Java JVM's, Java applets, Toonel 0.0.50.50 and WM5 compliance

EDIT at 01-29-2006: Please note that I've made Jeode work under WM5 in the meantime and also found out that version 0.0.50.45 (as opposed to the latest, 0.0.50.50 one) does work under WM5. Scroll down for the new section added at 01-29-2006 to read the story! I didn't have the time to completely rewrite the entire article.

My latest investigations concerned running Java applets and applications under the latest Windows Mobile version, WM5. As one of the most important Java applications to run on the Pocket PC is Toonel, the best, free bandwidth usage reduction tool for the Pocket PC (please read this blog entry on it), I've also given it special attention, compliance-wise.

Java Virtual Machines (JVM's) and WM5 compliance

Unfortunately, the WM5 compatibility of the current JVM's is very-very bad.

1. CrEme 4.00 beta and 3.26 final (30-day trial version): neither of them work; complains about not being able to load gfw/gfwconf and exits. (Incidentally, CrEme can't run midlets either under WM5 – see for example my IRC WM5 compliance test for more information).
2. Mysaifu 1.0.9 (latest version) – it needs to be manually configured to be able to run Toonel 0.50 along with giving it, say, 10 Mbytes of RAM in the Advanced dialog. It starts and doesn't throw exceptions, but is very-very slow - much slower than under previous OS'es. Verdict: almost useless under WM5.
3. IBM J9 PE 5.7.2 (30 day trial version) – it's the only JVM that works (seemingly) flawlessly. As can be seen in my IRC WM5 compliance test, the MIDP version of J9 works great too under WM5.
4. finally, Jeode 1.7.3 doesn't even start. Note that switching the WM5 security off with, say, the Security Prompt Bug Fix (see screenshot) won't help the situation either.

Note that this list doesn't contain the MIDP environment shipped with HTC PDA-phone combos like the HTC Universal. They are, however, unable to run fully-fledged Java applications.

Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) and JVM plug-ins

PIE is, by default, unable to run Java applets. It requires third-party JVM add-ons to do this. In the pre-WM5 world, there were two JVM plug-ins: that of CrEme and Jeode.

In this test, I've tested whether the CrEme and the Jeode plug-in work with PIE. The CrEme plug-in doesn't, as can be seen in here. Furthermore, it's impossible to even register the Jeode PIE Java plug-in because the Jeode installer doesn't even create a Jeode subdirectory under \Windows\Start Menu\Programs with the necessary tools, unlike in previous operating system versions.

Going further

Now that we know that it's only IBM J9 that offers seamless Java application (and midlet - but, as IBM J9 has no PIE applet plug-ins, no applet) running capabilities under WM5, let's move on and test Toonel with the current, proxy-capable and WM5-compatible Web browsers.

Browsers and Toonel

Unfortunately, "only" Opera will work with Toonel, if you don't pay attention to the partial rendering bug I'll elaborate on shortly. Pocket Internet Explorer never loads anything and while NetFront 3.3 TP 1.03 loads pages (but not images), it always bombs the user with connection error messages upon loading main pages , which will be a bit tiring. The lack of loading of images / related resources will be a problem too.

Note that neither NetFront not Opera was able to render the main screen of Yahoo Mail correctly while inside (NF screenshot here, Opera screenshot here), while they work flawlessly without Toonel (and on pre-WM5 operating systems – this means it's definitely not a Toonel-related problem). Keep this in mind when you encounter partly rendered pages – unfortunately, this may render the use of Toonel absolutely useless under WM5 if you often visit pages like Yahoo Mail.

Note that, if you still choose Opera to use Toonel, you must insert the following five rows into \Application Data\Opera\opera.ini in order to be able to tunnel your HTTP and HTTPS traffic through Toonel:

[Proxy]
Use HTTP=1
HTTP server=127.0.0.1:8080
Use HTTPS=1
HTTPS server=127.0.0.1:8080

If you feel unsafe about editing the file, I've uploaded it for you here. You will only need to overwrite \Application Data\Opera\opera.ini with it.

Toonel & WM5 Verdict

If you use WM5, it's best to forget about Toonel altogether if you want to do some serious Web browsing. The same stands for running Java applets (like the ones at http://java.sun.com/applets/ ): neither of the "traditional" PIE Java plug-ins work; NetFront 3.2 (another browser with built-in Java support) isn't able to access the Net and the already WM5-compliant NetFront 3.3 isn't released as yet. Opera, Minimo Mini and Minimo don't support running Java applets. Finally, Thunderhawk 2.1 isn't WM5-compliant either (albeit a WM5-compliant version is being worked on).

EDIT (01-29-2006): as can you read here, I've managed to make Jeode work under WM5 and, because of this feat, have also tested Toonel 0.0.50.50 under it. It produces exactly the same problems as under IBM J9 and is, therefore, completely useless.

I didn't leave it at that, however. I've also played a bit with older Toonel versions and found out the following: the previous, 0.0.50.45 version (see my tutorial on setting it up) works almost flawlessly. It loaded every page I've thrown it at in both Netfront 3.3 TP 1.03 and Opera 8.5b, except for Yahoo Mail. The latter caused severe problems, particularly for NetFront, as can be seen in this screenshot.

That is, if you plan to visit the "regular" Yahoo Mail, then, you may want to avoid using Toonel on WM5. If you do plan to use Yahoo Mail but would also like to use Toonel, consider switching to the mobile-optimized version of it. The latter will work flawlessly, as can be seen in this screenshot.

So that it will be always accessible (dunno when the Toonel people remove it from their site), I've uploaded 0.0.50.45 version of Toonel here. Just put the file toonel.jar in, say, the root directory of your PDA. Finally, here's the Jeode and here's the IBM J9 link file to run Toonel.

ADDITION (03/15/2006, 6:50CET): the recently released new (4.1) version of the CrEme Java Virtual Machine supports WM5 and Toonel nicely and also has a working WM5 Internet Explorer Mobile Java applet plug-in. That is, now we have a reliable JVM for WM5 too with full Toonel support and also a Java applet plug-in for IEM. Highly recommended! Please read this article for more information.