Pocketop driver hack for Axim x51v and WM5

gillius · 11-10-05, 03:38 PM

This follows up my experience from the pocketop hack for the x51 and WM2003. http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=69281

I haven't released any prehacked files yet because I'm not sure what to do here as releasing the driver is not legal. Here is how you proceed from version 1.6 of the pocketop driver:

First off, a disclaimer. I can't be responsible for anything that you do with this document. It is probably very possible to corrupt your PDA by installing drivers not designed for your OS and by playing around in the registry. It well worked for me but I cannot guarantee that it won't damage your PDA. It might be possible that a hard reset is required to fix things if something goes wrong, so be aware. Read everything carefully before proceeding.

Environment:

Hacking the Pocketop driver to work on Dell Axim x51v with Windows Mobile 5.0

The hack (technical details):

Here is what I did to hack the driver. The driver has what appears to be a list of PDAs that it works on that it compares against for the installer, but the driver is dumb and doesn't realize that it works for more PDAs ;). So we want to make it think that.

The driver has "Dell Axim x5" string encoded in 16-bit little endian Unicode located twice in the file. A hack for the x50 replaced one of the null characters with "0" to add to the string. Note that x51v will not fit, and I assume that if you tried it would cause a buffer overrun and crash the CAB installer. We are not allowed to add or delete bytes. Therefore, I found another PDA in the list, the "Compaq iPaq H3700" which had enough characters to fit in Dell Axim x51v. The strings were sorted, so I hoped the installer was using linear rather than binary search!

"Compaq iPaq H3700"
43 00 6F 00 6D 00 70 00 61 00 71 00 20 00 69 00 50 00 61 00 71 00 20 00 48 00 33 00 37 00 30 00 30 00
"Dell Axim x51v "
44 00 65 00 6C 00 6C 00 20 00 41 00 78 00 69 00 6D 00 20 00 78 00 35 00 31 00 76 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Replace the first string in the file with the second string. There are two replacements. The first replacement is at 1AC36.

The author included a hacked DLL file, which I hacked but I found out that I didn't need it. It contains the same strings as the CAB file, but I tried an unhacked DLL and it worked just fine. If I am wrong, then replace the strings in the PockettopIM.dll file.

The author also included an EXE to switch the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Drivers/BuiltIn/IrDA/Index from the default of 2 to 4.

I did not need this hack to get things to work on the x51v, so I did not use this EXE. What I did discover is that the Beam application MUST have "recieve all incoming beams" set to off when you INSTALL the driver, otherwise the installation will NEVER work until you uninstall and reinstall, regardless of what you do. My guess is that it detects IR/COM/IRDA settings during installation once and only once and doesn't look at what is done after install.

I have no clue what this does to normal IR beaming because I've never used IR for anything before until this keyboard.

Installation:

1. Go to start -> settings -> Connections -> Beam and ensure that "recieve all incoming beams" is disabled.
2. To install the driver, copy the CAB to the device and run it.
3. The installer probably will not ask you to restart, but if it does, let it do a soft reset.
4. Open your favorite program (like Word Mobile), and select Pocketop Keyboard and enjoy

Bugs:

1. Icons are for QVGA. They will display over the top half of the soft keys and are small as heck. Sucks, but it still works. Use magnifying glass if you aren't Superman.
2. Pockettop icon is corrupted. Looks bad, but it still works.
3. Input Selection Arrow is missing. Actually, it is still there. Click around right of the corrupted icon on the bottom until you find the magic arrow just as if you were using a real driver that did work.
4. Does not uninstall properly. You'll have to use a registry editor and delete DLL files and registry keys. See instructions below and be careful.

Troubleshoot:

Q. I get the message "Failed to open the infrared port. Infrared sending/receiving must be closed in order to utilize the Pockettop Keyboard".
A. You probably did not do step 1 BEFORE installing. It seems as if connection settings are detected during install so you will need to uninstall and reinstall the driver.

Q. I can't switch off the Pockettop driver -- the arrow is not visible!
A. No, it really is there, trust me. Tap the icon to enable the input method where the icons are visible. Then tap around to the right (OFF the icon) until you find the arrow to select other methods like Transcriber.

Uninstallation:
Doing this requires registry editing and DLL removal, so I am not responsible for any actions taken here. You can damage your PDA if you make a mistake that would require a hard reset.

I was unable to ever get the driver to uninstall properly through the normal methods, even after many ways of trying (soft reset etc). Also when the uninstall breaks you cannot reinstall either. My best guess is that the control panel for removing CABs and other software have the input method icon and that is keeping the driver open. Here is the best that can be done:

Delete the PocketopIM.DLL in your Windows folder (I used ActiveSync). This causes the driver to fail, but when it fails it is not loaded. Now run the uninstall program. The uninstaller should work. If it doesn't, let Windows remove the entry for it anyway.

After the uninstall, the Pockettop Keyboard is still able to be selected, but selecting it either does nothing or brings up the normal keyboard input method. To fix it, we have to edit the registry, and delete the following keys using a registry editor like PHM Registry editor

Input Method Registration: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B085D202-ABF9-4583-8BF7-CFC09A17B25F} (SHOULD be -- search for Pocketop)
Hotkey Settings: \HKLM\Software\Pocketop

Explaination:

HKLM stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

The first key in the classes is the actual key that puts Pockettop Keyboard in the list of input methods. Ensure that it is the right key and should have fields like IsSIPInputMethod and the other keys and values under the key you found make references to Pocketop, etc.

The second key in Software is for the Pocketop settings for their hotkeys. You could export it to some file to save it or just not delete it if you want to save your settings for a reinstall or a backup and install later. If you don't intend to use the driver again or you want to completely reset your settings, delete both keys

GoAvs · 07-21-06, 02:49 PM

Gillius -

8 plus months after you posted this, I just want you to know that the hack works like a charm. What's more, it works on my X51v, Rev 1, with the A12 upgrade. I haven't tried the uninstall routine as I hope I never need to use it. Thanks for the post.

gillius · 07-22-06, 12:22 AM

Thanks. When I just upgraded to A12 I hadn't reinstalled it yet but it worked beautifully on previous ROMs. I've got the keyboard sitting on my desk here.

I use it very rarely, though. I'm glad that I acquired it for free. The biggest problems with it are the small size and the fact that it is IR, so it is hard to orient properly. With smarter input methods like the transcriber or Tengo, the utility of the keyboard is decreased as well :(.

But I am very happy that some out there are getting use of this.

gadgetnerd · 07-22-06, 12:37 AM

Not to sound like a noob, but what is Pocketop? *Goes to Google*

Edit: Aaah. Not that I couldn't have guessed, but still.

MGrobe · 02-08-07, 04:17 PM

Well I did the hack about a month ago for my X51V Rom A12 and just went about uninstalling the device.

Everything appeared to work and it looked promising initially. I would often have difficulty switching from the PT keyboard and the standard keyboard. When clicking the PT icon it wouldn't always show me the short cut menu. But that was one annoyance I could live with.

I was happy to be able to continue to use the IR keyboard that I bought originally to use with my old X5. I haven't used the keyboard a whole lot in the last 3 weeks of occassional use, but unfortunately since the install I have had my X51V lock up on me 6 times. Gets to be a pain constantly saving work to avoid data loss. Prior to this I can't ever remember any lock ups in over a year of X51V ownership so this was truly a disappointment.

So now I may look to try and find some other happy home for my old keyboard. I still have my X5 Advanced with WM2003SE, though I can't say I have used it a lot since receiving my X51V. Moreso in the beginning as the ROM updates were slowly coming out from Dell to address the WM5 shortcomings, but for the last 8 months I have had barely a reason to touch the X5.

The good news for me is I have a CF BlueTooth card for the X5, so I can hopefully use the X5 with my soon to be purchased

sibble-comp · 06-05-07, 01:53 PM

Sweet!!!! Working great with my X51v, so several questions, any way to hack the driver so it both allows irda keyboard and incoming beam requests, rather than either or?

Also I have the X51v in a Otterbox 1900 case

http://www.otterbox.com/products/pda_cases/1900/

2 questions in relation to this

Any suggestions on a stand to hold the pda upright? The one that came with the pocketop doesn't work without the pda being attached to the stand. I guess I could add some velcro the stand as the handstrap has the other side of velcro.

Also related to this, any suggestions for a irda light pipe so I don't have to rotate the screen. I have seen this before with some of the other pocketop models, don't remember if you could get that from the pocketop folks or if it was a 3rd party hack.

I am thinking something along the lines of the ir extenders you use with home theatre systems.

Actually I vaguely remember there as an amplifier cable you could get so you'd have better range with these ir keyboards

ymlin123 · 10-28-07, 08:06 PM

delete.......................

ymlin123 · 03-13-08, 10:24 AM

I've modified the Pocketop driver to work with Dell x50v wm5 following Gillius post.
It works !!!
Remember following Gillius's installing instruction.

Tks, Gillius.

ricjaywhit · 08-26-08, 12:35 PM

I just received a mp-0118 ir keyboard. I've read about the hack to make it work on the x51v about a hundred times and got the hex editor. I can't seem to find the where the hex string is that I need to change. Can someone please give me a hand???

Thanks

Rich

ricjaywhit · 09-03-08, 08:37 PM

Finally found the right cab file. With the hack, the keyboard is really nice well worth the $13 I spent'

Rich