The Ultimate Zaurus Software: Picsel Browser, a little review with a little video ;-) Options

[daemon1]

I downloaded the above mentioned ipk and played around with it.  From what I could tell, the program searches for license information in a particular file (license.pli, I think) on the card.  I would guess that with this ipk installed and an SD card with a legitimate license file, it would work.  Obviously, I haven't tried this because I don't own the program.

Also, it may be possible to change the location that the program looks for said license file with a hex editor to somewhere off the card.  You would still need to own a valid license to use it though.

It would be interesting to know if this worked, but I'm not willing to spend that much money for Picsel to find out.  I liked it when I had a clie, but it came free :-).

Don't expect Sharp or Picsel to allow you to move it because that would allow someone to easily distribute pirate copies.

Dave.

more translated info @ http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...Flanguage_tools


version 1.1.0 of the software
http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/FILECOPY/ver-up.zip

[Howard Roark]

So does this mean you can move it off the SD card as long as you move the licence file as well?

[DRDR]

no, this does not work

[Kedge]

I also use Cacko 1.22+the hotfix+Jeode+J2ME. The sky-explorer runs without any problems and without any file and configuration changes. Sorry, I don't know what's wrong in your case.

Which version of the sky explorer do you have and from where?

Kedge

[ashikase]

I just received my copy of Picsel, and I have to agree, it's really great software.

In the short time that I've tested it - about 5 minutes (^^; - I've been able to open and view pdf/image files that qpdf2/various image viewers have bulked at (such as a pdf map of the entire Tokyo subway system with both English and Japanese labels).

It's true that the interface is a little unusual, but it's really easy to figure out and use (I haven't even bothered looking at the manual yet).

I just wish that it ran as fast as in DRDR's 5x-accelerated video. (^_^)
... and that it was a little less expensive.

- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan

[DRDR]

I just wish that it ran as fast as in DRDR's 5x-accelerated video. ()

Mine seems to be a bit slow when opening web pages. But probably it loads the whole page into memory before displaying. So it seems to be slower but probably isn't slower when you regard full page loading times.

As you are in Japan: Maybe you can keep us informed about other Sharp software for the Zaurus?

[ashikase]

As you are in Japan: Maybe you can keep us informed about other Sharp software for the Zaurus?

The only Zaurus information I know I read online, from various Japanese sites. In fact, I personally know only one other person here with a Zaurus.

By the way, in case anyone is interested, it's safe to format the Picsel Browser SD card to ext2 (or some other format); I reformatted mine as I like to store my home directory on SD.

It appears that the Picsel security measure is based on the Secure Digital ID, though if the software looks for a certain pattern (seems unlikely, unless it is possible to specifically request specific unique ids) or if the id is hard coded (seems tedious), I don't know.

<EDIT>Actually, the required id is probably stored in the license.pli file. If one could figure out how the number is stored/encrypted, it might be possible to change the number to work with a different card. Good luck figuring it out, though. Personally, I'm happy with just 256MB... for now.</EDIT>

On another note, one idea for gaining more space on the card may be to use a squashfs or cramfs image for data stored on the card.

- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan

[samxiao]

I'm current a co-op student working in iSeeMedia Inc. www.iseemedia.com

our next project has something similar to this program.
however our software will not limited by the size of the documents, because it will render on the network instead of the actual embedded device (due to limited cpu, mem, other resources)

it will be build on J2ME
we're going to test it on Symbian first
but i'm sure you can run it on Zaurus too if you have J2ME installed (probably need some config)


http://www.iseemedia.com/main/products/iseedocs

[ashikase]

Has anyone tried running Picsel Browser on a C3100 or a C1000?

I can use it on my C3100, but it runs upside down. It still works fine, it's just... upside down. Even the keys respond upside down (up moves selection down, left moves right, etc.).

I'm curious to know if the same problem occurs on the C1000, and if that is why Sharp claims that the software can't be used with it.

Oh, and if anyone has any ideas on how to right-side it, let me know. I tried changing QWS_DISPLAY, but then Picsel refused to run, complaining that QWS_DISPLAY did not equal the proper value ("Transformed:Rot270:Vga:0").

EDIT: Nevermind - I just noticed some small print on Sharp's Picsel page that says that there is a display problem when running on the C1000 and C3100; an update is planned.

- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan

[ashikase]

Picsel Browser has been updated to v1.1.2, which supports C1000/C3100.
The update can be downloaded from: http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/

- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan

[bam]

hmmm hex editor...I seem to remember these....

[bam]

actually you probably could do a drive copy of sort the copy the partition and binary data to another card, then expand the partition, of course this is for a legitamate backup

[blinkblob]

Will it read multi page .tif files? Often the format used for fax to email deliveries?

[speculatrix]

I've been talking to someone else about how picsel browser is locked to the card. Here's the result of "fdisk -l /dev/mmcda":

CODE

Disk /dev/mmcda: 495 MB, 495452160 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 960 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1009 * 512 = 516096 bytes

   Device Boot       Start      End      Blocks       Id        System
/dev/mmcda                1      960      483719+      6         FAT16

note how the card is 1009 cylinders, but the partition is only 960 cylinders.

what follows is pure speculatrion (!). try it at your own risk.

I think that the picsel browser must somehow hide its license key in unallocated space at the end of the card. My guess is that you could copy the card thus (need a big CF in the drive or use a 3x00):

cat /dev/mmdca > /hdd3/picselcard

...and get a file as big as the card itself.. now insert a new card which MUST be at least as big, and which will be wiped by this process (no data will be preserved!)

cat /hdd3/picselcard > /dev/mmcda


note: this does NOT enable you to take a 128MB picsel card and copy it to a 256MB, as we're copying over the partition table too. HOWEVER, with care you could add a second partition beyond the hidden picsel data.

[speculatrix]

I am stumbling towards the solution for unmarrying picsel browser from the sd card. If anyone would like to help, can they run this command when the picsel card is inserted, and private message me the result; I will keep the answers in confidence.

cat /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw

thanks!