Will CE work for this project? 1

jcaulder · Jun 13, 2005

Hi everyone,

I have no experience with Windows CE and am curious about whether it will work for a simple project I am working on.

I need to have a device capable of running a Macromedia Flash application standalone(.exe) or within a browser(.html). The application gathers data from the user and sends that data out through a Nextel wireless card. The wireless card is installed into a PCMCIA slot.

From my research, it appears the critical part is whether I can:

a)install drivers to CE for the Nextel wireless card and b)have a browser in CE with the Flash plugin installed

The reason I want the application written in Macromedia Flash and running within a browser is so I can periodically refresh the html page(say weekly) and bring in a new version of the application if one exists. If I create an .exe and add it to the CE platform, I don't think there is any way to update the application without rebuilding the platform. Or is there a way to write an application update to a CE device without rebuilding the platform?

An example use of the device may assist:

Say 10 devices located in 10 retail locations such as malls that display an online catalog. They gather orders from users and submit those orders via the Nextel wireless card to a central database for processing. The catalog may change periodically(not only the items but the catalog application itself, especially early on in its production).

Is it possible to use CE for such a device or is XP embedded necessary. CE devices appear to be much cheaper than their XP counterpart, I guess because of the decreased footprint of CE. Not to mention the $90 per unit cost of XP versus the $3 to $16 of CE. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

Also, does anyone have experience working with a company that builds devices to specifications for small projects? Or perhaps someone could give pointers on where to buy individual components to build my own device? Or even better, maybe you know of a device that you could recommend? It must have a small touchscreen(8.4") and no keyboard is needed. I am an application programmer by trade and not very familar with hardware or OS programming. I am basically experimenting with this idea to see if it is even feasible and have very little money to play with!

Thanks!

J

Nelviticus · Jun 15, 2005

Applications need to be compiled specifically for CE if they are to run on CE devices so your stand-alone Flash app won't work unless Macromedia have released something that produces CE EXE's, which I doubt. The same goes for drivers for your network card: they have to be specific CE drivers.

The version of Internet Explorer that comes with the PocketPC (the tiny hand-held CE device) doesn't support Flash. I'm not sure about the larger CE devices but I *think* it's the same story.

You don't need to rebuild a CE platform when you install a new application, you just install it and use it with no re-booting necessary. They all have some form of permanent storage, be it built-in user-writable flash memory, plug-in memory cards or hard drives.

If all your device needs is Flash and wireless networking support, have you considered Linux?

Nelviticus

jcaulder · Jun 15, 2005

Thanks for the reply!

I have been exploring C#. It appears the application could be fairly easily rewritten in C# and I believe this will run natively on Win CE? I assume the .NET framework comes installed or can be included in the platform build of Win CE.

I cannot use Linux because none of the wireless carriers(Nextel, Sprint, Verizon) offer Linux based drivers for their wireless PC Cards. Unless someone can point me to these drivers. Their reps all tell me Windows only support. Furthermore, you cannot compile a standalone application in Flash for Linux. Hard to believe huh? I contacted Macromedia about this and they verified there is no way to compile for Linux. I guess Embedded Linux has a browser with Flash support. But if I could get around running it in a browser, it would mean a smaller footprint device overall and therefore a cost savings, I would think.

If you can write to a Windows CE device, then it sounds like it may be possible to look for an updated version of a C# application on the internet and if so, copy it to the local device periodically?

If that will work, I'll devote the time to rewrite the application in C# so it will run on CE because the cost savings would be huge compared to the cost of having to use XP embedded, both in hardware and license fees.

Does this sound plausible? Any other advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks again!

Jonathan

Nelviticus · Jun 16, 2005

Although the hardware vendors don't produce their own Linux drivers, many Linux enthusiasts do - check out a site such as this one if you're interested in the Linux route:

http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/linux-hn/wmp11-linux.htm

Having said that, if you're not very familiar with Linux (I'm not) then the learning curve will be pretty steep. You certainly won't have any trouble finding a web browser for Linux that supports Flash though, in fact you'd probably have more trouble finding one that doesn't!

Assuming that you want to stick with WinCE then yes, it does support a cut-down version of the .Net framework called "the .Net compact framework", sometimes referred to as the CF. When you start building a project in Visual Studio you want to choose "smart device application" so that it targets the CF specifically. You can still write it in C#.

I'm not sure how many CE devices come with the CF pre-installed - mine did - but if yours doesn't you can freely distribute the appropriate run-time stuff. I think it has quite a large footprint but you'll only have to do it once.

As for installing stuff directly to the device, I'd recommend that you experiment with this before developing anything major. I have only ever installed software via ActiveSync, which means that you sync the device to a 'real' PC and run an installer there, which then deploys the necessary files to the device over the sync connection. I guess that it's possible for the device to install software itself directly over its own wireless connection but I have no way of testing that.

Nelviticus

jcaulder · Jun 17, 2005

I have been checking into the Linux drivers and have found a couple of "unsupported" drivers for the Sierra Wireless cards. Looks like I have more options than I realized. Now for the final comparison.

Thanks for all the helpful info!

J

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Will CE work for this project? 1

jcaulder

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Nelviticus

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jcaulder

Programmer

Nelviticus

Programmer

jcaulder

Programmer

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