I have owned an O2 XDA for a while and I currently use an XDA II (Himalaya). I have now found myself supporting 8 XDA IIs devices and 15 XDA IIi devices, in addition to 6 Blackberries.
We are currently running Blackberry Enterprise Server and although I do not like the software or the devices very much I can't deny their impressive features. For the XDA devices we have a contract with O2 and provide wireless Active Sync and OMA using MS Exchange over both WiFi and GPRS, however management for the devices is a bit lacking. I am forever setting up devices for users who have hard re-set their devices or let them go flat.
With the Blackberrys the BES software can manage the fleet of devices, push software to them, define policy etc.
My question is, has anyone else used software that can manage PDA devices in an organization. I have been reading about MS System Management Server and its Device Management Feature Pack. Has anyone used this, is it any good, reliable etc.
I have looked into Blackberry software for the PDA's and it seems possible, but I would rather integrate with active directory and group policy if I can.
Also what are the possibilities of cooking ROMs and deploying them, such as getting rid of that damn O2 software and installing the GPRS monitor? While I am at it can I automatically collect log files in any way, such as the GPRS software or Active Sync errors (coz I get that allot of them). It would beet setting up all this stuff by hand. I will go ahead and give this a try anyway I think but I would be interested in talking to any one that has done this before.
In return I have noticed that there is not much information here on these subjects, and I would be happy to share my experiences in this area if it is needed.
Thanks for the advice.
I think you scared everyone off. What a scary thought, having to support that many devices. Just one is enough of a pain for most on here!
Well I have managed to configure the ExtROM of the blueangle deviced, and i am happy to say that my users can now take there xda IIs devices on the road, if they go flat, or hard reset, all is ok. I installed the demo version of Microsoft SMS server on my test network at home and i love it. Using this I created cab files that configured activesync, GPRS, VPN and browser settings that now mean my users only need to set the time, and put in the username and password and the hole thing is up and running, GPRS sync and all (my boss is very happy). All I need to do now is convince them to buy the software.
I am looking in to useing WMI to collect device information, and perhaps a .NET app to gather loggs etc.
Thanks for all your help. I could not have done this without this forum, cooking up my ExtROM and geting rid of the O2 software and even puting on a company splash screen are all very cool. (oh and i upgraded my xda 2 to 2005 while i was at it )
Some thougts
a cab to configure WiFi ? (registery patch?)
will the XDA IIi be as easy?
could i install tom tom useing the ExtROM ? to many prompts ?
and my origanl plee for help stands,
thanks again guys
Running 40 XDA2, some on a BES server, all using a flaky bespoke software requiring a BT connection!
Need some help on the MKROM stuff as I'm fed up of activsync 10+ times a day
Bits of this post have popped up elsewhere on the forum but have never (AFAIK) been fully addressed.
I am using a Wizard running on the T-Mobile network. I am subscribed to their "Total Internet" service courtesy of my employer and use the T-Mobile My-Email service to keep an eye on my personal emails.
The reason for this post is last week I upgraded to a new ROM which was primarily built for the Cingular network. I chose not to install the extended ROM but instead applied a number of cabs that I have written / collected that keep my phone working and looking like my phone...However I forgot to install the cab to configure the T-mo email client. - This got me thinking, how do I use the stock push email functionality within WM5? The icon is there in Connection Manager but it is disabled. I have looked on the internet for other push email solutions but they all rely on their own PPC client. Nothing that I have seen appears to use the embedded functionality. Can anybody explain how this push email functionality all hangs together?
Hi,
Maybe I am beating a dead horse but could somebody please help me with these questions about BBConect.
Device: T-Mobile MDA with ROM version 2.26.x
Questions:
1. What are the advantages of using BBConnect (other than receiving emails from BB Servers)
2. Where does it write emails to (Outlook Inbox or any designated folder)?
3. If I use BBConect can I still use ActiveSync to synchronize with other Outlook Inbox folders?
4. I have seen somewhere that the WAP proxy needs to be changed: How does it affect other apps like T-Zones? Can I still connect to the Internet using GPRS?
5. How easy is it to install, configure & operate BBConnect?
Also if somebody could give a step-by-step install guide (all pdfs I downloaded are not in English), that will really help out.
Thanks in advance.
Before answering, I can tell you that rom 2.26 and the current BB connect client do not work. You will have to use a different rom. For me, based on postings on teh forum, qtek 2.17 and cingular radio 2.25 work well.
Now to your questions:
1. What are the advantages of using BBConnect (other than receiving emails from BB Servers)
replacement for bberry service and device. if your company has a BES server, you can now use your MDA to get corpoarte email. (I do not believe it works with blackberry internet service)
2. Where does it write emails to (Outlook Inbox or any designated folder)?
designated folder
3. If I use BBConect can I still use ActiveSync to synchronize with other Outlook Inbox folders?
yes
4. I have seen somewhere that the WAP proxy needs to be changed: How does it affect other apps like T-Zones? Can I still connect to the Internet using GPRS?
yes. BBerry will use a different connection. My MDA deals pretty well with switching from one connection to teh other (automatically)
5. How easy is it to install, configure & operate BBConnect?
if you have the right ROM, pretty easy. see the other posts on teh forum. But you can't6 use rom 2.26 yet.
Thanks for the answers.
I guess I will wait for T-Mobile to update the ROM.
I am not against running other ROMs, it is just that I have bricked couple of devices and wasted too much time to get the data back.
-G
Is there any option to have blackberry and MSN Messenger simultaneusly connected?
not really: they use different GPRS access point.
I know this thread is dead for some time, but I would like to get ne1fl0w5 wave here.
I have a Qtek 9100 from Claro (Telmex Brazilian sub). It was running 2.22.17.1 PTB ROM and 2.46.11 radio rom. First tried all BBConnect clients available (they were many). All installed but would halt at "Not connected" after first provisioning of the device and connection through GPRS/EDGE. After duly CIDunlocking the Qtek at imei-check (mine is a G4, I forgot to mention), I took a deep breath and decided to give it Vodafone's ROM a shoot.
I followed these instructions and managed to make it work.
Now, to your questions:
Questions:
1. What are the advantages of using BBConnect (other than receiving emails from BB Servers)
First of all, I have to say that I find (or thought, at first) BB email services excelent, but the devices really bad. Those little keys are small even for my 9-month old baby. Besides that, that trackwheel will certainly cause repetitive stress injuries. I used for less than a day and my arm started aking (please, don't say I am fragile) In addition, it was not made for lefties such as me. And the 8700g does not have an efficient cursor (for instance, if you are to delete a letter in the beggining of a line (or two words before the cursor), you would have to delete everything and retype the text.
For those reasons, I prefer the Qtek...
As per the system itself, I have to say that emails are delivered really fast to each of them. In Blackberry connect, the calendar items are also syncronized correctly as well. However, it did not sync my contacts (and it is probably not meant to), as opposed to the Blackberry device, in which both were available.
2. Where does it write emails to (Outlook Inbox or any designated folder)?
Designated folder. You can chose which server folders you want sync'd as well.
3. If I use BBConect can I still use ActiveSync to synchronize with other Outlook Inbox folders?
Yes. However, BBConnect uses a dedicated GPRS connection and it will compete with Outlook for the radio. You will probably have issues if you are looking for concurrent exchange push functionality.
4. I have seen somewhere that the WAP proxy needs to be changed: How does it affect other apps like T-Zones? Can I still connect to the Internet using GPRS?
Whenever you connect to do anything else, your BB connection will be lost.
5. How easy is it to install, configure & operate BBConnect?
It was hard to install all Roms required to make it work, but once you have this part finished, it is very easy to get things going.
Also if somebody could give a step-by-step install guide (all pdfs I downloaded are not in English), that will really help out.
The post above gives you all the directions (except for creating the blackberry.net connection, which is not necessary).
Sorry for the lenghty (and completely out of time) post, but I would like to share this with you.
Also, I would like to say that I was not very impressed with the way things eventually got working. first thing I noticed was that the reconciliation with the server was not complete. For instance, read messages did not display as such at my server, only at the device. In addition, the BB service uses lots of storage and memory.
In the end, I prefered my Qtek 2.22 rom (much faster to load) and much better loking style. Because of all this, I have just reverted to Qtek's rom and decided to go with email redirection to an external exchange sp2 account. Although we have that in the office, they have high security standards (but forgot to prevent email redirections).
Rafael K
BB Connect on WM6
Blackberry is running smoothly in Universal with WM6 Rom all thanks to c0rnholio. He figured out a way to change the string that will work through decoding>changing>encoding and flashing and finally a small aku registry change.
I was wondering if same thing can be done with wizard.
Here is how-to from c0rnholio
I managed quite easy to get BB Connect running (for company email via BES).
I had the 2.24 (Mr Clean) OS ROM, 2.24 Bootloaders and 2.25.11 Congular Radio. I knew that would not support BB.
I took the OS and ExtROM from the QTek 2.17 package, changed the pagepool to 8MB (BB was said to be a memory consumer), repacked them to a new nk.nbf (with only OS and ExtROM), upgraded, installed BB Connect 2.1.2.31 (downloaded from the Vodafone.de website) and voila!
By just following the Blackberry Connect tutorial (also downloaded from vodafone.de) I had it going.
Good to know:
-I did this exercise after I received my Blackberry device from my employer (I was happy with the functionality, not with the device). So I was sure that the BB functionality was Ok for my company email account.
-When I generated the key for my PDA PIN the Blackberry device was no longer functional (I can think of reasons why).
-I did not have to use the SIM I have in the Blackberry device, in my PDA I am still using my Voice SIM (which also has a data plan)
Hi
I'm also working on getting BBconnect to work with the newer roms. I managed to get it to work with the latest Tmobile rom 2.26. But Crossbow still no luck.
I looked at the solution for changing the strings, but unfortunatly the strings mentioned are not in the crossbow rom...so can't change them (I guess they're different?).
I have contacted Faria; he seems to have a way to tweak the system so that it will work. He's currently on holiday but as soon as I have some info I'll post it here.
Did you try to get it to work on the latest aku3.3 rom?
now works
I've got it now working on all roms...including Crossbow. There is a detailled explanation in the developing forum that shows how to change the rom for BBconnect to work.
Is there an easy way to do this?
I am not a complete newbie, but I am certainly no expert in hex editing, so I was wondering if there is an wasy way to make it work on other Wizard ROMs, including the Brazilian provider I am hooked with.
Currently I am using Tmo's ROM, but there are a lot of features in this ROM I do not use and that take lots of space...
Thanks
Hacking isnt that difficult, it's just that you need to understand how it works.
The thread in Development & Hacking says it all.
I think (just have to dare to flash the hacked os now!) I managed to hack the official AKU3.3 WWE ROM.
Hello together,
could you please be so kind to help me. I have a XDA Mini o2. But I want to use another operator. How can I get the o2 Software / Branding / Applications without loosing Windows Mobile away? Thanks for all
kind regards
Eduard
>_> um, I'm not on an O2 operator, and before I modded my old Mini, it worked quite fine with its default O2 software.
Hi, thank you for answering. Generally the main functions work without any problems. But the email client makes a peck of trouble. Thanks
The email client isn't determined by any operator settings - it's user defined (at least that's in my experience). For all other things - MMS, text messages etc, O2 should have included a few other country/operator specific settings inside the autoconfigurator.
I successfully configured mine for Hotmail (although I painfully regretted doing this soon enough, since I had planned to use the device to empty a spam trap, and it was more trouble than it was worth -.-)
Hi guys,
Just got an Ameo (love it to bits already!) and couldnt find messenger on it anywhwere. I duly called T-Mobile customer service who told me it had to be downloaded. Wierdly you cant actually download it - just use the rather ropey web based beta! So me being me I decided to hunt the 'windows' diretcory, and lo and behold it was there.. so I created a shortcut on the start menu and voila! Of course the server for live messenger seems to have gone down so I cant try it (doesnt work on my exec so it isnt theh Ameo version at least!).
Or you could have navigated to "Pocket MSN" on your device and made the selection from there
Calavaro said:
Or you could have navigated to "Pocket MSN" on your device and made the selection from there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like T-Mobile needs a tutorial on this device. The quality of support seems to be getting worse and worse.
My experience is that, with the exception of GPRS / MMS settings, no company know anything about how XDA phones work. Which I suppose in some ways is to be expected, they are a niche market - or were until recently, at least.
Other than ringing T-Mob about my MMS settings, I've never rung them - or O2 for my Xda, Xda2, Xda2i or XDA Exec. It's just a waste of a phone call for the most part. Best stick to Xda-Dev and the other few places where the real knowledge resides.
Ant
My point was there was no 'Pocket MSN' on my device!! Unlike my Exec (with WM6).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=302152