MLB.TV baseball games on Axim - Page 4

Ivan X · 08-17-05, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by ruggrjones

The only way I can type the info in is if I open another program like pocket excel or word to open the keyboard and then tap back to MTR so I can type the answers. What appears to be happening is the menu bar (window icon, start, battery indicators, x to close programs, etc...) from the top gets shifted all the way to the bottom, covering up the keyboard icon. Have I not installed something correctly or is this the way that it works?

Well, unfortunately, that's one of the reasons I recommend J9 over Sun PersonalJava. PersonalJava was originally written for WinCE 2.11 and then revised to support Pocket PC 2000 (WinCE 3.0), and it hasn't been updated since then. Due to its age, what you are seeing is one of the side effects on newer devices -- the Start menu moves to the bottom of the screen.

With that said, I haven't seen the entire menu bar move so that the keyboard icon is obscured. On my iPAQ 4350 (Windows Mobile 2003 first edition), it is still easy to get to the keyboard icon when MTR is running (I think). You may be seeing some interaction with a third-party utility that you have, or maybe it's what happens with PJava on the newest devices.

But rather than figure out how to get PJava working correctly, the easy suggestion I would make is that you simply install J9 instead -- it's up-to-date for the latest devices, not terribly expensive, and you can download a free trial (which never actually expires). Plus it lets you backspace, which PJava doesn't.

Best,
Ivan.

Modern Transistor Radio
live baseball radio and TV for your Pocket PC
http://www.ivanx.com/mtr

ruggrjones · 08-17-05, 09:08 PM

I guess what turned me off to the J9 was it seemed like it was really big and took forever to download (estimated over 30 minutes using broadband) I guess I'll give it another go using the J9.

Ivan X · 08-18-05, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by ruggrjones

I guess what turned me off to the J9 was it seemed like it was really big and took forever to download (estimated over 30 minutes using broadband) I guess I'll give it another go using the J9.

Yeah, the J9 download is pretty ridiculous (90 MB), which is the major strike against it. Most of that bulk is stuff which doesn't actually get installed. (For example, the download comes with installers for both Windows AND Linux, which doubles the size right there.)

After installation, J9 will take up 8.5 MB on your device, which is still pretty hefty, but the MTR instructions file included with MTR describes what to remove in J9 to get it down to 3.3 MB, which isn't too much larger than PersonalJava. (You can also move it to a storage card, which many find to be the best solution; the MTR instructions file describes how to do that too.)

If you want to give PersonalJava another shot, check to see if you have any third party applications which add icons to the status bar. If so, try disabling these, and it may leave enough room for the keyboard icon when PersonalJava is running.

A future version of MTR won't require a Java virtual machine at all, but it probably won't be ready until next season.

Best,
Ivan.

Modern Transistor Radio
live baseball radio and TV for your Pocket PC
http://www.ivanx.com/mtr

Ivan X · 08-18-05, 11:32 PM

I'm happy to announce that MTR now has its own discussion forum, at http://www.ivanx.com/mtr/forum (also linked from the MTR home page). I'll continue to check here, but please come by if you need help, have questions or suggestions, or just want to discuss MTR and/or baseball.

Thanks,
Ivan.

Modern Transistor Radio
live baseball radio and TV for your Pocket PC
http://www.ivanx.com/mtr

ruggrjones · 08-21-05, 01:51 PM

Ok, I've installed the J9 java program, and the MTR program. Both were installed to the default place for now. After I get it to work I'll experiment with them installed in different places. I get as far as the screen asking for team, email, password. After I enter the password I get a message saying "Couldn't log in. The server says you have logged in too many times. Try later..." I am not logged into the mlb.tv site on my desktop or laptop. I've tried to enter different team codes and I've done them in CAPS and not. I've also reset my axim. Any idea why I would get that message or what more I can do. I've had games going on my desktop and my laptop before so I'm not understanding the logged on too many times error. Any ideas?

Caddychunk · 08-21-05, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by ruggrjones

Ok, I've installed the J9 java program, and the MTR program. Both were installed to the default place for now. After I get it to work I'll experiment with them installed in different places. I get as far as the screen asking for team, email, password. After I enter the password I get a message saying "Couldn't log in. The server says you have logged in too many times. Try later..." I am not logged into the mlb.tv site on my desktop or laptop. I've tried to enter different team codes and I've done them in CAPS and not. I've also reset my axim. Any idea why I would get that message or what more I can do. I've had games going on my desktop and my laptop before so I'm not understanding the logged on too many times error. Any ideas?

Oh, this infuriates me. I like to listen to a lot of different games throughout the day. The whole "try later" thing always happened to me too. So I called MLB.COM and they said this was a security feature. Huh?

Anyway, I can usually log back on in an hour or two. Just listen to one game a day I guess. It's a really stupid policy.

Ivan X · 08-22-05, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Caddychunk

Oh, this infuriates me. I like to listen to a lot of different games throughout the day. The whole "try later" thing always happened to me too.

I'd like to know more about this problem, because it shouldn't be happening; MTR is designed to avoid it. It doesn't happen for me, but I have heard it reported by a few users.

Every time MTR runs, it checks to see if you're logged in. It only prompts you for your email and password if you're not. What is supposed to happen is that once you've logged in, you can run it over and over (or 3 times per hour in the demo version) and it won't ask you to log in again for around 12 hours or so, much as if you left your browser window open all day, selecting different teams. That's the way it works for me.

As near as I can tell, their "security feature" prevents you from logging in from more than two different browsers in a short period of time. MTR should be seen as "one browser" unless you manually delete its preferences file (e.g. if you uninstall or delete the MTR folder, and then reinstall). I think there can also be problems related to if the date, time, and time zone on the device are incorrect, but I don't think that's an issue for very many people.

So what is happening on your end? Does MTR ask you to log in every time you use it? I'd like to track this down if I can so that if it is a problem, I can fix it in a later version.

Thanks,
Ivan.

Modern Transistor Radio
live baseball radio and TV for your Pocket PC
http://www.ivanx.com/mtr

Caddychunk · 08-22-05, 10:21 PM

Hey Ivan

I should have been more clear. The times MLB.COM tells me to re-login is when I'm using my Firefox browser on a regular computer...not when I use MTR. It only happens when I try to listen to a bunch of games during the evening when I'm looking for a good game.

By the way, I don't really want to pay for Java. Is there a free version I can use with MTR? This has been my hiccup with buying your program. I've only had my Axim for a week and I'm still going with my learning period (it's my first PDA ever).

When I tried the link to the Java you suggested, the link was dead.
Thanks IvanX

Ivan X · 08-22-05, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Caddychunk

By the way, I don't really want to pay for Java. Is there a free version I can use with MTR? This has been my hiccup with buying your program.

If you go to the MTR home page, there's a link to IBM J9 at Handango. (The link is also in the MTR instructions file, but as of about a week ago Handango broke it, so if you downloaded MTR before then, the link would be dead.) Anyway, you can download the free trial of that, and it will never expire. Of course, you should pay for it if you plan to use it, but that's your decision to make.

Alternatively, you can use Sun PersonalJava, which was originally distributed for free by Sun to anyone who registered with them as a developer. There's info on how to find it in the "MTR Instructions" file, or others here might be able to help you locate and install it. PersonalJava isn't as nice to use as J9, and causes problems for some users, so I don't really recommend it, but MTR still supports it.

Ivan.

Modern Transistor Radio
live baseball radio and TV for your Pocket PC
http://www.ivanx.com/mtr

cleandeen · 08-24-05, 02:54 AM

The J9 installer package I downloaded was about 45MB rather than 90MB. There were many possible packages to download. I just got the client for WM2003 Windows installer - works fine.

Ivan X · 08-24-05, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by cleandeen

The J9 installer package I downloaded was about 45MB rather than 90MB. There were many possible packages to download. I just got the client for WM2003 Windows installer - works fine.

I'm guessing like you went directly to IBM's web site to get the J9 trial, where you can indeed get the 45 MB version -- congrats on finding it in their maze of a web site!

On the Handango page which I link to in the documentation and the MTR web site, it's 90 MB because they basically distribute both the Windows installer and the Linux installer, each of which are 45 MB, in a single zip file. I link to the Handango page rather than IBM's site because in order to download from IBM you have to jump through a few hoops (registration, etc) and then it's a little confusing as to which package you actually need to download because there are so many. With the Handango page you can just click "download trial" and be done. (But if you got it direct from IBM, more power to you.)

Ivan.

Modern Transistor Radio
live baseball radio and TV for your Pocket PC
http://www.ivanx.com/mtr

09-23-05, 01:23 PM

It's working great for me (thanks to all of the help from Ivan!). The picture is really nice! Now Ivan, how about tackling ESPN's College Football GamePlan???

Ivan X · 09-27-05, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by heybhouse

how about tackling ESPN's College Football GamePlan???

I've got a prototype working and hope to release a full version before next Saturday. It's got a nicer interface, too. Send me an email at mtr@ivanx.com if you'd like to test.

Ivan.

Modern Transistor Radio 2005
live baseball (and football!) radio and TV for your Pocket PC
http://www.ivanx.com/mtr

10-03-05, 02:25 PM

Great job with GamePlan Ivan! I really like the menu of games after login. It's awesome being able to watch college football on my pda anywhere (especially here in Germany).

Ivan X · 05-11-06, 12:30 AM

Hey baseball fans, I am most pleased to announce the release of Live Baseball Browser 2006 (formerly Modern Transistor Radio). It lets you listen to or watch live games on your Axim. And if you want to watch highlight clips, you don't even need a subscription.

If you are familar with last year's version, you should know that this year's is about 100x better and 1000x easier to install and use. No Java VM required, either.

Hopefully, this will answer your portable baseball dreams, or at least most of them. Check it out at http://www.ivanx.com or Handango or PocketGear.

Best,
Ivan.

Live Baseball Browser 2006
live baseball for your Windows Mobile device
http://www.ivanx.com