Have fun hacking your PocketPC coercing the very latest and greatest version of the OS to use the hardware to it's full potential! Apart from the persistent storage, WM5 is just a bit of gloss on WM2003SE (actually it doesn't look that much different, which means it's still looks pretty plain).

I have an iPAQ HX4700 and found it a horrible browsing experience (using Pocket IE or NetFront 3.2/3.3) even when using all the available hacks to get stuff to run in VGA resolution (which usually had the sideeffect of screwing up one feature or another). I hope Opera for PPC will be designed for VGA mode, it's an utter joke that you have to hack these things to get apps to run in anything but pixel doubled mode - the OS might "support" VGA but what's the point when the apps don't?

This is why the 770 is such a joy - 800x480 resolution without any messing about. I've not had any problems with complex websites and don't find PDF's a problem after the latest firmware (-51).

Anyone want to buy an iPAQ?

boot a linux pc
enable r&d mode with the flasher
install xterm
overwrite sudoers file
disable r&d mode with the flasher
use sudo to create file-based swap on a memory card

is that not a hack? i realize this is a 770-specific forum, but i think things could be a little more objective.

i linked to a sample pdf in the original post here. open it with pdf reader or evince, and note the time it takes to open. zoom in, and note the time it takes. change to the next page, and note the time it takes. now try randomly scrolling around, and watch what it does to the output. the experience is abysmal - measured in minutes, not seconds.

I'm not sure why everyone keeps saying disable R&D mode after overwriting /etc/sudoers or changing gainroot.

Can anyone say why they're doing this, and what advantage it gives them over leaving R&D enabled?

i was just 'doing as i was told' -- the docs implied that it should be disabled after enabling root. i didn't have need for the additional bootup information, and i didn't want to be operating in any sort of debug mode.

1: The pdf reader is very slow, yes.

2: But the browser should not crash the machine all the time. Maybe you try to clear its cache and cookies and see if that helps.

Can somebody please make a movie of the Nokia 770 reading this "slow" PDF and browsing the site using the latest firmware and using a swap file.

slow pdf (504k): http://www.columbiagames.com/resourc...rrulesv2.0.pdf

slow site: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/

Maybe it is possible to make a movie section in the gallery section of this site, so everyone can see how fast/slow this device is and discussions like this are not needed anymore?

Just like this great example of Ari Jaaksi's Blog:

http://www.kotiposti.net/jaaksi/770_use_case.mpg

I think I am being objective.

Sure, they're both hacks but hardly comparable - buying a PocketPC with VGA screen then finding all the software runs in QVGA resolution is nuts - the damned thing should be running in VGA resolution from day 1 and not require a hack!

Overcoming the security on a device and installing additional virtual memory is not something your common or garden 770 owner is going to want or need to do. Great if you can do it, even better if it provides reall and tangible benefits - let me know how you get on and I may consider it later (although I suspect it will most likely stuff your RS-MMC card in the long term)

I guess my point is that the PocketPC needs hacks just to work right - not so with the 770.

The real issue here is screen resolution for Web browsing.
For the price and size, the Nokia wins, IMHO.
The Dell WindowsPPC has, at best 640 by 480.
The other browse device I contemplated was a Sony PSP.
That is even worse, at 480x272.

You need 800 pixels wide to be able to do "normal" web browsing.
Anything less just doesn't work.
Even if you have to squint to see those small letters with the Nokia, they're still there.

Now if they can get Opera to render the small fonts a little better.
They get squished together sometimes, especially when you hit the magnify button. Any good ideas on font substitution?

"small font squishing" - I reckon this is a bug that happens when the page is magnified (since the text isn't reflowing correctly), if you reload the page then the text appears correctly at the new magnification. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future update.

You made a wise choice by avoiding the PSP if you want a web browser - no touchscreen, not enough memory for even moderately complex pages, the analog joystick is a nightmare for selecting links (I always overshoot!) and the "keyboard" is laughable (will take you about 2 minutes to enter even a simple URL!). Thank goodness it plays games well!

I agree that 800 is now the minimum - I bought the iPAQ hx4700 thinking 640x480 would be good enough but the available browsers on the PPC platform are terrible and a 640x480 required too much scrolling and "smart reformatting" of sites (which usually failed miserably). If/when Minimo becomes a more polished product (hopefully about H2 2006) it will clean up without any trouble and Access' business of flogging NetFront for PPC will rapidly dry up (they barely support the platform as it is - they never officially added support for WM2003SE until this OS was obsolete!).

I created a movie of the boardgamegeek.com loading on my swapped 770. It takes less than 15s (includes time to select the bookmark.) I have the MPG ready to go, I just don't know where to put it.