One catch is the need to have a Windows OS enabled device.
The creators have nicely created a couple of different versions – ranging from PDA / phones with Windows Mobile, as well as the ability to have it on any GPS device with a Windows CE Core.

Having purchased a Windows CE based GPS unit from Aldi, I found a few guides which would allow me to modify it so as to bypass the default ‘interface’ and to interact with the core OS.
Here’s a concise guide how to do it – and should only take you about 20 minutes.
Credit: I discovered the specific chipset used on the device from here.
There was another guide dealing with a similar device that outlines how to do this ‘hack’ here.
Warning: I provide this guide ‘as is’ with no warranties or guarantees. This worked for me – but there can be things that change in models, or other glitches that can happen along the way. If you happen to kill your device in the process, that is your fault – and have only yourself to blame.

You’ll need:

Step One
Having installed ActiveSync / Mobile Device Center, connect the PDA/GPS to the computer
Next, browse to the files / folders on it.

The manual actually tells you to backup the GPS software (Found under ResidentFlash\NNG). Do this if you want, but it’s not necessary for this hack.

Step Two
Fire up CE Reg Editor. Connect to your device, and you should be able to see the registry of it, just like you would on your own PC.
Note: For Windows 7, I had to put it into ‘compatability mode: XP SP 3′, and “Run as Administrator”.

Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder. You’ll have to do a few modifications.
Note: The guide tells us to remap the My Documents, Application Data, Desktop & Programs. I’m fairly confident this isn’t important – but remap to the SD card if you’d like (means you have more space to work with).
The real key is the first change. IF you’re going to change the others as well, might as well do it all now.
To Change the value of the registry key, simply select the key on the right hand panel (eg. Launch50), and then change the text in the “Value name” field:

List of values to change:

1- HKEY_Local_Machine\init\Launch50
Old value: launch.exe
New value: explorer.exe

2- HKey_Local_Machine\System\Explorer\ShellFolders\Desktop
Old value: \Windows\Desktop
New value: \SDMMC\Desktop

3- Hkey_Local_Machine\System\Explorer\Shell Folders\Programs
Old value: \windows\programs
New value: \SDMMC\Programs

4- Hkey_Local_Machine\System\Explorer\Shell\My Documents
Old value: \My Documents
New value: \SDMMC\My Documents

5- Hkey_Local_Machine\System\Explorer\Shell\Application Data
Old value: \Application Data
New value: \SDMMC\Application Data
Note: There doesn’t seem to be an “Application Data” folder created in the \ root directory (where as there is the “My Documents” / “Desktop” / Programs”). I created one on the SDMMC just for good measure (in case “Application Data” is a hidden directory).

Once you’ve modified the registry, copy the folders from where they were originally ( \ root directory) to your SD Card.
Also, whilst you’re at it: Create a folder on the SD Card called “Ozi Explorer”. Copy the contents of the ZIP File into there.

At this point, we’ve updated the registry, and copied over the the Ozi Explorer program. Next, restart the system. You can either goto “Tools | Reset Device” within CeReg Editor, or you can just turn the device off and on again.
If all has gone well, you’ll be greeted with the warm, familiar Windows Explorer Interface:

From now on, every time you start up the device, it’ll boot into Windows CE.
This only presents a small problem with accessing the navigation programs: So, we’ll create some shortcuts to these programs on the desktop.
Remembering, we have no mouse or keyboard, so we have to improvise with a touch screen. There’s an ‘onscreen keyboard’ we will be using – accessed via the little keyboard icon in the bottom right of the screen.

On the top left corner is an icon called “My Device” – this is basically the equivalent of “My Computer”, the file explorer for Windows.
Double tapping that opens up the main screen:

Browse to the ResidentFlash drive – which is the system reserved partition for the GPS software.
Open NNG, and you’ll see the files pertaining to the GPS software:

Select NNGNAVI (with the blue ‘iGo’ icon).
Go to EDIT – COPY. Then EDIT – PASTE AS SHORTCUT.
Select the “Shortcut to NNGNAVI” file and go EDIT – CUT.
Close that Window, and when on the desktop, go to the onscreen keyboard, tapping first CTL and then V (Ctrl-V, universal shortcut for ‘paste’):

Similarly for Ozi Explorer; Go to My Device, Browse to the SDMMC drive.

Open up the ‘Ozi Explorer’ directory you created, and copied the files into. Select “OziExplorerCE”, EDIT – COPY, EDIT – PASTE AS SHORTCUT.
Select “Shortcut to OziExplorerCE” and EDIT – CUT; Go to the desktop, and paste (CTL then V).

You can do this with any program that you install onto the SDMMC card.
Note on installation of files
This particular Windows CE installation wipes any changes you make to the system – ignoring shortcuts on the desktop (remember how we moved the links to the desktop, etc. at the very beginning to the SD card? That’s so that the system wouldn’t wipe our hard work every time we shut the system down). This is because Windows CE is the same OS used on ‘Kiosk’ Terminal machines: Any changes attempted to be made to the system will be wiped / undone as soon as the system reboots (all the core OS files are stored on a ROM – Read Only Memory). Unless you’re logged in as ‘administrator mode’ which normally requiring a combination of key strokes to be pressed on boot – you can’t modify the core system settings or save it back to the ROM.
So make sure you install additional software to your SD card.

When you press the power button, the system will only go into hibernation mode; luckily, the system designers added a shutdown command on the desktop:

Double tape the icon marked “EXIT” and you’ll get a prompt saying “Shutdown?” with a big YES and NO to choose from.

There you have it – a more functional GPS unit, for only AU$129.

]]> http://equima.pfpfree.net/2010/aldi-go-cruise-4300-hack/feed/ 17 http://equima.pfpfree.net/2009/if-its-not-broke-sometimes-it-just-cant-be-broken/ http://equima.pfpfree.net/2009/if-its-not-broke-sometimes-it-just-cant-be-broken/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:36:22 +0000 sparky http://equima.pfpfree.net/?p=139 As part of my work, I was required to do a demonstration / instructional on an introduction to Windows 7. My main interest was getting people to understand how Windows 7 has changed from Windows XP (since many people avoided Windows Vista, and now have heard how great Windows 7 is) and also to see the benefits in moving to Windows 7.

One of the things I really wanted to demonstrate was the compatability mode, showing how old programs can be forced to run in a environment that pre-dates Windows 7.
It’s quite useful for older programs that worked fine under Windows XP, but seem to struggle / have issues (for whatever reason) under newer Operating Systems.
So, I hunted around my office, and found a copy of Lotus Smart Suite 9.6.
I figured that since this program came about in 2000/2001 it should break enough to require Compatability Mode.

However, sadly (or goodly, as it may be) it didn’t need to. When installing, I did have to run the setup.exe as an Administrator (because otherwise it couldn’t write to the registry). It prompted that there was an incompatability with Lotus 1-2-3 printing certain formats, but you clicked through that, and it installed OK. And then – it ran fine. No problems.
I even tried an old version of Winamp. That worked fine too.

I’ve only ever had to force Compatability Mode for playing older games, and they work fine under that.
I’m keen to find an actual program that WONT work in Compatability Mode, and that requires the Windows 7 Professional ‘XP Mode’ Virtual Machine.

So far, all I can say is that Windows 7 is freakin’ awesome.

And at this point in time, there’s a lot of speculation around the ‘hype’ of Windows 7′s ability to perform on older hardware.
Vista suffered from the ‘lets throw more hardware at it‘ syndrome – where you don’t ensure enough backward compatibility, and tried to bring about too much change in one hit.
Funnily enough, many users expect their computer of 5 years to be able to handle the next operating system – not being fully aware of the changes in technology. Which is fair enough – to a point; It’d be nice if users actually read the ‘minimum’ and ‘recommended’ requirements for the program they’re trying to install, and to then follow that thinking, investigate what they have, and then learn a bit along the way.

A lot of people don’t always want to upgrade their system. It’s a comfort thing. They know where their files are. They know how things look, and feel, and where to find elements of the system (control panel, programs, games, etc). Others are willing to throw away a computer that’s two years old (and was top of the line when they bought it) simply because it’s running slow.
What they might find is that they have some virus’s or malware – or just too many programs running, causing the slow down. More RAM and a clean up would help it – but they don’t care. Like many organisations, they just throw money at the problem, and that should fix it.
Right? Wrong.

So, we’re hoping people are going to start appreciating what they have, and maybe take maintainance measures to draw out the life of their computers – Perhaps this is also part of the reason why windows 7 is ‘said’ to be able to work on a:

• 1 Ghz 32-Bit or 64-Bit Processor or higher
• 1 GB of system memory or more
• 16 GB of available disk space
• DVD-R/W Drive

Apart from the ’16 GB’ of disk space, that’s pretty much a standard PC. That’d almost work on my old 900 Mhz Duron – which is 9 years old!
If you have a 40 GB Drive – which many systems come with as a basic setup, especially in corporations- Then that might be starting to get too close. With half your drive spent on the Operating System, you’d be possibly dealing with a bit of a slow system. Possibly.

There are some people (Farseeker, of this site, and more notably – John C Dvorak) who think that the current state of Windows 7 (The beta of which runs quite happily on my EEE 701) is only a facade: That whilst it runs nicely, and efficiently now, the final product will be bogged down with ‘crap-ware’.
And, as John Dvorak happily notes – he feels that the success of Microsoft – indeed, the entire Windows line – is based on whether Windows 7 works – and works well.

I agree – in part – with this opinion. Vista was a bad move by Microsoft. Even they’ve admitted to that. However, whether people like it or not – They still hold the market in most corporate environments. But part of the key to Windows 7 is how it will be priced -  especially given the current ‘economic crisis’.
Windows XP, whilst great for its time – is buggy. More and more security holes / flaws are being discovered, and I don’t think that patching the Swiss-cheese like architecture that is XP is going to work forever.

The real ‘key’ to Microsoft’s success with Windows 7 is two fold.
1. Pricing. They need to price it in such a way that it wont be hideously expensive, but still represent a value for money. Both in terms of features and security. Corporations aren’t going to spend $400 per machine to upgrade. Especially in an environment consisting of 500+ desktops and laptops.
And the average Joey Bloggs isn’t going to upgrade his nicely working year old Vista machine – especially if he’s just layed out a pretty sum for it.

2. Upgrade path. At the time of writing, every indication has said that there’s no way of ‘upgrading’ from Windows XP. The architecture is just too different. However, you *could* go from XP – Vista. Hmm.
Win7 is based on Vista – but I wonder how much of the ‘base system’ they actually changed that you can’t go from XP – Win7.

Or is this another ‘push’ to customers to do a clean install? Those of us in the industry know the benefits and ‘psychology’ of a clean install. Things are fresh, and you don’t bring your old garbage to the new house. Microsoft tried the ‘push’ strategy with Vista by forcing people to upgrade their hardware. That went down like the Titanic.

It’ll be interesting to see how much the economy of current times will affect the release and adoption of Windows 7.

We’ve had the credit bubble go *pop*,  the subsequent mass hysteria of everyone pulling money out of investments so fast (thanks to the wonder of technology: High speed Internet and Internet banking) causing entire countries to become bankrupt, and generally society starting to panic and think “Is this the next Great Depression?”.
That question, I’m not in a position to answer – nor is it the purpose of this post. Rather, considering where consumerism has taken technology.

So, there was this lovely scene. Everyone was working for someone, making some money – and then you had these people in the financial sector willing to give out credit to the workers – it didn’t matter how much you earned, you could get a line of credit from as little as $2000, to as much as $20,000. Whether you could repay it or not they wouldn’t care.
Some people don’t really think about that. They just thought: “You beauty, quick money – I can get all those cool things I want” – but don’t really need.

That well suddenly dried up – and the horse drinking from it: no one’s seen him since.
The last 10 years has seen some dramatic growth and change in technology: I point it squarely at the consumer market.

Advertisers are always trying to get the everyday person (consumer) to feel that they need something to fill their otherwise boring life. That new 52 inch Plasma. That 10.2 surround sound system.The latest Mac Book pro. Anything they think will help them get on with everyday life in a more ‘interesting’ fashion.

The huge profits that this generated for the companies allowed them to push Research and Development, to make things better, & to find new technologies. Along the way, the additional hype of a growing energy crisis and shortfalls in resources has prompted certain companies to rethink what resources they are using. Never a bad thing – provided they could come up with a reason why they’re wasting it all on products that in 8 years are going to sit in a rubbish dump.

It’s always a ‘short lived’ focus.

People used to go out every 6 – 12 months and get the newest, greatest digital camera.  People will now stick to the one they’ve got. The number of mega pixels is irrelevant these days. They all do a fantastic job of capturing an image. That’s all it has to do.
People are no longer throwing out computers that are a year or two old because they’re “getting slower”. They’re putting more memory in it, running maintenance procedures, and trying to make it last a little bit longer. One has to wonder how long they’ll really last – but it’s reasonable to expect at least a 5 – 8 year life span.

I’d like to think hope that we’re going back to a different mindset. Sure, the ‘throw away’ society will remain to a degree, but maybe people will hold off on throwing away technology that still works for a little while longer.

In my current line of work, I do a lot of tech-support, and trouble-shooting/repair of infected and non-working systems. This means having to install programs from my USB Memory Stick on occassion, which means this little stick does get into some dangerous territory.

I’m not one that usually has protection (AntiVirus or Firewall) on my desktop at home – since I stay away from the types of sites you might get your computer sick from.

Alas, I have learnt my lesson. It took 2 mins. 2 mins of innocence, where I plugged the stick into my system, and the deed was done. 98 Infections – well, trojans and various ‘messy’ malware; all found using MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. I backed up the critical documents, and then wiped the drive.

It may have been safe, but I just dont trust these critters these days. They’re smart, and hide deep. Nothing beats a full wipe.

No matter how geeky, technical, or Boffin-like you are: It seems no one is safe anymore.

Now, apart from the general ‘hype’ around anything that’s meant to be able to ‘kill’ or be a ‘better’ alternative to Microsoft’s latest operating system, the idea that this particular version/distribution of Linux has the ability to put Vista to death is just absurd.

I had the oppertunity to use Vista for a time – partly as a feasibility study for my work, and partly out of my own self-interest to see what progressions / changes Microsoft had made to it’s OS.
My own personal criticism’s were that it required too much memory and drive space, and was quite a ‘bloated’ operating system in general. Now, of course, this is in light of the ‘average’ technology that is still kicking around for 90% of the populace. From that perspective, to call Ubuntu 8.04 “The Vista Killer”, would maybe be accurate. But even I, a linux user, find it a bit far fetched.

Windows is still the primary operating system being suppored by a large percentage of products – with Apple’s ‘Mac OS’ coming in second place. Adobe is a good example of industry software that is only supported on those two major operating systems.
Linux does have it’s open source ‘alternatives’, (and admittedly I’ve not spent much time in using or even trying any large number of these) but even I don’t believe that all of these are in a position yet to be used widely by industry. Don’t get me wrong, I have every faith that there will one day be open source software that is usable by various industries – but this isn’t the reality we live in. Not yet.

Sometimes I just wish that consumer-orientated publications could be a little more ‘balanced’ in their approach – and marketing. Considering the criticism’s I found with Vista, Windows 2000 could be percieved a “Vista-Killer”. So could the latest Mac OS. So could Dos.

It all comes down to what part of Vista (in this case) that you’re not liking, and want a ‘better’ alternative to.
I suppose, ultimately, it’s all subjective.