After the release of Windows Embedded Compact 7 CTP, I have seen lot of confusions among the WinCE beginners on the Visual Studio versions usage. I hope this blog will give some idea to them about the relation between Visual studio and Platform builder versions.

Until WinCE 5.0 the Platform builder was installed as a separate IDE. Using which we need to create a OSDesign and also sub-projects. For application development embedded VC++ 4.0(eVC++) IDE was used.

During the WinCE 6.0 release, Microsoft integrated the Platform builder into Visual Studio 2005 IDE. So from WinCE 6.0 onwards developer can create both OSDesigns as well as smart device application using VS2005 IDE.

In Windows Embedded Compact 7, Microsoft has integrated the Platform builder as part of the VS2008, so for creating OSDesign for WCE 7 VS2008 is needed. With VS2005 you cannot build a OSDesign for WinCE 7.0.

Now VS2010 has released and application developers are thinking to upgrade to VS2010 to explore the new features. If you are developing applications for embedded operating systems like WinCE/Windows Mobile then you cannot use VS2010.Because VS2010 does not support smart device application development. Check out the following link for more detail…

If you want to develop the application for Windows Phone 7 OS, then you can download the “VS2010 Express for Windows Phone”, which is released with free license. Click here to download VS2010 Express for Windows Phone.

With this you cannot develop applications for either WinCE or Windows Mobile devices.

Windows CE

Finally, Windows Embedded Compact 7 had been officially released is known to be a version of Windows Embedded CE 6.0 for the future. Job Well Done Microsoft!

This release shows that Microsoft is never concerned about what Apple or Google does lately, but focused in making its own products.  MS has shown that in some fields, it can do really good work when it just stops caring about looking at opponents progress though.

One of the most wonderful features in this release is kernel support for 3GB physical RAM and also supports ARMv7 assembly.

It has also got many new features like:

• Internet Explorer 7 including support for Adobe Flash 10.1
• Enhanced Media player with added Codecs
• Exchange 2010 AirSync
• MultiTouch and gesture and many more.

It looks like most of the changes are on the user interface experience. I will try downloading the Compact 7 CTP release and try to get more information about the new features.

It has been released for developer community for testing the Windows Embedded Compact 7 features in the Microsoft connect site.

Check out this Windows Embedded site for more details on Windows Embedded Compact 7 and also check out the videos which will show the new user experience and new features.

Windows Compact 7

Start download and enjoy developing over Windows Embedded compact 7.

Windows CE · Windows Embedded Compact 7

We are proud to have Vinoth Rajagopalan on board for his recent recognition from Microsoft through the “Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award”.

Vinoth is very active on Windows Embedded forums and newsgroups for the past 4 years in both embedded computing and Windows CE development, Vinoth and his team have a strong exertion on Windows CE drivers and BSP development, Windows CE / Windows Mobile application developments and sharing his knowledge with the developer community.

Please feel free to post your queries and get solutions from Vinoth through forums and on this Windows CE Blog.

Windows CE

As everybody knows Windows CE 6.0 supports USB functional composite driver to load multiple client driver simultaneously. Normally we used to load the functional device classes having single interface descriptor. Some of the functional client driver like USB Video class (UVC) has multiple interface descriptors. While connecting the UVC device to PC, it will be detected as a composite device. Now there is a situation that a device having a mass storage functional driver, custom HID functional driver and a UVC functional driver (Composite device) will be loaded simultaneously on a composite functional driver. But we can’t load the UVC (composite device) on Windows CE composite functional driver directly without doing some tweak. This blog show a way to do this easily.

Loading Single Interface Descriptor Device on Composite Driver
Classes like Mass storage and USB serial are containing single interface descriptors. Configuring the functional driver with the composite driver is done by adding a set of registry settings. You can read the explanation in MSDN.
I have given sample registry settings for configuring the Mass storage on composite. Given registries are additional registries in the mass storage registry set to be used by the composite driver to load the mass storage device through it. I assumed that the registry entries for the composite functional driver is already entered using the above link. I am directly explaining the additional registries used for loading the mass storage functional driver on the composite. Following is the sample registry entries for the mass storage functional driver.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\USB\FunctionDrivers\Mass_Storage_Class]
“CompositeFn_Configurations”=multi_sz:”0×00″
“CompositeFn_DefaultString”=”Microsoft Mass Storage”
“CompositeFn_FunctionClass”=dword:08
“CompositeFn_FunctionProtocol”=dword:ff
“CompositeFn_FunctionSubclass”=dword:00
“CompositeFn_FunctionDescription”=”USB MassStorage”
“CompositeFn_Disable”=dword:0

Normally, “CompositeFn_” Functionclass, FunctionProtocol and FunctionSubclass are taken from the Interface descriptor’s bInterfaceClass,bInterfaceSubClass and bInterfaceProtocol entries of the corresponding functional driver. If you have not given these values then the composite driver will take these entries from the first interface descriptor of the functional driver. These interface descriptor entries are enough for the successful enumeration of mass storage class on composite device.

Loading Multiple Interface Descriptors Device on Composite Class Driver
I have taken the UVC functional driver as an example driver that has multiple interface descriptors. If you insert the UVC camera, the device is detected as a composite device because it is having multiple interface descriptors. Now the question is -how can we provide the multiple Interface descriptor details on the registry? Because Windows CE composite driver will accept only one interface descriptor for each device and also there is no registry settings to add multiple interface descriptor. Let us see – how to resolve this issue?
Functional driver that contains multiple interface descriptors will have one more special descriptor called Interface Association Descriptor (IAD).This is only one for the driver and this describes the number of interface descriptor present in the device. Fortunately, there is one more registry entry related to IAD in Windows CE composite driver and it is undocumented. You can find this registry entry in the driver source code. The undocumented registry entry is “CompositeFN_” DisableIAD. Changing this registry setting to zero will enable you to configure the IAD details in the registry instead of configure the interface descriptor details (as shown above in the single descriptor example). The following example illustrates the usage of DisableIAD registry entry.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\USB\FunctionDrivers\UVC_Class]
“CompositeFn_Configurations”=multi_sz:”0×00″
“CompositeFn_DefaultClient”=dword:1
“CompositeFn_DefaultString”=”Generic UVC”
“CompositeFn_FunctionDescription”=”UVC Device”
“CompositeFn_FunctionClass”=dword:0E
“CompositeFn_FunctionProtocol”=dword:0
“CompositeFn_FunctionSubclass”=dword:03
“CompositeFN_DisableIAD”=dword:0
“CompositeFn_Disable”=dword:0

DisableIAD is set to zero to indicate that the FunctionClass, FunctionClass and FunctionSubclass are containing the entries of bFunctionClass, bFunctionClass and bFunctionSubClass of the IAD and not the Interface descriptor’s bInterfaceClass,bInterfaceSubClass and bInterfaceProtocol entries.
Now the USB functional driver which contains multiple interface descriptors (UVC) along can be simultaneously loaded with a single interface descriptor driver (mass storage class) on the top of Windows CE composite driver successfully.

USB Composite driver WinCE · WinCE USB · Windows CE

We have launched the eSOM300 Computer on Module based on Marvell XScale PXA300 processor a product that evolved from the valuable feedback we received over the last year from users and from our enterprise customers for eSOM270. Some of them were:

1. It would be good to have Ethernet on the module.
2. Booting and file storage on a single device. This would be NAND flash. No need for NOR flash. Save on the BOM!
3. Have USB 2.0 device support. This is important to have high speed file transfer between the PC and the device you are building to save time.
4. Have 2D acceleration.
5. Have capability to have battery charger but have it as optional.
6. The module should just be powered up by directly connecting a battery to it. There should not be any power sequencing.
7. Have speed capabilities of 600Mhz and above. One of the customers had a face recognition algorithm and his minimum requirement was a ARM processor at 600 Mhz.
8. Have optional touch screen and audio support on the module.
9. Some 40 to 50 GPIOs.
10. Exposes the complete address bus and data bus bins on the pins so that customers can interface any memory based peripherals.
11. Has support for peripherals like RS485, CAN, ADC.
12. Have support to run at -40 to +85 degrees.
13. Have a robust Windows CE BSP that should be production ready.
14. Have the right price vs performance.

The eSOM300 meets all these requirements either by itself or through a carrier board. Added to that e-con Systems has designed a carrier board around the eSOM300 and provides these capabilities. The board internally code named as the Alioth platform exposes additional interfaces like RS485, CAN and ADC other than the interfaces mentioned above. For more information on Alioth, please visit Alioth Rapid Development Kit web page.

Applications
eSOM300 is focused on enabling computer and handheld devices, industrial embedded solutions and enterprise-class devices. It provides a much more powerful way of capturing, organizing and collaborating around the needed information on the go are used by numerous companies in diverse industries worldwide.

This computer on module is suitable for application in areas such as, Industrial Controllers, In-vehicle Telematics/Vehicle mount systems, Kiosk/POS, Mobile Devices, (Car Navigation/HMI), Test & Measurement Equipment, Control/Automation

This module is considered as the latest member of the e-con’s eSOM product family and a sought after Computer on Module. This SoDIMM-sized computer module is based on the Marvell PXA3xx processor series and runs at up to 624 MHz.

e-con Systems eSOM modules come with a pre-installed Linux 2.6.25 and Windows CE 6.0 R3 operating systems and state of the art development tools that allow easy customization of the system (e.g. LCD settings & timings, integration of customer software, and the auto-start option at startup). Developers can therefore concentrate on their actual application without going through the hassle of setting up the operating system and dealing with driver development tasks.

Supported OS
Windows Embedded CE 6.0,
Linux 2.6.25 for Embedded Systems (Under progress)

Industry Categories
Building/Home Automation, Industrial Control/Automation, Medical/Healthcare Systems, Retail/Hospitality, Telecommunications, Test & Measurement, Transportation

Computer on Module · WinCE · Windows CE