RoboticsConnection User Forum / RoboticsConnection Software Support / Windows CE Support Forum

Building a CE Image w/ Additional Driver support

pvoigt — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:54:24 GMT

I'm at a loss here. No matter what I try, I can not get ANY additional drivers to work correctly in my CE6 build image.

The wireless card that comes with the eBox2300 (subproject added via MSI driver install for it) -- does not work.

I also downloaded the driver files for ftdi's usb>serial driver so I could use the USB serializer to talk to my ebox. This also does not work.

I used Mike Hall's CEFileWiz to create a project. I selected the ftdi_ser.dll as a include file, generated it. Then modified the reg file under the subproject/parameter files folder to include the referenced registry entries. I build my image, plugin in my serializer, and got the unrecognized driver dialog.
I tried to enter ftdi_ser.dll, that did not work. so, I copied ftdi_ser.dll and the included .inf file to the /windows/ folder. and tried to load the driver again... this also did not work.

For reference, I'm using VS.Net2005 SP1 w/ Platform Builder CE6 SP1 R2 w/ rollup from 12/31/07 compiled on a Vista x64 box.

Both subprojects show up in my solution explorer, they just don't appear to DO anything.
Using the

I've also tried following the ebox quickstart pdf howto exactly and that fails just the same.

I've tried building this so many times I've just about given up on it.

Is this an x64 problem?

IO Exception upon opening COM port on Ebox2300

ankur — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:50:58 GMT

[font=""]Hello,

I am trying to access either of the serial port of Ebox2300 but IO Exception is raised at sp.Open(); line of the following program:

[code]
SerialPort sp = new SerialPort("COM1", 19200, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
//SerialPort sp = new SerialPort("COM2", 19200, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
//The error is raised even if I change COM1 to COM2
if (sp.IsOpen)
{
sp.Close();
}
sp.Open(); // Here exception is raised.
sp.Close(); [/code]
---------------------------------------
I have downloaded ICOP_Vortex86_60CS_BSP.msi and built my image as per eBox-2300 Jump Start Guide.
I have added Serial Port Support, Com_Card, Com16550 and Com16550 (Second Instance) in addition to the items mentioned in Jump start guide.
To test that cable is properly working, I created a Direct connection for COM1/2 on WinCE running on Ebox2300. And then connected the other end of serial port to my PC. On hypertrm, it shows CLIENT CLIENT... which indicates that serial cable is working correctly.
I have also checked that whether COM1 is mapped to COM2 for output by connecting cable to COM2 but writing COM1 in the code, but here also it raises the IO exception at sp.Open(); line.
Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
[/font]

eBox LCD Panel

jsummerour — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:41:17 GMT

A friend of mine from Georgia Tech (Jim Hamblin) emailed me today to tell me they had found an LCD panel with a Touch Panel, which plugs directly into the eBox, and has supported drivers for x86 CE 6.0.

http://www.xenarc.com/product/705tsv.html

They have already tested it, and it's know to work really well. The retail price is $300, but it sounds like students will be able to get a discount.

The LCD has a VGA interface, and the Touch Panel has a USB interface, which both plug directly into the eBox. :cool:

We'll pick one up, and let you know how it works for us. If I can get the subproject that sets the drivers up for CE, I'll post it here.

Best Regards!

CE 6 Serial Port Problems

mattmiddleton — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:15:59 GMT

There seems to be an annoying serial port problem with CE6 and the .NET framework, but I see no mention on these forums or how people have worked around it.

I am about to describe the problem, but here is a very clear explanation given by somebody else who has the problem:
http://www.learningce.com/816.aspx

In the CE6 Serial Port driver, Microsoft disabled the ability to set the queue or buffer size for the serial port. Apparently, when you call serialport.open in a .NET application, it tries to set this queue size and an exception is thrown. In my own programs, I can simply ignore this exception and go on my way. I run into problems when trying to use the .NET library for the Serializer as I cannot add a try catch block around the line that opens the serial port. I have tried just putting Serializer.Run in a try catch block, but at the moment its not appearing to work. By that I mean that I took the client server example application, put the Serializer.Run line in a try block and catch any exception. I have the null modem cable hooked up between my ebox and pc as well. When I run the client GUI, I can successfully connect to the ebox over the network, but when I use the controls, no serial data is ever sent out of the port. When writing my own programs, I can get serial port data to work correctly.

So in the link above, the guy solved his problem by editing the CE driver code. Unfortunately, after editing this code, it doesn't seem that this modified code is ever actually getting compiled. I don't know how to force VS and Platform Builder to rebuild this serial module.

I've made this suggestion before, but it would be very handy if the .NET serializer library accepted a serial port reference instead of just a name and baud rate. This would allow much more flexibility with the library and allow users to better debug and repair issues with the hardware / software interface.

I'm surprised more people aren't having this problem??

Enabling both Serial Ports (COM1 and COM2) on the eBox-2300

jsummerour — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:09:16 GMT

For those of you needing to enable both serial ports (COM1 and COM2) on the eBox-2300, you'll need to follow these steps.

From embeddedpc.net, under the BSP section, download the ICOP_Vortex86_60CS_BSP.msi, and install it on your development PC. This will install the latest Vortex86 Win CE Board Support Package (BSP) with the serial ports both enabled.
Open your OS image solution within Visual Studio 2005.
Under the Catalog Items View, expand "Third Party->BSP" folder, and then ensure that the ICOP_Vortex86_60CS:X86 BSP is selected as shown below.
Rebuild and deploy your image per the eBox-2300 Jump Start Guide

Best Regards!

.NET CF 3.5 Platform Builder Component Available

jsummerour — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:51:43 GMT

For those that aren't aware, Microsoft has a .NET CF 3.5 Platform Builder Component available. I wasn't aware until Jim Hamblin (Ga. Tech) just pointed it out in an e-mail.

http://blogs.msdn.com/frankpr/archive/2008/03/03/net-compact-framework-3-5-in-platform-builder-6-0-and-5-0.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2008/03/17/net-compact-framework-3-5-component-for-windows-embedded-ce-6-0-catalog-component.aspx

Best Regards!

eBox-2300 WiFi Kit Win CE 6.0 Driver

jsummerour — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:09:27 GMT

For those of you who have purchased a WiFi Kit for your eBox-2300 from us, here is link to the Win CE 6.0 driver required to use this peripheral. The MSI installer will install the drivers in the appropriate location on your hard drive. You will then need to include the driver in your CE image build, and build/deploy a new CE image.

VT6655 Wireless driver: http://www.embeddedpc.net/Download/WindowsEmbeddedCE60Download/tabid/113/Default.aspx

Best Regards,

WinCE6 + eBox2300 + WiFi = Frustration

pvoigt — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:37:47 GMT

I'm trying to get my WiFi card to be recognized but I'm having a quite difficult time with it.

Environment: Vista x64 + VS.Net2005 SP1 + Platform Builder CE6 SP1 + R2 + 12/31 rollup
Using: ICOP_Vortex86_60CS BSP (also tried ICOP_Vortex86_60B)

I've installed the VNWLC6.MSI installer for the WiFi card, and the driver appears in my Catalog Items View.

I've included all the necessary sub components to make WiFi work...(from some microsoft page that I cant seem to find now, all these are from memory)
1. Extensible Authentication Protocol
2. TCP/IP
3. Wireless LAN(802.11) STA
4. all Authentication Services modules (kerberos, ntlm, schannel)
5. NDIS components
6. Network utilities

everything I do and try, I still dont get the wireless config to popup. Nor does it even recognize my card. if i dont include the Wired lan driver, then I get the network card coming up as VMINI1 ( in network connections), but if I pull up ipconfig the resulting mac address is actually from the wired card.

Help? please?

Ebox connection error

darkinmoon — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:35:40 GMT

Hi, We bought an ICOP eBox-2300 Jump Start Kit from you. I connect my traxter to the ebox whit serializer and CMUcam2+ Vision Camera by rs232 ports. And we would like to create a connection between e-box and my laptop by wireless. So we could be transfer camera capture and control our traxter from laptop by help of roboticsstudio.net. on the internet, traxter's software we already ordered.

So everythink is ok, and possible until now. But we are not succesfull to run all of these. we still triy to connect from ebox to the laptop by wifi. and we also dont know how to send info from rs232 port from ebox.

Please help me. thak you

Windows CE + Vista

Teffaw — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:02:57 GMT

I'm new to developing for windows CE. I managed to fumble my way through the guides, I have a semi-understanding of the development/deploy process; however, that was with my desktop. I tried to use my laptop to dev a program, however I could not get it to connect to the device, it complained about missing Activesync. I've scoured the internet for similar issues, and it hasn't turned up a whole lot. I have all of the service packs installed, SP1, the Vista update, windows CE 6.0 r2. I tried everything, with no luck.
Any suggestions?

ICOP eBox-2300 BSP, SDK, & Driver Downloads

jsummerour — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:13:30 GMT

For those of you who have purchased an eBox-2300 from us, below is an additional source for Board Support Packages (BSPs), Software Development Kits (SDKs), and Driver Downloads for Windows CE 5.0, and 6.0.

http://www.embeddedpc.net/Download/tabid/107/Default.aspx

Best Regards!