ResFix 2.0 For Toshiba e800 Series Released, Reviewed [Archive]

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Janak Parekh

12-30-2003, 04:30 PM

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=152' target='_blank'>http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/modul...wcontent&id=152</a><br /><br /></div>If you've got a Toshiba e800 series device, you should seriously consider checking out this product made by Deez, a member of the Pocket PC community -- it unlocks the display's full potential to display 480x640, and now, 640x480 in landscape mode. What's even more amazing is that the landscape mode is "hardware-driven", so that there is no slowdown. James of BostonPocketPC gave the product a spin, and loves the results. Check out this screenshot of PIE... :drool:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20031230-ResFix.jpg" /><br /><br />Yes, that's a Pocket PC, not a desktop. ;) v2.0, incidentally, costs $10, but it sounds like a worthwhile investment. Here's a <a href="http://home.comcast.net/~swdeveloper/">direct link</a> to the product page.

12-30-2003, 05:09 PM

That looks really sweet! Wish I could get that on my AXIM X5.

The website pics make this look even sweeter.

Janak Parekh

12-30-2003, 05:22 PM

That looks really sweet! Wish I could get that on my AXIM X5.
Well, considering the Axim doesn't have a 480x640 display, there's a fundamental reason why you can't. ;)

--janak

Vincent M Ferrari

12-30-2003, 05:27 PM

I wish someone ANYONE other than Toshiba made the E800 series.

I can't deal with the thought of going back to them... UGH...

12-30-2003, 05:36 PM

I meant landscape mode...not 640x480. I guess I should have specified though.

Janak Parekh

12-30-2003, 05:43 PM

I meant landscape mode...not 640x480. I guess I should have specified though.
There is a product already that does that (www.nyditot.com) for other Pocket PCs. :)

--janak

Jimmy Dodd

12-30-2003, 05:52 PM

Didn't see this on the web site, but maybe I missed it: can you switch portrait to landscape on the fly, or does it require a soft reset? :?:

12-30-2003, 06:31 PM

THANKS JANAK!!! I have to check that out! :D

Kathy_Harris

12-30-2003, 06:55 PM

The free older version does not flip to landscape. The new version (costs $$) I believe not only flips between landscape and portrait but does it without a soft reset.

trapper

12-30-2003, 10:00 PM

I believe not only flips between landscape and portrait but does it without a soft reset

It would have been nice if he mentioned this little detail in the review.

b3trio

12-30-2003, 10:12 PM

It would have been nice if he mentioned this little detail in the review.

He didn't post this little detail in his review because switching to landscape mode on the fly is not possible with ResFix 2.0

Jimmy Dodd

12-30-2003, 10:34 PM

beq

12-31-2003, 12:53 AM

The real question is why that Boston guy is screenshooting Houston Chronicle in my home town? :mrgreen:

tsb_hcy

12-31-2003, 04:20 AM

It does require resets every time you switch and you can't control where the buttons are in VGA, you have only one choice.

BUT, Nyditot just released a new version for the e805 which does everything in one tiny package. With ResFix you need VB runtimes, ResFix, and the UnDead patch. With Nyditot you can control everything and don't need to soft reset when changing orientation or virtual resolution. Only when changing hard resolution do you need to soft reset. Beautiful!

Nyditot is the new king IMO!

Janak Parekh

12-31-2003, 06:20 AM

Nyditot is the new king IMO!
Whoa. 8O Where's the news of this? Their webpage is pretty mum...

--janak

jkendrick

12-31-2003, 06:32 AM

So many good questions.

That Boston guy (me) is in Houston. Ive never met anyone on the BPPC staff in the flesh.

Nyditot did not work at all in VGA until they released a BETA version this afternoon about 4 hours after our review went live. It is the first version of NVD that even worked on a e800 in VGA. All official versions of NVD result in a hard reset or trashed displays in VGA.

ResFix requires a soft reset when switching resolutions because it is doing the screen rotation solely in the hardware. This is why it is so fast and worth a reset in my book. Early users of the NVD beta report it is slower but no one has verified this with benchmarks yet.

Update: There is now a thread on Brighthand discussing benchmarks. First result posted has ResFix 10 times faster than NVD which means NVD is doing the rotation via s/w.

http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97344

jkendrick

12-31-2003, 06:56 AM

This from the NVD beta page:

"mode from 240x320 to 480x640 you will still need to reset the device but you can change the virtual resolution without reset. This includes going from 480x640 portrait to 640x480 landscape, etc."

This means the on the fly switching is done via a virtual display which has to be software only. Some graphic intensive apps like Mapopolis draw the screen slowly under NVD and you can actually see it draw it first in portrait and then again in landscape .
Under NVD when you soft reset the device it comes up in QVGA no matter what resolution or orientation it was in before the reset. This is because it's doing everything (even portrait VGA) in memory. It will be interesting to see the memory footprint of NVD.

tsb_hcy

12-31-2003, 06:13 PM

ResFix will take back the crown in a few more revisions I think. Being only left handed in landscape is unacceptable now though.