T-Mobile MDA Program Installation and CAB Files

It took me a minute to understand how to install CAB files on the MDA.  I found the answer here : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/articles/findapps.mspx#3.

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T-Mobile MDA Saga… Part 3 of aahhhh…

Okay, as a software developer it pains me to have to give in and call tech support. …but I did.  And, well, I can happily say my MDA is working like a charm.

First, if you have just bought an MDA or are thinking about it… install the upgrade ROM [it wipes out all data… you’ve been warned!].  I haven’t used it, but SpriteBackup claims to be able to move data between ROM upgrades http://www.spritesoftware.com/backup.php.

Summary: I couldn’t sync, and the ROM upgrade fixed all my problems.  URL : http://www.t-mobile.com/wmupgrade/

Detail : ActiveSync 4.1 would just sit and say "Connecting…" and then finally come back and say device not connected, but there were no errors.  Somewhere in the guts of the ActiveSync network code, it was not working.  Why they chose those model as the default rather than simple USB, I don’t know.  Anyway, I quickly got transfer up the support chain to someone that knew the magic buttons to press to force simple USB connectivity to install the ROM.  Exactly, I need to patch, but I couldn’t connect to patch, but I needed to patch to connect.

Hardcode Reset : If your MDA wont budge, try this: Enter Bootloader, – hold the "camera" (bottom right) and briefly press the reset button, don’t release "camera" until you can see colour screen, connect USB cable, see "USB" on the bottom of the screen, and start to re-flash the ROM.

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T-Mobile MDA Saga… Part 2 of #*$%!

Well, I’m officially annoyed.  I can’t get ActiveSync 4.2 to work.  And, now I’ve discovered that there is a ROM upgrade.

With hindsight,

1. Set a system restore point in Windows XP.
2. Use the ActiveSync that comes with your phone… 4.1 in my case.  There are way too many news postings about not upgrading because of issues with the latest and greatest..
3. Install the latest ROM for the phone.  This wipes out the phone, so you don’t want to do this later.

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Figuring out what a machine is on your network…

I use ZoneAlarm (free verson), and its log shows some entries of a machine talking to mine.  So what’s the best way to figure out what that other machine is?

nbtstat can at least get me the DHCP "name" nbtstat -A <ip_address>

Other suggestions?

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T-Mobile MDA

Well, I just switched to T-Mobile from Cingular.  I’ve been a Cingular customer for years, but their silly (nicest word I can use right now) policy of treating existing customers with expired contracts as worthless is too much.  The phone I wanted was a Cingular 8125, but T-Mobile has the same phone as the MDA.  If I had upgraded with Cingular it would have cost me about $200 bucks [after rebates, and being force to buy a $20 more expensive plan] or ~$0 [after rebates] for switching (no hassle and mild plan change for $5 with more minutes).

Tags: cell phone, t-mobile, t-mobile mda, cingular, cingular 8125

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Well, I’m trying a new offline Blog editor

We’ll have to see how it works.  I haven’t tried offline. Interesting.  It published that easily enough.

I wish the editor would let me change the display font from Times New Roman.  Publishing was fast.

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Another Blog test…

Welcome to WordPress.com. Well, I trying out WordPress. It’s gotten a lot of press, and I thought that I would give it a try. I’m also pretty impressed with http://jasonvogel.supersized.org/. I have to admit the resize aspect of this blog is pretty cool. I’m looking for software that is a cross between a WIKI and a BLOG. Basically, a WIKI with optional Blogging on for certain pages. Ideally, I want it to be PHP driven (my current research language). Well, I thought that i would update this post.  I’ve successfully implemented DokuWiki with the BLOG plugin.