Windows For Devices Articles

HP and Hynix team up on ReRAM —

HP and Hynix Semiconductor announced they've entered into a joint development agreement to bring memristor technology to market. Devices based on it could begin to replace random access memory (RAM) and flash within three years, and may eventually replace CPUs, too, according to the companies. ...

CPU sales show uncharacteristic growth, IDC says — Worldwide PC microprocessor units and revenue showed uncharacteristic growth during the second quarter of 2010, according to IDC. Mobile units rose while desktops fell, and Intel dominated all categories. ...

Windows 7 Engineering Guidance for Slate PCs — Foreword -- Contributed by Microsoft's Windows 7 team, this whitepaper is aimed at OEMs, providing them pointers for creating the best possible tablet PCs. It should be interesting reading for anyone who wants to put the Windows 7-based Windows Embedded Standard 7 on a tablet PC, too.

Enjoy! ...

Windows Embedded Standard 7 Versus 2009 – Componentization, Tools, and Building Images — Foreword -- Contributed by Robert Smith and the Windows Embedded team, this whitepaper describes some of the differences between Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded Standard 7 with respect to componentization, tools, and image-building processes. It follows a previous whitepaper (also available on our site, here), that compared the two operating systems at a higher level. ...

Overview of Windows Embedded Standard 7 — Foreword -- Contributed by Lynda Allen and the Windows Embedded Test Team, this whitepaper gives a high-level introduction to Windows Embedded Standard 7 technologies. It follows previous whitepapers that have covered the predecessor operating systems, Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows XP Embedded. ...

Comparison between Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded Standard 2011 — Foreword -- Contributed by Lynda Allen and the Windows Embedded Test Team, this whitepaper gives a high-level summary of the differences between the existing product, Windows Embedded Standard 2009 (based on Windows XP) and Windows Embedded Standard 2011, based on Windows 7. It focuses on some of the operating system (OS) feature differences, and compares the tools and OS building models. ...

Migrating Windows XP Embedded to Windows Embedded Standard 2009 — Foreword -- This paper, contributed by Microsoft's Windows Embedded group, discusses how to migrate your existing development environment from Windows XP Embedded to Windows Embedded Standard. It covers the requirements to install Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Studio over Windows Embedded Studio for Windows XP Embedded, and the supported migration paths. ...

New Drivers in Windows Embedded Standard 2009 — Foreword -- This paper, contributed by Microsoft's Windows Embedded group, begins with a lengthy list of new drivers contributed to Windows Embedded 2009 (WES 2009) by AMD, Intel, and Via. It then describes how to use the "Target Designer" tool included in WES 2009 to find and filter new drivers. Enjoy . . . ! ...

Using Sysprep in Windows Embedded Standard 2009 — Foreword -- This whitepaper highlights a key feature of Microsoft's Windows Embedded Standard 2009 operating system. The new Windows System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) makes it easier to roll out the OS on multiple devices, as the author explains. ...

Updated review of robotics software platforms — Foreword -- Today's nascent robotics market has engendered nearly two dozen general-purpose software development frameworks, many of which run on Windows. This article reviews ten, and briefly describes a few others, before concluding with an analysis of which platforms are best-suited to which uses. ...

Guest opinion: Symbian + Nokia = Love — Foreword -- This detailed, fact-filled editorial lays out the facts surrounding Nokia's announced intention to buy out its partners and release Symbian to open source. Author Andreas Constantinou, one of the smartest new voices commenting on the wireless market, then looks at what the news really means for the industry. Enjoy . . . ! ...

Introducing the .NET Micro Framework —

Foreword -- The following article describes the history and technical architecture of Microsoft's .NET Micro Framework (MF), a development environment for small, deeply embedded devices. ...

WindowsForDevices.com 2007 survey results —

The results of WindowsForDevices.com's 2007 Embedded Market Survey are in! Overall, they show that Windows-based technologies continue to be the most popular with our readers, but Linux is making some dramatic inroads. ...

Microsoft's ESC Boston 2007 keynote demos —

Foreword: This guest column contains Mike Hall's account of his demonstrations during Kevin Dallas's keynote at the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) Boston 2007, held last month. Dallas is General Manager of Microsoft's Windows Embedded unit; Hall is Microsoft's Windows Embedded Software Architect. ...

VDC's Report from ESC Boston 2007 —

Embedded market analysts from Venture Development Corp. (VDC) attended the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) held in Boston earlier this month. This guest column presents VDC's summary of the event, extracted from the firm's latest Embedded Systems Bulletin. ...

Making GPRS connections in Windows CE 6.0 — Foreword: This technical whitepaper explains how to achieve GPRS connectivity by means of Windows CE 6.0's dial-up networking functionality. It includes snippets of the required settings and provides screenshots that illustrate the connection process on the device. ...

Device Profile: HP iPAQ 300 Series GPS —

HP has released GPS systems before, but always as adjuncts to a PDA or cellular phone. The company's iPAQ 300 Series Travel Companion is a stand-alone GPS device that employs Windows CE 5.0 and HP's own custom user interface. ...

Device Profile: HP iPAQ Series 600, 900 smartphones —

A phone by any other name would sound as sweet, HP appears to be reasoning. It has branded the two new smartphones in its iPAQ line the 600 Series Business Navigator and 900 Series Business Messenger, respectively. ...

Device Profile: HP iPAQ Series 100, 200 PDAs —

Rumors of the PDA's death have been greatly exaggerated. That's what HP seems to be saying with the release of two new iPAQ-branded handhelds, the 100 Series Classic Handheld and 200 Series Enterprise Handheld. ...

Device Profile: HTC Advantage (Athena) —

HTC's Advantage is a PDA/phone that touts a "laptop-style experience," with a 5-inch 640 x 480 display and a detachable QWERTY keyboard. Based on a reference design code-named Athena, it was first released in January 2007 running Windows Mobile 5.0. ...

A review of robotics software platforms — Foreword: Today's nascent robotics market has engendered about 10 general purpose software development frameworks, including many that support Windows or Windows CE. This article surveys seven of them, before wrapping up with an analysis of market trends likely to shape the robotics software landscape of tomorrow. Enjoy . . . ! ...

Device Profile: Tronic PMG series — Tronic International, an ODM (original design manufacturer) headquartered in Singapore, supplies a range of UMPCs (ultra-mobile PCs) that support Windows XP Embedded, among other Windows OS versions. The PMG series is offered with a variety of Intel and Via processors, and with screen sizes ranging from 7 to 12.1 inches. ...

Security Catalogs and Windows XP Embedded — Foreword: Security Catalogs are an important feature of the Windows security system because they help reduce disk footprint used by the code signing process. Security catalogs are installed differently on Windows XP Embedded systems than on desktop systems. This article explains those differences, and how they impact XP Embedded images. ...

Maximizing driver quality in Windows XP Embedded -- Part 2 — Foreword: This is part 2 of a two-part series about tools that help developers assess device driver code quality. In Part 1, the author described how to use the Verifier tool; here he explains what to do when Verifer reports a problem. ...

Maximizing driver quality in Windows XP Embedded -- Part 1 — Foreword: In this technical whitepaper, Windows XP Embedded team member Nick Nehrhood discusses a tool that helps developers assess the quality of device driver code. In Part 1, Nehrhood describes how to use the Verifier tool. Part 2, "coming soon," will discuss what to do when Verifer reports a problem. ...

The Thin Multimedia Collaboration Client — Foreword: This whitepaper notes the trend toward embedding PC functionality within LCD monitors, thanks to "Moore's Law's" impact on processors and other silicon components. It goes on to describe an innovative application for this technology, the "thin multimedia collaboration client," and offers a Windows XP Embedded-based example. ...

Device Profile: Nordic ID PL3000 — Finland-based Nordic ID's PL3000 handheld computer is a rugged, Windows CE-based device that targets indoor and outdoor commercial and industrial data capture applications. The device can be equipped with a variety of wireless communications options and data capture peripherals. ...

Will my application run on Windows CE? — Foreword: In this interesting article, Windows Embedded technical product manager Mike Hall examines a fundamental difference between Windows CE and the Windows desktop and Windows Mobile operating systems. Namely: you can't be certain a Windows CE application will run on any specific Windows CE image. ...

How Windows CE bus drivers work — Foreword: Windows CE bus drivers play an important role in virtualizing bus architectures to make higher-level client drivers "bus agnostic." This extensive technical article by David Liao, a developer on Microsoft's Windows CE team, explains what Windows CE bus drivers do, and explores some of their key functions. ...

VDC's report on the Embedded Systems Conference 2007 —

Venture Development Corp. (VDC) recently attended the 2007 Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, Calif. This guest column from VDC's "Embedded Systems Bulletin -- April 2007" presents a summary of the event. ...

Is the embedded industry dead? — Foreword: In this guest column, Doug Gaff gives his take on last week's Embedded Systems Conference and ponders the future of the industry. What does "embedded" mean? As processors become more powerful and embedded devices are increasingly interconnected, Gaff contends that the distinction between "embedded" and "application" development is blurring. ...

Getting started with .NET Micro Framework on the Freescale i.MXS — Foreword: In this technical whitepaper, Microsoft .NET Micro Framework team member Alden Linn offers some practical tips for getting started with .NET MF using the i.MXS Development Kit from Freescale. ...

Understanding Windows CE's VirtualSetAttributes function — Foreword: In this brief technical note, Windows CE developer Kurt Kennett looks at how virtual memory is used to map peripheral registers into a Windows CE process. He points out that peripheral registers often have "attributes" that exhibit behavior different from ordinary memory. The VirtualSetAttributes function takes care of this. ...

Some Windows CE questions and answers — Foreword: Windows Embedded senior technical product manager Mike Hall and fellow product manager Jeff Albertson recently hosted a webinar on "Rapidly Building Multimedia Devices on Windows Embedded CE." Participants posed a number of insightful questions, which Hall answers in this article. ...

How the .NET Micro Framework and Windows CE differ — Foreword: Continuing his "What's the Difference" series, Mike Hall discusses the distinctions between Windows CE 6.0 and the recently introduced .NET Micro Framework. What sets .NET Micro Framework apart from most embedded operating systems, according to Hall, is the programming model:... ...

Understanding Windows CE 6.0's kernel mode — Foreword: This brief article by Windows CE developer Sue Loh provides insight into the use of Windows CE's "kernel mode," through which threads can access user space. Windows CE 6.0's new kernel architecture changes the nature of kernel mode, and exposes some security risks if not managed appropriately, Loh explains. ...

Adding a Firefox component to Windows XP Embedded — Foreword: In this brief technical note, Sean Liming describes how to install a component for the Mozilla Firefox 2.0 web browser in Windows XP Embedded. Typical applications that might use such a component include specialized handheld tablets, thin client terminals, and television set-top boxes. ...

Replacing a COREDLL component in Windows CE 6.0 — Foreword: There are situations in which it may be necessary to change the default behavior of Windows CE to satisfy the unique requirements of an embedded device. In this extensive, richly illustrated article, Kurt Kennett explains how to replace so-called Core DLLs with your own application-specific version. ...

Working with re-factored components in Windows XPe FP2007 — Foreword: Windows XP Embedded team member Lynda Allen takes a detailed look at reducing XPe's footprint by taking advantage of the re-factored components in Feature Pack 2007. There are several ways to go about it, resulting in varying degrees of reduction, depending on how much effort you're willing to invest. ...

Understanding Windows CE "SDKs" — Foreword: Ever wondered what's meant by the term "SDK," as it applies to Windows CE or Windows Mobile device development? In this article, Windows CE development team member Sue Loh explains what an SDK is, and how SDKs have evolved with the release of Windows CE 6. ...

More Windows For Devices Articles ...

Windows XP for Embedded Applications
This white paper describes the benefits of using Windows XP when developing embedded applications.

A Manager's Guide to Selecting a Mobile Device Operating System
This white paper offers a comparative review of Microsoft Windows CE and Windows Mobile.

Visual Basic 6.0 to .NET Migration
This paper focuses on the methodology and techniques which Infosys (Microsoft Technology Center) has developed for migrating VB 6.0 Applications to .NET. Our approach ensures a smooth, cost effective, and efficient migration.

Mobile Device Security: Securing the Handheld, Securing the Enterprise
This whitepaper identifies security threats to corporate data on mobile devices and details how mobile devices can become a "backdoor" to the enterprise.

Mobile Device Security: The Eight Areas of Risk
It's common knowledge that adding mobile devices to your network increases security risks. There are multiple facets to mobile security, all of which should be paid close attention to. This E-Guide presents a more in depth look into the eight key areas of securing wireless devices.

Quality Assurance and .NET
This paper discusses best practices for functional, regression and load testing of .NET applications.

SCADA Security in Integrated Networks
As businesses leverage their SCADA systems by integrating them into the business networks, they must also assure the security of the SCADA system.

The Advantages of Small Form Factor HMI
HMIs have mutated and changed with new requirements, and they have become more flexible and capable. And while they've been doing that, they've become smaller and more useful.

9 Critical Requirements for Web Application Security
Learn why your Web applications expose dangerous security breaches and whatâ€™s required to effectively protect your Web applications and the sensitive information behind them.

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