Windows Versions

BHawks · 12-31-03, 11:01 AM

Does anyone know of a site or list that will coorelate the PPC windows version numbers to the general terms used for the OS's
I.E.: Version 4.xx = Windows Mobile 2003. We have some older PPC's and trying to find out what versions are on them?

SquawkingMonkey · 12-31-03, 11:34 AM

You would have to dig around on MSDN to find the information. But, basically, Windows CE 3.0 is Pocket PC 2002 and Windows CE 4.2 (aka Windows CE .NET) is Windows Mobile 2003.

Anything below 3.0 is Handheld PC.

deftech · 12-31-03, 01:37 PM

You're pretty much correct, but some slight variations on your Handheld PC comment. Just to note, the "Handheld PC" (aka H/PC) was the "widescreen" clam-shell with a keyboard.....like a mini-laptop.

Windows CE 1.0 was released for the H/PC, and was basically just a scaled-down version of Windows 95. Not too many manufacturers implemented CE 1.0, and CE 2.0 was released less than a year later to replace it.

So Windows CE 2.0 came along, also for the H/PC, and was Microsoft's first "accepted" PDA OS. It was also made with similar functionality to Windows 95, to keep it user-friendly. The main advantages to CE 2.0 over CE 1.0 was it's ability to run on both half-VGA and full-VGA screens, as well as it's increased communications support. This was also the version that began support for the common MIPS, SH3, and StrongARM processors.

Windows CE 2.1 was the first version of CE to be released for "Palm PCs", but due to legal reasons the name was changed to "Palm-Sized PCs". It was sometimes referred to as "Pocket PC", but to my knowledge this wasn't an official Microsoft name for it.

Windows CE 3.0 was the next to come along. Within a month of the core release, we saw the HPC2000 (Handheld PC 2000) OS and PPC2000 (Pocket PC 2000) OS emerge.

This remained for about a year, until the PPC2002 (Pocket PC 2002) OS was released. PPC2002 was still built on the Windows CE 3.0 Core. The following year, Microsoft released the Smartphone 2002 OS, also on the Windows CE 3.0 Core.

Next the Windows CE 4.0 Core was released to developers, then the CE 4.1 Core, and finally the CE 4.2 Core. This past June (2003), Microsoft released the WM2003 (Windows Mobile 2003) OS which was built on the Windows CE 4.2 Core. Some users unofficially refer to it as PPC2003 (Pocket PC 2003).

Windows CE 5.0 Core (code-named Macallan) is rumored to have a release set for sometime in 2004.

SquawkingMonkey · 12-31-03, 01:56 PM

Also, according to Nick Grattan and Marshal Brain (authors of Windows CE 3.0 Application Programming), Windows CE 2.12 did not find its way to many consumer devices--mainly used by embedded device manufacturers. Windows CE 2.11 and 2.21 is what we see on Handheld and Palm-sized devices.

With Pocket PC 2002, Microsoft standardized on the ARM processor. So you will not see MIPS or SH3 processors running Pocket PC 2002.

I was an early adopter who purchased the Philips Velo 1 running on Windows CE 1.0. I still have it and it still works. As deftech stated, Windows CE 1.0 only lasted a year before the next version was released.

whitelyt · 12-31-03, 01:58 PM

alot of this information can be found on www.cewindows.net.

BHawks · 12-31-03, 05:06 PM

Thnks For All Your Help, Cleared up my confusion.