CPack on the UMID M1

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Connectivity Pack, the way to emulate a HP 200LX on any PC, also runs on the UMID M1, but still has to be optimized. I am working on it, together with some people from the HPLX mailing list.

Here is how it currently looks like, running under DOSBox on the UMID M1, compared to a 12" MacBook (isn't the M1 tiny?!) and to an HP 200LX, in DOSBox's window mode and in fullscreen mode.

CG.COM

This is with CPack's own "CG.COM" Palmtop graphics emulator:

Current problem:

"Squashed" image: Only about half of the height of the M1's screen is actually used for the interesting contents

PALRUN

And this is with Palrun (-c for the white background and -c -n for the black background):

Current problems:

Slow vertical line-by-line scrolling: Under DOSBox, scrolling with arrow keys is terribly slow when scrolling beyond the last screen line. Without DOSBox, i.e. in cmd.exe, it's faster but still very noticeable and maybe annoying
Some screen refresh problems: Hour glass leaves a black box in the middle of the screen after it disappeared
Missing text cursor: When editing, you don't know where the cursor is

Other palmtop graphics emulators work even worse than Palrun. Tested: PALMPC (crashes DOSBox, CPack not executable also under cmd.exe), and INT5F (very slow operation, started programs under program manager are instantly closed again).

PocketDOS

Ed from the HPLX mailing list had the idea to use PocketDOS instead of any other INT5F graphics emulator. PocketDOS actually is DOS emulation software for Windows CE based pocket PCs. However, there is also a version for Windows (XP, Vista, 7...)
And indeed, it works. All problems mentioned above are solved. PocketDOS even allows you to control the F keys with the pointer device (Stylus on the M1), tapping / clicking on the F key labels. This is really nice. (Is this normal in CPack?).
Operation is very fast and smooth under PocketDOS and everything seems to work fine.

However, there are a few new display problems. See the pictures:

Current problems:

Some menu items are "greyed out" (not readable) but seem to be functional
All edit masks of the database-based PIMs are messed. The field borders are somewhat slightly diagonal and disturb the look of the mask.

How to install this setup:
You need ActiveSync by Microsoft in order to make PocketDOS work under Windows (PocketDOS problaby needs sime libraries from ActiveSync). So install ActiveSync, e.g. version 4.5. Afterwards, install "PocketDOS for Windows" from http://www.pocketdos.com/download.htm

Remove the CG.COM references from app200.bat in the CPack setup.

After starting PocketDOS and reading the 15-seconds nag screen, you can directly go to CPack directory and start CPack using app200.bat. Then you can maximize the PocketDOS window to have almost fullscreen display. If you now use the menu item "View" / "Cycle Display Zoom Mode" twice, you have a nice 200LX-like display on the UMID M1.
Try tapping the F key labels. :-)

Ideas for optimization are welcome!

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 July 2010