Deploy to PPC 2003

[Francisco Caselli]

I'm using the article «Developing and Deploying Pocket PC Setup
Applications» to create a setup to install a PPC 2003 Application from the
desktop.
t creates the CAB files, and then pack them into an MSI that launches the
WinCE Application Manager to select the correct CAB file and deploy it to
the device.

The cabwizard produces 5 cabs:

MyApplication_PPC.WCE420X86.CAB
MyApplication_PPC.X86.CAB
MyApplication_PPC.MIPS.CAB
MyApplication_PPC.SH3.CAB
MyApplication_PPC.ARM.CAB
MyApplication_PPC.ARMV4.CAB


I tried the setup with several PPC 2002 and it all worked ok.

Now i'm trying it in a iPAQ 5500 with PPC2003 and the WinCE Application
Manager is trying to use the CAB MyApplication_PPC.WCE420X86.CAB wich fails
on the device.
I know that if I mannually copy the MyApplication_PPC.ARMV4.CAB to the iPAQ
and run it it installs ok.

Why is the WinCE Application Manager trying to install the wrong cab file ?
I think that the MyApplication_PPC.WCE420X86.CAB is to the pocket pc 2003
emulator. am I correct ?
Is the WinCE Application Manager trying to use it because it is the only one
to WinCE 4 ?
How can I solve this ?

Thank for any help

 

[PeterB]

Your guess is as good as mine. You use WCE4 for PPC2003 devices and hence
the manager takes the best choice. You should add WCE4.ARMV4 to your
installation program.

This brings another question up. PPC2003 is backwards comaptible, and that
is the reason for the wce3.armv4 cabs to work as well right? I mistakingly
installed those cabs on some PPC2003 devices and they ran just as good...

/ Peter

 

[Chris Tacke, eMVP]

It most definitely is *not* an x86. It's an ARM device. That said, since
it's a .NET app, the cabs should all, in theory, have an identical binary in
them. I'm actually not sure what the difference between each would be
unless there are processor-specific registry entries that must be made.

-Chris

 

[Francisco Caselli]

Yes I already suspected of something like that.

But how do I add the correct cab file to my instalation program ?
I tried to change the inf file and the buildcab.bat so that the cabwiz
creates me a MyApplication_PPC.WCE4.ARMV4.CAB but I wasn't successful.

How can I create it ?

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I have the same problem. Looks to me that it is not Windows Mobile 2003 vs.
2002 problem, but ARM and PXA250 CPU problem. None of the CPU CABs seem to
pick up the new Intel XSale processor as ARM. If you don't specify the
processor type in you INI and fore ARM binaries - it works on XScale. But,
of course, you don't support all the other CPUs in your setup.
Microsoft, can you please correct the problem and send us the fix.

Kind Regards,

Pawel Achtel
www.24x7.com.au

 

[Konstantin Kipa]

Francisco Caselli

Just out of interest. I noticed in the article that you mentioned, that you
supposed to create a custom installer to run the CE Manager. Does that mean
that .NET Framework must be installed on the desktop PC as well prior the
installation? This is C# code isn't it? Therefore, you have to not only
deploy the .NET Compact Framework, you must be sure that a user has .NET
Framework installed on his desktop PC just to be able to use your installer
for Pocket PC. Am I right?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ginny Caughey [MVP]]

Konstantin,

It is also possible to write your own installer that does not require the
desktop .Net framework. I use the Remote API (Rapi) to write apps that install
my CE apps and DLLs as well as downloading data.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

Ginny,

You are missing the point. Windows Mobile 2003 running on XScale does not
tell the installer it is an ARM processor it is running on. Therefore, if
your setup .inf file has different cabs as you generate with VC 2003 (Create
Cabs function) thie resulting setup will FAIL on all XScale-processor
running WM 2003, but it will be fine on Pocket PC 2002. It is a bug in
either the operating system (not returning the right processor type that can
be matched with ARM) or/and VS 2003 generating inf with CAB signature for
XScale not present or/and CE AppManager that doesn't recognise XScale as
ARM. Consequently NO SETUP PROJECT GENERATED FROM INF FILE BY VC2003 WOULD
WORK on XScale with Windows Mobile 2003.
If you modify the inf file not to contain specific CPU CABs, it installs OK.

Microsoft should fix the problem.

Kind Regards,

Pawel
www.24x7.com.au

 

[Ginny Caughey [MVP]]

Ok, thanks Pawel.