Windows Embedded Compact 7 PCTP: new drop

Hi folks,

As of today the Windows Embedded Compact 7 Public Community Preview (PCTP) January 2011 is available for download from the Microsoft Connect site. This drop is based on the Release Candidate (RC).

If you have worked with the previous Windows Embedded Compact 7 PCTP you have probably noticed that it expired in December 2010. So now you can restart working on you BSPs now!

Have fun!
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Windows Embedded CE: 2010 Yearly Rollups now available

Hi all,

The yearly cumulative product rollups for Windows Embedded CE have arrived; these updates include all previous updates up until and including December 2010:

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Cumulative Product Update Rollup Package (through 12/31/2010)

Windows CE 5.0 Cumulative Product Update Rollup Package (through 12/31/2010)

Keep your system up to date!

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Image compression considerations under Windows Embedded CE

Hi folks,

You can compress your Windows Embedded CE image (nk.bin) as a whole, only selected components, or only the resources of selected components.

Before we discuss how to compress your Windows Embedded CE image, let’s first have a look at the pros and cons of having a compressed Windows Embedded CE image.

Pro:
Your nk.bin is smaller in size

Contra:
Your Windows Embedded CE image runs slower and needs more RAM at runtime since you loose the “execution in place” advantage: every access to a compressed DLL causes a page fault exception. The respective DLL is then copied and decompressed into RAM.

Compressing only the resources of a component is not quite as critical; in most cases resources need to be relocated and are accessed multiple times anyways, one more access (decompressing) does not really matter. However, the space you save when compressing the resources is minimal.

Now that we established that you shouldn’t use image compression, let’s have a look at how we would accomplish it anyways.

Image compression is configured in .bib files:

• Global image compression is set in the CONFIG section of the .bib file (normally config.bib):
  COMPRESSION = ON or COMPRESSION = OFF


• Compression of selected components is set via the C flag in the MODULES or FILES section. This flag is overwritten by the global compression setting.


• Resource compression of selected components is set via the R flag in the MODULES or FILES section.

Have fun!
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Windows Embedded CE QFEs for December 2010 have arrived!

Hi all,
new updates for Windows Embedded CE are available for download. Some issues have been resolved, no time to loose and get them now! More information for each update is provided in the Readme document available after the individual update(s) has been installed.

Windows Embedded CE 5.0 Monthly Update December 2010:

Fixes made in this update:

Component:  Security

• 101208_KB2267632 - This update addresses Security issue

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Monthly Update December 2010:

Fixes made in this update:

Component:  Connection Manager

• 101207_KB982219 - Phone may not be able to enter suspend mode if SYSGEN_CONNMGR is enabled.

Component:  Kernel

• 101202_KB982221 - This update allows kernel to keep track of the original cache attributes.

Component:  RDP

• 101227_KB2461327 - This update addresses an error.

Component:  Security

• 101208_KB2267634 - This update addresses security issues.

Component:  TimeSVC

• 101227_KB2477858 - Namibia Standard Time update.

Keep your OS up to date!

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Shell with command line parameters

Shell.exe runs on your target because of the Launch10 entry in the Registry. It's the counterpart of the Target Control Service in your Platform Builder IDE (Windows CE> command prompt).
But did you ever tried to run Shell.exe in a second instance?
It is possible to call Shell.exe with command line parameters,
obviously it must be top secret because it's not documented.

shell -c redirects the input and output to the command line. So you are able to open your Target Control Service directly on the target.
Shell -d redirects the output to the output window of the debugger
Additionally, you can add any Target Control command.
Examples:
shell -d mi full will print the "mi full" output to the debugger.
shell -c gi proc will print all processes directly to the command window on the target.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Windows Embedded Compact (Windows CE) Live Chat!

Hi guys,

there is a new opportunity to chat with Microsoft about Windows Embedded CE next week. Do you have tough technical questions regarding Windows Embedded CE for which you're seeking answers? Then join the upcomming live chat with the Microsoft!

Don't forget to put the date in your schedule and join it!!!

Title: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 18:00 - 19:00 CET

To join this chat, please log on via the main MSDN chat page at:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx

Have fun!

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Parsing logfiles …

Have you ever been annoyed by searching logfiles to get the “right” information?

Do you have a logfile like this?

08:09:29-INFO-Main.cpp-Starting app
08:09:29-DEBUG-Main.cpp-Load HMI
08:09:29-DEBUG-Main.cpp-Load x.lib
08:09:29-DEBUG-Main.cpp-Load y.lib
08:09:29-DEBUG-Main.cpp-Load z.lib
08:09:29-ERROR-Main.cpp-Cannot find a.lib

Then take a short look at the smart tool called “Uyoo”. It allows you to define regular expressions for general logfile parsing, e.g. for the very simple logfile above:

^(.*?)-(.*?)-(.*?)-(.*?)$

Additionally you can specify a filter to show only the selected/required lines in the logfile (very useful in large logfiles), which gives you a better overview of the log.

You can download this JAVA-based (installation of JAVA environment V1.6 is required) tool here.

Just try it!

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Jochen Dieckfoss Windows Embedded MVP re-awarded

Hi folks,

Happy New Year 2011 everyone!

On January 1st Microsoft awarded the Most Valuable Professional Awards for 2011. I am happy to let you know that I was re-awarded MVP for Windows Embedded.


Stay tuned for more news from the world of Windows Embedded.

Have fun!
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