Deploying a Service on Windows Mobile 6.x

In one of projects I’m working on at my workplace there is a service for Windows CE handheld devices (Motorola MC3x90 series)[1]. This service has been developed following the instructions at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446909.aspx. While it says it apply to Microsoft® Windows® CE 4.0 and 5.0 it also works on newer Windows CE versions as well.

Unfortunately when I try to put it over to Windows Mobile (Which indeed based on the Windows CE platform) devices of the same manufacturer (MC3x90Z series) the service was not loading despite validating that dll can be loaded from another app as well as copying over exact registry settings which are the only two pieces that need to get it running.

Troubleshooting was also very painful since there was no command prompt app in these windows mobile devices so had to put some 3rd party console programs like the one you gets with Windows Mobile Developer Power Toys[2]. Still the services.exe was refusing to load and run service when warm booted and this was very frustrating.

After lot of cursing finally found another one which also was developed by me long time ago and had a working service on Windows Mobile. And a careful examination on the CAB file revealed that it need couple of work from our part to get a service running on Windows Mobile platform. Following is the findings.

1. A compatible console.dll should be copied to \Windows directory. You can find the one I had been using (Don’t know exactly where I had found it) at my Google Drive

2. Following Registry settings apart from what needed for Service loading as described in the referenced msdn tutorial.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\Console]

”OutputTo"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services]

”AllowCmdLine"=dword:00000001

3. Last but not least. A shortcut at \Windows\StartUp folder to load the service. You can create one by creating a file with extention .lnk which contains a text in following format

<length of the text following after #>#services load <name of registry key of service>

e.g.

20#services load MTXSVC

Good luck and happy coding!

 

References

[1] Handheld Computers http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Mobile+Computers/Handheld+Computers

[2] Windows Mobile Developer Power Toys http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10601

[Published with Windows Live Writer on Windows 8.1]

Kinect Services for RDS 2008 R3

Now with the release of Kinect SDK for Windows, Microsoft is putting a lot of bang on the next generation human computer interaction technology to the mainstream PC. This time it’s none other than the Kinect Services for Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio - a Windows-based environment for hobbyist, academic and commercial developers to create robotics applications for a variety of hardware platforms.
Similar to Kinect SDK for Windows 7 Kinect Services for RDS 2008 R3 is available at Microsoft Research site for free download. According to the site, “Kinect Services for RDS provides sample services that use the Kinect for Windows SDK to allow access to the Depth and RGB data from a Kinect sensor. In addition to a service for a real Kinect, there is also a service for a simulated Kinect that works with the RDS simulator.”
Kinect Services for RDS 2008 R3 is vailable for download at:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/f8cda115-e9ec-44d1-abcd-3dfdd09d2e77/
There’s already a tutorial of powering the Kinect using iRobot’s internal battery is available at http://www.ros.org/wiki/kinect/Tutorials/Adding%20a%20Kinect%20to%20an%20iRobot%20Create

Now that’s one more reason to buy a Kinect Sensor.
Reference & Image Courtesy:
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4217801/Robots-get-Kinect-s--eyes-and-ears-
[Posted using Windows Live Writer 2011 on Windows 7 64bit]

Kinect for Windows SDK beta Released

As it was earlier announced Microsoft Research had released the Kinect for Windows SDK last week. According to the Microsoft Research, “The Kinect for Windows SDK beta is a programming toolkit for application developers. It enables the academic and enthusiast communities easy access to the capabilities offered by the Microsoft Kinect device connected to computers running the Windows 7 operating system.”

“The Kinect for Windows SDK beta includes drivers, rich APIs for raw sensor streams and human motion tracking, installation documents, and resource materials. It provides Kinect capabilities to developers who build applications with C++, C#, or Visual Basic by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.”

The most interesting thing is the skeletal tracking API. The demonstrated Shape Game using this API is pretty awesome. Now I just need to get hold of a Kinect sensor.

Shape Game Demo

If you have a Kinect sensor you can download the SDK from http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/download.aspx

More information is available at http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/

[Posted using Windows Live Writer 2011 on Windows 7 64bit]

Academics, Enthusiasts to Get Kinect SDK

Ever since the Kinect for Xbox 360 was announced I wanted it to have support for PC. But unfortunately at that time Microsoft did not thought in the same line as we computer enthusiasts.

However it was fortunate that community was really keen to get the Kinect to work with PC one way or other . And numerous hacking attempts began to surface. http://www.pcworld.com/article/210494/kinect_hacked_to_work_on_pcs.html

And finally it seems Microsoft has listened to the community and decided to  release community release of SDK of Kinect for PC.

And it’s interesting to learn that the mastermind behind AdaFruit Industries' Kinect hacking contest was former core member Johnny Lee from the Kinect team.

"Back in the late Summer of 2010, trying to argue for the most basic level of PC support for Kinect from within Microsoft, to my immense disappointment, turned out to be really grinding against the corporate grain at the time (for many reasons I won't enumerate here)," Johnny Lee had said. "When my frustration peaked, I decided to approach AdaFruit to put on the Open Kinect contest. For obvious reasons, I couldn't run the contest myself. Besides, Phil and Limor did a phenomenal job, much better than I could have done. Without a doubt, the contest had a significant impact in raising awareness about the potential for the Kinect outside of Xbox gaming both inside and outside the company."

References:

http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2011/02/windows-drivers-for-kinect.html

[Posted with Windows Live Writer™ 2011 on Windows 7 64bit]

Microsoft KINECT

:-)

While there is lot of research going on to the way we react with the computers we see very little getting their way into the consumer market.

When it comes to the Kinect for Xbox 360 it is more than a simple gimmick. With this device all the commands carried out by gestures and your whole body can be used for the game.

This is a really good feature and sometimes very intuitive way to play specially considering games like athletic sports. You have to really run and jump! (More fun way to burn few kg of body weight rather than a boring run on a treadmill) All in all you really have to play!

It’s sad that it seems only be for the Xbox and not for the PCs.

More details:http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect

[Posted using Windows Live Writer on Windows 7]