Correct, you can't copy it off the device, but now that UPX can be potentially run ON the device, this may be possible. Running UPX on the device is what is being discussed on the 3 or 4 posts before mine.

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Projects: (PeraStats 1.6.5) (PeraCount with Clock 1.2.5) (PeraCount 1.2.5) (PeraProfiler 1.1.5) (S2U2Lock 1.0)

Good call...i completely spaced on my last post. That being said, I am not going to be the first one...

It is useless to compress the files that are flash installed in ROM. These are read-only, so even if you copy the ppt.exe over the one in rom, it will only appear to overwrite the original ppt.exe. If you delete it, the original ppt.exe will magically reappear. Attempting to compress it would only result in more memory usage, as the original would still be there, just hidden and the new one would take additional space. So anything installed via the "flash" upgrade is off the list. Anything you install or is installed from the ext-rom is game for compression.

PS. There is a way to extract the rom installed files. I have attached the ppt.exe (zipped), just in case anyone wants to prove or disprove my assumptions.

Attached Files

ppt.zip (907.6 KB, 29 views)

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Spcs 6800 - Touch modifications

Ahh cool, I didn't know of this app. Yes, this should do it, but you'd have to type in the directories manually (or copy and paste from a file mgr like Total Commander).

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Psi webmaster
psi-im.org

just compressed the exe and dlls for:

Voice Command
Tom Tom
Wisbar
Mortplayer
Championship Spades Pro
SpbBackup
Skype

So far all is well, and i saved about 3.5MB of space

Now i saw mention earlier of compressing icons, and some saying that they compressed everything. Is there more that i can compress in addition to the dlls and the exe? Also what do i compress for phone alarm? Can the skins be compressed? I also wanna try to get weatherpanel smaller too if possible.

Thanks

What command-line did you use? 'upx --best' will get you...the best. No, there's not really anything besides exe and dlls that you can compress with this tool, it's only meant to compress executable code, not data files.

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Psi webmaster
psi-im.org

What you saw about icons was a switch that controls whether icons are compressed if they are already inside the .exe/.dll files. The reason you would not want to compress them is some applications reference icons that are inside of an exe or dll without loading that exe or dll, if that is the case the icons would be garbled or possibly crash as the UPX decompressor does not get run that was embedded in the .dll or .exe.

In reponse to ppt.exe, if its locked, nothing can be done in that state. cant be copied off, can't be upx'd while on the device. If I can't even copy it from one directory to my storage card using resco file explorer, the chances that the device would allow me to upx it while its in this state is slim.

The attached ppt above, if compressed and actually able to overright the rom file, I dont see a problem. I dont see how you would end up with two. In the UPX forums, somebody did compress ppt.exe and he said it ran fine. so im positive theres a way. somebody just needs to do it and say it can be done and show how to.

with the command line, i know im not the only one that codes here, someone needs to set us up teh bomb gui for it. small browse, select file or multiple file in a directory, and upx them all. i am concerned about the speed of our devices. it takes a few seconds on our desktop pc's to compress large files, its going to take quite some time at 400mhz.

You can overwrite it, but it's the OS just hiding the original ROM copy and adding your new copy. If you do a hard reset you'll be back to the original. If you delete the UPX'd copy, you'll also revert to the original. It's read/only, but MSFT had to account for the ability to patch read-only code.

The only way to compress all of the read-only stuff would be with a hacked ROM like they do for the XDAs.

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Psi webmaster
psi-im.org

ahh i understand. they would be, literally, a shadowcopy. using up the original amount plus the compressed amount. GOTCHA.

http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-...d-upx4ppc.html

'UPX4PPC
pocket pc UPX4PPC freeware
• Summary: UPX4PPC is an application for you to compress EXE files. This program provides the GUI for working with UPX for compressing EXE files on the Pocket PC. You can save KBs or even MBs of memory by compressing the EXE files in your main memory or Storage Card. More info and usage is available here....'

Did anyone here write it?

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Psi webmaster
psi-im.org

whoever it was needs to add decompress

i dunno who wrote it but thanks for the heads up!

as far as decompress, it would surely be welcomed but in most cases right now, I just keep a backup on my storage card JIK for at least a couple of days till I now I'm safe...

hey, this program is a start, it can only get better...

You guys must not have run it yet. It includes both a decompress and keep backup option. I used it on a couple of files so far, works great.

edit: actually it's not immediately obvious. change the compression method to 'decompress' to do so.

Here's a screenshot from the website, apparently an older version which doesn't show the compression method listbox which appears between the filename table and the buttons.


edlt2: The program lets you know if a file is read/only and won't let you try to compress it.

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Psi webmaster
psi-im.org

Here's the updated screenshot:



http://mobile-sg.com/ppc/apps/?p=UPX4PPC

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Vicott's Pocket PC Freewares & Themes

Vicott,

Just want to say thanks for this program (and your others)!

It's small, intuitive, flexible (backups!) and of course it works. Fantastic job

Here's what works and don't work for me:

Works:
Opera (with the button change in the "Go To" menu
Total Commander
TCPMP
PMVault
MortPlayer
XnView Pocket
Resco Radio (storage card)
Omega 1-Calc
iGuidanceQVGA (storage card) (from a whopping 2.36MB to a slim 694kb!)
PocketPlus (partially - "PlusTodayPluginMFC.dll" messes up the items menu. "PlusAppHook.dll" is fine to compress)

Overall, went from about 8.x MB free in storage to a healthy 14.6 MB
That's not including iGuidance and Resco Radio, which resides in my storage card!

What doesn't work
Today Agenda (popup menu's all messed up)
Tweaks2k2 (Can't compress - .Net exe not supported)
PocketPlus (read above)

the programmer wrote it for a treo 700w it looks like, or some other 240x240 device. it would be nice if he would autosize the listbox.... still. a great step. I'm glad I got this ball rollin.

Yup, that's right. All my apps are designed such that they are compatible with square screens. And they are also compatible with QVGA landscape mode. The other minor reason is that I do not wish to have most SIPs cover any of the dialog controls.

Having the list box change the height dynamically is not as easy as it seems. First, it involves detecting the screen resolution of the device. Next, a redrawing of the whole dialog is required, so extra dialog templates have to be designed for different screen resolutions. That would be an overhead in size and also extra trouble in the software design. Designing a software that is compatible for square screens in the easiest way out.

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Vicott's Pocket PC Freewares & Themes

I dont know what you wrote it in. Usually it only takes setting the height/width of the listbox accordingly. in .net its only a line or two to accomidate that function.