceed the modest income some small developers make on their apps. It's going to drive a lot of good, solo programmers out of the CE platform for good.

But there is another problem. WM5.0 now has it's most intimate parts "locked" so that some apps require a signing certificate from Verisign in order to run. And to get a Verisign cert you have to buy signing tokens at $400 for a 10-pack. That means if you have a fairly complex app with several DLLs, .exes, etc., it's going to cost you hundreds of dollars for each version you release!

What's worse is that to even test the app on your device, you have to buy these signing tokens. You can try using the SDK cert to test on the emulator, but that only works on the emulator. You can't use it on the actual device. And you know the emulator can be useless for testing network apps. So you have to spend your precious, expensive certs just on test versions. You could easily run up hundreds if not thousands of dollars more at this point.

Oh I almost forgot...after you buy the Verisign tokens, you still can't get a privileged cert unless you go ask Microsoft to approve it. And for this they require you to first "logo certify" the app with a 3rd party test partner like QualityLogic. That's going to cost you another $500 bucks.

As bad as all the expense is, there may be a worse feature: developers now depend on Microsoft in order to survive. Because they can revoke your privileged cert at any time!

Security expert Bruce Schneier wrote about the dangers of forced signing way back in 2001. Just imagine if you desktop PC could only run signed apps. You would not be able to run any of the great freeware that independent developers put out. It would certainly kill much of Microsoft's market share in the PC space, and would drive consumers to Linux. In short, it's unthinkable. So why are they enforcing signing on the Windows Mobile platform, which is still young and less likely to withstand the blow?

As a small developer you are between a rock and a hard place. Windows Mobile development is now trapped between the prohibitive cost of VS2005, and the restrictive forced signing of WM5.0.

Slightly bigger companies will be able to survive. Many small developers won't. And when the smaller developers die out, there will be no pressure on bigger companies to write good software. Why should they? All their good competitors -- the independent developers -- are now out of business.

_________________

http://www.airscanner.com/

Winner -- Best Security Software 2005

Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine”

WM5 in Axim X50 problems.

2006-01-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

WM5 in Axim X50 problems

Well, since the X50 got the WM5 users have been complaining about how the CPU is over loaded running at 624 MHz for long period of times in a mysterious task that sucks all the resources reducing the overall performance of the machine.

I found a thread at Aximsite site forum that explain what is going on, and in that thread a little unofficial patch can be found too. When I read it I found the following paragraph very interesting:

The filesys module is a core component in the OS and contains the drivers for all the different "file" devices, flash, sd, cf, etc. It also contains a tiny SQL server. Each filesystem it initializes has a corresponding driver. In the case of the x50v, the flash driver is msflash.dll. It is actually the msflash.dll that launches two "compaction" threads during initialization. The code that runs these threads is by Microsoft, but it calls back to driver code written by Dell. It is more like defragmentation than compression.

Defragmentation… the other day I was commenting there, in Aximsite forum that I believe that part of the problems in the Axim X15v could be due to ROM fragmentation. That’s the only explanation that I can find to the fact that after the hard reset, the X51v runs find with the same programs that were installed before the hard reset for about 2 to 3 weeks without any problem. When I said problems I’m thinking about the “No powering ON issue” and the “Drain of the battery in an extremely short period of time”

BoxWave Mobile Mounting Kit

2006-01-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

Mobile Mounting Kit

BoxWave has released to the market the Mobile Mounting Kit. I have not had the chance to test it yet but it seems to me that it has everything that is needed to use your Pocket PC in your car with your GPS software.

Reflashing your ROM from your SD Card

2006-01-10T13:51:00.000-05:00

Re-flashing your ROM from your SD Card

I found two good thread at the Axim site that allow users to flash the Axim X51v ROM from a SD card. This method is very useful when for some reason your ROM upgrade failed using the Dell’s upgrade tool. It’s also a method that can be used for those who want to install a different ROM language in their devices.

How to create a backup of your Boot and ROM

How to flash your ROM from a SD Card

New ROM A06 Released

2006-01-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

New ROM A06 Released

Dell has released ROM Version A06
I installed and so far have not found any difference from the point of view of performance comparing it with the previous version. I was getting very disappointed with the battery drain issue so I hope that this time they have done a good job fixing this bug in this release.

Dell we still have problems!

2005-11-29T20:24:00.000-05:00

Dell, we still have problems.

Yes, I installed the latest A04 ROM and I have suffered from the SD Card disappearing issue, the fast battery drain (the battery gets very hot) and the no responding Power On button (soft reset needed to turn on the machine). So Dell, you still have not fixed any of these issues in this ROM.

New ROM Released

2005-11-21T22:57:00.000-05:00

New ROM Released.

Dell has released a new ROM A04 that can be downloaded here. Do not waste your time creating a backup because you wont be able to restore it.

Some very good tips

2005-11-19T11:36:00.000-05:00

Some very good tips

If you are complaining about how slow is your X51v/X50v WM5 device you should read this thread at Axim Site.

WM5 all you need to know.

2005-11-13T12:07:00.000-05:00

WM5 all you need to know.

One of the forum members of the Axim site has prepared a compilation of some very good articles about WM5 that I believe everybody should read (Link).

Microsoft Security Initiatives

2005-11-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

Microsoft “Security Initiatives”: Security or just Business?

A few weeks ago I wrote an article called “Windows Mobile 5 Snafu” published originally at WM5fixsite.com and later at this site under the name of “Houston, We have a problem”. In that article I was talking about how Windows Mobile 5 did not “see” MUI files if the “Security Prompt” feature of the OS was activated. At that moment I did not have enough information about what Microsoft did in WM5 so I assumed that it was a bug. Today I know that as usual what seems to be a bug is in reality a new feature of this Operating System. Let me clarify something here, I still think that it’s a bug. Why? Because when you are permitting to run or install any application by Answering YES to that prompt, that authorization should be passed to MUI files needed by that “user authorized program”. But according to Microsoft, quote: “On Smartphone 2002, MUI files did not require signing. With Smartphone 2003 and moving forward, MUI files need to be signed along with the other required binaries (EXE, DLLs, and CABs).”   And this applies to Windows Mobile 5. When an application is signed the Operating System will not ask you for authorization to run/install any application and the application is going to be able to read the MUI file. If the application is not signed the OS will ask you for authorization but no matter what you answer was, the OS wont let the application read the MUI file because this one is not signed.

MUI files (Multilingual User Interface) files are used to keep different sets of objects that can be retrieved during the load process of the application. That allows programmers to select the proper language to be used in the executable or to choose the proper configuration to be used according to conditions present in each individual device. The requirement of signature in MUI files tells me that Microsoft thinks that MUI files could be used by Viruses to attack mobile devices. So this requirement is understandable but if you are allowing users to install applications that are not signed you have a bigger risk than when you let users decide what to install or run in their devices so to me does not make any sense to authorize the executable and do not authorize the MUI file.

But this is just a minor problem taking in consideration that no too many programs use MUI yet and there is some ways around this issue that can be used by developers as long as “Microsoft Security Initiatives” are not implemented fully like in SmartPhone devices.  And I say this because many Pocket PC users do not know what is going on with SmartPhones. Let’s take the Motorola i930 currently sold by Nextel in USA. This phone is completely “application locked”. What this means? This means that those owners can’t install anything that has not been digitally signed by Nextel. To get an application signed by Nextel the author has to submit that application for an approval and paid for the signature. The cost of the signature in the case of Nextel is unknown to me yet but taking in consideration what others Microsoft’s partner ask, the amount could be within $300 to $2000 depending of how many times you are allowed to sign that same program. This explains why Nextel has signed only 18 applications so far and why i930 owners have started an Online Petition to decertify this SmartPhone.  I don’t know what do you think about all this but from where I’m from there is an old saying “If you see that the house of your neighbor is on fire, you better start checking yours because it could be the next one”.

But I know how we all humans are. Why to worry about something that has not hit us yet? Well, to think in this way is completely wrong. We have seen how this “Security Initiative” affects MUI files but I’m sure that many VGA Device Owners are looking for versions of ozVGA and SE_VGA to use in their new Windows Mobile 5 devices not knowing that these two applications have been affected for almost the same issue.

In Windows Mobile 5 as we already know “only drivers signed with a privileged certificate (regardless of the device's security policy) can be loaded during the boot process.”  Well, the DLLs used by ozVGA and SE_VGA were extracted from a QVGA ROM and in the process of extracting these files they lost the so-called “privilege signature”. These DLLs contain the images for mainly the majority of the buttons used in the OS and if they can’t be seen/used by the OS because they are not signed all these images are not seen/shown when users have applied all changes needed to the OS to change the screen resolution using ozVGA and SE_VGA.

There are many people looking for a work around but believe me, I have been looking for a solution to run Tweaks2K2 in the i930 of Nextel since that phone was released to the market. Beside to have legally signed all files there is not any way to go around the problem. Do you think that authors of these two applications will pay several hundred dollars to have their FREEWARES signed? Do you think that an application like Tweaks2K2 will be “approved” by Nextel?

I know that some users have found a way to use the DLLs with ozVGA. They have used a privileged certificate from the developer’s tools to sign the DLLs and then they have installed that developer’s certificate in the device where they want to use these DLLs. This means that from that moment anything signed with that certificate will be able to do in these devices basically what ever it wants to do. In another words, Microsoft has pushed users to fully open their devices to any attacker.

Now my main question to Microsoft is: How good is a security system that pushes users to do things like this? Is really this security system good for users or it’s just another way to make money? I’m sorry Microsoft but this is my honest opinion about your “Security Initiatives”.

X51v Mysteries

2005-11-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

X51v Mysteries
Here is a brief recount of my experiences with the X51v. I called the X51v Mysteries because it's very hard to tell exactly what's causing some of the issues present in this device.

The today screen add-in from Resco (the battery meter on it) causes the battery to drain fast making it very hot. Another Add-in with this same problem is the Top Bar Battery Meter of SPB Pocket Plus. The weird thing is that SPB PP has a battery meter in the Today Screen add-in and that one does not cause any problem.
I have read somebody with the battery draining issue saying that he was using Magic Button, I'm assuming that he was using too the battery meter of that program, but I have not confirmed this one.

BTW, if you are using a program to close not minimize applications, then Resco File Explorer will not cause any problem at all as long as you don't install the Today Screen Launcher. I have been using Resco since day one I got my x51v and I do not have any problem beside the Battery drain issue that I fixed not using the Today Screen Add-in. I have the SD Card disappearing issue once every 8 or 9 days. I using the Today Screen Launcher of SPB Pocket Plus without any problem too by like I said, not using the Top Battery Meter Bar. It seems to me that the "Device not Turning ON" issue could be relative to this battery meters problem too or may be to something relative to the way you are syncing and charging the device. I use a Sync-Charger USB Cable, never use the Cradle. I remember that I had the Not Turning ON issue only the first two days when I was using the cradle. But at that time I was using too the Today Screen Launcher from Resco. So it's hard for me to say what really fixed that problem between not using that add-in or not using any more the cradle.

Error Reporting

2005-11-07T15:49:00.000-05:00

Error Reporting

It seems a good idea to help Microsoft reporting the error that we are getting in the daily use of our devices with Windows Mobile 5 but… That slows down our devices up to the point that it’s almost impossible to use them. And this issue is currently worse due to the fact that many programs have not been converted or properly tested in this new OS.

So… If you want your Pocket PC running faster just disable this feature going to Start/Settings/System/Error Reporting/Disable and pressing OK. I did it as soon as I got my x51v and believe me; my device is running a lot better.

AS4: No Access Synchronization

2005-10-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

AS4: No Access Synchronization

In this case, there is another one to blame completely on Microsoft again...

Have you been able to synchronize any Access file?

I have not.

So, I contacted one of my fellow developers, a specialist in databases and He has informed me that currently ActiveSync 4 can’t synchronize access databases. I should point that ActiveSync 4 still not officially released by Microsoft. And when this happens probably a module is going to be released to allow the Access Databases synchronization but this is not been officially confirmed either.

Have you been able to synchronize your access database?

X51v Bugs

2005-10-03T18:24:00.000-05:00

X51v Bugs

This is a list of proven bugs in the X51v. Proven means that I have been able to see or reproduce these bugs. If any solution is available it will be listed with the bug.

SD Card disappears. SD card are not listed in the File browser after having the Pocket PC OFF for a long period of time. So far I have not found a total solution for this bug. To increase the PNP Unload Delay seems to help but it does not fix completely this problem. By the way, this problem has been present in the X50v and so far Dell has not released any fix for it.

The X51v does not Turn ON. I have been unable to reproduce this bug. When it happens the Device does not react when you press any button including the Turn ON/OFF button. The only way to get the machine back is doing a soft reset using the stylus and the soft reset hole. No solution for this problem has been found.

X51v: SD Card disappearing

2005-10-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

X51v: SD Card disappearing

I have been checking this bug for around a week to be sure that the problem exist (something that was clear to me from the beginning) and that I have the right solution.

After long periods of inactivity my SD was not listed in any browser when I turned ON the X51v. The problem seems to be in the PNP Unload Delay having a value too small for this machine. I changed to 4096 and I have been using the device for more than 72 hours without having seen my SD disappearing again.

How to change the PNP Unload Delay can be found here.

This hack is included too in Tweaks2K2 for those that do not want to change the registry manually.

Houston, We have a bug!

2005-09-30T14:05:00.000-05:00

Houston we have a bug!
Originally published at PocketNow.com

Windows Mobile 5.0 has arrived with great new features, and as usual, we are getting new bugs.

    Owners of this new operating system for sure have noticed that every time they run an application for the first time, the OS warns about the “un-trusted” origin of the program. An application has to be digitally signed to be qualified as “trusted,” and in order to obtain this credential; the author has to pay huge amounts to Microsoft's partners in charge of this business. Microsoft's idea behind this diabolic mechanism is that the Electronic Signature serves as warranty to users that the program is free of bugs and viruses and designed to be used in devices that use Windows Mobile. Unfortunately, the amount of money required in this process is more than what the majority of freelancers can pay. And freelancer are 80-90% of all authors currently in the market. This is the main reason why users are asked by the operating system for permission to continue with the execution of programs.

    But this is not a major inconvenience. You are asked for the permission to run the application, and when you click yes, you are never asked again the next time you run the same program, because the operating system keeps track of the application name, size and time stamp of the executable. If any of these parameters change, you will be asked again the next time you run the exe if you authorize this “new” program or not.

    At this point, I'm sure you are asking yourself that what is wrong with this process? Well, with Windows Mobile 2003, Microsoft started to implement a new method to handle the creation of programs that are going to be used by people that speak different languages. The new method is called “Multi User Interface” or just MUI. And this is how it works: all labels that are shown in the different screens of the program are saved in a resource file with extension MUI. In that way, you can have a MUI file for different languages. In the name of the file you specify the language using a code. Let say that you have a program called EXAMPLE.EXE and an accompanying MUI file for English and a MUI file for Spanish. The MUI file for English has to be called EXAMPLE.0409.EXE and the MUI file for Spanish is going to be called EXAMPLE.040A.EXE. If you plan to distribute your program in Spain, let's say, you will include in your installation the EXAMPLE.040A.MUI file and your EXAMPLE.EXE. You can even include in your installation all your MUIs, and the executable and the operating system will use the MUI file according to the language used by the operating system installed in the device.

    The MUI files can be used too for a very different matter: if you have a program that was initially designed for a QVGA machine and you want to use it in a VGA machine, you can tell the operating system that this program is going to use the real resolution of the VGA Screen 480x640 by creating a MUI file with a HI_RES_AWARE flag on it. Thus, when the operating system sees the flag, it will not apply the so-called “double pixel” feature that makes possible to use programs designed for QVGA in VGA machines.

    Ok, but again, what is the problem with all this? What is Windows Mobile 5.0 doing wrong? Well, when you are asked to authorize an “un-trusted” program that use one of these MUI files and you have previously authorized it, the operating system apparently includes the name of the executable in its authorized list but it does not include the MUI. As a result, the executable can't see the MUI file and of course, it won't work in the expected manner.

    This bug is very easy to replicate in case you want verify my claim. I have prepared a tool called MuiTest.exe that can be downloaded here. When you run this program having the Security Prompt feature activated, you won't be able to see the yellow flower in the center of the screen (second image below).

Security prompt activated.

Same MuiTest.exe with security prompt deactived.

Here is the security warning dialogue.

    Is there a work around for this problem? Yes. Unfortunately the only way around the issue at this moment is through the deactivation of this security feature using the SetSecurity.exe program or having all programmers that use MUI files sign their applications with Microsoft. What do you think is easier?

    At this point I'm asking myself a simple question: Did Microsoft know about this problem and released the OS in an attempt to push freelancer to have their application signed? It's a possibility.

How to deactivate the Security Prompt

2005-09-30T13:49:00.000-05:00

How to deactivate the Security Prompt

Dell has configured the Axim X51v using the new capabilities of Windows Mobile 5 to ask for permission every time that an un-signed application is ran. This could cause some problems with some applications that are described in this article at PocketNow. I just have posted at my How To forum the explanation of how this feature can be deactivated.

Tweaks2K2 for PPC Finalist!

2005-09-26T19:51:00.000-05:00

For the Second Time this year the Board of Experts of SmartPhone & Pocket PC Magazine has voted Tweaks2K2 .NET for Pocket PC to be among the best in its category "System and Registry" in Pocket PC magazine's Fifth Annual Best Software Awards.

WM5 compatibility database

2005-09-26T10:47:00.000-05:00

WM5 compatibility database

PocketNow.com has put together a simple site called wm5fixsite.com where the end-user will be able to track which of his favorite programs can run under the new OS, while developers will be able to keep end-users informed of when an WM5 compatible update will be issued.

X51v Software Compatibility List

2005-09-24T14:12:00.000-05:00

X51v Software Compatibility List

I have tested the programs in this list personally. The list has 3 sections: Working, No Working and No Fully Working. When a program is included under No Working that means that I have found problems that did not let me use totally or partially that program making it no usable. When a program is listed in No Fully Working that means that some features of the program are not working but the program still usable. These are my favorite programs, this is not and wont be a list of all programs that works in the X51v. Highly Recommended programs are shown marked with a * (Note: some links are affiliated and you are helping to support this page when you use them)(If you are an author of one of the No Working program and you believe that it’s a mistake, please contact me at ctitanic at tweaks2k2.com)

Working

Tweaks2K2 * VGA Brute Force works!

Resco File Explorer 2005 *

eWallet *

MemMaid *

Storage Tool *

TCPMP *

TomTom Navigator USA 4.4 *

Calligrapher *

ChessGenius

HellChes

MiniJetFight *

Chopper Alley *

ZioGolf

NoviiRemote (RC Software)

Visual CE Lite, Visual CE PRO *

SpaceTime

PocketRAR

Pocket Streets

MobiPocket

Acrobat Reader

nPop *

Today Warrior

XScale Monitor

SPB Pocket Plus *

PocketPDF (Txt to PDF)

Socket WiFi Companion *

Magic Button *

Leonard Maltin 2006 Movie Guide *

No Working

NetFront 3.2

FtxPBrowser

PIEPlus

WiFiFoFum

cLaunch

Sprite Backup

No Fully Working

iSilo (Some buttons are cut and only partially visible)

HandySwitcher

X51v Recommended Accessories List

2005-09-23T10:22:00.000-05:00

Recommended Accessories List

This is the list of accessories that I own myself or I had the opportunity to test. I do not recommend here any product unless I’m sure of it’s quality, so if you are a vendor do not send me any request to post your product link here unless you are willing me to test it first.

Boxwave USB Sync-Charger Cable

Boxwave USB MiniSync/Charger Cable

Boxwave Car Charger

Boxwave ClearTouch Crystal Screen Protector

Mugen Power 1800 mAh Extended Battery

Screen Protector

2005-09-21T07:54:00.000-05:00

Screen Protector (Recommended)

BoxWave has released a ClearTouch Crystal Screen protector for Axim X51v. I have been using for more than a year one of these protectors in my hx4700 and I would recommend all X51v owners to buy this “must have” accessory for their X51v.

Real Power OFF has arrived

2005-09-21T06:49:00.000-05:00

Dell has implemented in its Axim X51v a unique feature for the first time seem in a Pocket PC: A Real Power OFF.

This feature will allow users to completely turn off the device thanks to the use of persistent memory by the new Windows Mobile 5. Though this will increase the battery life, users should keep in mind that clock events such as alarm and reminders wont work once the device is off.

The System Clock is kept working all time.

X51v Video

2005-09-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

X51v Video

CNET just has posted a video of the X51v here.

Extended battery for X51v

2005-09-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

Extended battery for X51v

Confirmed, the X50v and the X51v use the same extended battery (Dell Part Number 310-5965 – 2200 mAH).

The 2200 mAH seems to me very bulky compared with the 1800 mAh made by Mugen Power

X51v has been released

2005-09-20T05:05:00.000-05:00

X51v has been released

Yes, it has been released today. You can place your order here.

In another hand, you can read some good reviews at:

PocketNow
PocketPCToughts
MobileTechReview
www.bargainpda.com (very good Battery Life comparison with the old X50v)
AximSite

Dell Axim X51v Owner's Manual

2005-09-19T21:34:00.000-05:00

Dell Axim X51v Owner’s Manuals

The Owner’s Manual for the Axim X51v has been release at Dell Support Site.

WM5 will give you at least 25% of battery life.

2005-09-19T12:30:00.000-05:00

WM5 will give you at least 25% more battery life.

According to Mike Calligaro, member of Microsoft Mobile Team, the fact that Windows Mobile 5 use Persistent Storage to keep the data safe in your Pocket PC will give you from 25% to 50% more of battery live.

“when we shut you down because your batteries were "critically low," they were still 1/4 to 1/2 full. Why? Because, if the batteries ever fully died, it would be catastrophic. You'd lose your data, and that's, in our opinion, one of the worst things that can happen. So we made a requirement and held our OEMs to it. The requirement was that, at the point where we decided the batteries were "critically low," they had to still have enough power to keep the RAM charged for 72 hours. The idea there was that you could discover that you were out of power on Friday on the way home and you'd still have your data on Monday when you got back to your charger.” – Mike Calligaro says.

“A typical battery holds 1000mAh of charge. 128M of RAM takes about 500mAh to stay resident for 72 hours. 64M takes about 250. This is why you never saw a 256M WM 2003 device. It would have run for a minute then decided its batteries were critically low.” – He added.

So taking in consideration the above explained, we could see from 25% to 50% more of battery life depending of your current amount of RAM.

Why 64 MB of ROM Pocket PCs are not upgraded to WM5

2005-09-18T11:57:00.000-05:00

In theory, it is possible to install WM5 in a 64 of ROM Pocket PC but practically it will leave you with a few MB to install your applications and you will end complaining about it.

Lets check this screen shot taken from a X51v with WM5:

256-195.01=60.99 MB (this is actually what the OS used).
So 64 MB - 61~= 3 MB. Just the installation of PI will take half of that number.

And this is considering that your OEM is not installing anything for you. That's where the 12.84 MB are going in that Screen shot. According to some jasjar users they have uninstalled some of the applications installed by the OEM making more room in ROM. I'm assuming that we will able to get back part of these 12.84 MB as well.

The Fujitsu-Siemens has offered a WM5 upgrade for the 718/20 series. These series only have 64 MB of ROM and recently they have postponed the upgrade. Could be this the reason? In these Pocket PCs WM5 will have to be reduced and some applications like WMP could be not installed in ROM something that already have been done in other OS upgrades.

To me something is very clear from the above analyzed numbers taken from the X51v screen shot and compared with the numbers published by Jasjar owners. Even if the upgrade becomes available for owners of machines with 64 MB of ROM, these owners will be forced by the lack of free ROM to buy other Pocket PCs with more ROM very soon after the upgrade. In fact, it seems to me a bad idea to upgrade these machines.

Dell revealed release date

2005-09-17T14:59:00.000-05:00

A Dell Tech Support Agent has revealed the release date for the Axim X51 series: Monday, September 19, 2005. The news was published in this thread of AximSite, a community of Axim Owners. According to the same source, these are the key features of this series:

· Persistent Storage – Helps prevent loss of data in the event of a power loss
· Music/Video/Pictures – Windows Media Player 10 supports numerous file formats, turning the PDA into a “Swiss army knife” for mobile multimedia content
· New User Interface – more intuitive faster access to data/apps
· Improved productivity applications – Word and Excel enhanced, PowerPoint viewer now native
· Improved Active sync – faster, more intuitive

Differences between X50/X50v and X51/X51v:
· Operating System – X51/X51v includes Windows Mobile Version 5.0 (X50/X50v had Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Edition)
· Cradle/Cable - X51 416MHz ships with a sync cable (X50 416MHz included a cradle)
· Memory - X51v has 256MB ROM memory (X50v had 128MB ROM)

Axim X51v Environmental Data Sheets

2005-09-17T14:43:00.000-05:00

Dell has published the Axim X51v Environmental Data Sheets. (PDF)

X51v could be released next week

2005-09-17T14:20:00.000-05:00

According to news published at eWeek, Dell is preparing everything to release next week the Axim X51v. If that’s true, Dell will hit the market before HP with the first Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 2005, something that will cost HP a good % of the market.

x51v Screen Shots

2005-09-16T08:54:00.000-05:00

HI!PDA, a Chinese website has posted some screen shots from a x51v in their forum. You can check an English translation by WorldLingo here.

The most important piece of data there is this screen shot:

From the 256 MB of ROM users will get only 182 MB. And from 64 MB of RAM only 25.68 MB.

x51v Forum in Axim Site.

2005-09-05T20:18:00.000-05:00

The Axim Site opened a few days ago a Forum for the Axim x51v. This site is well known in the Pocket PC World and the fact that this forum has been opened tells me that the release of this Device by Dell is close and that the rumors about the existence of this Pocket PC are real.

Win a free copy of Tweaks2K2

2005-09-05T19:43:00.000-05:00

Win a free copy of Tweaks2K2 or any other of my programs by letting me know when the Dell Axim x51v becomes available for sale.

All you have to do is post a comment here at this site with the link to Dell Store.

The first person to post the link and his/her email is the winner.

Pictures of the Axim x51v

2005-09-04T14:37:00.000-05:00

The last week somebody posted the first pictures of what seems to be the Dell Axim x51v in Axim Site but a few hours later those pictures and the whole thread was deleted by the Site Administration.

Somebody pointed me to Engaget.com where a few pictures still available and I have recovered some from my own cache folder and here they are:

Screen Shot of WM5.

This new device apparently will look the same as the Axim x50v. According to the source one of the differences between the x50v and the x51v is that this new device will have 256 MB of ROM and Windows Mobile 5 preinstalled.

Welcome

2005-09-04T13:48:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog about the Dell x51v.

In the past I have opened web pages for every Handheld that I have owned. I started to do that with my Casio Cassiopeia e100, and then I did it for my Jornada j720, my Toshiba e740, my h2215 and the latest hx4700. But recently I have discovered the comfort of this blogs hosted by Google.com and I have decided that this is the way to go with this unofficial support sites for these handheld devices. Thinking about to buy one of the x51v as soon as they become available for sell I decided to start this new blog about these devices.