Quick Tips & Handheld PC Tricks1. Speed up Transfer Rate between Desktop and H/PC 1. Speed up Transfer Rate between Desktop and H/PC 1. Speed up Transfer Rate between Desktop and H/PC 1. Speed up Transfer Rate between Desktop and H/PC 2. Owner Identification screen a bother? 3. Activate Caps Lock by pressing both Shift keys 4. Closing an application with (and without) saving changes 5. How much free storage space do I have on my Handheld PC? Speed up Transfer Rate between Desktop and H/PCWhen you first connect your H/PC with your Desktop PC using HPC Explorer, the default transfer rate is set at 19,200 baud. If your Desktop PC has a fast serial port, as do most newer machines, you can increase this baud rate and transfer speed. To do this on your H/PC, tap Start, Programs, double tap the Communications Folder, double tap Remote Networking and double tap Make New Connection. Next type in a name for the connection, I suggest using Direct @ 115200, and make sure the Direct Connection radio button is highlighted and tap on Next.
This takes you to the Make New Direct Connection dialog box where you select the device on the H/PC you want to use, COM1 (Serial Port) or the IR (Infrared) port, and then tap on Configure. This will take you to the Device Properties page where you will want to tap on the Down Arrow next to the Baud Rate and select 115200 from the drop down menu.
Tap on OK in the upper right section of the screen and then tap on the Finish button. You have now created a new direct connection icon in the Communications Folder. To use this connection in the HPC Explorer, tap Start, Settings, double tap Communications and select the PC Connection tab. At the bottom of the screen you are shown which connection you are currently using, by default this will have "Desktop @ 19200".
Tap on Change and the Change Connection screen will come up. Select the connection we just created by tapping on the Down Arrow, selecting “Direct @ 115200” and tap OK (see screen below). Finally tap OK on the Communication Properties screen.
Now when you connect to your desktop using HPC Explorer, your HPC will connect at 115200 baud as opposed to 19200 baud. Tom Gibson Owner Identification screen a bother?The Handheld PC is set to automatically suspend operation after three minutes to conserve power. This suspend time can be adjusted as described above. Every time the H/PC powers down, or you turn it off, it comes back to the owner identification screen when you press on.
The H/PC is set up to do this to increase the likelihood that you'll get your H/PC back if you accidentally leave it somewhere. The idea is that one of the first things the person with an electronic device is to press the ON button to see what it does. Hopefully, the person is honest enough so that when your name and phone number appear, he or she will give you a call. You might even put "If found, call <phone number> for a reward!" to encourage honesty. I have to admit that I found the Owner Identification screen a bit of a bother. I have my Handheld PC set to auto-suspend operation after one minute to conserve power. My H/PC auto-suspends a lot, and I got tired of having to tap on the X box in the upper right corner to get rid of the Owner Identification screen. DISABLE OWNER ID SCREEN. My solution was to disable the Owner ID screen. I tapped on Start and then Settings to go to the Control Panel. Then I double- tapped on Owner to go to the Owner Properties screen. At the right of the screen are the words, "At Power On." Tap on the box below these words to make sure that the check mark is gone — the box should be empty. Then tap twice on the Notes tab at the top of the page to go to the Notes screen. Make sure that the box towards the bottom of the screen, titled "Display Owner Notes at Power On," is also empty. Then tap on OK. Whenever you press ON, you’ll now go straight to the last screen you were in. This disables Owner ID, and a person finding your lost handheld PC won't get a nice message encouraging them to return it. To overcome that limitation, you could put a small nameplate on your H/PC, or tape a business card to the bottom of it. Rich Hall Activate Caps Lock by pressing both Shift KeysCaps Lock (or Shift Lock) feature sets your Handheld PC up to type upper case letters and the shifted value of the other keys. Activate Caps Lock by pressing both Shift keys at the same time. When Caps Lock is on, an (A) appears on the status bar at the bottom of the screen, on the right-hand side. With Caps Lock on, pressing the Shift key lets you type lower case letters. Deactivate Caps Lock by pressing both Shift keys again. Rich Hall Closing an application with (and without) saving changesThe Windows CE applications and control utilities provide an X button in the upper right corner of the screen. Tap on this button and you exit the application without saving the changes you made to the document or configuration settings. Tapping on the OK button exits the program and saves changes. If there is no OK button and you tap on the X button, Windows CE will ask you if you want to save changes. If there is an OK button and you tap on X, you exit without saving changes — no warning is given! Rich Hall How much free storage space do I have on my Handheld PC?A universal truth concerning any computer is that the file storage area will fill up at least twice as fast as you think it will. This problem is compounded on the Handheld PC, where the internal memory is as low as 2 Mb. To see how much storage space you have available, tap on Start and then Settings to go to the Control Panel. Then tap twice on the Systems icon to display the System Properties screen (see screen below).
The screen should open to the General tab, displaying information, including the operating system on the left and the processor type and amount of total internal memory. Tap on the Memory tab at the top of the screen and you'll see the second screen at the top of this column. The bar in the middle of the screen shows you how you have partitioned the total memory — how much is available for running programs and how much for storing data. Tap on either side of the bar's pointer to allocate more memory for either programs or file storage. Below the bar you are show the specific number of kilobytes (Kb) allocated and in use. The numbers to the lower left refer to storage memory and the numbers to the right program memory. Note: There is currently no direct way to determine the amount of file storage space remaining on a PC memory card inserted in the H/PC. You have to remove it, insert it in a laptop or desktop PC card reader, and use the desktop’s file manager. Rich Hall |
Copyright ⌐ Thaddeus Computing, Inc