Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (
More info?)
My comment on logical was more on the subject of the file system. I really
believe the functioning of the PPC OS is very similar to the PC, with a few
idiosyncrasies, driven by the size, and the experience MS wanted to provide.
Automatically minimizing apps instead of closing them was in effort to
provide rapid program switching to the most used programs. Not having a
windowed, but rather a full screen app concept, is really driven by the
physical size. The on/off button really being a suspend/resume button is
based on the hardware needing refresh power to RAM and to give startup
speed. Opening an app to a file dialog rather than an empty app makes sense
if you believe the device will be used to view things more than create them.
I think you'll see that the OS really is much like a desktop if you give
something like Resco a shot. Just try the trial. Yes it does include a
better Find experience. Gives you the option to view file attributes, lets
you 'right click' (tap and hold) a folder and get the parameters, etc. It
also has a registry editor, and zip file support. If you are comfortable in
the Desktop file explorer, and I expect you are, you'll be comfortable in
Resco.
You are right. The Help needs some help, but there is only so much room to
put stuff. You may lean towards less apps and more instructions on how to
use them effectively. Others may lean towards more apps, dang the
instructions, don't use them anyway
There are some books on Pocket PC, but
they usually lag the OS a bit. If you go to Amazon and search for Pocket PC
you'll find some. The How to Do Everything with your PPC is pretty good and
is probably still pretty useful though I think it is based on PPC2000 and
you are on PPC2003. MS provides part of the help, but the OEMs do
supplement with Help for their specific apps. Users manuals are another
story. They do vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and year to year.
The best Help you will find is playing, and right here in the forums and the
enthusiast sites.
Yes, the built in Find, I think should find a number in excel, however
testing shows me it doesn't. I plan to bring that up with MS. I think that
is a bug. If you have #59.9 (a text value due to the # in front) in a
spreadsheet, Find will locate it if you look for 59.9. If you have 59.9 as
a number, it won't. I assume it is because it is not stored as 59.9 if it is
a number, versus if it is text. Still wrong. If you look for 227 it will
find every instance of 227 in phone numbers, house numbers, it's existence
in word documents, etc, but it won't find that plain numerical entry in a
spreadsheet. So I lied, but if you can remember you stayed at a Marriot and
you have that in a cell in the spreadsheet, searching for Marriot will
dredge up that spreadsheet, and every appt that has Marriot in the location
and every Marriot you have in Contacts, and e-mails that have Marriot in it.
It's really a 'file contains' search, in your documents.
I think you have come to grips with the Startup folder really doing the same
as the desktop startup folder. The difference is that On/Off isn't the same
as On/Off on the desktop. You can't turn the PPC Off, but you can reboot it,
a soft reset, which then triggers those startup items. It's like hitting the
reset button on you PC. You shouldn't really have to soft reset often, but
don't shy away from it either. It is like a desktop re-boot. Cleans out the
gunk, loads the OS fresh, so to speak, restores the memory that bad apps
have failed to release, etc. It does close apps unkindly, just like the
reset button on your PC, so make sure you don't have a word document open
that you have made changes to when you hit the button, you'll lose the
changes. Closing Word with a task switcher, like Dell's, or SPB Plus closes
it properly so that's not a problem. Incidentally, I noted you were going to
put the task switcher in the startup folder, and you were running Pocket
Plus. Pocket Plus gives you all the capabilities of the Dell Task Switcher
and more. I'd say loading Dell's switcher would just be taking up extra RAM.
Have fun with your PPC, there really is a lot more than can be done with it
than even those that created it envisioned.
--
Sven, MS-MVP Mobile Devices
"normc" <normc@socal.rr.com> wrote in message
news:loZWc.42147$rP2.34323@hydra.nntpserver.com...
> Sven, MVP-Mobile Devices wrote:
>
> > Not sure why you think it is illogical,
>
> Don't want to get into a pissing contest about logic. All people are
> not created equal when it comes to logic, and I may be on the short
> side, even though I've taken logic courses and done logical design.
> Sorry I neglected to say 'IMHO' <g>.
>
> > unless you think the windows on the desktop is as well.
>
> Not at all. After writing exec and autoexec files for PC/MSDOS and then
> having the pleasure of a startup folder in OS2 and MS Windows, I
> suspect that my problem is that I've been using Windows for so long, I
> just expected that the STARTUP folder worked like it does on virtually
> all the personal computers in the world. That is, unless otherwise
> specified. And I haven't been able to find any unique features
> described either in HELP or my Dell User's Manual.
>
> IMHO, there are a number of ambiguities in PPC 2003, which could have,
> and, IMHO, should have been covered in the documentation. Is not MS
> responsible for the online HELP? Perhaps it is only Dell that didn't
> provide anything useful in their User's Manual.
>
> One unique feature is the extra capability you get if you make your
> keyboard 'small'. It's a whole new world. Isn't this the same in all
> PDAs running PPC 2003? Has any manufacturer of PDAs documented this?
> Do they even know about it? Has anyone else here recognized this unique
> feature?
>
> > It follows that quite closely. You might want to get
> > yourself a File Explorer that is more like what you are accustomed to
like
> > Resco File Explorer. Looking at the tree it appears much like a desktop
PC.
> > The built in file explorer is not really intended to be used much by the
> > average consumer I would think. The applications you would use are
exposed
> > to the user on the start menu or the applications page. Each one
typically
> > opens to a file dialog that is filtered to documents appropriate to the
> > application loaded. You shouldn't need to dig for your files in the file
> > explorer.
>
> Thanks, I'll take a look at the Resco File Explorer. I've been using
> the latest version of Spb Pocket Plus to explore. Seem to be quite
adequate
>
> >
> > The Find work a bit differently but I think sensibly on the device. It
finds
> > strings in user data. If for instance you recall where an appointment is
or
> > who it is with, but don't recall the date, Find will get it for you.
>
> Yes, this is clear, and I have used it this way.
>
> > If you
> > know the amount, but don't know which Pocket Excel spreadsheet it's in,
Find
> > will get it for you.
>
> Please clarify this example. Are you saying that if I know an amount
> (number, dollars, etc.) that I put into a Pocket Excel spreadsheet, but
> I can't remember the name I gave the file, that I can find it by using
> FIND?????
>
> > If you are looking for oddball.dll, that's not what it
> > is for. If that's what you want, again Resco.
>
> So Resco has a browse (explorer) function and a FIND function? To find
> a number in a spreadsheet would require the ability to find a word, or
> set of words, such as Ransack/FileLocator does on the PC.
>
> >
> > As far as the Shortcuts folder, you'd have to ask Dell why they added
it,
> > it's not on my other PPCs. My guess would be to have a simple place for
tech
> > support to go and recover shortcuts that users deleted out of the Start
Menu
> > folder, instead of having to walk them through finding the app, creating
a
> > shortcut and moving it, and possibly renaming it.
>
> Your guess sounds good to me. That's where I went to get a copy of a
> shortcut for the Axim file switcher, to put in my STARTUP file.
>
> >
> > The Startup folder does exactly the same as the Startup folder does on a
> > desktop.
>
> That's the problem, it doesn't do exactly the same thing. IMHO, this is
> one of the many ambiguities in PPC 2003, that are ambiguous, primarily,
> because they are not explained anywhere. At least, not if you buy a
> Dell unit.
>
> The switch on my Dell that applies battery power or external power to my
> unit, is called a power switch. But now I have discovered, with much
> help here, that it really isn't a power switch. No... that's not really
> what I've discovered. What I've discovered is that it is a power
> switch, but that when you power up, PPC 2003 doesn't look in the STARTUP
> folder. It only looks there when you do a soft reset. Right?
>
>
> > You just need to understand that turning the unit on is not a
> > startup. A soft reset, somewhat equivalent to a re-boot, is. I know
there is
> > a way to programmatically detect turn on and execute based on that
detection
> > as there have been third party products that do that. My favorite was
the
> > one that played the Star Trek communicator sound whenever you turned the
PPC
> > on....that lasted for about a day on my Jornada.
>
> Regardless of the lack of logic or the ambiquities, the important thing
> is to be able to use it within the bounds of how it was designed to be
> used. Is there anything, anywhere, that I can beg, borrow, or steal
> that I can read to determine how it was designed to be used.
>
> Thank you, and the others, for your help.
> >
>
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