Database Info

REVIEW: New, 3.2.00 version of TomeRaider3

TomeRaider is a well-known book/dictionary/reference work reader having a lot of useful application areas, most important of them being reading Wikipedia on your PDA. As I definitely wanted to add a complete, comparative review of TomeRaider to my series of dictionary / reference roundups (links in the article below), I spent quite a lot of time evaluating it.
Note that in this article I both compare the brand new (3.2.00) version to the previous (3.1.30) one and to the dictionary / reference alternates. Yeah, killing two birds with one stone
Also note that I directly compare TomeRaider3, as far as its dictionary engine is concerned, in the Definitive Roundup of All Pocket PC Dictionaries Part I – WordNet-based English Dictionaries. You will also want to check out the comparison chart in there to see how it compares to the alternates as a dictionary engine.
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Availability, compatibility
It’s available here, compatible with all Pocket PC platforms (yes, even MIPS/SH3 Pocket PC’s – I’ve even tested it on my MIPS Casio E-125 and was very happy with what I saw) and costs $38.00. The upgrade is free for all 3.x users – previous registration numbers will work.
What’s new compared to the previous, 3.1.30 version?
There have been major changes in mostly the GUI and how the screen dragging mode works.
The new version no longer has the icons at the bottom and the taskbar at the top – it defaults to full screen mode. This also means the Action button (or, the center switch of the Jog dial, if present) no longer switches between the normal and full screen mode, but between the index (subject) and the article view. (Also see the “Navigation” section for more information on how the hardware controls work.)
Now, all the necessary functionality is available via the additional icons on the vertical scrollbar and the context menu (there was no context menu in the previous version, except for a single “Copy” item after selecting some text; the same stands for the old vertical scrollbar, which was a plain one without additional icons / functionality). For example, in this screenshot showing in-text searching, the previous/next icons are also placed on the vertical scrollbar, along with the previous/next article icons (the latter are always displayed. That is, you don’t end up having to tap-and-hold and, then, click the needed menu item).
In cases, the new GUI is highly advantageous. For example, in the old version (as opposed to the new one – see below for more info), if you explicitly enable the Page dragging mode in Options, you won’t be able to click links and, if you really want to do that, you need to click the Opt icon again, then, Preferences and, then, disable the “Page dragging” checkbox and click OK. This is four clicks as opposed to one click in the new version (the “T” (“Text Select Mode”) icon, which is always displayed on the scrollbar).
Also, as has already been pointed out, another great advantage of the new version is the ability to click links in page dragging mode too. This has long been waited for.
Incidentally, the new version is much smaller (613k as opposed to 1800k) than the previous. Part of this can be easily explained by the missing skins and icons (the new version contains no fancy icons / skins), part of it by missing functionality (for example, the removed history list).
What are the newly-introduced problems and bugs?
There is an unfortunate bug in the new version. While the old version had absolutely no problems with rendering text, the new does (see how the word “Soviet” is rendered). This isn’t a VGA problem: it is equally a problem on QVGA devices as can also be seen in this screenshot. Also, you can’t fix it by changing the character size and/or switching screen orientation either and is also present on all operating systems (yeah, checked them all - even Pocket PC 2000! That is, on the WM2003SE Pocket Loox 720 , the WM5 Dell Axim x51v (A12), the WM5 hx4700 (2.01), the WM5 HTC Wizard, the Pocket PC 2002 iPAQ 3660 and the Pocket PC 2000 Casio E-125).
This problem is clearly related to the application’s using a non-native scrollbar (remember the beta1 version of Opera Mobile? It had exactly the same problem with its non-native text input area). Earlier versions used native Windows scrollbar controls (widgets); this doesn’t. This may be the reason the end of the last words are often invisible (and they can’t be scrolled, even if you enable the horizontal scrollbar in Preferences).
Finally, I seriously miss the backward / forward history. It seems it has been completely removed from the new version.
Note that the application is still (as with older versions) unable to copy any text to the clipboard on WM5 devices. When you select some text (if you switch off the default Screen drag mode with the T icon), you will end up being unable to copy it to the clipboard – there is just no “Copy” context menu item. It’s only on pre-WM5 devices that you can copy text to the clipboard.
What is still missing?
Unfortunately, there is still missing any advanced index searching (“Subject Lookup” – in older versions, “Quick Find”) capabilities. Everything it offers is plain character matching. It doesn’t even offer in-string (substring) searching (some dictionaries like those of ReferenceToGo refer to this as ‘Smart word list’), which is common in many (also) Pocket PC-based dictionaries. For example, Revolutionary Software Front’s reference/dictionary applications (Lextionary, Lexipedia) etc. are far better in this respect.
The lack of fuzzy search and typo / spelling mistake correction capabilities is a pain in the back too. In this respect, for example Lexipedia (please see ROUNDUP: Read / browse WikiPedia on your Pocket PC for more information), Lextionary or ReferenceToGo’s Dictionary and Encyclopedia Personal Reader (DEPR) are far superior to TomeRaider3.
Also, it still (?) lacks the ability able to open and handle multiple databases at the same time. This is especially important with dictionaries and reference works where you may want to search for a given word in several dictionaries or lexicons at the same time. See for example the example of Paragon’s SlovoEd 2005 and DEPR in the Definitive Roundup of All Pocket PC Dictionaries.
Navigation
Speaking of hardware buttons, it’s worth mentioning how the jog dial (when present) and the D-pad can be used to navigate pages.
On Pocket PC’s equipped with jog dials, it scrolls link-by-link in articles.
Under pre-WM5 operating systems, D-pad scrolls page-by-page. Under WM5, on the other hand, it scrolls link-by-link. You can, however, override this by explicitly overriding the Registry as is explained in the full tutorial & roundup “Windows Mobile 5: How do I modify the default scrolling behaviour of Web browsers?”. This is certainly good news.
In the index, both the jog dial and the D-pad scrolls entry-by-entry.
As far as devices (for example, the HTC Wizard or the Universal) with plain volume sliders (as opposed to jog dials) are concerned, unfortunately, the otherwise excellent SmartSKey (see this article for more information) doesn’t work in articles (which is certainly bad news), only in the index, where it scrolls page-by-page (tested on both the HTC Universal and Wizard). In this respect, the previous and the new version behaves in the same way.
The left/right D-pad buttons move to the previous/next article.
How does it compare to the alternates?
As far as dictionaries are concerned (if we plan to use it as a dictionary), it has both its weaknesses (really restricted searching capabilities, no studying support, no copy to clipboard under WM5, unable to use more than one databases at once, no system-level means of quick word lookup etc.) and strengths (a lot of freeware dictionary databases already available, including a WordNet 2.0-based one etc). I’d say many of the alternate dictionary engines (using the same database) are better (for example, the free MDict); therefore, I would NOT go for TomeRaider3 as a primary dictionary engine. Give MDict, or, as far as WordNet is concerned, Lexisgoo and/or WordBook a try instead first.
As far as reference works are concerned, the situation is completely different. Most of the Pocket PC-based references have a really bad front-end: for example, the PocketDirectory reference works (IMHO) have a definitely worse (for example, it uses pixel doubling on VGA devices) front-end than TomeRaider3. The same stands for Lexipedia, the other, remarkable Wikipedia port – except for the excellent fuzzy search capabilities, it’s much worse (mostly because of the complete lack of HTML support.)
Unlike all of the alternate reference works, it has excellent filtering / categorizing capabilities. It may prove useful in some (pretty restricted) cases – for example, in IMDb categorization. If you want the Internet Movie Database on your Pocket PC, TomeRaider3 is the way to go - you'll love it.
Verdict for upgraders only
I’m not sure you will want to upgrade to the new version. Particularly the “end of the rows is invisible” problem and the lack of history are clear steps backwards, while bugs like the missing copy to clipboard under WM5 are still not fixed. Let’s wait for a bugfix release, which fixes at least the rendering problems – that is, for the time being, it’s better to stick with version 3.1.30.

Article slightly updated.

REVIEW: Bluetooth chatter / Bluejacking app Sniper

Ever wanted to use the Bluetooth capabilities of your Pocket PC for local (text) messaging and file transfer, including local broadcasting? Take a look at Sniper, which is a comparatively new, constantly updated native Bluetooth messenger utility.
Unfortunately, there are very few local Bluetooth-based applications on the Pocket PC platform. As has pointed out in my article on Microsoft (MS) Portrait, the only really usable, Bluetooth-capable, internet-less text messaging / file transfer application, Portrait isn’t able to work over the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, only over real TCP/IP networks (including BT PAN and Wi-Fi P2P), which the Microsoft Bluetooth stack doesn't support because it lacks support for the Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN).
The same stands for the very similar but already abandoned Gphone . Finally, the other two, similar applications, ProximityMail and Bluetooth Chat, are no longer supported and have never really worked. (Note that I elaborate on the latter two apps and, particularly, the current, similar project of the developer of the former in the Appendix at the end of this article.)
At last: native Microsoft Bluetooth stack messaging solution; on the other hand, some compatibility problems
The new application is definitely good in that it supports the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, as opposed to Microsoft Portrait. If you have a device with the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, you’ll certainly welcome the new application – at last, a local native Bluetooth messaging solution that doesn’t require Wi-Fi peer-to-peer networks or an active Internet connection.
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Unfortunately, it has some severe problems. First, while the homepage of the application advertises the app as PPC2k2+-compliant, it doesn’t seem to work with pre-WM5 Windows Mobile operating systems. I’ve tested all the available versions with both Pocket PC 2002, WM2003 and WM2003SE. I've made some example screenshots (see this and this) to show you it doesn't work: as can be seen, the installer can’t even install the WM5-only CAB files.
Furthermore, it’s incompatible with Widcomm/Broadcom Bluetooth stack-based devices like all HP iPAQ Pocket PC's (an example screenshot of it refusing running on the hx4700 is here), the Fujitsu-Siemens T800 series, the Acer n series and, of course, the Widcomm-hacked, WM5-based Dell Axim x50(v)/x51(v)'s. This is a very bad problem: developers of Bluetooth applications should at last notice that, as has already been pointed out in my articles (example here), Broadcom has in the meantime made its WinCE SDK freely available.
Available versions and differences between them; Bluejacking support in the trial version
There are two versions worth mentioning; first, of course, the latest one, 1.2.368, available here.
Bluejacking (see this article for a complete description), one of the most important and innovative (no other Pocket PC application is capable of this) feature of the application, is completely disabled in the latest, above-linked version. Older versions (for example, version 1.1.237 available here at ClickApps), however, still support this functionality in the demo, except mass-sending more than one file at a time. That is, if you want to give this functionality a try in the demo version (I certainly recommend it), get the older version.
Some examples of it in action
A Pocket PC device discovering two other Pocket PC’s.
Compared to MS Portrait or any other TCP/IP-based chatter application (including IRC clients), its chat feature is a bit more complicated to use. This is how it happens in practice: Sending a message: step 1, step 2. On the receiving end, you get it (note that if you see it this way, it means you’ve forgotten to disable the auto-receive of incoming beam) and save it. If you answer Yes, you’ll be taken to the messages; it's only then that you'll be able to read it. There, you can, for example, reply to the sender.
Examples of file transfer (sending files) 1, 2 3 (sending multiple files like this doesn’t work in the demo). At the receiving end, they’re saved in the pre-set save directory.
An example of bluejacking.
Verdict
If you want local chatting with other Microsoft BT stack-based Pocket PC's or non-Windows Mobile Bluetooth phones, give it a try. If you can’t use a Wi-Fi peer-to-peer connection (or full Internet connectivity) between your WM5 Microsoft BT stack-based devices, give it a try. If you want to do some bluejacking, give it a try. Otherwise, particularly if you have a pre-WM5 or Widcomm/Broadcom-based device, stick with the free MS Portrait.
Appendix: What about ProximityMail and Bluetooth Chat?
Unfortunately, the other two native (non TCP/IP-based, unlike MS Portrait and Gphone) Bluetooth messaging applications, ProximityMail and Bluetooth Chat (latest, tested, still available versions 1.44 and 0.5b, respectively) are both useless and no longer developed.
The former, ProximityMail, will never be updated; the developer, Inventop Corp, has removed all references to the product, including even the old download link (also see this). Its successor, BUZZeeBee (see the homepage for more info), still only has a desktop PC version. (They have been promising the Pocket PC version for months; there is still no sign of it).
The latter, Bluetooth Chat by Andrey Demidov, hasn’t been updated for three years and also seems to be completely abandoned. Needless to say, it has never really worked either.

personal i find it odd whne somebody who have that many posts
deside to make something i can only describe as a commercial

Rudegar said:
personal i find it odd whne somebody who have that many posts
deside to make something i can only describe as a commercial
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there were a REAL alternative to this app, it wouldn't sound a commercial (check out my other, comparative reviews - I "trash" many apps I test). Unfortunately, when there is only one program for a given purpose, it's hard to write an article that doesn't sound like "musch as it has its share of problems, go get it".
As soon as there will be another, directly comparable alternate to this app, I promise to write a decent comparison

not working on omnia T_T

is there anything similar for android?

New, 2.6 version of Pocket Internet Explorer plug-in Webby Released!

It was some months ago that the previous, 2.5 version of the Pocket Internet Explorer plug-in (enhancer) Webby was released. Now, the new, 2.6 version has just been released.
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I really recommend the above-linked article to see what the advantages and the disadvantages of the previous version were. Here, I “only” elaborate on the new features and whether the problems or, at least, missing functionality I’ve emphasized in the previous version(s) have been fixed / implemented.
Webby is available here. It requires CF2 to run (make sure you download and install SP1, NOT the old, original version), which also means it’s “only” compatible with WM2003+ devices (bad news for pre-WM2003 (PPC2k, PPC2k2) users).
It has two versions: a free, severely “dumbed-down” (two tabs at most, two buttons definable – hardly any good, particularly when compared to the generous 2-4-week fully functioning trials of all comparable products, except for the slightly less dumbed-down NetFront) and a full (Pro) version. The latter costs $20, which is, in my opinion, quite much compared to the price (and capabilities / speed / compatibility) of Opera Mobile, NetFront or PIEPlus, the best, highly recommended alternatives (not to mention the free Mozilla / Firefox port Minimo, which gets better and better all the time and, now, is a pretty decent alternative at least on WM5 devices), particularly taking into account that the new add-on extension mechanism (still) doesn’t work in Webby.
Pros; new functionality
Add-in modules
Probably they are the most important features of the new version. These (are supposed to) implement additional functionalities like the URL builder known from MultiIE / PIEPlus.
Their list can be found here. Note that you should only visit this page from either Opera or Mozilla / Firefox on your desktop computer; for IE, it only returns the first part of the page.
Installing them is (that is, is supposed to be) pretty easy: just go to the above-linked plug-in homepage from inside Webby (you can use the “Get More Extensions” link in the Extensions tab in Options) and click the extension you’d like to download and install. It’ll ask you whether it’s allowed to install it; after the install, you’ll need to restart the browser.
The problem with these extensions is that they (still?) don’t exist on the homepage of the developer. Webby states them to have been installed but, in reality, nothing is downloaded (you can also check this in the \Program Files\Webby\extensions\ directory in the file system of your Pocket PC if interested). To make sure I'm not missing something, here’s a HTTP-level communication trace (two pairs of requests from Webby / PIE and two 404 Not found answers (that is, there indeed isn't anything in there; not even the linked extensions remote folder!) from the server): 1 2 3 4.
That is, you will want to wait until this problem is fixed, which I’ll surely report of. In the meantime, don’t even try to download extensions - it's just a waste of time because nothing will be downloaded.
Button support
The second most important new feature (which I probably missed the most from earlier versions) is the hardware button support.
As can be seen in this and this screenshots, the most important functionality (Back/ Forward; Previous/Next tab, Close everything but the current one / the current only; Full Screen toggle) is accessible.
It only allows for configuring six buttons on all PPC models (with wildly varying number of buttons). It seems all Pocket PC developers should read all my articles as I’ve elaborated on how all the available hardware buttons can be (very easily!) read out of the Registry more than one year ago ( Where does the PPC Registry store button mapping info - a tutorial (alternatives: PPC Magazine, BrightHand; make sure you also follow the link to More Programmers'/Hackers' Stuff, along with some cool Pocket Loox 7xx Hold Button Tips: More on Pocket PC Hardware Buttons for more info.)
Unfortunately, there is no way of for example using the tap-and-hold buttons of the WM5-upgraded hx4700 or the Pocket Loox 720. It’s not possible to define additional functionality for WM5 softkeys, unlike in PIEPlus 2.0+ and MultiIE 4.0+ either. However, it’s possible to enable WM5 softkeys for menus as can be seen in here: 1 2. This is certainly good news.
Also, it should be noted that the free version only supports two button redefinitions.
Cons
View: One Column mode still not supported
One of my biggest grieves with the past versions was the native support for the One Column mode of the underlying PIE. Unfortunately, this hasn’t changed.
This means if you must work on the full (unstripped) version of a page and, therefore, can’t use any Web compression / content stripper / online cruncher service like Skweezer, MobileLeap, Google Mobile or WebWarper (the four services Webby 2.6 supports out of box), you may end up having to switch to the normal view mode, which will result in a need for horizontal scrolling on a LOT of pages. This is a VERY bad bug in Webby!
Lack of context menus
Unfortunately, there are still no image / link / page context menus as can be seen for example here (which shows clicking an image link will bring up the traditional PIE context menu and nothing else).
This means you need to access all advanced functionalities like link target saving from the main menus. It’s only saving images (in WM5 IEM’s; it’s not available in pre-WM5 PIE’s) that is accessible via the context menu – as with IEM. Please also consult the Download Bible for more info on all these questions.
Verdict
The plug-in architecture is indeed promising. Too bad it doesn’t work yet. Hope it’s only a temporary problem, which will be fixed really soon. When it’s fixed, I’ll return to testing and let you know about how these plug-ins fare agains the competition (for example, the Address Bar plug-in against PIEPlus / MultiIE's comparable capabilities).
Plug-in problem aside, I still don’t really recommend this title over the latest version of stand-alone browsers like Minimo, Opera Mobile or, to a lesser extent, NetFront or Thunderhawk.
The same stands for PIEPlus, which I consider currently by far the best PIE plug-in. The latter is just far more capable (just compare their capabilities one by one!) and faster (don’t be mislead by the seemingly small download times: Webby uses the compression / content stripping service Skweezer by default; this is why it seems to be faster than any else PIE plug-in by default) than Webby.
Recommended links
The Web Browsers category in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's Expert Blog

REVIEW: mDesktop, a brand new phone controller app; comparison to Jeyo 2.1

Motionapps’ mDesktop (homepage HERE) has got pretty much press coverage in the last weeks; it’s been frontpaged at PPCT / SPT (link), Dial.ca (link), PalmAddicts (link) etc. As it was me who has published the most thorough comparative(!) reviews of all the comparable solutions (see the last one HERE, making sure you follow the links to the earlier ones), I’ve given the new title a very thorough try so that I can find out whether it’s worth checking out – that is, the question no one has answered so far. Also, I’ve thoroughly tested the new features of the recently-released, 2.1 version of Jeyo Mobile Companion, the most important, directly comparable application and compared it to mDesktop.
In a nutshell, mDesktop has the following features:
Control your smartphone from your desktop computer or laptop with mouse (on PPC devices), scroller and/or keyboard
General info on you device displayed on the screen of your desktop computer or laptop (info on network provider, battery state, received SMS or e-mails etc.)
Do all of this by using your desktop computer or laptop screen and keyboard:
Simple file management - view images and files on your device or transfer some from your desktop computer or laptop to it (or vice versa)
Tasks and appointment management (view and change existing ones or add new ones)
Search contacts, send SMS or e-mail
Call someone or respond to a call, click to put a call on hold or speakerphone, ignore call
Chat - no more browsing received SMS or typing in replies on your smartphone. mDesktop also saves all the words you wrote or received from someone.
Install applications by drag and drop - no more endless typing, tapping and clicking on your smartphone
Get all the system info on your smartphone displayed in one convenient place
OK, let’s see how it fares in practice and how it compares to the alternates. (Please DO read the above-linked articles; here, I will NOT present you an explanation of every single issue I list.)
First, some demo shots of the capabilities of the app:
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Threaded(!) SMS list (I’ve reduced the vertical size to hide personal phone numbers and such). Another example:
As can clearly be seen, the same list contains all the incoming messages – and the outgoing ones too for a quick and easy view of what has taken place.
Listing the contacts. Unfortunately, unlike with adding new appointments, writing SMS’es, e-mails, calling a number etc., it’s not possible to add new contacts.
Desktop control
Compared to other controller tools without(!) explicit phone application / PIM support (VirtualCE 4; Pocket Controller and My Mobiler being currently the three best):
Cons
Very high (at least three times compared to other solutions) CPU usage all the time (NOT ONLY in desktop controller mode!!); THIS screenshot shows about 80% on the QVGA 195 MHz TI OMAP-based HTC Wizard (about 70% on the 176*220 HTC Oxygen, also based on the 195 MHz TI OMAP). This is VERY bad and should be addressed at once. Why heating up the CPU when the user doesn’t even need the most CPU-intensive desktop controller mode?
Can’t run on non-phone devices
No text copy/paste between the desktop and the mobile
The remote controller keeps crashing on the high-res VGA WM6.1 HTC Universal (running Ranju’s v7.6), unlike on the non-high-res the s310, s710 (both with factory ROM’s) and HTC Wizard (with the AMP WM6.1 ROM))
Minor problems:
No JPEG quality setting when exporting screenshots (not that big a problem – you can decrease the quality afterwards)
Impossible to rotate the image of the screen (would be very handy at, say, looking at landscape GAPI games, the Thunderhawk browser etc.)
No video recording (unlike with, say, SOTI’s Pocket Controller)
No TCP/IP-based remote access / control (unlike with many of the alternatives)
With MS Smartphones, not any kind of (virtual) stylus emulation, not even the hotkeys (which are all supported by other device controllers)
Pros
Direct desktop-side GUI for writing SMS and e-mail messages, making appointments etc – much faster than doing the same through the controller (like with the other tools).
Access to everything (file system, system state, e-mails, SMS, contacts, calendar, tasks etc – traditional remote controllers only offer access to the first two)
Screenshot can export in all the four most common format (albeit without JPEG quality setting)
The HTC S710 keyboard works; so does the s310 dialpad
Phone-specific features:
Compared to Jeyo Mobile Companion 2.1 (which has lately received really nice phone-specific functionalities)
Pros
Full desktop control, as opposed to “just” taking screenshots (Jeyo screenshot of the latter)
System info is a bit more advanced than that of Jeyo
You can add tasks and appointments; in Jeyo, “only” contacts.
Jeyo doesn’t have a dial interface with buttons (not that entering the number directly into the dialog box would be THAT big a problem); mDesktop does.
Has direct access to the pictures on the PDA – and the files too (not that this would be THAT important)
Cons
Jeyo’s SMS writing interface is much better (see THIS)
In Jeyo, you can add new contacts (screenshot) – in mDesktop, you can’t
In Jeyo, you can set the home (Today) screen and the sounds
Jeyo also has a process list dialog
Jeyo allows for (even mass) copying between phone and SIM memory
Jeyo allows for clipboard synchronization
Jeyo has no measurable CPU usage
Jeyo has access to the full call list; no such feature in mDesktop
Jeyo has more sophisticated CAB installation: as can be seen, it even allows for installing CAB’s directly in ZIP files. mDesktop’s interface is much simpler: all it allows for is dragging a CAB file on it; then, it’ll automatically start ActiveSync to start installation
Both mDesktop and Jeyo support threaded SMS view (see THIS) and are very similarly priced ($19.99 / $19.95)
Verdict
mDesktop is pretty promising and is better than standard remote controllers like that of SOTI if you plan to add appointments, write SMS messages etc. very often, without using for example Outlook on the desktop (and relying on ActiveSync to synch the new records to your handset). However, being version 1.0 only, it surely has some major lacking functionality otherwise present in Jeyo (and the other way around). Currently, on the whole, I’ve found Jeyo 2.1 better – as long as you don’t need to mass-enter new tasks and appointments or don’t need the remote control capabilities. If you do, you’ll want to give a try to mDesktop; otherwise, stick with Jeyo (or, if you don’t need the phone-specific desktop functionality, “only” remote controlling, one of the three most recommended remote controllers). I really hope mDesktop will be improved in the (near) future and the most annoying bugs (most importantly, the HUGE CPU usage resulting in massive overheating and slowdowns) fixed. Fort the time being, I’m a bit hesitant to nominate it for this year’s Best [Windows Mobile] Software Awards, of which I'm the Nominations Manager (also this year).

Version v1.0.1 has just been released, fixing many of the issues I've pointed out, particularly the CPU usage bug.

REVIEW: Pocket Commodore 64/VIC 20 3.0 released with multiplayer,VASTLY improved core

A major breakthrough in C64 emulation: the long-awaited version 3.0 of Pocket Commodore 64 Plus Vic 20 has just been released!
If you’ve read the Commodore 64 Emulation Bible (make sure you read it; in this article, I will NOT elaborate on how you can import / run games under the emulator), you already know that Pocket Commodore 64 has, apart from the CPU usage problem, always been the best C64 emulator for the platform.
The new version, along with a plethora of new features,
- also fixes the CPU usage problem (on the 624 MHz Del Axim x51v, while just idling, while the previous version uses all the CPU cycles, the new one about 35%... 45% (measured on the x51v and the iPAQ 210, respectively; both running at 624 MHz).
- has built-in support for the Commodore VIC 20
- it supports edge softening on VGA devices (accessible via Settings / Soften video). This has excellent results. For example, compare the following two screenshots:
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(non-smoothed)
(smoothed)
The smoothed version is indeed much easier on the eyes – as is the case with, say, ScummVM running on high-res devices (not only on Windows Mobile but also, say, high-res Symbian devices like the E90).
Multiplayer - a full tutorial
Another major new feature is supporting a non-multicast IP-based LAN / Internet multiplayer games (read THIS if you don't know what they are and how they should be used). This works the following way (unfortunately, it’s pretty vaguely explained in the original docs so I found it better to explain it more verbosely).
1. Connect the two Pocket PC’s to the Net; make sure at least one has a direct IP visible. This is always the case in p2p networks like an ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection between the two Pocket PC’s or two PPC’s connecting to the same access point. However, as the IP model is VERY flexible (much more flexible than, say, doing the same with an app with native Microsoft BT support only), you can play a multiplayer game over any kind of connection – even with a remote friend.
2. Start the standard (PComm64) emulator on the server, on the client PCRemote64
3. On the server, go to Settings / Setup Controls (the third button from the top on the bottom left):
Click Network Game in the upper right corner of the interface (well above the huge Close button).
Now, PC64 will report the server running and will also display the IP you’ll need to enter to the client:

4. On the client, enter the server address (the input field takes the same area as the three virtual drive icons normally); here, 169.254.155.017 (note that it’s different from the previous screenshot)
and click Connect under the IP input field:
Note that all the file loading icons are disabled. This is because it’s always the server that must initiate file loading; the client doesn’t need to do anything.
I’ve played Wizard of Wor in this setup (over a Wi-Fi p2p LAN connection). Worked flawlessly (apart from being a little bit slow), particularly after increasing the, by default, 1 frameskip a bit. With Archon, however, firing didn’t work at all on either the server or the client, rendering the battle useless and, consequently, the game unplayable. I haven’t tested other, multiplayer games.
Emulation core compliance tests
The new version also boasts of a brand new emulator core. I’ve thoroughly tested it with my standard tools (games & demos) to see whether it’s true and how much it has been improved.
The emulation indeed seems to be better, meaning more games being compatible with the emulator. For example, while nothing happened after the cracking note with the old version, with the new, it got as far as the other, desktop-based emulators - with the Guild of thieves (Blast! 336 / *).
The demo tests have shown HUGELY improved compatibility:
- while it’s still incompatible with Altered States 50% by Taboo (compatible with VICE 1.21 on the desktop), it at least displays the first textual message screen (“His drive”…))
- Bumpmania by Arise resulted in exactly the same results than the other emulators (the first part ran OK; after that, it just showed a white screen)
- Biba 2 - Dream Injection by Arise – it sees a distorted, useless directory; can’t load anything
- Dutch Breeze by Blackmail runs pretty well
- Cycle by Booze Design: runs – with graphical glitches because of the FLI mode. At least the initial soundtrack selection screen is presented OK
- Follow the Sign 3 - Unsound Minds by Byterapers runs OK until after the logo:
Then, in the default Fast CPU emulation mode, it exists with an invalid opcode message and asking for enabling the accurate mode. Unfortunately, running it in the accurate mode doesn’t help either: it immediately hangs after the logo above.
- One-Der by Oxyron is played back OK in both(!) modes.
- Tower Power 100% by Camelot: works great (including the animated countdown) until the title in Fast CPU mode; then exits. Accurate mode doesn’t help either: it crashes.
All in all, the emulator core has indeed been made MUCH, incomparably better.
Cons
As far as the cons are concerned, unfortunately, the game still doesn’t seem to be compatible with MS Smartphones. That is, you’ll need to stick to the recently-updated and, now, by default QVGA and Landscape-compatible PocketHobbit. It has other bugfixes too and is (still) free.
Note that it does ask on touchscreen-enabled Pocket PC’s whether it has a touch screen. The "do you have a touchscreen device?" shows it MAY support non-touchscreen devices. However, on none of my Smartphones (HTC s310 WM5, HTC s710 WM6) did it work. While installing WMCab.cab worked, as opposed to PCommodore64Vic20Setup.exe - when installing the latter on the platform, the installer transferred a CAB file fully incompatible with the Smartphone –, the emulator itself refused to run complaining about a missing component. (Screenshots of the two Smartphones I’ve tested it on HERE and HERE).
I’m still waiting for the answer to some of my questions from the developers (for example, on possible rebates for 2.xx owners); as soon as I have some relevant info, I post an update.
Verdict
This is indeed a major breakthrough. The multiplayer, the lack of the CPU usage bug of the old versions and the really cool, new, MUCH more compatible emulator core makes this title a REAL must if you’re into Commodore 64 (and/or VC-20) emulation. While it’s a bit pricy, now, with all these enhancements and bugfixes, the emulator is certainly worth the money.

UPDATE (10/31/2009): Posted three videos demonstrating how multiplayer needs to be set up and used on three great two-player games.
Note:
1. in order to have access to the “fire” functionality, I had to manually assign each and every direction to the hardware D-pad and use the on-screen fire button to fire.
2. I needed to enter the IP of the server only once; this is why I don't enter it on the videos at all
3. I switch to "no slowdown" mode during loading of sll the three titles to speed up loading and skipping intros
The videos:
Adept (Archon II)
Wizard of Wor
International Karate

Hey Menneisyys!!
Long time no see you around
Cheers,

orb3000 said:
Hey Menneisyys!!
Long time no see you around
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still here - it's just that there are so few new apps / games to review (most devs have switched to the iPhone) that I much more rarely post than, say, two years ago.

tried it on my HTC Leo, it starts but the interface (on screen keyboard) does not works at all...

Same on TD2 with WM 6.5. Also the emu has totally disappeared from the manufacturer's website. I wonder what is going on? Not compatible with 6.5? Simply abandoned the program?

Anyone know if this is still available? I would love to try it on my TP2.

Joe USer said:
Anyone know if this is still available? I would love to try it on my TP2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know either - have been trying to contact them (I'm a paying customer); no answer so far.
(The worst is that I cannot activate it on my iPAQ 210 any more - that is, the device I've originally purchased it for.)