Showing posts with label live chat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label live chat. Show all posts

Friday, 21 January 2011

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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Monday, 27 September 2010

TOMORROW: Windows Embedded Compact (Windows CE) Live Chat!

Hi guys,

Microsoft is hosting a live chat about Windows Embedded Compact next week. Do you have tough technical questions regarding Windows CE for which you're seeking answers? Then join the upcomming live chat with the Microsoft guys! And we hope, that the technical problems at the last chat are solved already.

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

Title: Windows Embedded Compact Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 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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Tuesday, 24 August 2010

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Windows Embedded Compact (Windows CE) Live Chat!

Hi guys,

Microsoft is hosting a live chat about Windows Embedded Compact next week. Do you have tough technical questions regarding Windows CE for which you're seeking answers? Then join the upcomming live chat with the Microsoft guys! And we hope, that the technical problems at the last chat are solved already.

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

Title: Windows Embedded Compact Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 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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Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Windows CE Live Chat Transcript July 2010

Hello guys,

Just in case you missed the MS Live chat today, the transcript of the chat is available here.

Q: [1] What is the plans for Silverlight Web for CE? If it will be possible to use the same silverlight >= 2.0 what CPU/Memory will be required

A: We are continuing to evaluate the plans to bring Silverlight in the Browser support to the CE product line. We don't have details to share at this time. Silverlight for Windows Embedded delivers the same SL based UX expierence in a out of the browser hosting model. You can use the same rich designer tools (Expression Blend) And VS to build and test the application while takeing advantage of embedded hardware capabilites such as GPU offloading and hardware based media playback.

davbo-msft (Moderator)[18:18]:

Q: [7] Can you answer any questions around Windows Embedded HandHeldTerminal?

A: Yes we can answer questions around Handheld Terminal

davbo-msft (Moderator)[18:19]:

Q: [5] Yep, to echo Bob's question, is there any word about whether application development for Compact 7 platforms will be supported in Visual Studio 2010? (Is it a 'no, never' thing, a 'yes, this is coming' thing, or a 'yeah, maybe someday' thing?)

A: The Windows Embedded team is currently focused on delivering the next major version of the Windows CE OS, Windows Embedded Compact 7, which will be released later this year. Windows Embedded Compact 7 will also provide an updated version of the Platform Builder development tools as a plug-in to Visual Studio 2008. With Compact 7, the Embedded community will continue to have the same great support for developing drivers, OS images, and applications as they do with the current available version, Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3. The enterprise support lifecycle will ensure that the Embedded development community has the needed support in Visual Studio 2008 throughout 2017.
The Windows Embedded team is working with the Visual Studio team to determine whether and how Windows Embedded Compact support would be added to Visual Studio 2010, but as of now there is nothing planned. For those developers also creating applications for Windows Phone 7, Visual Studio 2010 will install side-by-side with Visual Studio 2008.

davbo-msft (Moderator)[18:19]:

Q: [4] I mean VS 2010

A: answered as part of Question #5

davbo-msft (Moderator)[18:19]:

Q: [3] I have heard a lot of confusing and contradictory reports of support for Smart Devices running WIndows CE in VS 2008? What's the official line?

A: answered as part of Question #5

GLanger[MS] (Expert)[18:30]:

Q: [8] How will Embedded Compact 7 be different from WinCE? Is it totally new or based on WinCE 6.0? It's a bit confusing/concerning that I've found very little as to what Embedded Compact 7 will be. With the release this fall can you share any more details or point me to a web page with more information

A: Hi Mike, Windows Embedded Compact 7 is based on previous OS releases and adds new features. The best source of information is http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/compact7.mspx. There's information about the upcoming release and you can register to download a Public Community Technology Preview copy for evaluation now.

davbo-msft (Moderator)[18:40]:

Q: [9] Who licenses the Windows Embedded HandHeldTerminal - Microsoft or distributor?

A: For OEMs we have a few direct relationships but the majority of the OEMs go through distribution. BSquare http://www.BSQUARE.com is the only distributor for Windows Mobile and Windows Embedded Handheld today.

davbo-msft (Moderator)[18:42]:

Q: [11] Hi
I have some questions about the Silverlight for Windows Embedded
1.Should microsoft support the Silverlight for Windows Embedded with manage code in next version ,such as C#?
2.Why currently verion Silverlight for Windows Embedded do not support the "DispatcherTimer" and "Dispatcher",
How can I update the UI use another thread?

A: It is not recommended to update the UI in a second thread, but it’s possible if the VisualHost is created with AllowsMultipleThreadAccess. <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee502975.aspx>; . Working on responses for the other questions and will post when information is available.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:44]:

Q: [10] Is there any plan for the Direct2D or DirectWrite APIs to be supported in Compact 7?

A: No, there is no planned support for this.

davbo-msft (Moderator)[18:48]:

Q: [6] To follow up my question, Win7 phones use Silverlight Web, correct? Can you elablorate why Embedded CE 7 is different? The issue with Silverlight Embedded is that now I have two sets of code behind and then also have to re-write the app twice. It is difficult to justify this approach. Please take this and encouragement and not a complaint. I understand issues with CPU and memory but the C++ only Silverlight is something of a non-starter.

A: To our knowledge Win7 Phone doesn't use Silverlight in a browser. The same XAML can be used in both WinCE and WP7 but yes the code behind the XAML is different between WinCE and WP7.

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Friday, 23 July 2010

DON’T FORGET: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat on Tuesday!

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, July 27, 2010 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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Tuesday, 29 June 2010

Windows CE Live Chat Transcript June 2010

Hello guys,

Just in case you missed the MS Live chat today, the transcript of the chat is available here.

GLanger[MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:6]: Hi, I'm Glen Langer, PM on the Core Team for Windows Embedded Compact

rajran[MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:8]: Hi, I'm Rajeev Rangappa. PM on the Core team for Windows Embedded Compact

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:12]:

Q: Hi!. Does exist too many differences in DirectShow between CE 4.2 and 5 or 6? Because I have been trying to play mpeg1 video with WMP (CE 6.0 R3 and CE 5.0) in an ARM platform and in a X86 platform, but it plays very slow (~5 fps). But when I tried with my x86 platform with wince 4.2, it plays fine! Also, with alternative software (TCPMP) I can play fine too (in 5.0 and 6.0), but i need to do it with WMP. Thank you!

A: Hello Leonardo, Windows Embedded Compact 7 is available as a Public CTP (Community Tech Preview) which includes optimizations for MPEG-1 streaming. If there is a BSP available for your platform please try the Public CTP. Windows Embedded Compact 7 Public CTP

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:12]:

A: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/compact7.mspx

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:14]:

Q: Hi, we are trying to build, on Windows CE 6.0 (R2, last tests with R3), a DPWS device acting also as a host. We are trying to use WSDAPI.

Here the 2 problems we are facing:

1. Registering multiple service instances (at the moment not supported in the Windows CE WSDAPI stack, we have been said). A possible workaround is to host each of the service instances on multiple device hosts, but there is a limitation of 5 device hosts, indicated in Windows CE 6.0 R2 release notes (it does not seem to be improved in R3).

We don't know if the feature is supported (or the workaround improved) in Windows CE 7 (Public CTP), can you help us?

2. We have a problem in receiving UDP multicast on ARMv4i board. WSDAPI-based communication fails as multicast requests (Resolve/probe messages) are sent but not received on the board (verified with Netmon and netlogctl), even if we avoid using activeSynch. Besides the emulator limitation, are there Windows Ce issues concerning multicast with real HW?

A: For #2, I don't believe there are limitations. Are the multicasts failing to trigger the ethernet driver's receive function?

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:15]:

Q: What is the tool chain for developing for Windows Embedded Commpact 7? (ie. what versions of visual studio and such)

A: Windows Embedded Compact 7 installs as a plug-in to Visual Studio 2008.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:19]:

Q: In response to Travis Hobrla, yes, it seems so. So it could be a driver problem, you suggest?

A: Yes, if you're not picking up multicast at the driver level then you need to debug why that is the case. Perhaps you have configured the driver to execute a hardware filter that rejects multicasts?

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:25]:

Q: @davbo-MSFT: I'll try, but this application is for a released product, we can't update O.S.. So, I would like to modify "something" in order to improve fps. I thought that my board (Mini2440, ARM) was not so powerful to play videos, but other software can do it (TCPMP), but it may not use DShow, just DDraw (i'm not 100% sure about it). But in older boards with CE 4.2 it works well! I tried editing CEPlayIt example, but nothing... any other idea?? Thank you!

A: Can you provide details about the video file? What is the size, audio format, video format, resolution, etc..? Are you playing locally? If so using SATA, USB, SD, Flash, etc... or are you playing over HTTP?

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:25]:

Q: Hi!. Does exist too many differences in DirectShow between CE 4.2 and 5 or 6? Because I have been trying to play mpeg1 video with WMP (CE 6.0 R3 and CE 5.0) in an ARM platform and in a X86 platform, but it plays very slow (~5 fps). But when I tried with my x86 platform with wince 4.2, it plays fine! Also, with alternative software (TCPMP) I can play fine too (in 5.0 and 6.0), but i need to do it with WMP. Thank you!

A: Answered and following up for more details

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:29]:

Q: What is the tool chain for developing for Windows Embedded Commpact 7? (ie. what versions of visual studio and such)

A: Visual Studio 2008 SP1 then Platform Builder w/ Windows Embedded Compact 7 Installation. Windows Embedded Compact 7 Public CTP now available:

<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/compact7.mspx>>

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:30]:

Q: [to Travis] No, we haven't. But we know that there is a problem also in the board (BSP Evaluation Kit for AT91SAM9263E, "Multicast not implemented" in the technical design document). We just wanted to know if Windows CE had some limitations on its own on the hw side, and you said that it hasn't. About the Device Emulator, do you know if R3 or Windows Embedded Compact 7 solve the issue of not receiving multicast messages?

A: CE doesn't have limitations on the HW side, the BSP (not the OS) is firmly in control of what happens at the HW level for ethernet controllers. I don't believe there have been any substantial updates to the Device Emulator in R3, sorry. I assume the multicast limitation has to do with the way the NIC is emulated / connected to the desktop NIC.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:31]:

Q: Hi, I'm having some trouble with the CETK Storage Device Block Driver Read/Write test #2003. It is failing for my FMD since I upgraded CE6 from R2 to R3 and applied the latest QFEs. I noticed the test has changed from using four 1KB buffers to some larger buffer sizes. Is this test incompatible with the FMD interface now?

A: Gary, would you mind sharing the error messages that are returned? (Snippet from test log will be fine). I'm trying to find someone who might have the answer to your question.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:32]:

Q: So no one has ideas on my XAML Silverlight problems?

A: I've sent off an email to some folks who might have some insight. Could you please private message me your email address in case they've got some answers for you?

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:33]:

Q: So no one has ideas on my XAML Silverlight problems?

A: We are talking with engineers in the background to help answer your question. Please stay tuned and if we can't address today will work to get a response and post in the transcript.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:37]:

Q: Will you please briefly discuss the sound support options for windows CE? We would like to play various types of sound files from our C# applications.

A: Hi Ben. Besides normal uncompressed PCM files, if you are playing without using DirectShow you can use any codec that can plug into the Audio Compression Manager (ACM). There are simple codecs available on the internet and you can build your own if you like. If you want more advanced media rendering capability I suggest you look at the DirectShow APIs.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:38]:

Q: Hi, we are trying to build, on Windows CE 6.0 (R2, last tests with R3), a DPWS device acting also as a host. We are trying to use WSDAPI.

Here the 2 problems we are facing:

1. Registering multiple service instances (at the moment not supported in the Windows CE WSDAPI stack, we have been said). A possible workaround is to host each of the service instances on multiple device hosts, but there is a limitation of 5 device hosts, indicated in Windows CE 6.0 R2 release notes (it does not seem to be improved in R3).

We don't know if the feature is supported (or the workaround improved) in Windows CE 7 (Public CTP), can you help us?

2. We have a problem in receiving UDP multicast on ARMv4i board. WSDAPI-based communication fails as multicast requests (Resolve/probe messages) are sent but not received on the board (verified with Netmon and netlogctl), even if we avoid using activeSynch. Besides the emulator limitation, are there Windows Ce issues concerning multicast with real HW?

A: Just got information on #1: we haven't changed anything for this in the CE7 PCTP - so you are still limited to 5 hosts/clients in WSDAPI.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:39]:

Q: ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[2]..........(0x00044FA0) ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[2] Length...(4096) ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[3]..........(0x00045FA0) ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[3] Length...(8192) Submitting read request.

Verifying...

Incorrect data at 0x000447A0. Expected: 0x00000200, Received: 0x00000100. Incorrect data at 0x000447A4. Expected: 0x000001FF, Received: 0x000000FF. Incorrect data at 0x000447A8. Expected: 0x000001FE, Received: 0x000000FE.

A: cool!

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:42]:

Q: ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[2]..........(0x00044FA0) ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[2] Length...(4096) ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[3]..........(0x00045FA0) ...Scatter/Gather Buffer[3] Length...(8192) Submitting read request.

Verifying...

Incorrect data at 0x000447A0. Expected: 0x00000200, Received: 0x00000100. Incorrect data at 0x000447A4. Expected: 0x000001FF, Received: 0x000000FF. Incorrect data at 0x000447A8. Expected: 0x000001FE, Received: 0x000000FE.

A: Hey Gary, this appears to be very similar to an issue we've seen in CE6 as well, related to the FAL in CE6 that has been addressed in CE7. Is there any reason you won't be able to try out CE7? http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/compact7.mspx

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:42]:

Q: @BarnettD: Ok I will look into those links thanks. @davbo-MSFT (Moderator) I am new to these chats, where do I get a copy of the transcript later on, and thanks ?

A: Previous Transcripts: <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/bb250671.aspx>;. This transcript will be posted a couple of days after the chat.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:42]:

Q: With the latest BSP for our platform the touch screen driver does not load unless Explorer is used as the shell (normally our application serves as the shell); any Ideas on what I should look at to trouble shoot this issue?

A: hi Ben. You may have to run the touch calibration in order to get the touch driver to work. Also, is there an error message when the touch driver does not load? do you see it try to load?

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:43]:

Q: @davbo-MSFT: I forget audio!: I tried without audio, but it's the same. Original file has MPEG1 Layer 2 Audio Codec, with 192 kb/s

A: Thanks for the additional info and we'll look into performance. If you can provide the media file that would help speed up the investigation. alias: davbo domain: microsoft.com

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:44]:

Q: @davbo-MSFT: it is an MPEG-1 Video, 320x240, Bitrate: 993 kb/s, Size: 2 Mb, I have tried with file in a lot of locations: SD, USB flash drive, even into NK.bin. Board i'm using has as storage unit a NAND Flash memory

A: Thanks for the additional info and we'll look into performance. If you can provide the media file that would help speed up the investigation. alias: davbo domain: microsoft.com

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:45]:

Q: [to Travis] Ohh, ok, thank you. I suppose I can't ask you if there is a plan for future releases to enhance the limitation or support multiple service instances registration ...

A: We don't have plans to fix this that I know of, but I will see if I can make this happen. Can you give me some ammunition (i.e. why is this necessary for your product to succeed) that I can use to make a case for this?

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:50]:

Q: I am currently developing a set of drivers on WINCE 6.0. I have R3 and all the montlhy updates up until February 2010. I am trying to add support for silver light and XAML. ( I am new to this). I have followed the msdn example on how to create the bubbles.xaml, bounce.xaml, and carousel.xaml demos. I have create the xamlperf.exe app and i can see the demos on the deskptop when the wince device boots up. BUt when I try to run the demos I can see a window that tries to open and then the window creation seems to stop (the window doesn't show up). In the debugger I can see the "performance info" that it outputs but I also get an "ALCHEMY error"

Any ideas what I am missing. All of my demos seem to get built but when I run them I don't see any output on the screen and on the debugger window i see "[ALCHEMY] Failed to Draw the element tree in HWND 0x70026530. Error code 0x8000ffff . ANy ideas what may be wrong?

A: KibKid, what type of drivers are you developing? Display drivers? Also, which SYSGENs are set in your build environment? (If you open a build window, just do a "set SYS".

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:51]:

Q: Well, I need to download and test with CE7 also, but I'm providing FMD and PDD for Spansion flash products to customers using various versions of CE. If there is a problem with FAL in CE6, then I would like to understand how to point my customers to the fix and if I should tell them to just avoid CE6 FAL and use a different version of CE...

A: Gary, can you please send me your private email address? I'm trying to get you answers.

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:52]:

Q: [to Travis] Ok, thanks. Same for Windows Embedded Compact 7, I suppose. I don't know if you could you also help me with my question 1 about WSDAPI (registering multiple service instances not supported).

A: Good link on WSDAPI if you haven't seen it yet. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dandris/archive/2007/11/09/wsdapi-101-part-1-web-services-from-10-000-feet.aspx. I got some answers from the team managing the Windows CE side WSDAPI (which is different from the one on a Windows PC). Windows CE WSDAPI stack does not allow registering multiple services with the same name. Doing so will result in the error (CWSDSession:ispatcherIsUnique).

I can offer you two workarounds here.

1. Host each of the service instances on multiple device hosts, and have the clients contact different instances of the service by means of the device host’s address.

2. Duplicate the same service and give those duplicated services different names so that you can host them on the same device host, and have the client contact those different services instead. You have to do

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:53]:

Q: @davbo-MSFT: of course!... I'll send you my file by email just now, thank you!

A: thanks

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:54]:

Q: I've already installed QFEs up through May 31st 2010. Will you release a FAL fix as QFE for CE6? I assume many of my customers would rather not move to a new version of CE. Probably a fix to the FAL would be a preferred solution.

A: Yes, I understand the concern.

Chien-her[MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:54]:

Q: Any ideas what I am missing. All of my demos seem to get built but when I run them I don't see any output on the screen and on the debugger window i see "[ALCHEMY] Failed to Draw the element tree in HWND 0x70026530. Error code 0x8000ffff . ANy ideas what may be wrong?

A: 0x8000ffff is E_UNEXPECTED

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:57]:

Q: [to Travis] Yes, I am working on a M2M platform. At the web service level, we are treating all the services exposed by sensors/devices in the same logical way, and we can in this way deal with a number of services that can change dynamically in the network. By the way, my company in Italy has signed a “Non Disclosure Agreement” with Microsoft (in case this is needed, I can provide details about it).

A: Thanks Cris. I will promote this and see if we can make a fix (no guarantees, of course).

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:57]:

Q: @davbo-MSFT: ok, mail sent with attached file, please remove me from your spam folder (if i'm in it )

A: got the email - thanks

Chien-her[MS] (Expert)[2010-6-29 18:57]:

A: You will need to check out your display driver and ddraw. In R3, Alchemy graphic simulation could be done by GDI or DDraw. So you will need to check out the display diver support 2D acceleration or not and DDraw is in image or not. Any way as Sing mentioned the image configuration, SYSGEN_*, BSP_*, and IMG* flags.

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 18:57]:

Q: [to davbo] Thanks for the link and the info, we already know them but I appreciate your help

A: np

davbo-MSFT (Moderator)[2010-6-29 19:0]: Hello everyone, we are just about out of time.

Thank you for joining us for our Windows Embedded CE 6.0 chat today!

<http://www.Microsoft.com/Embedded>;

A special thank you to the product group members for coming out.

The transcript of today’s chat will be posted online as soon as possible, to <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>;. We’ll see you again for another chat next month. Please check <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>; for the list of upcoming chats.

Have fun!


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Monday, 21 June 2010

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!

Hi guys,

Microsoft is hosting a live chat 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 guys! And we hope, that the technical problems at the last chat are solved already.

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

Title: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 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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Saturday, 22 May 2010

DON’T FORGET: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat on Tuesday!

Microsoft is hosting a live chat 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 guys!

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

Title: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 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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Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Windows CE Live Chat Transcript April 2010

Hi guys,

Just in case you missed the Live chat yesterday with very interesting questions (e.g. how to improve the performance of bitblt), you can find the transcript of yesterday's chat here.

Unfortunately not all questions were answered, maybe in the next chat.

davbo_msft (Moderator): Our chat today covers the topic of Windows Embedded CE!

davbo_msft (Moderator)[18:00]: We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today’s chat. I will have them introduce themselves now.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[18:08]: Hi everyone, I'm Sing Wee, part of the CoreOS/BSP Test Team.

GLanger_MS (Expert)[18:09]: Hi, good morning. I'm Glen Langer, program manager for Core OS on the Windows Embedded team.

rajran[MS] (Expert)[18:10]: Hi , I am Rajeev Rangappa, PM in Core OS group.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[18:10]:

Q: [1] Larger memory sizes are getting cheaper. Soon 1GB of RAM will be cheaper and more available than 512MB. CE 6 is limited to 512 MB. What are your plans to increase memory size usage?

A: Although we can't discuss future releases here, I can say that we're aware of our customer's desire to use larger memory sizes.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:13]:

Q: [2] What could be the reason of a very bad perfomance performing a GDI bitblit operation of a bitmap with color conversion from 16bpp to 24bpp and viceversa?

A: How are you doing the color conversion? Is the 24bpp memory aligned by 24-bits or by 32-bits?

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:15]:

Q: [3] When running a huge application on our CE6 based board we notice that free program memmory will decrease all the time. We already have tried to use the application verifier to detect any heap leaks, but could not find any (at least in our application). Do you know another way to verify heap leaks?

A: It is possible you are not leaking memory but have a driver or application that is consistently requesting more memory and actually using it. If you are wary of your huge application I would track the amount of allocations it has made. Also, if you want to get really in-depth you can construct your own custom heap and use that to track allocations.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:16]:

Q: [5] If I use XIP can I see some improvements from the memory consumption point of view?

A: Yes, because the code that is executed in place doesn't need to be copied to RAM.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[18:16]:

Q: [3] When running a huge application on our CE6 based board we notice that free program memmory will decrease all the time. We already have tried to use the application verifier to detect any heap leaks, but could not find any (at least in our application). Do you know another way to verify heap leaks?

A: As a follow-up to Travis' answer, if you know you're using a particular driver, you can apply AppVerifier to that driver as well to see if it turns up any leaks.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[18:19]:

Q: [6] There is a known issue with Windows CE 6 that the active sync remote tools do not always work. One workaround is to start the tools from the Start Menu rather than from VS Menu. Unfortunately not all Tools are availble from the start menu. Does anybody know if this has been addressed, yet? Will it work better with CE 7?

A: While we can't speak specifically about future releases, I can say that we've been actively triaging/fixing all bugs that we know about. clip_image001

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:20]:

Q: [7] sorry, I didn't flag the check box. it is a 24bpp packed. Performing the bitblit with the same color resolution (i.e. 16bpp to 16bpp) the performance are quite good whereas bitblitting from 16 to 24 and viceversa it seems a disaster (around 20 times slower)
I'm using native MS code. I don't have any HW accelerator.

A: I am thinking the alignment issues there are likely causing some of the issue. Also, having to do any kind of per-pixel conversion is going to be a lot more expensive than doing no conversion. Can you try bltting to 32bpp (24bpp unpacked) and see what the perf difference is like?

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:21]:

Q: [9] Yes. I have noticed that using the 24bpp unpacket (32 bit aligned) the performance are much better but still very low.

A: I think the conversion in general is going to be expensive, it is a lot of extra math compared to a simple memcpy.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:22]:

Q: [11] Is there any feature on windows CE 6.0 like "image update" (for windows mobile)?

A: Sorry, we don't support any such feature. You would have to use XIP and implement your own update mechanism in the bootloader.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[18:27]:

Q: [4] The new IE6 in R3 seems to run out of memory a lot quicker than IE6 in R2. Are you guys aware of this and planning to fix or should we send in a bug report?

A: Hello Norm - a bug report would be helpful for us to narrow down the memory issue you are seeing. Some helpful information would be details on how to reproduce the issue and state of the memory before & after you perform the repro steps. If you have any info about memory related to browsing a specific site or actions you take within the browser would help us narrow down the issue in the lab.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:30]:

Q: [12] how to avoid this error VMProcessPageFault Error: Page fault occurred while in power handler! Address = 0xd0636078? making some debug I have identified that is coming from the filesystem during the powerup phase..

A: This is not a fatal error, I believe you should be safe to ignore it. We're aware of the issue but don't have a fix for it right now.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:31]:

Q: [16] Is there any way to replace the floating point library in MIPS like using SYSGEM_OEM_FPCRT in ARM ?

A: Unfortunately, no. Sorry.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[18:34]:

Q: [10] I´m facing also exceptions in COMMCTRL.DLL, caused by explorer.exe, at random times, mostly when I use the GUI. Is there any bug open on that? (I´m on MIPS/CE6R3, using the standard shell)

A: Hello Marcelovk - Can you provide some additional details about the issue you are seeing? Specifically if you have consistent repro steps we can use to see the issue in the lab. Any specific actions you are doing in explorer.exe to reproduce the issues would be helpful.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:37]:

Q: [13] Do you have any suggestion to improve the performance of bitblit?

A: Here are a few approaches: 1. You can try using the optimized Blt routines in public\common\oak\drivers\display\emulrotate\fastb lt.cpp by setting g_fUseFastBlt = TRUE in your display driver; I don't see any there that handle 16to24 or 16to32 so this won't help in your current situation but it may help in others.2. You can try to manage the source/destination surfaces so that you don't end up needing to do this converstion. 3. In your driver's BltPrepare you can detect when this conversion needs to happen and implement your own optimized software blt function in the driver for this case.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:40]:

Q: [18] Another question regarding memory consuption: Is it correct that caused by heap fragmentation the remaining space will decrease generally. On CE3.0 I have read that buffers with a size of 384Bytes where used for all allocations. Is this really the case on CE6.0. Or what about fragmentation effect during runntime when allocating and freeing a lot of memory?

A: When you get low on memory, a function called CompactAllHeaps will automatically be run; this will attempt to eliminate/reduce fragmentation. There will be a DEBUGMSG in debug builds that indicates heap compaction is occurring. You can also call out to CompactAllHeaps manually if you like.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:42]:

Q: [22] Hi Travis, you mentioned a method to track allocations. Are there any white papers on how to write your own custom heap to track memory allocations? Could you replace the OS heap allocator so that you can track all applications?

A: I don't know of any whitepapers that explain this in detail, but the msdn documentation should be sufficient to get you started: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee488377.aspx

davbo_msft (Moderator)[18:44]:

Q: [20] In outlook 2003 and 2007 can I set an email notice to autosend on a certain day of each month

A: Hello jojodbear - this is a chat on Windows CE Embedded. For Outlook questions please refer to the Outlook website. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/default.aspx.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[18:45]:

Q: [8] I´m facing some troubles in USB stack, sometimes when I boot and when I powerdown with an usb device attached (mouse, usb stick) the driver enters on an endless loop. It looks like that they are not notified correctly to stop processing. How can I do notify them that the system is resetting, powering down?

A: Have you looked tried looking at the Device Notifications function that you register during USBDeviceAttach? Looking at some of our public drivers, this is where the USB_CLOSE_DEVICE mesage is handled. You Another place to look might be USBUninstallDriver. Be sure you've set the right debug zones/add some additional debug messages to see where you're getting into a loop. A related link would be this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee485900.aspx

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:47]:

Q: [23] Does WindowsCE support BGR555 format completely? We are running this framebuffer format currently. So far we did not get any problems. The driver reports 16Bpp, but the unused bit is masked in the palette correctly. Unfortunatly we now have noticed that the function GradientFill() function does not respect this limitation which leads into display errors.

A: I don't think this is a known issue, we should support it entirely. We do test BGR555 although I am not sure we tested with GradientFill(). If this is an important bug for your product, you can raise a support request and we can get this fixed via a QFE.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[18:49]:

Q: [6] There is a known issue with Windows CE 6 that the active sync remote tools do not always work. One workaround is to start the tools from the Start Menu rather than from VS Menu. Unfortunately not all Tools are availble from the start menu. Does anybody know if this has been addressed, yet? Will it work better with CE 7?

A: Just to be clear, this issue you're referring to is running Remote Tools over ActiveSync, correct? I want to be sure the product team is aware of what you're seeing.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:51]:

Q: [21] Unfortunately, I don´t have much steps to reproduce, only vague pointings. It looks like that it occurs more when the SHIPBUILD is disabled, in retail, and when I run applications made in Compact Framework 2.0 (but not only). We started to have this after porting a MIPS based bsp (au1200) from CE5 to CE6. They don´t seem to cause any side effect besides dumping the exception in the output (in our case, the serial port)

A: The 512MB limitation is because the CE 6.0 kernel reserves 0x80000000-0x9FFFFFFF for cached memory and 0xA0000000-0xBFFFFFFF for uncached memory; each of those regions are hardcoded and can't grow beyond 512MB. For MIPS and SH4 architectures this is an architectural limitation, for ARM and x86 CE 6.0 has a software limit. You can write a custom driver to expose this memory but the kernel won't know about it, so you will have to do all of the memory management on your own.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:51]: Sorry, answered the wrong question, reactive your question Marcelovk.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:51]:

Q: [26] If I have a system with 1GB of RAM and am using R3, CE 6 won't use half the memory, 512 MB. Where is the 512MB limitation in CE? Could I write a custom driver to provide a RAM disk using the extra 512 MB?

A: Answering the right question this time: The 512MB limitation is because the CE 6.0 kernel reserves 0x80000000-0x9FFFFFFF for cached memory and 0xA0000000-0xBFFFFFFF for uncached memory; each of those regions are hardcoded and can't grow beyond 512MB. For MIPS and SH4 architectures this is an architectural limitation, for ARM and x86 CE 6.0 has a software limit. You can write a custom driver to expose this memory but the kernel won't know about it, so you will have to do all of the memory management on your own.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:52]:

Q: [25] Are most graphic routines designed to work best with RGB565? If so, will using another mode (e.g BGR555) be much slower?

A: I believe we have done more testing and optimization of RGB565 because it is more common. I would not expect BGR555 to be much slower unless you are doing a lot of conversions or other special operations, though.

masatos_MSFT (Expert)[18:53]:

Q: [15] In the case of Activesync connection over USB, how does the RASDial get notified of a USB disconnection? Who does the USB driver notify? Is it through the registry? system event?

A: Hi, can you specify which version of CE you are using?

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:56]:

Q: [24] In MSDN, it states that "TFAT requires the underlying block structure to support atomic sector writes". How can I know that my device (NOR flash) fulfill that?

A: I would query the vendor through which you got the NOR flash controller if the controller supports atomic writes or not - it may also be in the documentation for that controller.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:57]:

Q: [28] 1GB question: Cool. The extra 512MB in a 1BG system would have to be handled by a driver as a special device. Do you guys have any cool ideas what could be done with it?

A: What is the system going to be used for? That should be the driving factor for your entire embedded design, from included modules to thread priorities all the way up to and including memory usage.

masatos_MSFT (Expert)[18:57]:

Q: [19] I get the error message "Cannot connect to PC. Stop any programs that may be using a connection, and try again. If the problem persists, reset your device according to the owner's manual. - Port Not Available" when plugging in USB to connect to Activesync. How can I start to debug this problem? How can I tell which "component" was not shut down properly? (using CE6R2, on ARMV4I platform)

A: I will consult with some team members here and get back to you.

Have fun!


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Wednesday, 21 April 2010

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!

Microsoft is hosting a live chat 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 guys!

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

Title: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 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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Thursday, 18 March 2010

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!

MS is hosting a live chat about Windows Embedded CE. 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 guys!

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

Title: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 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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Wednesday, 24 February 2010

Windows CE Live Chat Transcript Februar 2010

Hi guys,
Just in case you missed the Live chat yesterday you can find the transcript of yesterday's chat here.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: [3] Can we use the Visual Studio 2010 RC to develop WinCE code right now?
A: Visual Studio 2010 RC doesn't contain "Smart Device" application development support - application development for Windows CE should be through Visual Studio 2008.

davbo_MSFT (Moderator)[18:02]:
Q: [4] aaai am using Window;s Vista. I cannot install my download's Can anyone help this 81 yr old man
A: Wrong Forum - please direct your question to the Windows Vista support page
ViTam_MSFT (Expert)[18:04]:
Q: [2] Is there a more elegant way of listing COM ports in C++ than CreateFile(COM1..CreateFile(COM9?
A: You can find out what drivers are loaded under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\Active registry key. For more information, please refer to: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee485822.aspx

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:04]:
Q: [5] Will it contain the support when it is released?
A: Sorry, we can't discuss future releases or features here.

ViTam_MSFT (Expert)[18:05]:
Q: [1] How would one list the available COM ports on a WinCE box under C++ not VB.
A: A: You can find out what drivers are loaded under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\Active registry key

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:05]:
Q: [6] I have a question regarding RTC implementation on WindowsCE 6.0. We unfortunatly have noticed some glitches on a (VOIP) receiving side. During depper analyses we could verify that the RTC puts an empty audio-buffer (160 bytes) to the audio driver in these cases. We don't think that the network interface might cause this behaviour. Does the RTC require any timing issues?
A: I'm going to assume you mean the Real-Time communications stack by RTC. For RTC to work properly it is best that your platform have an OS timer that is ticking at a lower resolution. If your platform is using variable scheduling as opposed to fixed you may have instances like this.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:07]:
Q: [8] We have also noticed that audio playback is running a little too fast (1%, caused by internal frequency dividers). Might this relate to the glitches. These playback breaks occure about every 2-3 seconds.
A: This can certainly cause problems since the RTC stack is trying to adhere to real time. A faster playback will mean that a sample is done playing before it is supposed to be, and a callback from a driver to the higher levels that it is "out of samples" will occur before it is expected.
Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:07]:
Q: [9] Is it on the CE roadmap to include multi-touch detection?
A: Sorry Jared, we can't discuss future releases or features here.

mikehall_ms (Moderator)[18:07]:
Q: [7] When can we expect an update on Silverlight in Windows CE to include some autogeneration of the C++? Will this not happen until Windows CE 7.0?
A: There is a 3rd party tool that can assist in the generation of native code - here's a blog post from Olivier Bloch that explains the tool - http://blogs.msdn.com/obloch/archive/2009/11/17/xaml2cpp-the-missing-tool-for-silverlight-for-window s-embedded-developers.aspx

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:10]:
Q: [10] Hello...I have a DLL and I want encrypt it before put it inside NK.bin. Whene some application loads the DLL I want that it is decrypted before loading in RAM...is it possible ?
A: This is possible, but not using the default disk i/o drivers. What is best for you to try is to create a RAM disk, and then copy your encrypted DLL from the physical storage (disk/flash) to the RAM disk. Then you can build functionality into your RAM disk driver to have it decrypt disk sectors as they are read from RAM.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:12]:
Q: [11] hi, everyone, i have a question about the encrytion method used on WinCE supppose I am using the native C, i wanna compress two files and add password for the compressed file, i developed the software for wince5.0 uisng VC++, is there any API that I can use in my case? THanks!!!
A: This type of thing is certainly possible using the CrypoAPI. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee498718.aspx

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:13]:
Q: [12] i downloaded the code for 7-zip for encryption but the source code is developed for Win32, i am not an experienced software engineer, how to deploy it into WInCE form?
A: You will have to examine the Win32 calls that are made. Most desktop Win32 calls will work on CE. However, there are certain small changes and differences. Reference the MSDN library for Windows CE when the compiler gets stuck on a particular function. Usually there is a CE equivalent. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee504812.a spx

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:14]:
Q: [13] So I don't put the DLL in the NK.bin but deploy it on NAND Flash for example...When the application starts, it have to copy the DLL from NAND to RAM (object store ?)...and then...How can I decrypt the DLL if the application calls LoadLibrary to use the DLL ?
A: No, not the object store - to a RAM disk. A RAM disk driver is very simple to create and there may be examples otu there on the net already. When the disk is accessed there will be "read sectors" calls to the disk driver. At that point you can read the sector of the file and decrypt it.
Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:15]:
Q: [5, 9] Will it contain the support when it is released?
Is it on the CE roadmap to include multi-touch detection?
A: Do keep an eye out on www.windowsembedded.com (or http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/default.mspx) for the latest official news. There's a "News" tab, as well as a "Products->Windows Embedded CE" page.
mikehall_ms (Moderator)[18:17]:
Q: [14] I'm interested in replacing the shell.exe with a silverlight/c++ application that will not have to duplicate much of the functionality of the standard shell. The documentation I've seen on shell replacement on MSDN talked about windows ce 5.0. I am curious if you experts know of any resources to assist me.
A: The shell is just an application, replacing the shell is fairly straight forward - the following blog post explains how to write a (very simple) .NET Compact Framework shell, you can use the same instructions for a Silverlight/Embedded shell - http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2007/06/01/kiosk-mode-for-ce-6-0.aspx

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:21]:
Q: [16] Where I can found some example about RAM disk and RAM disk driver ? I'm developing on Windows CE 5.0
A: you can bing for "ceramdrv" to find more information about a ram disk. http://www.e-consystems.com/blog/mounting-the-ramd isk-in-wince-60/ for example. To find this I put in "windows CE" and "ram disk" as search terms

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:22]:
Q: [15] Q8: Thanks for you suggestion regarding the variable ticks. I will check this. Can I do anything else to avoid this "out of samples" ? Is it maybe possible to disable these real time features of RTC?
A: disabling the real-time features of a real-time stack kind of defeats the purpose of the technology . I think your best bet is to try to account for the divider errors and make the audio play at the proper rate.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:22]:
Q: [18] Thank you very much !
A: you're welcome

ViTam_MSFT (Expert)[18:26]:
Q: [17] Why is there a 512 MB limit for memory in WinCE 6.0 R3?
A: In Windows CE 6.0 (6R2 and 6R3), the kernel allocates Virtual Address 0x8000 0000 to 0x9FFF FFFF for direct RAM access (through cache) and Virtual Address 0xA000 0000 to 0xBFFF FFFF (for the same memory, but for uncached access). Hence, the kernel can only support 512MB. This is the consequence of how the virtual memory is layout in the kernel. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa914933.a spx

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:27]:
Q: [19] thank you very much! the CrypoAPI seems to be very useful! But, it does not have compression function, doesnt it?
A: no, the cryptoapi is not meant to handle compression. but you can of course combine it with other compression software

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:34]:
Q: [20] i am sorry, but I cannot use any compression software becasue I am supposed to call the compression method from my current, can you provide me some compression API that can be used in VC++?
A: There are pieces of window ce that use compression that is available in the public tree. for example, check public\common\oak\inc\cecompr.h

ViTam_MSFT (Expert)[18:37]:
Q: [21] I need to decode this data abort in ce 6.0 . I appreciate any experts can provide useful tips to investigate further.
24327 02/20/10 09:13:19.202 57077362 PID:00400002 TID:0A860002 Exception 'Data Abort' (4): Thread-Id=0a860002(pth=806e2958), Proc-Id=00400002(pprc=8050d308) 'NK.EXE', VM-active=00400002(pprc=8050d308) 'NK.EXE'
24328 02/20/10 09:13:19.202 57077362 PID:00400002 TID:0A860002 PC=c11fe308(rilcdma.dll+0x0002e308) RA=8008d844(kernel.dll+0x0001c844) SP=d691f320, BVA=00000000
A: Looks like a function in rilcdma.dll (at offset 0x2e308) is deferencing a NULL pointer (BVA is 0x0)

davbo_MSFT (Moderator)[18:53]:
Q: [29] could any expert please give me answers to my questions?
A: Hello tiannho - an expert will assist you shortly. Most likely they are researching the question and will follow up w/ a response.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:55]:
Q: [23, 24, 25] thanks, there are some files in the \windows directory in my wince system, after i power the board off and power it back on, those files are still there, but the files i copied to this folder manually disappeared , do u know how to make the files reside under \windows folder forever?
the whole board is designed by a third party, in which the processor is Marvell PXA3xx
is there any command that I can flash the files in RAM to ROM forever?
A: Every time you reboot your image, it sounds like your image is decompressing from FLASH to RAM, and you're losing those files that you copied to that directory. If you want those files to always be there, you could add those images to your nk.bin (when creating your OS image). You mention "is there a command that I can flash the files in RAM to ROM forever". Are you downloading your image to FLASH or to RAM in your development scenario? If you're currently downloading to RAM, using the bootloader, you may find there are options already there to download the image to FLASH instead.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:57]:
Q: [26, 27] another question is how i need to flash OS if i just wanna install a software?
sorry, i mean do i need to flash OS if i just wanna install a software on WinCE5.0
A: Continuing on from your previous questions, you'll probably want to look up "Persistent Storage" on MSDN if you're thinking more about a user scenario regarding files, and not a development scenario.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:58]:
Q: [23] thanks, there are some files in the \windows directory in my wince system, after i power the board off and power it back on, those files are still there, but the files i copied to this folder manually disappeared , do u know how to make the files reside under \windows folder forever?
A: Regarding persistent storage, here's at least one link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee489569.a spx

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[19:01]:
A: I did some digging through the code in public\COMMON\oak\drivers\netsamp\pegterm and didn't see any enumeration of ports there. But I'm also not very familiar with pegterm. If you can find the UI element that displays the ports, you should be able to trace that backwards to find out where it is getting the data from.
Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[19:01]:
Q: [30] Do you have any updates regarding the September 2009 QFE that caused active sync to stop working?
A: I've asked Cam for his email address, and will take this offline.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[19:02]:
Q: [22] Where does pegterm get its list of Modems/COM ports?
A: I did some digging in public\COMMON\oak\drivers\netsamp\pegterm and didn't see anywhere that it enumerated ports. But I'm also not familiar with pegterm - if you can find the UI element in that code that exposes the ports, you should be able to trace backwards and find out how they get enumerated.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[19:03]:
Q: [31] Thank you! But how to add those images to my nk.bin? I know i can add some features from catalog, but how to add files from my PC?
A: If you want to include those in NK.bin you'll have to put them in the FILES section of platform.bib and re-create NK.bin via makeimg.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[19:03]:
Q: [32] actually, the board is not flashed by myself, but i believe the image is downloaded to Flash!
A: If you can't flash the board then you can't really modify NK.bin.

Have fun!
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Monday, 15 February 2010

Don't miss the next Microsoft Windows Embedded CE Technical Chat

just a quick reminder: the next MS technical chat on Windows Embedded CE Live Chat! takes place on February 23th, 2010 at 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

So don't forget to put the date in your schedule and join the live chat.

And in case you miss the chat – don't worry – we will be putting the chat transcript online straight after the chat.

Have fun!


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Wednesday, 20 January 2010

Chat with Microsoft technology experts

Hello guys,

2010 has been started and there are new Windows CE Live Chat dates!!!

Do you have tough technical questions regarding Windows Embedded CE for which you're seeking answers? Then don’t hesitate to join the Microsoft’s Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!

So don't forget to put the date in your schedule and join it.

Title: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 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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Friday, 11 December 2009

LAST Microsoft Windows Embedded CE! Live chat –> in this year :)

MS is hosting a live chat about Windows Embedded CE. Do you have tough technical questions regarding Windows Embedded CE for which you're seeking answers? Then join the upcomming chat!

This is a great opportunity to chat with members of the Windows CE development team and give us a great opportunity to communicate with MS and ask questions about development issues.

So don't forget to put the date in your schedule and join it.

Title: Windows Embedded CE Live Chat!
Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2008 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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Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Transcript from yesterdays Windows Embedded CE Live Chat

Hi folks,

Read more to see the transcript form yesterdays Windows Embedded CE Live Chat where you could ask the experts:

Current chat room activity:
More Answers...
msft_davbo (Moderator): Our chat today covers the topic of Windows Embedded CE!

1. This chat will last for one hour. During this hour, our Experts will respond to as many questions as they can. Please understand that there may be some questions we cannot respond to due to lack of information or because the information is not yet public.

2. We encourage you to submit questions for our Experts. To do so, type your questions in the send box, select the “ask the Experts” box and click SEND. Questions sent directly to the Guest Chat room will not be answered by the Experts, but we encourage other community members to assist.

3. We ask that you stay on topic for the duration of the chat. This helps the Guests and Experts follow the conversation more easily. We invite you to ask off topic questions after this chat is over, but not during.

4. Please abide by the Chat Code of Conduct.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

msft_davbo (Moderator)[17:59]: We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today’s chat. I will have them introduce themselves now.

Chat will begin in a couple of minutes.

mskim_MSFT (Expert)[18:01]: Hello, this is mskim from Windows CE JDP team.

RajeevDubey[MS] (Expert)[18:01]: Hi, this is Rajeev Dubey, Program Manager for Bluetooth.

mikehall_ms (Moderator)[18:02]: Hi, I'm Mike Hall, Software Architect

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:05]: Hello, I'm Sing Wee, member of the CoreOS/BSP Test Team.

FBlanq_MSFT (Expert)[18:05]: Hi, I'm Francisco Blanquicet, SDET with CoreOS/WinCE

msft_davbo (Moderator)[18:05]: Chat is started so ask any questions you may have about Windows CE.


rajran[MSFT] (Expert)[18:06]: Hi , I'm Rajeev Rangappa, PM in Core Team

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:09]:
Q: [1] hi experts, is there any way to provide debug information for assembler files (.s) to the debugger so that i can step through the sources? currently only exported symbols are visible to the debugger

A: As far as I know, the only way to step into and through assembler sources is to either (1) first switch to the 'disassembly' pane of the debugger, then either set a breakpoint on a CPU instruction, or (2) switch to the disassembly view in the source view and "step into" a function call. (bl on ARM, call on X86)

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:13]:
Q: [6] [1] so there is no way to get debug info for assembler files into the pdb files?

A: What kind of info are you wanting to get into the PDB files? What is missing and what way are you accessing information?

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:16]:
Q: [11] [6] i know i can step i the disassembler view, but it is somewhat painful without the coments of the sourcefile. So I would like to see and step in the assembler sourcefile while debugging like when debugging c or cpp files

A: ah, so what you're wanting is a mixed assembler/code bytes view. I do not thing our tools currently have such a view for the Windows CE debugger. You would have to open a source code window side-by-side in platform builder to see the comments.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:17]:
Q: [12] [6] also local (not exported] labels are not known to the debugger

A: No, unfortunately local assembler labels are not accounted for in the debugging information.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:18]:
Q: [13] [11] well thats the way i spend most of my time

A: We can give this feedback to our tool chain developers. Thanks for the input.

mskim_MSFT (Expert)[18:22]:
Q: [15] XAML + Other Windows: I have an MFC app which contains window based user draw controls (caches and draws bitmaps and overlays data on them). I want to update the UI to use XAML. How can I embed some of these existing controls in the XAML app?

A: Here is MSDN link regarding Win32Control in Silverlight for Windows Embedded.

mskim_MSFT (Expert)[18:23]:
A: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee502772.aspx

mskim_MSFT (Expert)[18:24]:
Q: [15] XAML + Other Windows: I have an MFC app which contains window based user draw controls (caches and draws bitmaps and overlays data on them). I want to update the UI to use XAML. How can I embed some of these existing controls in the XAML app?

A: Yes, you can use Win32Control in Silverlight for Windows Embedded. Here is the link on msdn regarding Win32Contro. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee502772.aspx

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:25]:
Q: [2] hi experts, i have integrated lint in the build prrocess. to see the output i have used the build_markers for C files, so they are also shown as c files in the summary. is there any way to show them with the "other files", in other words which build marker

A: Drivers should get notifications when suspend is happening if there's a driver that's not responding to a notification properly (in this case the driver for the RAM file system), you can definitely expect resource leaks or other bad behavior. Since this problem occurs only after a few suspends/resumes, I suspect that a very large amount of memory is being leaked - much more than the size of the file you're opening and closing. To debug this, I think you will want to instrument your app. As a next step, can you track the available object store space in your thread and try to understand more deeply how the memory is being used? See GetStoreInformation (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa916952.aspx). After that, it may be worthwhile to turn on DEBUGZONEs in filesys.dll to see if there are any useful messages that can help you understand the situation.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:25]: Ack

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:25]: Answered the wrong question, one moment!

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:26]:
Q: [10] I'm creating the file in RAMFS, and I don't believe my thread can have any leak considering it's just opening and closing the same file. Do you have any idea what could go wrong ? Thank you.

A: Drivers should get notifications when suspend is happening if there's a driver that's not responding to a notification properly (in this case the driver for the RAM file system), you can definitely expect resource leaks or other bad behavior. Since this problem occurs only after a few suspends/resumes, I suspect that a very large amount of memory is being leaked - much more than the size of the file you're opening and closing. To debug this, I think you will want to instrument your app. As a next step, can you track the available object store space in your thread and try to understand more deeply how the memory is being used? See GetStoreInformation (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa916952.aspx). After that, it may be worthwhile to turn on DEBUGZONEs in filesys.dll to see if there are any useful messages that can help you understand the situation.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:26]:
Q: [13] [11] well thats the way i spend most of my time

A: I just tried something similar to this. In a debug build, I break into my C code, and go to disassembly view. I see the assembly code inline with my C code and my comments, so I would expect you should be able to see your assembly code inline with your comments as well.

mskim_MSFT (Expert)[18:26]:
Q: [16] XAML + Other Windows: Effectively I want to skin the current app using XAML. Maybe there are some examples shipped with R3?

A: In R3, there is a IEsample_exr in public\ie\oak you can reference. How to skin the existing application with Silverlight for Windows Embedded.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:27]: @winceLover: use "Ask the Experts"

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:29]:
Q: [18] hi experts, is there an easy way to enable debug zones in advance for dlls that haven't been loaded yet? Some dlls only get loaded while an application is running and by the time I get to click on Target->CE Debug Zones-> it's already too late

A: I would recommend the "Host side (desktop) registry" method outlined here: http://blogs.msdn.com/ce_base/archive/2006/12/18/debug-messages-and-debug-zones-in-windows-ce.aspx

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:32]:
Q: [20] [10] - I will try to track the memory used in my thread more thoroughly. It's too bad I can't use KITL at that point as I'm doing suspend/resumes tests. So Travis, you're saying that there might be a leak in the RAM file system (which is public code) ?

A: It's certainly possible, but there is more investigation which is required before you can be sure.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:33]:
Q: [19] Sing Wee [13] well that doesn't work for assembler files, at least in my environment, although I have to say I use trace32 vom lauterbach most of the time. But this is the behaviour i would wish for .s files.

A: It's a good feature request for the tools but I don't think we have any support for it right now. Sorry!

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:37]:
Q: [17] hi experts, is there a way to put additional items to the clean target without modifying makefile.def?

A: I believe the only way is during the WINCETARGETFILES or WINCETARGETFILES0 phase, you could completely override the clean rule in your own makefile.inc.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:38]:
Q: [20] [10] - I will try to track the memory used in my thread more thoroughly. It's too bad I can't use KITL at that point as I'm doing suspend/resumes tests. So Travis, you're saying that there might be a leak in the RAM file system (which is public code) ?

A: I haven't tried this over suspend/resume cycles, but have you by any chance tried using AppVerifier to see if you can catch where memory may be leaking from?

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:39]:
Q: [23] Sing Wee [19] well, perhaps there are not much assembler junkies out there , thank you any way

A: No worries. Out of curiosity, are you doing this in CE6 or CE5? My observations were based on CE6.

msft_davbo (Moderator)[18:40]:
Q: [22] We need to give camera data to the appln for displaying it on the WINCE 6.0 device LCD or we need to send the camera frames to the device USB video class for displaying at the desktop PC app.IS both my requirement will be acheived by DSHOW camera driver?

A: Yes DirectShow is the best place to build your camera application. Check Mike Hall's blog for a USB Camera Driver download http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2007/06/07/download-ce-6-0-usb-camera-driver.aspx. This driver allows you to pull in frames into DirectShow from a USB attached camera on Windows CE. For communicating to a Desktop you'd need to build a custom communication sink filter to send the frames from Windows CE to a corresponding custom source filter on the Desktop. If interested can post a sample on codeplex w/ details on setting up the filters send email to davbo@microsoft.com.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[18:40]:
Q: [21] What is the best way to setup a filesystem storing hive registry ? In our system, the SD card will be the storage holding it. Should we setup the SD card as MountPermanent, and are there other registry keys worth setting ?

A: Is the SD card fixed in place in your unit? If so, you should be safe to mount the card permanently. Also, make sure it is set to mount at boot time. For reference, examine some existing drivers that use persistent store for their registry

mskim_MSFT (Expert)[18:40]:
Q: Prabu, what's UVC stack?

ks [MS] (Expert)[18:40]:
Q: [20] [10] - I will try to track the memory used in my thread more thoroughly. It's too bad I can't use KITL at that point as I'm doing suspend/resumes tests. So Travis, you're saying that there might be a leak in the RAM file system (which is public code) ?

A: And which public code RAMFS driver are you using? The RAMDISK, RAMFMD or?

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:41]:
Q: [21] What is the best way to setup a filesystem storing hive registry ? In our system, the SD card will be the storage holding it. Should we setup the SD card as MountPermanent, and are there other registry keys worth setting ?

A: In addition to what Kurt said, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa914710.aspx gives you a good introduction. Basically you need to make sure the registry for your SD driver is wrapped in ;HIVE BOOT SECTION tags, as well as anything that driver depends on, so that it can get loaded in phase 0.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:44]:
Q: [27] Sing Wee [23] i am doing CE6, porting to a OMAP platform, currently working on the bootloader, but work is proceeded to jump to BootloaderMain

A: Understood - thanks.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:47]:
Q: [26] [20] Sing Wee : I haven't tried using AppVerifier, does it support well checking leaks while suspending/resuming the system ?

A: That's the part I haven't tried. AppVerifier keeps track of memory by monitoring calls to allocate/deallocate memory on processes/DLLs you point it at. *If* it works over suspend/resume, the checkpoint/delta feature might help you narrow down the problem more quickly. I'm having difficulty finding my original posting, but a copy of it has apparently made it here: http://www.pocketpcjunkies.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/wince-test/481/Can-app-verifier-detect-memory-leak-in-a-driver

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:49]:
Q: [28] [21] - yes, this is setup correctly and works fine, until going to suspend/resume, where the SD gets unmounted and remounted. My question is : should we absolutely keep the power on to the SD card (it's never removed), and set it as MountPermanent ?

A: You should be able to call RegFlushKey (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa917036.aspx) during your power-down code and unmount / remount.

msft_davbo (Moderator)[18:49]:
Q: [24] Using DSHOW layer can we give the camera frames to the client UVC stack?

A: Is you question about around if you have a Windows CE Web Camera and plug into a Desktop Machine how to provide the frames from Windows CE to the Desktop UVC Stack? Desktop MSDN info for UVC Stack http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee349147.aspx.

ks [MS] (Expert)[18:50]:
Q: [28] [21] - yes, this is setup correctly and works fine, until going to suspend/resume, where the SD gets unmounted and remounted. My question is : should we absolutely keep the power on to the SD card (it's never removed), and set it as MountPermanent ?

A: In addtion to keep the power (or handle the power cycle correctly), MountPermanent , you SD Host controller driver should never simulate a card replug after suspend/resume.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:51]:
Q: [30] Travis [17] I am not sure if i understand you right, the WINCETARGETFILES targets are executed after building so not really good for cleaning, WINCETARGETFILE0 are executed before compiling, but what if only the clean target is performed?

A: Do you mean by calling 'nmake clean' ?

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:53]:
Q: [33] Travis [17] yes, for example, or clicking Build - Clean in VS2005

A: Unforunately I don't think there is a way to handle 'nmake clean' without modifying makefile.def. Build - Clean I believe executes "build -c" which would execute the WINCETARGETFILES0 pass - you could do cleanup at that point, before things get compiled.

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:56]:
Q: [34] Travis [33] ok, are there "best practices" for modifying makefile.def?

A: The 'best practice' is to make a backup, change as little as possible, and do so at your own risk! What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:56]:
Q: [31, 29] Can you point me to the KB entry or tell us what exactly has to be adapted in the OAL Cache routine?
In a previous QFE adressing the L2 cache it is documented that one has to adapt the OAL Cache routines. To found out how we were hoping for more information from the KB entry which however does not seem to exist. Question following.

A: Title: FIX: Kernel does not properly handle BSPs that distinguish between L1 and L2 cache flushing in Windows Embedded CE 6.0.

Symptoms:
A performance problem was found in Cortex-A8 based processors due to excessive PSL API call overhead caused by unnecessary L2 cache flush operations.

With the code changes included in this QFE, the kernel now maintains proper L2 cache coherence so that the system can benefit from performance enhancements obtained by separating L1/L2 cache flushing in the OAL. To take advantage of this performance improvement, the OAL should be modified to flush L1 and L2 cache only when necessary.

This QFE may also address L2 caching issues in other CPU architectures whose OEMCacheRangeFlush implementations properly respect L2 cache flags:
• CACHE_SYNC_WRITEBACK: write back L1 data cache to L2 data cache
• CACHE_SYNC_DISCARD: write back L1 data cache to L2 data cache and discard L1 data cache
• CACHE_SYNC_L2_WRITEBACK: write back L2 data cache to memory
• CACHE_SYNC_L2_DISCARD: write

msft_davbo (Moderator)[18:57]:
Q: [32] Multiple Displays: One of our projects requires two displays with independent content. Under CE6 is it possible using direct show to display different media (ie. different videos) on each of the display and two channels of Audio? We will write custom app.

A: Check out Microsoft Embedded Automotive who has support for up to 10 zones of AV content: http://www.microsoft.com/auto/ma.mspx. Typically they are just using 1-2 zones for front and rear AV zone control in the vehicle.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:57]:
Q: [31] Can you point me to the KB entry or tell us what exactly has to be adapted in the OAL Cache routine?

A: Damian, can you please send me your email in a private message? I'll see if I can dig up the KB number for you.

Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[18:58]:
Q: [31] Can you point me to the KB entry or tell us what exactly has to be adapted in the OAL Cache routine?

A: Looks like there was a limit to how much I could put in my response. Here's the final line in it's entirety:
• CACHE_SYNC_L2_DISCARD: write back L2 data cache to memory and discard L2 data cache

Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[18:59]:
Q: [35] Travis [33] i am integrating lint, doxygen and some other tools (see previous question about build marker). so there are some non standard files to clean

A: I see. Well, the clean rules in makefile.def are pretty straightforward, so you should be able to alter them without affecting too much. I'd recommend adding a 'cleanlint' target to the clean rule, and implementing that.

ks [MS] (Expert)[18:59]:
Q: [31] Can you point me to the KB entry or tell us what exactly has to be adapted in the OAL Cache routine?

A: Basically, the OAL's OEMCacheRangeFlush implmentation needs to follow the guideline in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee478186.aspx

msft_davbo (Moderator)[19:00]: Hello everyone, we are just about out of time.

Thank you for joining us for our Windows Embedded CE 6.0 chat today!

A special thank you to the product group members for coming out.

The transcript of today’s chat will be posted online as soon as possible. We’ll see you again for another chat next month.

If you still have unanswered questions, let me suggest that you post them on one of our newsgroups on http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?guid=a36dcdca-1116-4471-a19a-5eb263323e93

-Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Now Available!


You can also find the transcripts from the October chat here and the September chat here - Microsoft is lagging behind getting these online.

Older chat transcripts can be found here.

Have fun!
Read more! Post this to a friend!

Monday, 16 November 2009

Microsoft Windows Embedded CE! Live chat – Don’t miss it!

Hi Folks,
MS is hosting a live chat about Windows Embedded CE. This is a great opportunity to chat with some members of the Windows CE development team and allow us to communicate with MS and ask questions about development issues.

So don't forget to put the date in your schedule and join it.

Title: Windows Embedded CE!
Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2008 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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Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Windows CE & Mobile Transcript October 2009

Hi folks,
Just in case you missed the Live chat yesterday you can find the transcript of yesterday's chat here.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert)[2009-10-27 11:58]: Karel Danihelka - Developer in Partner Response Team.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[2009-10-27 11:59]: Our chat today covers the topic of Windows Embedded CE & Windows Mobile!

1. This chat will last for one hour. During this hour, our Experts will respond to as many questions as they can. Please understand that there may be some questions we cannot respond to due to lack of information or because the information is not yet public.

2. We encourage you to submit questions for our Experts. To do so, type your questions in the send box, select the "ask the Experts" box and click SEND. Questions sent directly to the Guest Chat room will not be answered by the Experts, but we encourage other community members to assist.

3. We ask that you stay on topic for the duration of the chat. This helps the Guests and Experts follow the conversation more easily. We invite you to ask off topic questions after this chat is over, but not during.

4. Please abide by the Chat Code of Conduct.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[2009-10-27 11:59]: We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today's chat. I will have them introduce themselves now.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[2009-10-27 11:59]: We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today's chat. I will have them introduce themselves now.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:0]: Hi, I'm Sing Wee, part of the CoreOS/BSP Test Team.

rajran[MS] (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:1]: Hi , I am Rajeev Rangappa, PM in CoreOS team.

RajeevDubey[MS] (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:3]: Hi, I am Rajeev Dubey, Bluetooth Program Manager.

MariNe_MSFT (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:3]: My name is Mariana Nenova - SDET in the Shell team.

MikeThom [MS] (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:3]: Hi I am Mike Thomson, Group Manager from Windows Embedded CE

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[2009-10-27 12:3]: Hi, I'm Sue Loh, a developer on the Windows Mobile tools team (with past experience on the kernel and file system). I hope we can answer some of your questions today!

FBLANQ_MSFT (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:3]: Hi, I'm Francisco Blanquicet, part of the CoreOS/BSP team.

mskim_MS (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:4]:

Q: Regarding Silverlight Runtime in R3 and Expression Blend 2 - Expression Blend 2 appears to be unable to cope with the CacheMode="BitmapCache" tag that's needed for off-screen rendering in the silverlight runtime. Am I doing something wrong?

A: Andrew, CacheMode is from Silverlight3, we added this feature into Cashemere for a better performance but Expression Blend2 doesn't know about this SL3 property.

GLanger_MS (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:5]: Hi, I'm Glen Langer, lead PM for Core and BSPs.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:6]:

Q: Can you point me to any documentation on the "threaded" SMS-message view in tmail.exe; I am having trouble adding my custom context-menu extension to it

A: Are your referring to the Windows Mobile SMS application? This chat is for Windows CE.

MS_Dinglu (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:7]: Hi, I am Dingding Lu, I am in CoreOS/BSP test team

mskim_MS (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:7]:

Q: So if I use Blend 3 will this help or just cause more problems?

A: You can't use Expression 3 with Cashmere, please use Blend2. You will need to add CacheMode only for the device XAML not in Blend2 XAML.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:8]:

Q: Regarding mdd/pdd flash driver. There is some blocks that the MDD allocates for managing the data. Is it save to backup and recover those blocks? Where can we get info about them?

A: Can you give more information on what it is you are trying to do? The MDD's management of blocks is opaque because if it ever changes the only updates will be internal. is there a reason you need to access the internal structures?

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[2009-10-27 12:8]:

Q: Hi! We are developing an app for a new handset running WM6.5 and are having problems when starting up first time. We are built into image and start up at boot since we have set correct reg keys in HKLM\Init. But one test case fails, namely to get reg notif

A: Can you explain a bit better what you mean by your test case fails to get reg notif? Who is supposed to change the registry key, when? Who is waiting on it, when?

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:9]:

Q: Hi! We are developing an app for a new handset running WM6.5 and are having problems when starting up first time. We are built into image and start up at boot since we have set correct reg keys in HKLM\Init. But one test case fails, namely to get reg notif

A: Hi Simon. This chat is for windows CE, and does not cover windows Mobile. The best thing for you to do is contact your WM representative that licenses WM to you to get support.

MikeThom [MS] (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:9]:

Q: Does Wince6.0 R3 include iPOD support?

A: No. There is no integrated support in Windows Embedded CE. There is an automative kit that does supply support for head-units.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:9]:

Q: Regarding mdd/pdd flash driver. There is some blocks that the MDD allocates for managing the data. Is it save to backup and recover those blocks? Where can we get info about them?

A: It depends what do you want to achieve, but in most cases answer will be no. I would recommend to backup flash volume on logical level, not physical one. So file can be restored on different flash (with different bad blocks etc).

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:9]:

Q: Does Wince6.0 R3 include iPOD support?

A: When you say "support" do you mean being able to connect an IPod to a Windows CE 6.0 device that has USB host support?

kurtken_msft (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:9]:

Q: Yes, I am referring to Windows Mobile SMS application. I thought this chat includes Windows Mobile topics. Sorry, if that is not the case.

A: No. please contact your support channels for windows mobile through your WM licensing representative.

mskim_MS (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:10]: Tom, please use the "Ask Expert" command so we can answer your question.

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[2009-10-27 12:11]: Q: We listen for changes to HKLM\System\State\Phone , "Missed Call Count" however at this first start up we never get such notifications. Rebooting will make it work as expected. Any ideas why it does not work the first time?
A: You're saying the entire first boot, you never get notifications. Right? Not that you miss the very first notification of the very first boot, and everything else works after that. Assuming I got it right -- well you need a registry key in order to wait. Are you sure the key exists at first?

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[2009-10-27 12:11]:

Q: We listen for changes to HKLM\System\State\Phone "Missed Call Count", however at this first start up we never get such notifs. Rebooting will make it work as expected.

A: You're saying the entire first boot, you never get notifications. Right? Not that you miss the very first notification of the very first boot, and everything else works after that. Assuming I got it right -- well you need a registry key in order to wait. Are you sure the key exists at first?

KarelD_MSFT (Expert)[2009-10-27 12:13]:

Q: Does Wince6.0 R3 include iPOD support?

A: iPod expose itself as normal block device and as such it is supported. If you are looking for stream interface there is support in Microsoft Windows CE for Automotive, but you can add support yourself if you are able to get agreement from Apple and authentication chip.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[2009-10-27 12:13]:

Q: Actually, the title of this was presented as "Windows Embedded CE AND Windows Mobile", so that is not the case then?


MikeThom [MS] (Expert):

Q: [17] http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsce.platbuilder&tid=d5fa66de-0167-4a1f-932f-273fba9b29e8&cat=&lang=&cr=&sloc=&p=1

A: I will have someone from the QFE team look into this.

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator): Sorry hoongyuin, we're only experts in Windows CE, not desktop Windows.

MikeThom [MS] (Expert):

Q: [16] Morning, I have a question regarding the Sept QFE '09 which causes ActiveSync issues I posted but got no answer? I am seeing more people posting on similar issue and on CE6.0 as well do you have any more info on this issue?

A: I will have someone from the QFE team look into this.

RajeevDubey[MS] (Expert):

Q: [18] Hello, I have a CSR bluetooth module to manage under WinCE and I would like to use the HCI_CustomCode to send some proprietary commands. Please could you tell me how to fill pcall for HCI_CustomCode (I did not found in msdn documentation)

A: Hi Butterfly, Please email me your request and I will get back to you after reviewing it with our dev team. Please provide an example of what you are trying to accomplish so we can address your concern properly.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):

Q: [19] I´m already referring to the logical blocks. I want to know how to I get back to a "last well known" state backup of the filesystem (I´m using TExFAT). I am having filesystem corruptions due to hard power loss cycles.

A: Correct procedure in such situation is dismount all file systems from block device, erase, create partitions and write sectors from backup.

mskim_MS (Expert)[12:26]:

Q: [20] XAML Runtime Open GL Render Plugin: As shipped this supports OPENGL ES 2.0. My hardware has ES 1.1 support. Does the render plugin *NEED* any ES 2.0 features or should it be possible to convert the plugin for ES 1.1?

A: Andrew, this XAML renderer plug-in uses OpenGL ES 2.0 features. Since the plug-in is provided as public code, you can take a look at it.

RajeevDubey[MS] (Expert)[12:27]:

Q: [22] Thank you RajeevDubey but at which address, can I email ?

A: rajeevdu@microsoft.com

mskim_MS (Expert)[12:27]:

Q: [20] XAML Runtime Open GL Render Plugin: As shipped this supports OPENGL ES 2.0. My hardware has ES 1.1 support. Does the render plugin *NEED* any ES 2.0 features or should it be possible to convert the plugin for ES 1.1?

A: One of the ES 2.0 feature EXR uses is the Shader.

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[12:32]:

Q: [24] Nothing in reg tree missing except actual value name="Missed call count" as defined in snapi.h. HKCU\System\State\Phone key is present

A: Hmm, if your code is successfully opening the key and holding a notification handle on it, and that notification handle isn't getting notified when the value is created, then that sounds like a bug. The only thing you could do about it is get in touch with our support. If it really is a bug then the support cost is supposed to be free, I believe (but you might want to double check). I would double check that your code is successfully opening these handles, just in case HKLM\System\State\Phone is getting created AFTER your code runs.

RajeevDubey[MS] (Expert)[12:35]:

Q: [25] Thank you, I email you my request about HCI_CustomCode.

A: I have not received your mail yet. Will confirm once I get it.

kurtken_msft (Expert)[12:36]:

Q: [26] I saw a question last month about if FMD_WriteSector() fails on NAND, and I was unclear about one point. After compation, does the FAL mark the block as bad, or try to erase it and reuse it? Same behavior for Flash MDD?

A: when a writesector fails, no attempt to write to the block will occur after that. As far as I know, this includes an erase attempt. The block may be read from, but will not be written to. if compaction moves the sectors out of the block that is now 'bad', then that block will not be used again even for reads.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[12:39]:

Q: [32, 34] Is there a suitable version of conmanclient2 for ce 6 with two VS2005 running at the same time (One with PB and another one in app dev mode)? I get many edm.exe messages in PB when doing with the version from standard sdk 5 of conmanclient2?
(I´m debugging an application that tests the driver)

A: Is your application native or managed?

davbo_msft (Moderator)[12:40]:

Q: [21] Using Windows Media Player Settings.setMode, what is the proper way to call it without it returning a E_INVALIDARG? When I call it with BSTR mode = L"shuffle" (mode, FALSE) or (mode, TRUE), they both return an error and indicates 0x80070057 => E_INVALIDAR

A: WMP OCX 7.0 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb821536.aspx. I don't see setMode exposed on the interface. For Shuffle you'd need to implement that outside of the OCX.

mskim_MS (Expert)[12:40]:

Q: [35] EXR OGLES2.0: What processor did you use to test the XAML OGL Render plugin? It would be good for us to test the EXR with Open GL without having to recode for OGL ES 1.1.

A: We have tested the OGL plug-in with TI OMAP 3530 and nVidea Tegra APX 2600 but also knows that it works with many other platforms.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[12:41]:

Q: [23] G. I am calling it via aninstance of IWMPSettings->setMode(mode, bValue);

A: OCX 7 IWMPSettings Interface http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb821471.aspx - setMode not a supported method.

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[12:42]:

Q: [9] We listen for changes to HKLM\System\State\Phone "Missed Call Count", however at this first start up we never get such notifs. Rebooting will make it work as expected.

A: Yeah, I'd expect HKLM\System\State and its sub-keys to be created sometime during the first boot. Unfortunately there's no way to auto-attach an application debugger during device boot. I would probably try writing a simple log, like you say. You could also revise your code to fall back to waiting on HKLM\System if the "State" and "Phone" keys don't exist. Or to try creating the keys instead of just opening them.

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[12:42]:

Q: [30] So there is a possibility that those reg keys are in fact not created yet? Is there any good way to attach/debug such situations? (other than file logging)

A: [re-posting to correct message on the conversation] Yeah, I'd expect HKLM\System\State and its sub-keys to be created sometime during the first boot. Unfortunately there's no way to auto-attach an application debugger during device boot. I would probably try writing a simple log, like you say. You could also revise your code to fall back to waiting on HKLM\System if the "State" and "Phone" keys don't exist. Or to try creating the keys instead of just opening them.

mskim_MS (Expert)[12:42]:

Q: [37] EXR: Are there advantages using the OGL renderer rather that the DirectDraw renderer? Or do they give equivalent functionality and performance?

A: It all depends on the platform implementation however there's no advantage on any technology for this plug-in.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[12:45]:

Q: [38] native

A: Hi Marcelovk, I'm not an expert in this area, but I have a tutorial from a previous public presentation that showed this should indeed work. Could you private message me your email address, and I'll email the tutorial to you.

RajeevDubey[MS] (Expert)[12:45]:

Q: [40] Did you receive my e-mail?

A: Yes, just got it.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[12:49]:

Q: [44] In Wince 6.0 is there a speech recognition engine?

A: Microsoft Auto includes a speech engine - http://www.microsoft.com/auto

mskim_MS (Expert)[12:51]:

Q: [44] In Wince 6.0 is there a speech recognition engine?

A: SAPI 5.2 is included in CE 6. You can find more information from here http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/0/9/a09e587c-4ff9-4a58-a854-56fe50b862b2/release%20notes.htm

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[12:54]:

Q: [31, 33] On our device we have 2GB NAND flash and we have four partitions (Binary with ULDR, NK, OS, Storage). The Storage partition (USERSTORE, initially empty) should allocate the the whole NAND flash after the OS partition
What are the right configuration entries in memory.cfg.xml to get a Storage partition of 2GB (minus other partitions)?

A: I would try something like:

<ULDR ID="ULDR" STORAGE_ID="FLASH"/>
<RAMIMAGE ID="NK" STORAGE_ID="FLASH" COMPRESS="0" FIXUP_ADDRESS="0x80000000" ROMFLAGS="2" FSRAMPERCENT="0x00000000" FREE_SPACE_BUFFER="0x40000" />
<IMGFS ID="OS" STORAGE_ID="FLASH" FREE_SPACE_BUFFER="0x3200000" />
<USERSTORE STORAGE_ID="FLASH" ID="Storage" PART_TYPE="0x02" />

I have also sent feedback to our documentation team that there needs to be more guidance here.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[12:55]:

Q: [44] In Wince 6.0 is there a speech recognition engine?

A: Found another MSDN link on the SAPI 5.0 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa914072.aspx

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[12:57]:

Q: [50] hi i have just bought a new laptop with vista however im trying to setup a wireless network ive enterd my wep key etc. . but when i click connect a grey box pops up asking me to enter my credintals ( user name, password and logon domain) can you help me ?

A: Sorry, this particular chat is for Windows CE only.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[12:57]: Hello everyone, we are just about out of time.

Thank you for joining us for our Windows Embedded CE 6.0 chat today!

<
http://www.Microsoft.com/Embedded>

A special thank you to the product group members for coming out.

The transcript of today's chat will be posted online as soon as possible, to <
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>. We'll see you again for another chat next month. Please check <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats> for the list of upcoming chats.

If you still have unanswered questions, let me suggest that you post them on one of our newsgroups on
<
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsembedded/ce/default.aspx>

-Windows
Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Now Available! <http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/ce/dd630616.aspx>;

davbo_msft (Moderator)[12:58]: Any unanswered questions I will work to get answers and post with the transcript.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[12:59]:

Q: [38] native

A: (From private message conversation, in case others are interested): Since this is native, is there any reason you need to use two instances of VS2005? Why not include the application as a subproject of the OS design?

mskim_MS (Expert)[13:01]: Andrew, please send email to mskim@microsoft.com for your VFP question on EXR, I will let you know.

davbo_msft (Moderator)[13:01]:

Q: [53] NOOO!, the transcript takes years to be available!!

A: I've worked w/ the Chat posting team and they should get posted faster now.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[13:02]:

Q: [41] Looking at the SDBus I saw that you never put in HighSpeed Mode the SD card?Is it supported by the stack the high speed mode for the SD card compliant with the spec ver 1.10 and higher?

A: According to some documents I've seen, CE6.0 RTM should support SD v1.1, CE6.0 R2 should support SD v2.0 (ADMA). On the MMC-side, we're supporting 3.x.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert)[13:03]:

Q: [26] I saw a question last month about if FMD_WriteSector() fails on NAND, and I was unclear about one point. After compation, does the FAL mark the block as bad, or try to erase it and reuse it? Same behavior for Flash MDD?

A: If we are talking about flash abstraction library which shipped with Windows CE 6.0 R2 (flashcommon.lib and other) you don't need to. The Flash MDD will do it.

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[13:05]:

Q: [28] How can I disable the memory pooling for a specific driver in Windows CE 6.0?

A: By "pooling" I presume you mean paging of the driver code. You have a couple of ways to do it: set the "M" flag on the driver in your .bib file, if the driver is in ROM. Make sure NOT to set bit 2 (DEVFLAGS_LOADLIBRARY) of the "flags" registry value, under the driver registry settings. Or call LoadDriver on it instead of LoadLibrary, if you're loading it programmatically. This blog post is on the OPPOSITE topic, but still has tips you can follow if you do the opposite of what it's saying. http://blogs.msdn.com/ce_base/archive/2008/02/28/making-sections-of-windows-ce-device-driver-code-non-pageable.aspx

Sue Loh [MS] (Moderator)[13:05]:

Q: [43] In Wince 6.0 is there a way to disable the memory pooling for the Storage Card?If yes how is it possible?

A: By "pooling" I presume you mean paging of the driver code. You have a couple of ways to do it: set the "M" flag on the driver in your .bib file, if the driver is in ROM. Make sure NOT to set bit 2 (DEVFLAGS_LOADLIBRARY) of the "flags" registry value, under the driver registry settings. Or call LoadDriver on it instead of LoadLibrary, if you're loading it programmatically. This blog post is on the OPPOSITE topic, but still has tips you can follow if you do the opposite of what it's saying. http://blogs.msdn.com/ce_base/archive/2008/02/28/making-sections-of-windows-ce-device-driver-code-non-pageable.aspx


MikeThom [MS] (Expert)[13:15]:

Q: [46] EXR: Our ARM 11 platform has VFP which we have enabled through the OEM Floating Point CRT support (SYSGEN_OEM_FPCRT). Will this mean that the embedded XAML runtime will utilise the hardware floating point coprocessor? Or is it entirely integer based?

A: It will make use of the VFP enabled CRT.

Sing Wee[MS] (Expert)[13:26]:

Q: [56] Yes SD 1.1 and 2.0 are supported but not in high speed mode. Look at the SDBus implementation and let me know..

A: I just found the answer. Unfortunately, it appears we don't support High Speed in CE6.0 and its variants.


So long and thanks for all the fish!
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