Without a Cable

quote:Originally posted by ajkalsey

Is there any way around this to install programs on the PDA, if I got hold of some (I thought this could be done with portable storage, I'm using a 64MB MMC card)?

Hi ajkalsey,

If you have a card reader that you can attach to your PC, then all you need to install programs on your PDA is to get your hands on the CAB files for the programs you want and copy those files to the MMC card.

Then, you can run the CAB files from the MMC card (inserted into the PDA, obviously) to install the programs on the PDA. If you don't mind their being installed in main memory, you can run the CAB file from inside File Explorer. If you want control over where the programs get installed (including instaling them on the MMC card itself), be sure to copy a little program called "cabinstl" to the MMC card too, and use cabinstl to run the CAB. It'll allow you to choose the location.

You can get cabinstl at:http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/cabinstl.shtml

Hope this helps.

Marc

Many thanks Marc, I'll try it out right now.

quote:Originally posted by MarcoMillions
If you have a card reader that you can attach to your PC, then all you need to install programs on your PDA is to get your hands on the CAB files for the programs you want and copy those files to the MMC card.

Just an addition:

1, some of these CAB files are distributed by their authors and, therefore, downloadable from the Web.
2, if you don't find them on the web, there're still two ways of getting them:

a, rename the installer EXE file to ZIP, and click on it. If you're lucky, you pass into the ZIP file. Just extract the CAB file that has the substring "ARM" or "XSCALE" in it.

b, if you can't enter the EXE file in above-mentioned way, just start the EXE file. If your ActiveSync is installed, the program will put all their CAB files into a specific directory and you can, later, find them and copy them to the MMC card by hand.

Where are these files? Most probably, in C:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\, in a subdirectory.

There may be cases, mostly with bigger programs, that the CAB files are put somewhere else inside C:\Program Files\. Then, you may want to look for new directories there and/or do a generic *.cab file search (for example, Alt-F7 in Total Commander).

In very few cases (for example, with Agile Messenger; see for examplehttp://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116572 on this problem), the CAB's are put in a completely different place, in :\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp
Hope this helps.

Wow...thanks loads!

It works like a charm, thanks forthe link! Thanks for the tips! Thanks for all the stuff!

Okay
So I am getting ready to start this project
I downloaded and unzipped the file.
The first thing ... is the file I want under "old"
and if so is it in the MIPS or SH3 folder?
Thanks
Bob

quote:Originally posted by sfbob21

Okay
So I am getting ready to start this project
I downloaded and unzipped the file.
The first thing ... is the file I want under "old"
and if so is it in the MIPS or SH3 folder?
Thanks
Bob

What PPC do you have? You'll only need MIPS/SH3 files if you have an old Pocket PC from the HP Jornada or the Casio Cassiopeia series.

Hi Menneisyys

I appreciate your insight on hacking .exe files to extract the .cab files. When you rename files (I'm using XP Pro) they are still .exe? What I mean: say there is a program called Blackboard2.1 When I rename that and call it Blackboard2.1.zip XP sees that as being Blackboard2.1.zip.exe How can I get around this? Many thanks in advance for your contribution.

Cheers

Maxsynergy

From any open file "WINDOW" in Windows, go to:
Tools / Folder Options.
Click the second tab - View
UN-Check the box for "Hide extensions for known file types.

You will then see the true extension, so then you can change the .exe to .zip

Hope this helps.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled forum.