Database Users

Im Getting My Magician Tomorrow!

Hi Guys,
Been using this great site for a while now but im not a great poster! lol Ive bought a Magician and it will be arriving tomorrow and just wondered if there is anything that i should be looking out for?
For example, what mods do you recommend? I.E Bluetooth Fix (may not exsist but just gave example) I cant wait to get it as ive used a few before and been very impressed!
Also does anyone have a link for TomTom 5 Cracked? would be much appriciated! :lol:

Hi, welcome to XDA DEV and congratulations with your purchase! If you search this forum, you will find many fixes and mods that have been applied to speed up the magician (through registry edits), gain extra memory (BigStorage is a good one!), improve the BT stack, remove the Simlock etc etc. Just look in the Magician forums and you will find many tweaking hapiness there. Be sure to back-up first before applying any mod, since they might cause a hard reset and data loss. Please DON'T ask for illegal software here, there is enough of that to be found on the internet, but not in this community. We like to tweak and mod things, but intend to do nothing illegal here. If any software or hack here is illegal in your country, don't use it.
Have fun with your new Magician!

Thanks for the welcome Koksie! Ive been having a browse though and thought that maybe it would be good to get a Top 10 things to do to your magician?
Just thought it would be handy for people like me that are new to the magician.
Can someone explain what bigstore is please? Sounds great.
BTW it hasnt arrived yet its scheduled before 1pm though!

Do a search for BigStorage, it involves flashing your Rom with a custom made one you made yourself. You can use the ROM that came with it ( if it is a new one, you will get the latest ROM I presume) or with a newer one ( if yours is a second hand device and has an older version. 1.13 is the newest one at the moment. Check in your start-settings-device information) Since a flash removes all your data, the best thing is to do it before you put any programs and information on it. basically it deletes the Extended ROM ( where your provider puts all its settings) and merges it with the internal storage, adding 20 MB extra of ROm storage, in other words, another 20 MB extra of memory that will not be deleted in case of empty battery. Another advantage of 20 MB of extra ROM is that you save another 20 MB of RAM (by ebanling you installing aps to ROm instead of RAM), so your Magician will be much faster and less battery consuming. Search for BigStorage and the method (including backing -up the Extended ROM for later use) will be explained in detail in several threads.
Same goes for removing the Simlock or extending the BT profiles. Just search for the right terms and the methods will pop-up.
Other worthwile apps are DKToday, BT SwitchIt, tel-on-off, AEBPlus and MortButtons. Check these out, they are very usefull apps. Many registry tweaks are also posted, they help to speed up your magician, change behaviour of applications and settings etc. You are right that a top 10 would be helpful, but just searching the forum will help a lot. for regedits serach for "registry edit magiacian"and I am sure helpful threads will appear.

sorry for the idiot question but how do you install skins?

jaso2005 said:
sorry for the idiot question but how do you install skins?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search for Wisbar Advance. It's the app that applies the skins. :wink:

You can find many skins on www.yorch.net, including instructions on how to install them. There are many other skin sources and progs on the market, some for free. Search and the shall find my man, google is thy friend!

This page is a useful read on hints and tips.
http://www.ppcsg.com/lofiversion/index.php/f20.html
And especially:
http://www.ppcsg.com/lofiversion/index.php/t50029.html
V
PS something you're bound to ask at some point, because everyone does, is how do you sort your contacts First Name, Last name?
Search against my userid. I've answered it a million times!

jaso2005 said:
Thanks for the welcome Koksie! Ive been having a browse though and thought that maybe it would be good to get a Top 10 things to do to your magician?
Just thought it would be handy for people like me that are new to the magician.
Can someone explain what bigstore is please? Sounds great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in the same position as you are, as I recently switched from an XDAI (Wallaby) to the Magician.
Here are some things to consider and do.
1. You will definately fall in love with the device if you are a bit like me or the rest of the people here. You will want to use a long time, so before you go and use the device regularly, GET A SCREEN PROTECTOR. Even if it is just a cheap one to start with, protect the screen.
2. The regular Bluetooth stack is pretty unimpressive. It works OK, but does not offer a lot of options. If you are going to use BT get the CAB install that has just recenty popped up and is currently being discussed here. You can download in that thread, then you have a ton more options regarding BT.
3. The camera on my O2 branded device is crap (blue speckles in low light conditions). There is a fix out there to solve the problem a little bit. The ultimate solution is to install a updated camera software from T-Mobile devices which is more recent. I am still looking for a way to do this, have not dived into the topic completely.
4. If you are using your PPC device a lot, especially if you are using a large SD-Card for file storage one day or the other you will face the need of hooking up yur device to some friends computer to exchange some files. This is not easily done unless the other computer has ActiveSync running. To do this easily you can use Softick Card Export, which is a little tool that enables the Magician to act as a Mass Storage Device. When the program is enabled you just use your friendly USB cable to hook up to the other computer and your Magician is instantly connected without drivers (if it is a W2K+ or XP machine or something like this - Win98 will not work instantly).
5. Always carry a small USB cable with you. I love the possibility of charging my device whereever I find a USB port.
6. Software I will not leave home without:
- Wisbar Advance2 / Wisbar Advance Desktop plugin
- Total Commander
- Registry Editor of choice
- Memmaid
- Pockettools
- Sprite Backup
- Destinator PN (if you are going to use it as a GPS)
- Pocketmusic for mp3 playback
- Phonealarm plugin
- Some calendar plugin giving a good oversight of tasks and appointments
- eWallet (for keeping confidential info such as PINs etc. encrypted)
- Mobipocket Reader with a recent offline version of Wikipedia
- Pocketmechanic
- phonExt (better Dialer)
- RESCO Audio Recorder (allows mp3 recording)
- PhonePad chooser (customize the PhonePad design)
That should get you kind of started. Oh, wait, after I did the BigStorage hack I also replaced that butt-ugly O2 splash screen (screen displayed when you power on the device or do a soft/hard reset) with a selfmade one saying "hacked" and displaying the 18c3logo.

7. Get Pocket Zen Phone - it only costs €5 and allows you to have multiple profiles, flight, office, car, etc for different situations - just click the icon on the Today screen. Get it here: http://zendrui.free.fr/

TheBrit said:
7. Get Pocket Zen Phone - it only costs €5 and allows you to have multiple profiles, flight, office, car, etc for different situations - just click the icon on the Today screen. Get it here: http://zendrui.free.fr/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does PhoneAlarm. I checked out PocketZenPhone, but decided I liked pA better. It's a matter of taste, I guess. Did you take a look at pA anyways?

This discussion is going on on another thread as well.
I use PA, it's got a lot of features that I like.
To be fair, I've not used PZP much because I didn't think that it did more then PA that was relevant to me.
I've set up PA with profiles on my Today screen, which seems to be what PZP is good for:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
With my skin and my ToggleToday PA is an unobtrusive but valuable OS modification (at the top of the screen):
V

psych0t1c said:
TheBrit said:
7. Get Pocket Zen Phone - it only costs €5 and allows you to have multiple profiles, flight, office, car, etc for different situations - just click the icon on the Today screen. Get it here: http://zendrui.free.fr/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does PhoneAlarm. I checked out PocketZenPhone, but decided I liked pA better. It's a matter of taste, I guess. Did you take a look at pA anyways?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, but PZP does exactly what I want.

Encrypting Porn

I obviously am sensative as to who while looking my XDA over could accidentally find my porn stash.
What software package is best for encrypting movie files and pics?

resco explorer come with a built in encrypt file software.

Or Airscanner Encrypter to encrypt whole folders easily.

perhaps make the folder "hidden" then take the view hidden files function away so that the general browser doesnt find it.
i also apply a name that will not attract attention such as work or parents .... or system or temp cache or similar, anything but say porn xxx look here
then again, dont be ashamed of your actions, or dont do the actions....
nothing wrong with a bit or even a lot of porn
if it offends people, they shouldnt be looking, and even if they found it, they should choose not to look

This image always comes to mind:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I find that merely zipping the folder and putting it somewhere obfuscated prevents accidental clicks. But airscanner looks cool. Will have to try it out.
V

Nice one V! :lol:
So now we know what you do so long in the nights on your pc... :roll:
...looking for funny pics .

Am I the only one that would have really appreciated it if you wouldn't have told us what you're using the encryption for ?

TheBlasphemer: if he'd said:
"I need an encryption app to encrypt information I'd rather other people didn't see", he's most probably either a hacker, a spy, or a male Glad he >eugh< "came" straight out with it... :shock:
Rottie: you back from holiday? Your request, what seems to be the Holy Grail of hacks, the closed clam keyboard hack - I've had some ideas and some contributions that have given me some ideas. I'll try to progress them shortly.
And what I do on the long nights - I wish! I'm programming every spare minute now, even during lunch times, running home to code a few lines
This made me snort tea all over my desk:
I love Penny Arcade.
Anyone tried AirScanner yet? (blatant attempt to bring back on topic!)
V

vijay555 said:
TheBlasphemer: if he'd said:
"I need an encryption app to encrypt information I'd rather other people didn't see", he's most probably either a hacker, a spy, or a male Glad he >eugh< "came" straight out with it... :shock:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If he hadn't told us, I could still just refuse to believe the pr0n thing and believe he was a govt spy or anything

If you were to put the porn on your ipod, you could call it porn-on-the-pod.

porn-on-the-pod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you want butter with that? A little "Last Tango in Paris" perhaps?!
V

Last Tango reminds of the ads ... Can you tell the difference between butter and margerine ?

chetccox said:
If you were to put the porn on your ipod, you could call it porn-on-the-pod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ROTFL

I actually use Airscanner for er..... encrypting stuff that.....er I'd rather wasn't....... er easy to find. <coughs>
I can vouch it works well under WM5, and it appears to work by using multi-pass bitwiping to ensure there is no trace of the original files prior to encyption.
Odd thing is though, I'm sure it used to be free, but now they seem to charge for it. My advice is look at free download sites for a copy.

Not sure where the software came from, but my press and hold menus provide encryption, I think its resco explorer.
I can use normal file explorer to "hide" files from general view, but I noticed in Resco explorer, the hidden files are still clearly visible, so not sure if there is a bug in the resco app for hidden files, but they are definitely hidden from the normal ppc file explorer. add that to resco encryption, I think should be sufficient.

Good (and bad) news - looks like we won't be needing this software anyway:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/23/masturbation_worse_than_sex/
V

On a side note: On my communicator I had a password safe with categories like credit card, shopping accounts etc... Is there something similar for WM5 available?

TauTau said:
On a side note: On my communicator I had a password safe with categories like credit card, shopping accounts etc... Is there something similar for WM5 available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a program called KeePass which works on most devices, relevant here is the Desktop and PocketPC. The datafiles are transferable between both devices. I have used it on my Universal without problems. I have actually been using this program for a long time, I keep the DB on a USB key and a copy of the program. This means that when I plug in my key the password safe opens and asks for the password, or I can run it from the key if on another machine.
As for encrypting the pr0n, what about a good old .RAR archive? The version that I use (Pocket RAR 3.50) will encrypt and decrypt folders and files, quite fast too.
If you're talking about a large stash this won't work, but if you're only carrying round < 10MB you could always use the ExtendedROM partition and leave it hidden.
This means that you could have all your files in readable format, but without knowing the name that you used for the partition they couldn't access it without searching the registry for the name.
Not many people are going to search the registry for a name they don't even know exists.
This might sound like a difficult thing to do, but Buzz made an unlocker and the registry change for the name is in the thread.
Once you have done your hard reset and loaded the ExtendedROM you don't need the stuff in there anymore, and can use the space for storage.

"stash"
I agree, I know "people" that use a zip file for text, and otherwise just buried folders.
How's abouts we make a small app to render files unusable? You could take the filename, pre-pend it to the file in binary to render it unusable, using a simple XOR encryption for those few bytes. Then give it a generic filename and extension, eg Sheet1.prn.
When launched, .prn files will launch our decrypter, asking for the password. I suppose you could possibly memory map the decrypted file to even ensure an unencrypted version doesn't exist on the device for any considerable period (ie until you close the decrypter).
just an idea.
V

Sounds good V,
When can we expect VJPhorEnsic to first arrive on the board ;-)
M

A few quistions from a newbie.

i am from the netherlands (holland) europa so please don't start talkinghthat my english is rubbish. cause i now it is .
1. is a virus scanner needed ??..(on pda of course)
2. do you have tabpages (like I.E 7) or is this possible with another program ...
3. is gmail possible with i.e
4. does a sd-card with 150x a lot better than a normal one or is a normal 4gb sd enough.
5. does anytong got it to work to run cpu at 240 steady every you start your pda (automaticly )
so everytime you start your pda it runs on 240 mhz ..
6. does wisbar 3 runs on wm 5 so i can have a vista skin.
7. and did anyone try to download a program to download stuuf wit a torrent downloader on youre pda ..
( a torrent downloader on youre pda does it work ??)
thanks for your help so far you are great , keep up the great work ..

Welcome to the forum!
Don't worry about your English level, many of us here including my self are not native English speakers. (I owe a lot to the spell checker!)
Please make sure you read the WiKi and search the forums before asking. The answers are likely to be there already waiting for you.
Now to your questions:
1) No, currently there are no real viruses for Windows Mobile and though scanners exist they are way to heavy for a device with 200MHz processor.
2) Minimo (mozilla) has tabs but it is a very slow browser. You should check out NetFront and PIE Plus. Opera is good but their free Java version sends all your browsing information and your phone number back to the company so its kind of like spyware.
3) Not sure about IE but it should work with the built in outlook using POP3. There are some threads here about it.
4) The SD speed makes no difference in the phone because of the OS and the slow BUS.
5) There is a free program called OMAPCLOCK which can overclock the Prophet, but when you go to standby the CPU resets it self. There is another freeware (sorry don't remember the name) that can restart OMAPCLOCK when you turn on the device.
Note that the speed and stability with which you can run varies from device to device.
Unfortunately, I don't have answers for 6 and 7.

tanks that help a lot ,
my main qustions are now helped

6. Yes, there is a version for WM5
7. Yes. WinMobile Torrent

this meesage is deleted

levenum said:
5) There is a free program called OMAPCLOCK which can overclock the Prophet, but when you go to standby the CPU resets it self. There is another freeware (sorry don't remember the name) that can restart OMAPCLOCK when you turn on the device.
Note that the speed and stability with which you can run varies from device to device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now we just have one qustion left!
[EDIT=] i just found it here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=270751 [/EDIT]

Hi, I noticed u posted a question in the batterystatus thread
In case you don't get an answer there (no offence, but it's a bit of a noob question) I will answer here, because that thread is long enough already
yes, you can overclock after reboot
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
from the manual http://www.chi-tai.info/cs_BatteryStatus_XDA_Neo_WM5_def_iM_cs.htm

thanks super , iam sorrt for all my stupid quistions ,

i just got another one (qustion)
i want to buy a new 4gb sd (or 4 gb mmc) card but would ui need to do , do i stuuf it into my otek immditley or do i stuuf it into my pc and put music ont it , do do i need to format it fist ???
i dont want to screw up my sd card or my prophet
does this sd kaart works with the prophet (page is in dutch.SD tranced 4gb
or this one SD tranced 4 gb 150 X or this mmc card
a 4GB tranced MMC PLUS card .
my prefer is the trancend normal 4 gb SD card
or do the all work ..

There is no need to format SD cards before use, though if you want to do so its ok too.
You can use it in your phone right away, but copying files through ActiveSync is slow so if you have a card reader I recommend you use that to copy your music and any other files bigger than 10MB simply because it will save you a lot of time.
I couldn't quite read the language on the sites you provided, but as long as the card is not SDHC (High Capacity - new format) it will work with your Prophet. Some 4GB cards are SDHC and some are regular SD (all cards larger than 4GB are SDHC).
You should check with the sit to make sure it is regular SD.

oke thanks , the pages were in dutch .

Windows Vista Sideshow for WinMob 5/6 - preview release!

Hi everyone
Just noticed that microsoft have released a preview beta of Sideshow for Windows Mobile (5/6)
http://blogs.msdn.com/sideshow/arch...n-windows-mobile-released-techready-2008.aspx
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I think there's a few neat functions mentioned: controlling WMP, viewing/controlling powerpoint presentations etc
p.s. someone should post this as a forum attachment without needing to go through microsoft download centre

Here is the file:
http://rapidshare.com/files/119903090/WindowsSideShowforWindowsMobile.zip.html
Here is a video of me trying it on my T-Mobile Wing. I only tried the WMP SideShow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA8cAFy9EBI
Note: YouTube stretched it all stupid.

neiltoe said:
Here is the file:
http://rapidshare.com/files/119903090/WindowsSideShowforWindowsMobile.zip.html
Here is a video of me trying it on my T-Mobile Wing. I only tried the WMP SideShow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA8cAFy9EBI
Note: YouTube stretched it all stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy crap... I guess I really didn't understand what was going on as I stated in this thread, I had already been doing this kind of stuff using GoGadgets! from another developer. But now I get that its official from MS. They even took the EXACT SAME software that Ikanos Consulting created... sheesh.
Thanks for the video, I always thought that GoGadgets was cool stuff.
Hope this brings more light into this awesomeness.

I have already uninstalled it because I only care about anything "Media Center" SideShow. Haven't found one and haven't really looked for one as of late.
The T-Mo Wing is seriously underpowered but I was actually getting along rather smooth. Also using Bluetooth as the connection is sorta useless if you walk out of range. Which is not too far in my house. Connecting was fast and simple after the initial setup. The today plugin thing is nice but again sorta useless. I really expected it to have controls right there so you wouldn't have to navigate so many pages.
I know I am critical and this is the official first release and it is not even a finished product just a developers release. But it has potential.

very, very, very COOL!

neiltoe said:
I have already uninstalled it because I only care about anything "Media Center" SideShow. Haven't found one and haven't really looked for one as of late.
The T-Mo Wing is seriously underpowered but I was actually getting along rather smooth. Also using Bluetooth as the connection is sorta useless if you walk out of range. Which is not too far in my house. Connecting was fast and simple after the initial setup. The today plugin thing is nice but again sorta useless. I really expected it to have controls right there so you wouldn't have to navigate so many pages.
I know I am critical and this is the official first release and it is not even a finished product just a developers release. But it has potential.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it seemed quite quick on your youtube link
An alternative is the old Salling Clicker
It supports wifi and bluetooth and WinXP. Also supports itunes and WMP

Don't forget to check out the Sideshow dev's blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/sideshow/
It has the Runtime and SDK for developing gadgets using managed code (ie .NET), and a prebuilt example

TehPenguin said:
Don't forget to check out the Sideshow dev's blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/sideshow/
It has the Runtime and SDK for developing gadgets using managed code (ie .NET), and a prebuilt example
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may need this runtime on your PC http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...72-68e8-4c0c-a239-560c21b66fca&displaylang=en

When I select service on pc side show that instal and can't instal bluetooth peripheral device,What's up?

d112 said:
When I select service on pc side show that instal and can't instal bluetooth peripheral device,What's up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
make sure you have the MS BT Stack...
What PC do u have? Do you have a BT Radio?

I HAVE hp pavilin dv9500 integral bluetooth?
What is ms bt stack?

d112 said:
I HAVE hp pavilin dv9500 integral bluetooth?
What is ms bt stack?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft Bluetooth Stack.
If you have XP SP2 or higher its built in but if you use a 3rd party Stack like from toshiba etc. you might have trouble. you have to figure out what stack you have...

d112 said:
When I select service on pc side show that instal and can't instal bluetooth peripheral device,What's up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went through a bit of a headache getting mine to work. Maybe I can help. I just need you to write in a more coherent manner.

I had a few issues too. If I installed the PPC component before pairing, the PC would not locate and install the appropriate drivers. If I paired first, then enabled the SideShow BT service, the PC would locate and install the drivers just fine. I tried this several times, and that was the only way that worked for me. Weird. YMMV.

It's annoying that all the fancy new software is made for Vista.
*Crosses Windows Mobile Device Centre off the list
*Crosses Windows SideShow For Windows Mobile off the list

Alright. so a little batch of detailed insturctions about using this:
(during the process make sure your device is DISCOVERABLE)
1. It doesn't REALLY matter if you're using MS STACK or TOSHIBA STACK as long as there is a sideshow service detected.
A. if you have toshiba stack:
right click on the bluetooth tray icon and open the bluetooth devices.
add a new one and detect the service MANUALLY (choose CUSTOM).
if you see a service called "...sideshow..." on the list, you can use it. it is mostly UNprobable that you will.
connect to your device
continue to section C
B. if you have ms stack:
right click on the tray icon.
click options.
add a new device.
pair it using your own passkey.
open the options once more and you see your device in the Devices window.
click on it and click properties.
go to services and, if you installed sideshow on your device, and ran it, you should see Sideshow in the list.. as well as Activesync and a few others maybe.
click ok and it'll try to connect to your device.
(if you can't connect, go to COM ports in OPTIONS And install a new one. i used COM port 3..)
C. go to control panel, go to sideshow, and you should be able to mark V on the gadgets you'd like to use.
2. MS stack: double click the provided file. install it and read the TXT that appears on your desktop for further instructions...
TOSHIBA stack: just install the stack..
make sure you uninstall each before installing the other.
these are both the LATEST versions of both stacks: (up until the day of posting this message of course )
TOSHIBA STACK:
http://rapidshare.com/files/120186967/TOSHIBA_BTSTACK.zip.html
MS STACK:
http://rapidshare.com/files/120187911/MS_BTSTACK.exe.html
i strongly suggest you keep both files on your comp as a cover for any services one might provide while the other doesn't.
for instance, to my knowledge, MS stack works HORRIBLY with Async...
while TOSHIBA stack doesn't work with sideshow at all. (at least from what i've experienced)
enjoy

Go Gadget
Has anyone got the Go Gadget Beta?
I would really like to try it.
I have tried Microsofts version, but I have heard that Go Gadget supports Home Automation.

Can it work via USB ?

HDD comparison

Dear shift users,
As we are always talking about installing other OSes or drives, I think that it worths to compare different solutions.
I have decided to begin with the HD Tach software in version 3.0.4.0 with 2 drives.. the shift 40GB and a IDE 120GB 7200rpm over USB.
Here are the results :
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
and usb from the shift
and 6GB SD Card from USB .. I have tested with USB keys.. but 1 and 2GB is not good and 4GB is almost the same than this result
With the result, it does'nt seem that bad to install an OS on a USB drive. Someone has told me that it was possible... I will try to find how and to post it.
Regards
The koala.

OMG, is our disk speeds really that bad..........

bosjo said:
OMG, is our disk speeds really that bad..........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah... really... I would like to get the HD Tach of people who have changed their drive.... is it possible? And it would be fine to precise if it is a 5mm or 8mm .. I will upload the post with news.. and try to make some graphics with comparison !

From memory, it's a 5mm but people have build 8mm in to it.
There is a thread about some where.
edit:
wonder what speeds the controller can handle...

Due to an apparent hard disk failure yesterday I tried to run a portable version of windows from a USB stick (actually a micro sd card reader with an 8GB card in it) to try and attempt some kind of recovery from within an OS but it didn't work so I'm guessing there's more to be done than just putting an OS on an external drive. I'll explore this more later and try to install Windows 7 onto an external drive, unless someone else beats me to it.
Luckily, my Hard Disk picked up again, but unfortunately had to go through system restore
Better that than having to buy a new drive though I suppose.

matmaneyre said:
Due to an apparent hard disk failure yesterday I tried to run a portable version of windows from a USB stick (actually a micro sd card reader with an 8GB card in it) to try and attempt some kind of recovery from within an OS but it didn't work so I'm guessing there's more to be done than just putting an OS on an external drive. I'll explore this more later and try to install Windows 7 onto an external drive, unless someone else beats me to it.
Luckily, my Hard Disk picked up again, but unfortunately had to go through system restore
Better that than having to buy a new drive though I suppose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you want to restore some data... you can use GetDataBack for NTFS.. which is able to read data that have been erased and formatted.. it's a great tool (but you need to pay the tool) which works like a charm !

added : SD card from USB
testing with a 1GB USB stick.

koala996 said:
if you want to restore some data... you can use GetDataBack for NTFS.. which is able to read data that have been erased and formatted.. it's a great tool (but you need to pay the tool) which works like a charm !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that. There wasn't a lot on the drive anyway, apart from Windows updates. I really need to get round to slipstreaming my updates into the recovery partition (easier said than done I think ) and putting my recovery partition onto a bootable USB stick. Nearly lost it all yesterday.
A bit too close for comfort!

bosjo said:
From memory, it's a 5mm but people have build 8mm in to it.
There is a thread about some where.
edit:
wonder what speeds the controller can handle...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah I know this .. I say that people should say if the disk they test speed is a 5mm or 8mm ;-) .. but I know the default is a 5mm (GAL = low height = 5mm)

ahhh, misread the sentence.....

Will benchmark my new SSD
Just got my SSD so tonight I will benchmark it with the same utility and post the results.

King Reeky said:
Just got my SSD so tonight I will benchmark it with the same utility and post the results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great thank you !

MTRON SSD benchmark
If anyone could give me a tip for taking a screen cap on the Shift as it doesn't have a PrtSc button then I'll put up the screen dump.
Stats from the long test are:
Random Access: 0.1ms
CPU Utilization: 0%
Average Read: 86.1 MB/s (although on the bar chart is says 95.9 MB/s)
- so about 3 times as fast as the original, and fantastic seek times.

King Reeky said:
If anyone could give me a tip for taking a screen cap on the Shift as it doesn't have a PrtSc button then I'll put up the screen dump.
Stats from the long test are:
Random Access: 0.1ms
CPU Utilization: 0%
Average Read: 86.1 MB/s (although on the bar chart is says 95.9 MB/s)
- so about 3 times as fast as the original, and fantastic seek times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can use the "snipping tool" that's the best way in vista or 7.
just do : "new -> windows snip" and you just need to choose the windows and here you are ^^ please choose not to display the red borders. thx
amazing perfs

Have attached the screen cap now, noticed that the CPU usuage was way up on previous reading.

King Reeky said:
Have attached the screen cap now, noticed that the CPU usuage was way up on previous reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you .. waw really amazing !!
Can you tell if it is a 5mm or 8mm ? I guess it is a 5mm (seeing H5 at the end of the number of the SSD) and how much you have paid for it?
Cheers !

The SSD was 5mm - slotted directly into the rubber shroud as a direct replacement and I paid $410 AUD delivered.
It is a lot of money for a drive smaller than the Shift came with But it is quicker for sure. Boot times for Windows XP Fundamentals was clocked at 17.5 seconds and Bootvis showed that it was the CPU slowing it down rather than the drive.
Re-installing OSes and doing benchmarks the drive got quite hot, so I am not really expecting any benefits with extending battery life.

More Charts
Adding some more charts showing Read and Access times

..and Random Access
I like these ones the best - big performance improvement here with the SSD

Do you have some bigger images?