Minimo Screenshots Abound

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=6191' target='_blank'>http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback...ml?article=6191</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Rafael Ebron has posted a couple of photos of devices running the Windows CE version of Minimo. One photo shows Minimo on the Orange SPV E200, which runs Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone, while the other shows the browser on the i-mate JAM, which runs the slightly overnamed Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Second Edition, Phone Edition. More details about the Windows CE version of Minimo were posted last month."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050309-Minimo.jpg" /><br /><br />MozillaZine have just alerted their readers to a set of Minimo screenshots which you can find <a href="http://rebron.org/blogarchives/2005/03/minimozilla_com.html">here</a>. It looks great! Those actually interested in testing out Minimo can read more <a href="http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=6097">here</a>.

[KTamas]

Just downloaded the very first test version...loading onto my xda right now...
Edit: my god, this is awesome.

[g0097]

I am using minimo right now on my Imate Jam to post this message. Does a great job of rendering pages to fit on the pocket pc screen. Its obviously only a start, no bookmarks or other plugins, but its a great start!!

[KTamas]

I am using minimo right now on my Imate Jam to post this message. Does a great job of rendering pages to fit on the pocket pc screen. Its obviously only a start, no bookmarks or other plugins, but its a great start!!
It's as fast as my Firefox loading webpages over Activesync pass thru 8O (PIE is slow as hell)

[Copy]

Hello

You can find here the latest downloable version of minimo for Pocket PC :

http://www.mobinaute.com/mobinaute/article.php?id=20050226161114

I made a couple of screenshots too :

http://www.mobinaute.com/mobinaute/images/minimo1.jpg

[Darius Wey]

It's as fast as my Firefox loading webpages over Activesync pass thru 8O (PIE is slow as h-ll)

When the first build was released, I found it to be very slow when stored on a storage card. Hopefully, by the time it is formally released to the public (i.e. out of beta), it'll be more optimised.

[KTamas]

I found this, downloading now:
http://www.meer.net/~dougt/minimo_ce/MinimoCE_0.003.zip
edit: works, but crashed when tries to load PPCT...

[Menneisyys]

When the first build was released, I found it to be very slow when stored on a storage card. Hopefully, by the time it is formally released to the public (i.e. out of beta), it'll be more optimised.

Does it then also store its cache on the SD card (it isn't configurable), just like NetFront? Then, no wonder it's so darn slow at writing to the cache (see for example http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36376 for more info on PIE's and NetFront's cache speed when located at a storage card.)

[Darius Wey]

When the first build was released, I found it to be very slow when stored on a storage card. Hopefully, by the time it is formally released to the public (i.e. out of beta), it'll be more optimised.

Does it then also store its cache on the SD card (it isn't configurable), just like NetFront? Then, no wonder it's so darn slow at writing to the cache (see for example http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36376 for more info on PIE's and NetFront's cache speed when located at a storage card.)

Actually, IIRC, it's in a Minimo folder in the Windows directory, although I can't check now since I hard-resetted my Pocket PC recently and haven't loaded half my programs yet.

Nevertheless, it's still early days. I'm sure more optimisations will come with time, and the taskbar will move to the top as well. ;)

[sjk]

hey all,

Just for all you Smartphone users - if you think Minimo is good, have a look at Opera. Opera Mobile has been available for Smartphone for months and with it's Small Screen Rendering it displays webpages amazingly! It's also in a kind of beta, "Public Technical Preview". But I've been running it fine for months and to be honest it looks even better than Minimo. It certainly makes browsing over GPRS doable.

- Simon

[apollak]

Hi,
I'm using PIEplus quite a while on my ppc and it is great. Do you think Minimo makes a better job?

[juni]

I also hope they'll get some good icon designer for the UI. :)

[Darius Wey]

Hi,
I'm using PIEplus quite a while on my ppc and it is great. Do you think Minimo makes a better job?

Minimo is still in beta, so if you use it as a browser replacement, expect bugs, perhaps a lack of features, and a not-so-friendly UI. Generally, the current preferred browser alternatives over PIE are NetFront and/or Thunderhawk. However, once Minimo is publicly released, I'm sure we can expect big things. :D

[Darius Wey]

I also hope they'll get some good icon designer for the UI. :)

I'm sure you can always put your hand up and enquire about it. ;)

[Jason Dunn]

Hrm...the Pocket PC UI is flipped around, which I think means he's using an ancient development tool based on the Palm-sized PC of 1999...because that's what Palm-sized PC apps do when loaded onto a Pocket PC. How curious... 8O

[logo20heli]

I have trouble closing minimo on my Axim X50v. The "X" icon to close it doesn't do so. Also, Magic Button won't kill it. You have to go into Settings->Memory->Running Apps and close it from there. Anyone else have this problem?

[carphead]

Hrm...the Pocket PC UI is flipped around, which I think means he's using an ancient development tool based on the Palm-sized PC of 1999...because that's what Palm-sized PC apps do when loaded onto a Pocket PC. How curious... 8O

Says on the project homepage it's complied using the MS WM 2003 SDK.

[KTamas]

I have trouble closing minimo on my Axim X50v. The "X" icon to close it doesn't do so. Also, Magic Button won't kill it. You have to go into Settings->Memory->Running Apps and close it from there. Anyone else have this problem?
same here, but hey, this is just 0.03 :P

[Ir0nman]

I'm still using the early compiled version but all I do is hit the taskbar on the bottom where the "X" should be and it closes just fine for me. Maybe I'm an odity. I'm using an e805 on WM 2003SE.
Ir0nman

[Janak Parekh]

Just for all you Smartphone users - if you think Minimo is good, have a look at Opera. Opera Mobile has been available for Smartphone for months and with it's Small Screen Rendering it displays webpages amazingly! It's also in a kind of beta, "Public Technical Preview". But I've been running it fine for months and to be honest it looks even better than Minimo. It certainly makes browsing over GPRS doable.
Yup, it's awesome. However, it's not available for Pocket PC (at least, yet). :(

--janak

[victore]

I extracted the contents of the zip file to my PC. I then copied the "Minimo" folder to the "Program Files" folder of my e800. I then launched "Winembed.exe" and all I get is the "spinner".

I thought the executable was only a few megs, "winembed.exe" weighs in at about 6MB. Do I need to copy the entire "Minimo" folder onto my device?

[jlp]

Hrm...the Pocket PC UI is flipped around, which I think means he's using an ancient development tool based on the Palm-sized PC of 1999...because that's what Palm-sized PC apps do when loaded onto a Pocket PC. How curious... 8O

Says on the project homepage it's complied using the MS WM 2003 SDK.

Jason is right about Minimo behaving like a Palm-sized PC one (and tho I had a Casio E-105 PsPC in 99, I think It came out in 1998, at least the previous E-15).

Anyway, that's just a detail.

OTOH I wouldn't be surprised if the developer used the wrong option (PsPC instead of PPC) while compiling the app.

[nic]

interesting. I hate PIE so I'll have to give this a try.

I primarily just use Avantgo. Does anyone know if it works properly with Avantgo?

Thanks!

-Nic

[Darius Wey]

interesting. I hate PIE so I'll have to give this a try. I primarily just use Avantgo. Does anyone know if it works properly with Avantgo?

Are you referring to visiting the AvantGo website, or using the AvantGo-PIE client? If you have the latest version of AvantGo, it exists as a separate program altogether that does not rely on PIE, or any other browser for that matter.

[nic]

Are you referring to visiting the AvantGo website, or using the AvantGo-PIE client? If you have the latest version of AvantGo, it exists as a separate program altogether that does not rely on PIE, or any other browser for that matter.

Interesting. The way mine is (was) it just worked in PIE and had the client download pages. The "AvantGo" icon just opened PIE.

I'm trying out the AvantGo browser and it is only a few small steps above PIE. It is MUCH MUCH slower then PIE is, and the renderings aren't as good as in PIE. Although, the scrolling with the stylus is a huge improvement.

So basically, my original post still stands. Is there anyway I could use MiniMo with AvantGo. Probably, but I'll likely have to remove this "browser" i just installed.

ok..no more posts that start with "interesting."

[Darius Wey]

Interesting. The way mine is (was) it just worked in PIE and had the client download pages. The "AvantGo" icon just opened PIE.

That means you have the older version of AvantGo installed, for better or worse. (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37344) ;)

So basically, my original post still stands. Is there anyway I could use MiniMo with AvantGo. Probably, but I'll likely have to remove this "browser" i just installed.

I doubt it. A Windows Mobile variant of Minimo was developed after the older version of AvantGo was released, and I'm sure the code behind it does not allow it to mimic PIE and be recognised by AvantGo as "PIE". However, it's worth a shot nonetheless, so if you test it out, let us know how it goes.

ok..no more posts that start with "interesting."

Interesting observation you made there. ;)

[andydempsey]

I too, extracted and moved it to my PDA, only to get the spinner..... doesn't work on my Axim X5.

[victore]

andy,

THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING! I'm guessing that there's something about our devices (I have a Toshiba e800 running WM2003SE) that this build of Minimo doesn't like. I have a e750 running WM2003 that I copied the same folder over to it and it ran w/o a hitch.

I'll check around some of the other Pocket PC websites and update this thread if I find any new info.

[juni]

I'm sure you can always put your hand up and enquire about it.

Interesting, although I'm too busy at the moment. But I bet the project will be going for quite a while. :)

[beq]

Does it then also store its cache on the SD card (it isn't configurable), just like NetFront? Then, no wonder it's so darn slow at writing to the cache (see for example http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36376 for more info on PIE's and NetFront's cache speed when located at a storage card.)
Ack, I just moved (re-installed) NetFront 3.1 from my i-mate PDA2k's RAM to the flash ROM store 8O I suspected flash ROM is slower but I didn't know just how much, and I was running out of RAM space (thanks to a recently added 9MB font file required by LingvoSoft apps). Thanks very much for the info and benchmarks from your linked thread!

Time to re-install NetFront back to RAM I guess... Actually I also keep a 1GB Kingmax 60x SD card (supposedly 10MB/sec read/write) parked in the PDA2k, but I tend to proceed on the assumption that the card could be removed at any time (just because it is removable), so I only allocate it for oversized data from games, GPS maps, etc. In fact I even pointed PIE's cache to the flash ROM store instead of the SD card, because I was worried what would happen if I took out the SD card and then forgot about it and tried to load PIE? (I didn't want to leave PIE cache location in RAM as I cannot limit the PIE max cache size on my PDA2k for some reason -- not with MemMaid, Tweaks2k2, nor registry hunt.)

P.S. And yes NetFront's fixed cache location has been an annoyance for me too...


Interesting, although I'm too busy at the moment. But I bet the project will be going for quite a while. :)
Hehe if Minimo is skinnable perhaps you could even try adding support for it in your skin/theme packages. I recently bought your Black &amp; White and SWDeluxe skins (http://www.kolumbus.fi/anders.ruohio/skinz.html) and really love them (though I'm still waiting for WisBar Advance 2 to support PPC Phone Edition, after which my overall theme look would be complete). Black &amp; White is just my favorite (and matches well with Resco Keyboard Pro (http://www.resco-net.com/keyboard.asp) with its black skin).


Just for all you Smartphone users - if you think Minimo is good, have a look at Opera. Opera Mobile has been available for Smartphone for months and with it's Small Screen Rendering it displays webpages amazingly! It's also in a kind of beta, "Public Technical Preview". But I've been running it fine for months and to be honest it looks even better than Minimo. It certainly makes browsing over GPRS doable.
Hey is this sjk from EMD/FM (just curious)? :)