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View Full Version : Dell X50 Series has Secret Screen Software


Jonathon Watkins
12-10-2004, 04:30 AM
Rudolph has evidently been examining his new Dell X50 series more closely than most and has <a href="http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=61282">found something very interesting</a> by altering a value in the registry. Before going any further, let me just remind you that editing the Registry directly can be dangerous to your PPC and you should always take a data backup before try to do so. Eric Hess spotted Rudolph's Aximsite post and sent it to us: <br /><br /><i>"I found that you can enable a hidden contrast applet by going into the registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\Contrast' and renaming the "Redirect" value to "Redirect_" (or rename to something else, or remove it completely). Then soft reset and go to start > settings > system > contrast and adjust the contrast. The only thing is, it doesn't remember the contrast after a soft reset. This should help with reading in the dark -- the screen brightness is too bright when you are in the dark."</i><br /><br />I tested this on my X50v using <a href="http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/RegEdit/">PHM Registry Editor</a> and sure enough, after renaming and soft resetting there is indeed a new icon in the system tab. It's a circle, half black &amp; half white. When you tap it, you get a slider bar and what looks like random noisy lines on the screen, though they can help you determine the correct contrast. The screen changes colour as you drag the slider across, from yellow to while and on to grey. I wonder what this does for the power consumption, as the screen can get a lot dimmer than the lowest brightness setting. However, I found that after a soft reset, the contrast was always set to maximum, giving the screen a yellow tinge. After playing with it for a bit, I reset the registry key back to default, soft reset and all was well again. I will keep a note of the registry value, should I ever need to adjust the contrast. Rudolph verified that this registry hack does not work on the iPAQ hx4700. I wonder what else is hidden away for some enterprising soul to find. Remember, any registry editing you do is at your own risk. You have been warned! ;-)<br /><br /><b>edit: </b>This value appears to be present in many other PPCs, though it does not seem to work for most. Rudolf also found how to control the <a href="http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=61035&amp;">hidden treble/bass/3d effects</a> on the X50 series. Nice work!

marcm
12-10-2004, 04:39 AM
Interesting! Contrast hasn't been on devices since they were black and white!(I think) This could be useful for the X50 users out there...not me... I'm "old school" with my X30! :? :wink:

EDIT:The X30 actually has this feature too... interesting... I wonder if the X5, X3, or the X3i have it too...

Darius Wey
12-10-2004, 04:40 AM
While the concept sounds nice, it actually fails to work properly on a lot of Pocket PCs. It usually defaults back to its original value either following a soft reset, or even when you press OK on the contrast applet. So anyone who wants to give this a go, you should keep that in mind. ;)

bigkingfun
12-10-2004, 04:40 AM
In the same section of the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\) there are a couple of other keys that you can activate by making the same change. There is an "Updates" key that adds an Updates icon to the Connection tab in Settings and a "Bluetooth" key that adds a second Bluetooth icon on the Connection tab in Settings. In both cases, I renamed the "redirect" key and the icons showed up after a soft reset.

When I tap the Updates icon that gets added, it shows an updates windows where you can tap an update for more information. There is nothing currently listed, so I assume it is for ROM or driver updates of some sort.

The Bluetooth setting adds a second Bluetooth icon in the settings window but when I tap it, I get an error that there is no Bluetooth hardware installed. This happens whether the Bluetooth radio is on or off. The thing I find interesting is that the icon for this Bluetooth item seems to be a high DPI icon and looks sharper compared to the other one. Whether this is significant or not, who knows?

xdev
12-10-2004, 04:54 AM
maybe these are "inherited" from WinCE

mara6
12-10-2004, 04:56 AM
I tried it on my Dell Axim X30 and it put the contrast button on, but it never changed anything after I clicked ok. So you were right Darius Wey.

Also, bigkingfun, I added the update icon and some other stuff. Thanks for the great tip!

marcm
12-10-2004, 05:04 AM
I tried it on my Dell Axim X30 and it put the contrast button on, but it never changed anything after I clicked ok. So you were right Darius Wey.

Also, bigkingfun, I added the update icon and some other stuff. Thanks for the great tip!

Yeah! I just noticed that... and changed the registry key back... Oh well... :wink:

CME2C
12-10-2004, 05:14 AM
I tried this on my X50 . I went to the registry and removed the following key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\Dude. Then I went to control panel and that Annoying guy Steven from the Dell commercials popped on the screen, and he keeps saying

"Dude yer getting a dell".

Now I can't turn it off.

Hellpppppp

rudolph
12-10-2004, 05:36 AM
heh, those are my words...although I'm not Eric Hess and didn't submit the article.

I posted it at: http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=61282 :)

The applet is actually available in all Pocket PCs. It's disabled in most (all I think) newer models since they don't support contrast control. My guess is that Dell never even tried to see if the applet works or not since modern LCD screens don't have contrast controls (two Pocket PC's ago, on my E125, this worked, but was useless since the E125 had it's own custom contrast screen). It probably only works because of the intel 2700g video card.


Anyhow, for a control of the hidden treble/bass/3d effect on the X50 check out emulamer's post &amp; X50mix util at: http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=61035&amp;highlight=x50mix

Bajan Cherry
12-10-2004, 05:47 AM
heh, those are my words...although I'm not Eric Hess and didn't submit the article.

Too close to be a mere coincidence ;)

felixdd
12-10-2004, 07:20 AM
Unhide "network" by changing the dword for "hide" from 1 to 0, and you can have an extra icon called "wireless ethernet" in the "connections" area. No more going through the regular connection screen -- this is much easier and quicker.

And for any of the control panel applets, you can also change the group to change which tab it appears in. I think group 0 is personal; group 1 or just default goes into system, and group 2 goes into "connections." Very handy...you can move the applets you use the most to the "personal" area by changing the group from 1 to 0.

As for menus...no idea what "coolnewmenu" and "coolmenu" does when you turn it from 0 to 1. No difference as far as I can see.

BTW: I have an Ipaq 2215. The contrast applet didn't apply any changes. And deactivating redirection for "Backlight" will only give you two backlight applets :p

Menneisyys
12-10-2004, 08:15 AM
Contrast hasn't been on devices since they were black and white!(I think)

Well, certainly there has been, at least on some STN (like the Jornada 680) and transmissive (Casio's colour PsPC's and PPC's like the E-125) screens.

I wonder if, by altering the contrast, the x50v can deliver as good red colors as the hx4700 or the Pocket Loox 720 (visit http://www.firstloox.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2607 to see what the PL720 is capable of in terms of rendering colors). Does it help x50v against the washed-out colors?

Menneisyys
12-10-2004, 08:21 AM
BTW, have tested the reghack on my PL 720. No effect: coulnd't move the slider of the Contrast applet to the other position.

Jonathon Watkins
12-10-2004, 10:14 AM
heh, those are my words...although I'm not Eric Hess and didn't submit the article.

I posted it at: http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=61282 :)

Thanks for politely pointing that out. I have updated the post now that I know it was you. :)

NLS
12-10-2004, 10:18 AM
old tricks :)

I've been reading such "hacks" for years... interesting people keep finding them up (again)

JvanEkris
12-10-2004, 10:28 AM
maybe these are "inherited" from WinCEThey are inherited from PocketPC2000 were at the time screens could handle more or less contrast. I guess with current screens it is not possible any more. It did not make a difference in power usage though, it is just that the screen shows the image in a different way.....

There are a lot of hidden functions in this part, some of them are functional and documented at www.phm.lu

Jaap

jonathanchoo
12-10-2004, 10:50 AM
This is nothing new right? I found this applet on my e310 long time ago I thought its an old legacy app left over from WinCE.

Pony99CA
12-10-2004, 11:34 AM
The only Pocket PC I've heard the Contrast applet work on until now was one of the Toshiba's (e570 or e740, I think).

In the same section of the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\) there are a couple of other keys that you can activate by making the same change. There is an "Updates" key that adds an Updates icon to the Connection tab in Settings and a "Bluetooth" key that adds a second Bluetooth icon on the Connection tab in Settings. In both cases, I renamed the "redirect" key and the icons showed up after a soft reset.

When I tap the Updates icon that gets added, it shows an updates windows where you can tap an update for more information. There is nothing currently listed, so I assume it is for ROM or driver updates of some sort.
I think it's something for online software updates, probably for Phone Edition Pocket PCs. Even on non-Phone Edition Pocket PCs, you could find some phone-type registry keys.

The Bluetooth setting adds a second Bluetooth icon in the settings window but when I tap it, I get an error that there is no Bluetooth hardware installed. This happens whether the Bluetooth radio is on or off. The thing I find interesting is that the icon for this Bluetooth item seems to be a high DPI icon and looks sharper compared to the other one. Whether this is significant or not, who knows?
Do you have an iPAQ? Compaq and HP used the Widcomm stacks and so supplied their own Bluetooth settings applet. Microsoft included a Bluetooth stack in Windows Mobile 2003, if I recall, and you're probably seeing that icon when you change the registry.

The same tricks can reveal the Microsoft Backlight applet and other fun things (only a few of which are really useful).

Steve

blazingwolf
12-10-2004, 03:20 PM
The contrast applet opens but the slider won't move on my Toshiba e800. :(

Deslock
12-10-2004, 03:42 PM
The contrast graphic is supposed to be 4 blocks with different shades of grey (to assist with adjusting the slider) instead of the static mess that shows under WM2003SE. It displays properly in true-VGA mode.

Jonathon Watkins
12-10-2004, 03:58 PM
The contrast graphic is supposed to be 4 blocks with different shades of grey (to assist with adjusting the slider) instead of the static mess that shows under WM2003SE. It displays properly in true-VGA mode.

Ah yes. Cheers for that Deslock.

Deslock
12-10-2004, 04:25 PM
The contrast graphic is supposed to be 4 blocks with different shades of grey (to assist with adjusting the slider) instead of the static mess that shows under WM2003SE. It displays properly in true-VGA mode.

Ah yes. Cheers for that Deslock. :?:

Darius Wey
12-10-2004, 04:29 PM
:?:

I think Jonathon was saying: "Thanks for the heads-up!" ;)