I was recently using the x51v as an mp3 player and I noticed as one of my songs was playing that there were several clicks and pops that I had not noticed before. When I got home I listened to the original file on my desktop PC and everything seemed fine.
Investigating further, I deleted the faulty mp3 file off my PDA and copied it over again, only to find that the glitches in the file were present again.
Determined to get to the bottom of the problem, I deleted the file again, then before copying it over I took an md5 hash of the file. I then renamed the file and copied the file over with activesync, then back again to my desktop. I took another md5 and guess what? Yep, the Activesync had screwed the file up, the md5's were different.
It is not just mp3's either, I tried archiving the file and sending it up, and it still came back with a different md5.
I repeated the same experiment but using my compact flash reader and the md5's came back the same, I then repeated the same experiment but using a different PDA (my T-Mobile MDA vario) and the md5's came back the same.
This is rather worrying since I use the x51 as a compact flash reader at work. I doubt Dell customer service will be overly helpful (I can just imagine trying to explain all this to a customer service rep)
If anyone else has had this problem on a Windows Mobile device please leave a comment!
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Arcade fire
There's pictures available for this post on my splashblog (http://www.splashblog.com/buckoa51/)
Nothing like a visit to the seaside to remind you what a sad state the arcade industry is in. I remember back when I was a kid how excited I'd get over a trip to the seaside, which meant for me at least, playing the latest arcade games until the ten pence coins in my short pockets were totally exhausted (and then scrounging more money off my parents) With visuals and sounds that blew away even the most expensive home computers, going to the arcades in those days was truly a magical experience for gamers.
I also remember the sheer number of coin operated games in those days. Arcades that are now full of fruit machines were once wall to wall with video games. Games of all kinds, not just games in fancy cabinets. You could browse in and out of arcades and find new games and every year there were dozens more.
Today its a sorry site to walk into the arcades at Skegness and see machines I remember from back then in disrepair, with faulty monitors and broken controllers they beg "insert coin" but frankly nobodies going to play them in that condition. Things are definitely getting worse too, with the only new game I noticed being "Mario Kart" and even that nobody was playing, probably because it demands you deposit an extra coin regardless of weather or not you won the race.
The industry doesn't help itself either. Machines are poorly maintained and in the case of the Outrun Coast to Coast I played (which incidentally was the only machine I had to queue for) sited badly. The machine was right opposite the entrance to the arcade meaning that the screen was obscured by light from outside reflecting on it.
It's hard to convince people to play coin-op versions of games they have at home already anyway. That is the big difference today, of course. Visually coin-ops are not that much different from what people get on their Gamecubes, Playstations or X-Boxes. For a long time now the coin-ops have relied on offering cabinets and peripherals that enhance the game experience beyond what would normally be possible in your home, but when the experience doesn't even live up to what you get at home, as it so often doesn't, I doubt anyone is going to be inserting any coins.
The industry needs some fresh ideas and fresh thinking to save itself, if indeed it is even possible. Perhaps merging arcades and game retail stores into one might be the way forward? Stores could operate machines via cards and lose the gambling machines altogether, making them more family friendly venues. Cards would not only store loyalty points but allow for the store to award free credits for the arcade machines after the customer purchased a new game. Couple that with high score saving and bring back the old idea of some sort of memory card or account accessible from both home and arcades and their might be life left in the coin operated concept yet... maybe..
Nothing like a visit to the seaside to remind you what a sad state the arcade industry is in. I remember back when I was a kid how excited I'd get over a trip to the seaside, which meant for me at least, playing the latest arcade games until the ten pence coins in my short pockets were totally exhausted (and then scrounging more money off my parents) With visuals and sounds that blew away even the most expensive home computers, going to the arcades in those days was truly a magical experience for gamers.
I also remember the sheer number of coin operated games in those days. Arcades that are now full of fruit machines were once wall to wall with video games. Games of all kinds, not just games in fancy cabinets. You could browse in and out of arcades and find new games and every year there were dozens more.
Today its a sorry site to walk into the arcades at Skegness and see machines I remember from back then in disrepair, with faulty monitors and broken controllers they beg "insert coin" but frankly nobodies going to play them in that condition. Things are definitely getting worse too, with the only new game I noticed being "Mario Kart" and even that nobody was playing, probably because it demands you deposit an extra coin regardless of weather or not you won the race.
The industry doesn't help itself either. Machines are poorly maintained and in the case of the Outrun Coast to Coast I played (which incidentally was the only machine I had to queue for) sited badly. The machine was right opposite the entrance to the arcade meaning that the screen was obscured by light from outside reflecting on it.
It's hard to convince people to play coin-op versions of games they have at home already anyway. That is the big difference today, of course. Visually coin-ops are not that much different from what people get on their Gamecubes, Playstations or X-Boxes. For a long time now the coin-ops have relied on offering cabinets and peripherals that enhance the game experience beyond what would normally be possible in your home, but when the experience doesn't even live up to what you get at home, as it so often doesn't, I doubt anyone is going to be inserting any coins.
The industry needs some fresh ideas and fresh thinking to save itself, if indeed it is even possible. Perhaps merging arcades and game retail stores into one might be the way forward? Stores could operate machines via cards and lose the gambling machines altogether, making them more family friendly venues. Cards would not only store loyalty points but allow for the store to award free credits for the arcade machines after the customer purchased a new game. Couple that with high score saving and bring back the old idea of some sort of memory card or account accessible from both home and arcades and their might be life left in the coin operated concept yet... maybe..
Windows Mobile Upgrade pt2
Ok so I promised I'd let you know how it went when I upgraded the x51 to the latest version of Windows Mobile.
Well, it was not without it's problems. After following the first two steps of the upgrade process and actually getting the flash file onto the device, I was instructed to perform a hard reset. However, for some reason the upgrade process had rendered it impossible to do a hard reset on the device!
After much googling around and reading other peoples problems I discovered a hard reset wasn't actually necessary. I disabled my password and the upgrade process went through without any further incident.
So aside from some pretty poor software support from Dell, the X51 upgrade went OK. Activesync copied all my contacts and notes back onto the device OK, and after entering all my account settings I had no problems pulling e-mail down off the IMAP server again. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and the disappearing compact flash problem that seemed to affect a lot of WM5 devices seems to be fixed.
Oh how I look forward to the future when Microsoft will push their operating systems onto everything else we use too.
(that WAS a joke, honestly, in spite of me owning three computers and two PDA's with Windows operating systems, oh and an Xbox and and Xbox 360, I am not a Microsoft fanboy!)
Well, it was not without it's problems. After following the first two steps of the upgrade process and actually getting the flash file onto the device, I was instructed to perform a hard reset. However, for some reason the upgrade process had rendered it impossible to do a hard reset on the device!
After much googling around and reading other peoples problems I discovered a hard reset wasn't actually necessary. I disabled my password and the upgrade process went through without any further incident.
So aside from some pretty poor software support from Dell, the X51 upgrade went OK. Activesync copied all my contacts and notes back onto the device OK, and after entering all my account settings I had no problems pulling e-mail down off the IMAP server again. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and the disappearing compact flash problem that seemed to affect a lot of WM5 devices seems to be fixed.
Oh how I look forward to the future when Microsoft will push their operating systems onto everything else we use too.
(that WAS a joke, honestly, in spite of me owning three computers and two PDA's with Windows operating systems, oh and an Xbox and and Xbox 360, I am not a Microsoft fanboy!)
