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#windowsce

2 posts2 participants0 posts today
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🧵8/10
I can’t believe it! Goal achieved.

The Arteck is a new easily obtainable & affordable #Keyboard. It connects to every persistent #WindowsMobile #PocketPC device that I tested! It’s driverless and the layout is almost perfect for it’s size. It’s also backlit!

I’m confused though. It’s #Bluetooth LE 5.1 and should not work with these Bluetooth Classic 1.2 and 2.0 devices. Whats going on here?

Lets crack it open and take a look.

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🧵7/10
Now the best for last! The Arteck HB030B #Bluetooth #Keyboard.

This is a cheap keyboard that you can still find new. It has a chiclet design, is backlit & doesn’t compromise much on the layout other than messing a bit with the Alt, Ctrl and Windows key button arrangement.

Amazingly this Bluetooth 5.1 keyboard connects to all of my iPaqs (111, 210, HX2495, HX2795b) & my #Dell Axim X51V using Passkey 1234!

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🧵6/10
This is the #Ipad Kensington Key Folio Pro K39357US.

This #Bluetooth chiclet #Keyboard is fantastic! It is sleek, responsive and feels modern. It also has a decent layout and doesn’t forget the right shift key like the previous Key Folio.

Once again it effortlessly connected to all of my iPaqs (111, 210, HX2495, HX2795b) and surprisingly also connected to my #Dell Axim X51V using Passkey 1234!

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🧵4/10
First up is the Freedom Pro #Bluetooth #Keyboard.

This keyboard folds in half and has a slide out removable stand for your #PDA.

I didn’t like it. It was probably decent for the time but we can do much better these days.

Regardless, it easily connected to all of my iPaqs (111, 210, HX2495, HX2795b) and unfortunately refused to connect to any of my #Dell Axim X50 and X51 series.

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🧵3/10
It was already going to take some luck to get great compatibility with a random #Keyboard but I also had another goal; the #Bluetooth keyboard needed to run under the HID profile so no driver installation would be necessary.

The dream is to get a new keyboard, connect over Bluetooth and just start typing!

I began researching and securing a variety of keyboards to try & focused my testing on persistent #WindowsMobile 5.0+ devices

#PocketPC#Palm#PDA
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🧵2/10
Unfortunately after talking with people & reading up on the #Bluetooth protocol I learned that Bluetooth Classic (1, 2, & 3) is not compatible with the current Bluetooth LE (4, 5, etc.). I had no idea!

A new keyboard seemed doubtful and everyone I talked to suggested buying an old expensive #PocketPC or #PDA #Keyboard but then I got a great suggestion; get an old #Ipad keyboard.

Those are plentiful and cheap!

🧵1/10
Those who have followed me for a while know my obsession with #RetroTech. After my #Palm TX bit the dust, I took the opportunity to jump into the world of #PocketPC.

I wrote several tutorials in the past and recently turned my focused to finding a new #Bluetooth #Keyboard that would be compatible with them. There were some made back when these devices were new but there had to be a better, current solution.

Since #Bluetooth doesn't require you to install drivers, would a current Bluetooth #keyboard work with an old #PocketPC or #Palm #PDA?

I know that they had Bluetooth keyboards made for some of them back in the day but I am not familiar with the backwards compatibility of the Bluetooth standard.

Unfortunately, I do not currently have a Bluetooth keyboard to test. Does anyone else know the answer to this?

I recently got an HP HX2495 #PocketPC.

It has been charging for almost 12 hours and is currently at 96%. I unplugged it to tinker around & saw this message pop up.

"Charging in calibration mode."

I have never seen this on another pocket PC. I've looked online and in some manuals and cannot find any reference to calibration mode other than the touch screen.

I assume it's some type of battery calibration. Anyone have info on this?

Rare, hard to come by, but now available on the Internet Archive: the complete book set for the #WindowsCE Developer’s Kit from 1999. It contains all the separate books in their full glory, so if you ever wanted to write either a Windows CE application or driver for Windows CE 2.0, here’s all the information you’ll ever need.

archive.org/details/bitsavers_

archive.orgInternet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
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Can't believe I was working on that thing since Mai 2024... Anyway, finished the restoration today. 🙂 On the bottom part, I had to scrape off all the sticky rubber coating - which took ages.

Happy to report that it still works after re-assembling, had no screws or other parts left, and the stickyness is all gone. 😀

Sadly, while the EL backlight looks cool, there's pretty much nothing you can do with Windows CE 1.0. There was a ROM upgrade for CE 2.0 available, but finding that is impossible today...