From my pocket to yours....

Fixing network share problems

Prof.Julie@pocketprimer.com (ProfJulie) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:24:05 GMT

I have a small wireless network at home consisting of one desktop computer (this one is wired into my network), two laptops, several pocket pcs, a UMPC, and a visiting laptop (from work). The computers run a combination of XP home edition, XP tablet edition, and XP Media Center. (NOTE: none of the computers run Vista or XP Professional)

Some months ago, something in my wireless network broke down. I realized that I could no longer see my computers on my network from my laptop and vice versa. Furthermore, I could no longer access shared drives from my Pocket PCs and I could not print to shared printers from the Pocket PCs. I played around with the rudimentary setup and got no satisfaction. I realized that working through and trouble shooting the issue would be a time consuming exercise, so I put it off for another time. In the meantime, I've been hobbling along with thumb drives and SD cards.

Whenever I attempted to gain access to a networked computer from my Pocket PCs, all I got was a blank screen on the Pocket PCs. When I attempted to gain access to a networked computer from any other computer on my network, I got the following message:

"XXXXX name is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource..."

Recently after attempting to help another guy troubleshoot his network share issue, I was inspired to get to the bottom of things...I was on a mission to fix my broken network, so I spent several hours googling around the internet and eventually "fixed" my problem. Here's what I found/tried and what ultimately worked on my network:

Turn off firewall

At the advice of a friend who works for Intel, I turned the firewalls off on all my computers when I installed my wireless router several years ago. My router includes a firewall and so running another firewall on my computers is overkill. Unless I am using public WIFI, I don't worry too much about security threats (the firewall is turned on when I surf the internet out in the public).

Make sure all computers on the network are in the same workgroup

Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > System icon > Computer Name tab > Verify that the Workgroup is the same for all computers on the network. If the workgroup is different, you can change this by selecting the Change button

Ping the computers on the network to see if they find each other

First find the IP address, for each computer on the network. You can find the IP address through the Network Connections screen or by issuing an IPCONFIG command from the command prompt.

Through the Network Connections screen
- Open up the Network Connections on the computer
- Highlight the Wireless Network Connection
- Look in the Details box on the lower left hand side of the computer and you'll see the IP Address there.

Issue IPCONFIG command through the Command prompt
- Select Start > Run > COMMAND
- Type "IPCONFIG" to get each computer's IP address

Then from each computer on the network Ping every other computer on the network

Select Start > Run > COMMAND
Type "PING xxx.xxx.x.xx" (insert IP address of a computer on your network).

All of my networked computers found each other when I pinged them.

Turn on the Guest Account for each computer on the network (1)

Apparently for windows XP home edition computers, all network connections are mapped through the Guest account. If the Guest account is disabled, the connection will be denied. I had turned off the Guest accounts on my computers so they would boot directly up without having to choose an account..oh well.

Logon to each computer as the administrator
Click Start > Run > type "control userpasswords", then click OK
Double-click User Accounts to open the User Accounts dialog box
Click Guest and then click Turn on the Guest Account
Close the User Accounts dialog box

Even after turning the Guest Accounts back on, I was still unable to see my networked computers from any other computer on the network.

Change registry item on Computer (2)

I checked this registry setting, but the registry settings on each of my computers was already set up this way.

Click Start > Run > type "regedit" in the window > click OK
Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
Double click the "restrictanonymous" key and change value to 0. Click OK
Close Registry Editor and restart computer

Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and start the Computer Browser service (3)

My computers were all set to the default setting, which seemed fine to me, but I changed anyway. I don't really think using the default setting caused my problem, but I have not yet changed it back to the default setting to see if it makes any difference.

Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP
- Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections icon
- Right Click the Wireless Network Connection > select Properties
- Find and Click the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Option > click Properties button
- General tab > Advanced button

WINS tab > Select the "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" option. Click OK > OK > Close

Start the Computer Browser service
1. Click Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services (or you can open up Control Panel > Administrative Tools icon > Services)
2. Right-click Computer Browser > select Start
3. Close Computer Management window

Before closing the Computer Management window check some other administrative services and change them as described in the next section.

Adjust other Administrative Services (4)

Check and change the following administrative services to make sure they are Started and their startup type is Automatic. Click Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services (or open up the Control Panel, select Administrative Tools icon > Services) and Start them (right-click on each one and select Properties. While you here change the Startup type to Automatic.

Check and change the settings to "Started" and "Automatic" for each of these services:

Computer Browser (addressed above)
DHCP Client
DNS Client
Network Connections
Network Location Awareness
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Server
TCP/IP Netbios helper
Workstation

I set all these items to "Started" and "Automatic" and still could not see the computers on my network.

Install NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol

DING, DING, DING, DING, DING! This is what fixed the problem for most of my computers!

Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections icon
Right Click the Wireless Network Connection > Properties

Select the Install button > Protocol > Add button

Select NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol > OK > OK

I'm not sure what this protocol is or how it is used to communicate with the other computers on my network, but I'm happy! II can now see all my computers on my network from any other computer on the network and I can access all but two computers from my Pocket PCs - strangely enough these are the two computers that I use exclusively. I'll need to review the settings in the computers comparing them to the settings of the computers that I have no problems with to see if I can figure out what the problem is. Any ideas?

References

Microsoft Help & Support: You receive an "Access is denied" error message when you try to access shares on a Windows XP Home Edition-based computer that is connected to a network
Microsoft Help & Support: Error message when you try to access a Windows XP-based network computer: "You might not have permission to use this network resource"
Microsoft Help & Support: You cannot access shared files and folders or browse computers in the workgroup with Windows XP
Tech Support Guy forum: I can't get file sharing not work on my homeportal router (John Will, Microsoft MVP)

Technorati Tags: Shared files, wifi

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Using Bluetooth to sync your WM6.1 mobile device

Prof.Julie@pocketprimer.com (ProfJulie) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:45:40 GMT

Using Bluetooth to sync your Pocket PC is easier than ever under WM6.1. All you need to do is prepare your computer, create the Bluetooth partnership and sync.

Prepare your Computer

I covered this step in detail in my earlier article entitled "Use Bluetooth to sync your Pocket PC." This step is exactly the same under WM6.1, so I won't go through it again here. If you are using a Bluetooth USB dongle with your computer, go review that article to see how to prepare your computer (I am using a Kensington USB dongle there).

Make sure your computer's Bluetooth configuration has been set to let other Bluetooth devices discover the computer:

Create the Bluetooth partnership

The Bluetooth connection wizard is greatly simplified under WM6.1. You don't have near the options or required steps for connecting devices (I don't know if this is a good or bad thing just yet).

Here's the easiest way to create your Bluetooth Activesync partnership:

On the mobile device

Turn on the bluetooth radio
Open up ActiveSync (tap Start > Programs > ActiveSync icon)
Tap Menu > Connect via Bluetooth. The first time you attempt to connect via Bluetooth, you won't have a bluetooth partnership between the mobile device and your computer for syncing purposes, so you'll see a message on the mobile device's screen:

"Cannot find an existing Bluetooth partnership with a PC that supports ActiveSync. Would you like to set up a partnership now?"

Select the Yes button. You will be taken to the Bluetooth Settings Mode screen

Tap the Devices tab, then tap the "Add new device" option. The mobile device will search for Bluetooth devices and once it locates your computer, you'll see the name of your computer in the screen. Tap this name and the Next option on the bottom right hand side of the screen.

You'll be prompted to input a Passcode. The Passcode will be shared between the mobile device and your computer and can be any combination of alpha-numeric characters you choose to use. For my purposes, I enter 1234 in the space and tap Next.

On the computer

You will receive a "Bluetooth Security Code Required" message on your computer, similar to this one:

Select the message and then enter the same Passcode you entered for your mobile device in the space provided and select OK.

You will receive a message that the Bluetooth connection was successful.

Back to the mobile device

On the mobile device, tap OK to exit the Bluetooth Settings screen and return to the ActiveSync screen. Tap Menu > Connect via Bluetooth and syncing will begin.

Final Notes

I used an IPAQ 910c to put together this methodology.

I tested this out using both a Bluetooth USB dongle with my laptop and the bluetooth radio on my UMPC. The process was exactly the same, so once you've set the computer up properly, it should not matter if you are using a Bluetooth dongle or the computer's installed Bluetooth radio.

Technorati Tags: Bluetooth, WM6.1, ActiveSync

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Staying informed with NewsGator Go!

Prof.Julie@pocketprimer.com (ProfJulie) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:10:00 GMT

NewsGator Go! for Mobiles is a free News Reader that allows you to track and manage all your RSS feeds directly from your mobile device. Installing, configuring and using the software is quite easy. Once the software is installed to your mobile device, you can sync your device to your NewsGators online account through an ActiveSync internet passthrough connection, WIFI connection or through a GPRS/EDGE/3G connection, disconnect from the internet and take your news with you to read at your convenience without having to maintain a continuous connection to the internet.

Software Installation

You'll use a .CAB file to install the application to your device. You can download the application directly to your mobile device by browsing to NewsGator's mobile page from your mobile device or your can download the .CAB file to your computer and copy it to your mobile device.

There are three versions of NewsGator Go! for Mobiles: 1) a Pocket PC version; 2) a Smartphone version; and 3) a Java/Blackberry version, so take care to download the version that matches your mobile device.

Before you can use the software, you'll need to establish a NewsGator Online account and you can create the account either from your computer or from your mobile device.

Microsoft's .NET Compact Framework Version 2.0 Service Pack 2 is not required to run the software, but if you don't have this software already installed on your mobile device, you'll see a message every time you open up NewsGator Go! that states that NewsGator will perform better if you have it installed. I haven't installed .NET Compact Framework on my hx2415, and NewsGator works just fine without it.

The very first time you open up NewsGator on your mobile device, the application will open to a Login page, where you can create a NewsGator online account (if you don't have one already) or you can login to your account by entering your Username and Password in the space provided.

After you log into NewsGator, you'll be taken to the main page (see screenshot on the left). If you've already subscribed to some feeds through your NewsGator Online account, you'll see a list of the feeds on this page. Along the bottom of the main page you'll see two options:

Sync: Tapping the Sync option updates the mobile device with your most current feeds and related posts (you'll need an internet connection).
Menu: The Menu option is context sensitive, that is, the menu options change based on the item that is selected on the page.

On the main page, you can subscribe to new feeds directly from your mobile device by selecting a folder and then tapping Menu > Folder > Add Feed. Then you will input the Feed URL or website home page URL into the space provided and tap Add. NewsGator Go! will search for the feed and add it to your subscription list.

You can manage various feed options by selecting a feed and tapping the Menu option:

Feed allows you to:
- Refresh the selected feed (highlighted in blue in the screenshot to the left)
- Mark the selected feed as "Read"
- Remove the selected feed from your NewsGator online account and your NewsGator Go! account.
- Remove the selected feed only from the NewsGator Go! account (you will still be subscribed to the feed but you won't view it on the mobile device - you will still be able to view it from your computer through the online account)
Reset Sync refreshes the mobile device and synchronizes the feeds with your online account.
Cleanup removes read posts and posts that are more than 60 days old from the mobile device

Top Posts displays the most popular posts on NewsGator (see the screenprint on the left)
My Media allows you to play media files that are stored on the mobile device, such as podcasts, through Windows Media Player, directly from NewsGator. (you'll designate a folder on the mobile device through NewsGator's Settings > Media option)
Search allows you to search and subscribe to feeds or review relevant articles from across all NewsGator subscribers
Settings is where you'll configure how your mobile device accesses your subscribed feeds through NewsGator (see the section entitled, Setting up NewsGator Go!)
Exit quits and closes the application

Setting up NewsGator Go!

NewsGator Go! provides several customizable options to enhance your reading experience. Tapping Menu > Settings brings you to a screen where you can personalize the software through several options:

Credentials is where you input your NewsGator Username and Password.
Synchronization allows you to set options regarding feed update frequency (see the Synchronization screenprint below)
User Interface manages how feeds are displayed on the mobile device (see the User Interface screenprint below)

Synchronization	User Interface

Locations identifies the device (and the related feed information) that is being used to access NewsGator. I use NewsGator on my computer and on two of my mobile devices, so there are three profiles registered under Locations under my NewsGator account.
Web Browsing allows you to
- Format the web pages to optimize viewing from your mobile device by choosing to view pages via Skweezer or Google; and by choosing to show images
- Open links with your mobile device's default browser
Media allows you to designate the folder on your mobile device where your media files are stored
Feeds allows you to designate the folder on your mobile device where the synced Feeds are stored on the mobile device. Synced feeds are stored in .xml files and can be read off-line.
Network allows you to specify proxy name and port, and username and password if you connect to a network through a proxy server

Reading and working with Feeds

From the main page you can tap Menu > Feed to:

Refresh the selected feed (highlighted in blue on the above screenshot)
Mark the selected feed as "Read"
Remove the selected feed from your NewsGator online account and your NewsGator Go! account.
Remove the selected feed only from the NewsGator Go! account (you will still be subscribed to the feed but you won't view it on the mobile device - you will still be able to view it from your computer through the online account)

Tapping on a feed displays any unread feed entries. The Menu option here allows you to:

Hide Read Posts
Mark a selected post as Read
Mark a selected post and older posts as read
Email a post:
- You can email feed articles to multiple contacts (integrated with the Pocket PC's contacts application). Select Menu > Contacts > scroll through your contacts and choose the contact email addresses you wish to send.
- After you've selected all the email addresses you wish to send the article to, tap Done > input a message in the space provided and tap Send.
- The email gets sent from a newsgater email address (when you create an account with Newsgator, you get a Newsgater email address - autogen - your login name@newsgator.com

Tapping an entry opens it up so you can read it. When an entry is open, the Menu option on the bottom of the screen allows you to:

Choose the next or previous post.
View Full Post: Opens up the mobile device's default browser and displays the full post on the web (you'll need to be connected to the internet to do this). If you selected Skweezer in the Web Browsing screen (this is discussed above in the Settings section of the article), the displayed page will be optimized for your mobile device
Clip Posts: Saves posts to a "My Clippings" folder on your online account.

If your mobile device is connected to the internet, you can select any of the hyperlinks in the posts.

Final Thoughts and Suggestions for Improvement

NewsGator Go! is a solid News Reader that includes some really nice features. The software:

Is easy to install and syncs flawlessly
Improves efficiency by allowing you to download full feeds directly to the mobile device
Allows you to manage feeds while you are on the go
Is compatible with windows mobile 2003, WM5.0 and WM6.0 devices

I really like NewsGator Go! and recommend that you try it out. There are a few things that could be enhanced to make it an even better application:

Please provide some documentation: I could not find any documentation for the software on the website and there are no Help files included with the application. I spent quite a lot of time figuring out how the more advanced features work and have documented them here to the best of my ability. There are a couple of neat features that really need to be documented:
- Streaming video & audio: The website states that the windows mobile version of NewsGator Go! can play streaming video and audio, but there is no documentation that explains how to do it. I tinkered around with it some, searched through NewsGator's user forum, and eventually it appeared that a podcast was being downloaded to my device, but then the device froze up and I had to perform a soft reset to get out of it. Either I was not executing the option correctly or this option is a real memory hog.
- The Clip option: Clipping allows you to clip specific entries and save them to a separate folder for future reference. On the Pocket PC, you can clip entries but I could not find a way to view clipped entries on a mobile device. When you sync to your online account, the clipped entries are transferred from the Pocket PC to the online account and you can view them there.
Memory requirements: A couple of times while I was writing this article my Pocket PC completely ran out of memory. In all fairness, I was opening and closing menus, moving from article to article, and doing things that a normal user probably wouldn't do, so I might have caused the memory outages through my abnormal use of the application.

Additional Resources

NewsGator User Forums
To learn more about RSS feeds, see Bookmarks, RSS feeds & email subscriptions

Software reviewed: NewsGator Go! for Mobiles (version 2.0.0.25412)

Technorati Tags: Software, Mobile RSS Readers, NewsGator Go!

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Bookmarks, RSS feeds & email subscriptions

Prof.Julie@pocketprimer.com (ProfJulie) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:09:32 GMT

Thanks for visiting From My Pocket! I hope you find some useful Pocket PC tips here and that you'll check back frequently for updated content.

To be sure you stay informed of updated content and new articles, you can bookmark the website, subscribe to its RSS feed, or subscribe via email.

Bookmark the website

Bookmarking websites has been my modus operandi for almost as long as I've been on the internet. However, bookmarking is not an ideal method for keeping track of websites and blogs for several reasons:

Bookmarks can become unwieldy in a short period of time. Todate, I've probably got hundreds of bookmarked URLS scattered across numerous folders (I kept it fairly orderly for a while and then things started falling apart)
Switching back and forth between browsers complicates things. I switch back and forth between Internet Explorer, Firefox and now Opera (which I'm really loving BTW). I waste quite a lot of time looking for bookmarks in my different browsers.
Switching back and forth between computers also complicates things. I use three different computers at home (a UMPC, a laptop and a desktop computer) and different shared computers at work.
Bookmarks are static and don't notify when new material is available. I wind up opening lots of different bookmarks only to find that the content has never changed. For some dynamic websites, like Lifehacker, where the content changes frequently, I frequently miss interesting content because I was busy with other things and didn't get a chance to review the site.

To improve my current situation and, hopefully, gain some efficiencies I've been seriously exploring and learning about RSS feeds.

Subscribe to RSS feed

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a way to have updated content delivered to one place similar to the way you might have a newspaper delivered to your home. The beautiful thing about RSS is I only have to go to one place to get updates from all my favorite blogs and websites. Using RSS really is simply. . . all you have to do is sign up with an RSS News Reader service and subscribe to your favorite websites' RSS feeds.

Sign up with an RSS News Reader

RSS News Readers are nothing more than mailboxes that collect the RSS feeds you subscribe to. There are multiple free RSS News Readers to choose from. Some common RSS News Readers that are used by subscribers to From My Pocket include NewsGator Online, My Yahoo, Opera RSS Reader, Google Reader, Firefox Live Bookmarks, and Bloglines. Internet Explorer has an embedded News Reader and Outlook 2007 even incorporates an RSS Feed Reader that works pretty well.

RSS News Readers have various features and functions to accommodate reading styles and preferences. It can be somewhat daunting trying to figure out which one to use.

I've tried out several different RSS Feed Readers, but I always come back to Bloglines. So I'll use Bloglines to demonstrate how RSS News Readers work.

Create an account for yourself by setting up a user name and password in the News Reader of your choice.

Add the RSS Feeds for your favorite blogs and websites to the News Reader. You can usually do this by adding the URL of the blog you want to subscribe to into a dialogue box or by activating and using the News Reader's Subscribe button.

1) Adding the URL of the blog you want to subscribe to into a dialogue box

Login to Bloglines (or to the RSS News Reader of your choice)
Select the Feeds tab; then select Add
Input Blog or Feed URL in the space provided (see the red box labeled 1 in the screenshot below).
Select the Subscribe button

2) Use the News Reader's Subscribe button (see the red box labeled 2 in the above screenshot). Many News Readers allow you to add a button to your Browser's toolbar. When you open up a website that provides an RSS feed, the button is activated (it may change colors). Selecting the button will automatically add that website's RSS feed to your News Reader.

3) Some websites include widgets or icons for various RSS Feeds. If you use a News Reader that is associated with a widget, you can simply select the widget to subscribe to the RSS Feed.

You can usually tell if a website or blog provides an RSS feed by looking in the right hand corner of the website address bar. If the website has an RSS feed, you'll see an orange icon . If you click on the icon, you will be subscribed to the website, probably in the browser's default reader. You can probably change the default reader to the News Reader of your choice, but you'll need to look around the browser options and preferences menus to find the specific setting - I could not find an option for this in Opera.

Once you've registered with a News Reader and have added some RSS Feed URLs to it, staying up-to-date with your favorite websites and blogs is really simple. All you'll need to do is login to the News Reader from any computer and with any browser and start reading!

The best way to understand and get familiar with RSS News Readers is by trying them out for yourself. If you decide RSS News Readers aren't your thing, you can always unsubscribe from the feeds and go back to your old way of handling things.

Subscribe to From My Pocket's RSS Feed

Mobile News Readers

There are several mobile News Readers that can be used on Pocket PCs and other mobile devices. Some of these News Readers download content directly to the Pocket PC, so you can take your reading with you and are not dependent on a continuous internet connection.

I am currently evaluating several mobile RSS News Readers for this year's Smartphone & Pocket PC software awards, and I'll be posting more about mobile News Readers in the near future.

Email subscriptions

If you don't want to subscribe to From My Pocket's RSS Feed, you can always subscribe via email. All you need to do is select the link below and then enter your email address in the space provided and you'll get an email delivered to your inbox whenever I post new articles to the blog or update posts.

Subscribe to From My Pocket via email

Rest assured, your email address is held in the strictest of confidence and will only be used to send you regular blog updates. Of course you can unsubscribe at any time.

The authors of some websites and blogs only provide an abstract of articles in their RSS Feeds and email subscriptions because they want readers to visit their website to view the full articles. This improve their website statistics and exposes their readers to posted advertisements.

Even though I love having you drop by my blog regularly, and I hope you'll come back often to share your thoughts and insights in article comments, I provide the full version of articles in the RSS Feed and email subscriptions because that's what I expect and want in the blogs and websites to which I subscribe.

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Viewing and Editing Photos with XnView Pocket

Prof.Julie@pocketprimer.com (ProfJulie) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:26:53 GMT

About this time last year I was in Alaska attending my niece's wedding. She got married on the beach of a small village called Hope, Alaska.

After the ceremony, the guests and wedding party walked down to the local community center for the wedding reception.

The salmon were running and there were quite a few tourists in the town (see the RVs parked at the end of the road?). The wedding caught the attention of a tourist who was visiting from Germany who happened to be a professional photographer, and he approached me to ask if he could take some pictures. During the reception, he took many pictures and before he left he gave me a CD of the pictures he had taken.

Unfortunately the pictures were in a RAW format (CR2) and I had no way to view them. I figured I could find some software to convert them to JPG format and a couple of months ago I decided to give it a go. I looked around the internet for some software that would allow me to convert the pictures to JPG files and found some rather expensive software packages. Since I am not a professional photographer or even a serious amateur photographer I did not want to purchase such an expensive software package just to convert a few pictures.

Then I decided to see if I could find some Pocket PC software to do the job, and I was surprised and delighted to learn that not only could I use XnView Pocket (v1.40) to view the pictures, but I could also use the software to convert the pictures into JPEG files.

XnView Pocket Features and Functionality

XnView Pocket is a decent picture organizer and viewer that also allows you to email pictures directly from the Pocket PC using any email account that is set up on the device. (The HP Photosmart Mobile software which is included on my hw6925, is a crippled piece of software that allows me to view and email pictures from my device, but forces me to use the Outlook Email account, which I do not use).

The best part of XnView Pocket are the tools that allow you to modify and convert photographs directly on your mobile device.

Browse Folders

The File option allows you to:

Navigate to specific folders on the mobile device through the "Go to" option
Create new folders, rename folders and delete folders;
Cut, copy, paste, delete and rename photographs; and
Select multiple photographs at a time

The View Menu

The View option allows you to

Select the Mode you'd like to view your pictures in (see views below)
Select the Sort by order (by name, date, type, size, image resolution in ascending or descending order)
Select Recursive view to displays all pictures installed on the mobile device; or deselect recursive view to view only the pictures in the selected folder
Show filename in thumbnail view
Move between pages of photographs
Adjust the viewing size of the photograph by zooming up or down or by selecting original size
Automatically rotate pictures
Size the picture to fit on the mobile device screen

Selecting View > Mode provides several different ways you can view your photographs. In addition to the views shown below, you can also choose to display your pictures in a timed slideshow.

Thumbnail view	List view	Detail view


Strip view	Image view	Full Screen view

The Tools Menu

It is under the Tools Menu where XnView Pocket really shines! Here you can edit photographs directly on the mobile device:

Convert photographs from one format to another. You can convert photographs into JPEG, GIF, Bitmap, PNG, or TGA files.
Crop photographs
Resize, Adjust, Rotate, Sharpen or Smooth, and Batch Rename pictures (see screenshots below).
- When you choose any of these options, the original pictures remains intact and a copy of the file is created.
- You can choose to save the modified file as a JPEG, GIF, Bitmap, PNG, or TGA file, and you can specify the folder where the edited files will be saved.

Converting Pictures

Converting pictures from one format to another is quite easy. You can convert individual pictures or a batch of pictures:

1) If you want to convert a batch of pictures, tap File > Selection and choose All or Multiple Selection

2) Then tap Tools > Convert	3) Tap Format and choose a preferred format	4) Choose the file prefix/suffix and folder where the converted file will be stored.

When you tap the Convert button, XnView Pocket will take several minutes to convert the files into their new format. XnView does not change the original file, but creates a new file and places it in the folder you specified.

Modifying Pictures

XnView Pocket provides many different ways you can modify pictures directly on the mobile device.

Crop	Resize	Adjust


Rotate	Sharpen / Smooth	Batch Rename

The Tools option also includes a delayed screen capture function and a search feature.

The Tools > MIscellaneous options includes some nice functionality:

Send pictures by Email
Send and receive pictures by Infrared - practically obsolete nowadays
Create EXE slideshow or an album using selected images, all images in a specified folder or all images on the mobile device

Emailing Pictures

To email pictures, you first select a picture, then tap Tools > Misc > Send by Email

Service: Tap the down arrow to the right of the box, you can choose from the POP3, IMAP, or ActiveSync messaging accounts you've configured within the mobile device's messaging application.
Recipient: If you know the email address you want to use, you can key it into the box.
Size: You can change the size of the photograph be to 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% of the original size or just send the full sized picture
Format: You can email the picture in its original format or you can convert the format to PNG, high, medium or low quality JPEG or GIF.

Tapping the Send button places the email message and photo attachment in the Outbox of the email account you specified in the Service box.

When I email pictures from XnView Pocket, I usually leave the Recipient field blank. After I tap the send button, I open up the messaging application and edit the email to choose the contact I want to send the email to.

XnView Pocket automatically inputs its own subject line and some text in the body of the email, which I delete and replace with my own subject and message body text.

Creating a slideshow or album

XnView allows you to create an executable timed slideshow or album. The difference between the two is that the slideshow can be run independent of any software on different devices and the album can only be run within XnView. The way you create a slideshow or album is practically identical:

1) Select the pictures you want to include in the slideshow or album.	2) Selecting Next allows you to make some adjustments in your selection	3) Select Image size, rotation preferences & any corrections


4) Specify transition effects and delay period between pictures. You can even include an audio file - music or words!	5) Specify the name of the Slideshow or Album and where you want the file created on the mobile device	6) Choose the quality of the pictures in the show - higher quality creates a larger file. Tap Next > Create.

Creating a slideshow or album takes several minutes based on the number of pictures selected and the quality of the slideshow / album.

The Tools Menu also includes Information about pictures (if available), and provides an IPTC edit option. The Information option is where you can view EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) and IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) information about your pictures.

EXIF information: Most digital cameras automatically store EXIF information with each picture. The EXIF information varies by camera used, but the kind of information you'll see includes information about the camera used, light source, the date the picture was taken and other information about the camera settings:
IPTC Information: According to Wikipedia, IPTC "represents a file structure and set of metadata attributes that can be applied to text, images and other media types. IPTC was developed in the early 1990s to expedite the international exchange of news among newspapers and news agencies."

Selecting the Information option allows you to view File and Image information as well as EXIF and IPTC information:

Info	EXIF	IPTC (after it has been input)

Selecting the IPTC edit option allows you to input Caption, Credit, Keyword, Category, and Origin information about your pictures into six different screens.

File	Caption	Credit


Keyword	Category	Origin

After you've input IPTC data into the screens above, return to the File screen (tap the file tab) and select the "Save as..." button. Enter a name in the space provided, then select the X at the top of the page and you will be asked if you "want to write IPTC data." Select OK.

Default Options

Selecting Tools > Options allows you to establish some default settings for XnView Pocket

General tab establishes default settings in regards to:
- Home folder (where the software looks for pictures)
- Display mode (thumbnail, list, details, strip, last used)
- Language (supports numerous languages)
- Start wizard screen: If selected, every time you open the software you will start with the screen. I turned this option off because most of the icons seemed to be disconnected from the related functions (for instance, when I selected the slideshow option I could not create a slideshow)
Browser tab specifies thumbnail size (tiny, small, large, huge) and quality; turns on or off the filename and extension display; establishes font size for the folder tree and thumbnail list.
Viewer tab options include Pen moves picture; use scrollbar, rotate to the left (instead to the right); show filename in fullscreen, play animated GIF, select background color
Slideshow tab allows you to set default settings in regards to slideshow creation including the delay for the each slide, transition effects, background color, landscape/portrait mode, audio file, and loop
Buttons tab allows you to assign actions to buttons
Associations tab allows you to select the file types that will be associated with XnView Pocket. XnView Pocket supports the following file types:

jpg (JPEF/JFIF)
tga (Truevision Targa)
bmp (Windows Bitmap)
gif (CompuServe GIF)
png (POrtable Network Graphics)
2bp (Pocket PC Bitmap)
tif (TIFF Revision 6)
pcx (Zsoft Publisher's Paintbrush)
pbm (Portable Bitmap)
pgm (Portable Greyscale)
ppm (Portable Pixmap)
pnm (Portable Image)
ico (Windows Icon)
psd (Adobe Photoshop)

crw (Canon PowerShot)
nef (Nicon RAW)
raf (Fuji S2 RAW)
mrw (Minolta DiMAGE RAW)
orf (Olympus RAW)
pef (Pentax *ist D)
srf (Sony DSC-F828 RAW)
sr2 (Sony RAW)
srf (Panasonic DMC-LC1 RAW)
x3f (Sigma RAW)
cr2 (Canon EOS-1D Mark II RAW)
dcr (Kodak Pro Digital RAW)
dng (DNG)
raw (Camera RAW)

Suggestions for Improvement

XnView Pocket is a great application that seems a little unpolished to me. My suggestions for improvement include:

The software needs some user documentation and/or a decent help file
Enhance the software to include a "Send by Bluetooth" option under Tools > Miscellaneous
Enhance the "Send by Email" option by:
- Including a down arrow to the right of the Recipient box that links to the Contacts application on the mobile device so email recipients can be selected from contacts from within XnView Pocket
- Allow the user to input their own subject line and message body from within XnView Pocket.
Allow the Home folder to be changed from the My Documents folder in main memory to the user's preferred location - this seems to be a bug fix and not an enhancement request (this option is found under Tools > Options > General tab)
Fix / test the Start Wizard screen to ensure that the icons, such as Open Album and Create Album, work properly.
Provide a way to return to the Start Wizard screen from within the application (currently there is no way to return to this screen without having to close the software and re-open it.

Technorati Tags: windows mobile photo viewer software, photo editing

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Printing on the go with PrintBoy 7

Prof.Julie@pocketprimer.com (ProfJulie) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:26:11 GMT

PrintBoy 7.0 Windows Mobile printing software allows you to print directly to a printer via Infrared, WIFI, Bluetooth or Serial connection. With PrintBoy you won't need to use another computer's print connection to print, but it is somewhat limited in the file formats it supports: Word Mobile (native .doc files); Text files (.txt); Adobe PDF files (.pdf); and Pocket Outlook (Mail)

PrintBoy Proxy Server

My printers are connected to my network through a Belkin Print server. The Belkin Print server does not assign a unique IP address to my printers and I discovered through much trial and error that the only way I can print from a Pocket PC to my network printers is by sharing the printers through a connected network computer. In order to print from my Pocket PCs, I needed to use PrintBoy's Proxy Server for Windows software.

PrintBoy Proxy Server is free and runs as a Windows application. It redirects all print jobs to any printer that is attached to my computer (network printers or local printers) via a wireless connection. To use PrintBoy Proxy Server:

Download and unzip the PrintBoy Proxy Server software to a folder on your Windows computer. The zip file consists of two files: pbproxy.ini and printboy.exe.
Initiate the PrintBoy Proxy Server on your computer by double clicking the printboy.exe file.
The software initial configuration is set to "HP LaserJet" on port 9100, but you can change these settings by selecting
- Options > Configure Printer, and choose the printer that is available from your PC
- You can leave the port at 9100

If you plan to use the Proxy Server frequently to print from your mobile device, you may want to post a shortcut for the exe file to your desktop.

Configuring PrintBoy on a Mobile Device

When you install PrintBoy to your mobile device, you'll find a folder in the programs screen for PrintBoy that contains two icons. Selecting the Print Setup icon takes you through three print configuration screens where you will select a print driver for your printer, set the communication type and related settings, and select the paper size and left margin settings.

PrintBoy can be used with many different printers: Brother, Canon, Citizen, Epson, Extech, HandPrint, HP & Compatibles, HP Deskjet 460, Intermec, Lexmark, Oneil, Panasonic, Paxar, Printek, Seiko, Star, Zebra.

See "PrintBoy Printer Compatibility Matrix" for a comprehensive listing of printers that can be used.

My primary printer is an HP laser printer, so I selected HP & Compatibles. If you can not select your specific printer, you can try selecting a similar printer or the "generic" printer.

Selecting "Next" takes you to the Communication settings screen, where you will specify:

Communication Type: Infrared, Bluetooth, Network, or Serial. Since my HP LaserJet is a network printer, I selected Network.
Communication Settings: These settings will change depending on the communication type selected.
- Infrared: No communication settings are available
- Bluetooth: To find the Serial Port that is used on your mobile device:
  - For WM5.0 or WM6.0 devices:
    - Establish a Bluetooth partnership between your mobile device and printer.
      - Turn on the mobile device's Bluetooth radio, select Bluetooth Connections
      - Tap New > Explore a Bluetooth device > Next. Bluetooth will search for Bluetooth devices. Select the device that is your printer
      - If prompted for a passkey, enter the printer's default passkey (check the printer documentation for this)
      - When the partnership between the mobile device and printer is achieved, select "Serial Support Service" from the list of available services
      - Go to the COM ports tab and select a new Outbound port. The port number assigned here should match the COM port number you enter in PrintBoy's Communication Setup screen.
  - For Windows Mobile 2003 se (or earlier) devices:
    - Tap Start > Settings > Connections tab > Bluetooth icon > Services tab.
    - In the Bluetooth Services windows, find and highlight "Serial Port," then tap the Advanced button.
    - You will use the number that is shown in the Outgoing COM Port box
- Network:
  - IP Address: Input the IP address of the network printer. Since I am using a Proxy Server, I input the IP address of my networked computer.
  - Port #: You can find the Port number that is used by your printer by selecting Start > Settings > Printers & Faxes. Then highlight the printer you wish to use and right click on your mouse button. Select Properties > Ports tab. The Proxy Server software uses a default Port setting of 9100, so this is the Port # I used.
- Serial:
  - Serial Port: Choose appropriate COM port
  - Speed: Choose from 9600 - 115200

Selecting Next takes you to the last Print Setup page where you can select

Paper Size: Letter (8.5 x 11); Legal (8.5 x 14); Franklin (Monarch, Classic, Compact or Pocket); Executive; A4; A5; A6; Envelop (#10, DL, C5, or Monarch)
Left Margin (in inches): 0, .25, .5, .75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2)

After you've set your printing preferences, you'll see your current driver settings. Tapping the "Configure" button will take you through the three setup screens where you can change any option to match your preferences.

Printing from a Mobile Device

When you're ready to print a document from your Pocket PC, you'll need to prepare your device based on the communication type selected; activate the PrintBoy Proxy Server (if used); and initiate the print job from the mobile device.

Prepare your mobile device

Infrared: Line up the infrared ports on the printer and the mobile device
Bluetooth: Turn on the mobile device's Bluetooth radio. You may need to use the Bluetooth manager to detect the Bluetooth printer.
Network: Turn on the mobile device's WIFI radio and connect to the network. You can also use ActiveSync's internet passthrough connection
Serial

Activate PrintBoy Proxy Server (only if used)

If you are using the PrintBoy Proxy Server, select the printboy.exe file on your desktop computer to activate the Proxy Server:

Initiate the print job from the mobile device

Tapping the Start > Programs > PrintBoy folder > PrintBoy icon takes you to a screen where you can navigate to the file you wish to print. Tapping a file uploads the file to PrintBoy. Once the file is set to print you can select a few more Print Options: Print File Name, and/or Print Page Numbers. Then tap the Print button.

Supported File Types

	Windows Mobile 2002 / 2003	Windows Mobile 5.0
Pocket Word	Converted & native .doc files	native .doc files
Pocket Excel	Converted pxl files only	native .xls files not supported, but planned for future release
Text files (txt)	Yes	Yes
Adobe PDF files (.pdf)	Yes	Yes
Pocket Outlook (mail)	Yes	Yes
Custom data	through Software Development Kit only (purchased separately)	through Software Development Kit only (purchased separately)
RTF format	No	No, planned for future release
Office 2007 (docx or xlsx)	No	No

Supported Printers

PrintBoy is compatible with many different printers. See the Printer Compatibility Matrix for a comprehensive listing of supported printers.

Final Thoughts and Observations

The software does not support Word tables very well and the formatting of printed documents is somewhat different than what you'd get if you printed the document from a desktop computer. For instance, if you select to print page numbers, the page number will be displayed at the upper right hand side of the page; the print margin setting only sets the margin on the left side of the page (not the right side).

The software has not been updated in at least a year. For at least a year the website has stated that native .xls files and RTF formatted files will be supported in a future release.

I do not know if WM6.0 or WM6.1 devices are supported. The email inquiry I sent to the developer several weeks ago has never been answered.

From my pocket to yours....

Fixing network share problems

Turn off firewall

Make sure all computers on the network are in the same workgroup

Ping the computers on the network to see if they find each other

Turn on the Guest Account for each computer on the network (1)

Change registry item on Computer (2)

Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and start the Computer Browser service (3)

Adjust other Administrative Services (4)

Install NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol

References

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Using Bluetooth to sync your WM6.1 mobile device

Prepare your Computer

Create the Bluetooth partnership

On the mobile device

On the computer

Back to the mobile device

Final Notes

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Staying informed with NewsGator Go!

Software Installation

Setting up NewsGator Go!

Reading and working with Feeds

Final Thoughts and Suggestions for Improvement

Additional Resources

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Bookmarks, RSS feeds & email subscriptions

Bookmark the website

Subscribe to RSS feed

Sign up with an RSS News Reader

Mobile News Readers

Email subscriptions

Viewing and Editing Photos with XnView Pocket

XnView Pocket Features and Functionality

The View Menu

Thumbnail view

List view

Detail view

Strip view

Image view

Full Screen view

The Tools Menu

Converting Pictures

Modifying Pictures

Crop

Resize

Adjust

Rotate

Sharpen / Smooth

Batch Rename

Emailing Pictures

Creating a slideshow or album

File

Caption

Credit

Keyword

Category

Origin

Default Options

Suggestions for Improvement

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Printing on the go with PrintBoy 7

PrintBoy Proxy Server

Configuring PrintBoy on a Mobile Device

Printing from a Mobile Device

Prepare your mobile device

Activate PrintBoy Proxy Server (only if used)

Initiate the print job from the mobile device

Supported File Types

Windows Mobile 2002 / 2003

Windows Mobile 5.0

Supported Printers

Final Thoughts and Observations

Links

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