Configuring Symbol MK1100 Micro-Kiosk
I had a project involving the development of a custom CF.NET application. The app was intended to be deployed on a number of Widnows CE 4.1 based devices from Symbol(MK1100). This device is a rather old model, however the customer had already the device on hold. These devices are custom - the vendor(Symbol in this case) decides what is this device like.
The file system in MK1100 uses a volatile memory. The device have no battery. It is plugged directly into the power supply circuit. This means that if someone unplug the device, all the executables, data and even the .NET CF will be lost and they should be deployed again. Fortunately, the device provides tools to automate the initial application deployment on boot. However, I spent a lot of time till getting the right path. I tried to find some best practices, articles or even forums discussions about the best way to deploy my app on device boot. Unfortunately I haven't found a complete guide.
It turns out that the device has a non-volatile memory that may be used to store files to live the cold boot. My first approach was to store and use the CAB, executables and data files from the non-volatile area. And that was a terrible approach, as it turned out later. The software and device behavior as a whole was unpredictable and unstable.
So my final approach was :
1. Placing all setup files(CF.NET including) into the non-volatile area.
It appears as a folder named \Application
2. Placing a file with .CPY extension in the non-volatile area. the file contains instructions for copying all the CAB files from the non-volatile area into the volatile area - e.g.\Program Files\MyApp. The .CPY files are read and executed on boot. The idea was to avoid execution of CABs from the non-volatile area.
3. Placing a .reg file in the non-volatile area.
This registry file contains device configuration information and it is read from the device on boot. The interesting part was to instruct the device that instead of launching the OS Shell, it had to launch the wceload.exe couple of times to install the .NET CF and other apps. At the it launches my custom app in kiosk mode.. Then it launches my app instead of the shell.The outcome was to have the device operating in kiosk mode...and the kiosk mode was easier on this device
On boot, the .CPY file forces the device to copy all the CABS from the non-volatile area into the volatile area. Then the .reg file forces the device to launch wceload to install all the CAB files from the non-volatile area. At the end the install the custom app is launched.
Related comments and advices are welcome!
Links
MK1100 Micro-Kiosk from Symbol
Kiosk mode in windows mobile
Window CE vs Windows Mobile
