andrew510

At first i was simply looking around for more info on one of my favorite handhelds, the Axim X50v (No, i don't have one, but i wan't one), and i came across a new build of Minimo for Windows CE.

Minimo quick facts

Minimo is a shrunken version of the opensource Mozilla Firefox web browser. It has been available for the Familar Linux platform since 2004. Windows CE builds where first available in Febuary as some might remember.

First trials

Booting up the browser you are now greeted by a redesigned interface. It still has a while to go to catch up with the smoothness of the Linux builds, but it's better then the last interface. Your default homepage is the Minimo start page with links to other websites.



Clicking on "Popular Hiptop Sites" yeilded a page that i could hardly move around in and couldn't leave. I reset my device.

Trying Google News i couldn't get anywhere and eventually found my self here;



Another device reset ensued...

A New Start

After reseting, i tried going to google search, where i would try several websites for various reasons.



I like the new Minimo WinCE interface. While really just the old one cleaned up and compressed, it has an understated look that makes it look at home browsing the web.

Trying to get into iPAQ HQ resulted in another reset.

Going back to Google search i tried using letter recogniser with Minimo. As you can see i works fine.



After tapping Google's search button i wound up at the standard search results page.



As you can see, this navigation screen provides a Adress bar, Back/Forward buttons, and page information.

Tapping result one i received an error and was sent here.



Tap reload, sit back and wait...



Trying to exit Minimo to see it's status in memory settings caused a white screen of death, so i restarted. I am going to try Gamespot and The Gadgeteer before i wrap it up, so lets go...

Atempts at Gamespot

Unfortunatly, i don't have high hopes for Gamespot coming in as it is far more graphically intensive then iPAQ HQ and that didn't load.



Google's results load fine...



Success! Gamespot's entry page loads fine (Albeit withouth the annoying banner ad )...



...But there main page fairs far worse. Trying Gamespot a second time gets no better results than the first try, so i stop it loading. I then once again recieved the the white screen of death.

Yet another reset ensued.

Attempts at The Gadgeteer & Google IMG Search Results

The Gadgeteer also caused problems by closing the browser while i tried to access it.



Google Image Search loads fine, even though it takes awhile.



Suprisingly Google Image search actually worlks pretty well on Minimo.



Proof that Minimo can render websites other than Google and a custom-designed start page. The website is Palmfocus.



And for the grand finalee, we have an image rendered with minimo.

You with me for all of that? it took me 2 hours to test minimo this extensivly, so i hope you enjoyed my first look at Minimo 0.004 for Windows CE.

Final Verdict: A good browser, but it is obviously still in an early form. I look forward to Minimo 0.1 for Windows CE this summer.

blazingwolf

I can't get this to work on my X50v. Doesn't matter where I install too.:(

andrew510

Move the folder named "Minimo" to a location on your device (i installed it to the iPAQ File store), use file explorer to navigate to the minimo folder, then tap "winembed" to run minimo.

tange1

Hello! I'm glad to see someone else as enthusiastic as I am about Minimo!

Andrew, I am really glad to see you trying out Minimo so extensivly. If you could please give me a list of sites that caused your white screen's of death, I can work out trying to have them fixed for the next release. Also, If any pages load with error codes (as in one of your pictures) please let me know. Your comments about the home page aren't alone, it is being redisgned a bit eventually ( it sucks, I know :-) ).


You noted an error when you tried to click on a google result. This is not an error, if you accidently or purposly double tap you are brought to this screen.

The confusion about how to get minimo running on a device should be worked out by .005, a installer is being designed now.

And my more generic stuff--
A little about me and Minimo:
I am part of the Minimo Development Team w/ Mozilla. Minimo is a mini version of mozilla designed to run on devices running WM2003SE (runs on 2002 and 2003 also)

Minimo is still in very early development. I am a debugger and help w/ design. If you would like to try out minimo here is a link to the latest .004 versoin.

http://www.meer.net/~dougt/minimo_ce/

On this page you will see several versions. Unzip the files, and drag them to the Pocket PC. Then simply go in and run minmo. Please be aware that the first run of Minimo is slow, as it has to register files. This is being addressed a bit in the next issue.


You can read more about minimo here
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minimo/
but you will not find a spot to download minimo from that page as it is not yet being released for download off that page.

If you find bugs, please submit them to me! I can add them and have them worked out. Many of the early bugs have been worked out very quickly but the program is still VERY beta and will likely have problems. As of now, Minimo is more experimental than a full functional browser.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

blazingwolf

Originally Posted by andrew510

Move the folder named "Minimo" to a location on your device (i installed it to the iPAQ File store), use file explorer to navigate to the minimo folder, then tap "winembed" to run minimo.

Did that. I get the busy wheel. I let it sit one time to see if would make a difference. I waited 10 minutes. Still busy. I don't mind slow but that is way to slow.

tange1

Blasingwolf, Minimo is not without its bugs:-) . If you woudln't mind giving it a try with nothing running, and today screen plugins disabled. Minimo requires roughly 5 megs of RAM free to get the app running. There are users who report that they can never get minimo started, and this is usally due to it not getting along well with another program on the system. Slowly try stoping things from running and see if Minimo starts. Remmbeber, first time running is the slowest.

Also, if you aren't already, please try running it from RAM not an SD card. If you have no luck, try a past release, and see if that runs. If it does we have more to figure out :-)

andrew510

No websites cause the White Screen as i remember, just closing and reopening the browser.

I am testing Minimo some more right now. The Gadgeteer loads, but crashes the browser (exits it, not White Screen of Death).

Edit: The Gadgeteer mobile now loads fine.

andrew510

Gamespot now loads but is practically useless because of how slow it is. After awhile of going up and down (because minimo had compressed it down to a single column) Minimo closed itself out.

CRXGSR

There's a small tiny bug when you try to highlight something. I get a square box showing at the beginning and ending of what I've highlighted.

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tange1

Intermitent Minimo crash's while loading certain sites have been common in this release of Minmo. I will add this site to the list. The bug is known, and we will be testing known problem sites before the release of .005.

tange1

Originally Posted by CRXGSR

There's a small tiny bug when you try to highlight something. I get a square box showing at the beginning and ending of what I've highlighted.

Thanks! I first noted this in version .002, I guess it hasn't been worked out yet.

blazingwolf

Hey, I finally got it to work. :) Seems to be a memory and resource problem. Doesn't matter what I have running as long as I have at least 25MB total memory and only one today plugin it starts up fine.

It definetly needs a back button and some fixes for VGA devices. :) Thanks tange1.

andrew510

There are some problems with The Sonic Zone V1.2 (URL: http://soniczone.no-ip.com/)

1. Flash Animation at the first page of site dosen't load (Dosen't in PIE either though)
2. None of the links in "Navigation" work
3. Shoutbox only loads (you can't post, but in PIE it dosen't even load)

Edit: I would like to see some screenshots of the Minimo in VGA and/or Landscape.

tange1

Originally Posted by andrew510

Edit: I would like to see some screenshots of the Minimo in VGA and/or Landscape.

So would I! I've yet to see this. Thanks for the bug submission, I am passing it on now.

tange1

Originally Posted by blazingwolf

Hey, I finally got it to work. :) Seems to be a memory and resource problem. Doesn't matter what I have running as long as I have at least 25MB total memory and only one today plugin it starts up fine. It definetly needs a back button and some fixes for VGA devices. :) Thanks tange1.

If you double tap somewhere not on a hyperlink, you can enter your own page to visit. There is a back/forward/reload button found there. If your a good graphic artist, we are looking for design suggustions for buttons to go in place of the boring gray ones.