Casio MIPS Instant Messaging....

Hello!

Below you can read about my findings related to instant messaging software for Casio Cassiopeia. Since then, there are a few updates... first of all IM+ sent me a message where clearly told me that they do not support MIPS.

Secondly sending messages to your online friend on java version of msn using e-messenger is not a very easy task. Thunderhawk supports some kind of java but can't cope with everything, I am affraid. Therefore the applet screen keeps refreshing all the time and that prevents user to send a message. I didn't have the time to test it more thoroughly. Still this is as far as I could go regarding that matter....

Any other comment/opinion would be more than welcome.

Below you can read my findings.

Please make note that I have a Casio Cassiopeia e 125 pda which I have tried to bring it to today's standards as far as I could reach! So far I have done a good job using programs such as textmaker (word processor) and planmaker (spreadsheet), facelift (giving wince 3.0 a windows mobile 2003 lookalike interface), virtual display (rotates screen and changes screen resolution) and many many others. Therefore my last task was if i could afford to have a IM program on my pda. This is what I have found so far.

About Yahoo! there is yahoo for pocket pc. It works fine with my pda as a software, however it seems that yahoo has stopped any support for it so I can never connect with that.

I have heard about pocket yahoo. I searched the forums of pocket pc magazine. I really would like to test it if can work on casio although I am under the impression that this works only on ARM processors having windowsCE 2002. I will never be able to find it out if I won't test it, so please, if somebody is kind enough could send the pyahoo.cab to me?

I tried the trial versions of IM+ Messenger, Agility and Imove. The two first claim that work fine with pocketpc 2000 but I am affraid that they do not have a MIPS version. I have sent emails asking for that on their support department and I am awaiting for their answer. I don't rise my hopes high enough though. Imove on the other hand installed properly to my pocketpc, however after testing several servers provided by them with no luck, I had to uninstall it. I couldn't connect with any of IM services (AIM,MSN,ICQ or Yahoo). It seems that all of the above work fine with ARM/XScale though.

Then I moved to the java versions of yahoo. IE for CE 3.0 is almost useless. Thankfully I am subscriber to thunderhawk to which I am very satisfied because it gives me an experience quite close to my desktop and supports java. However, users having newer models of pdas still can try with their internet explorer and find out what they can do with it.

I tried the java version of yahoo directly from their site. However, it replied that I had my pop up blocker enabled so it prevented the program to function properly. This something has to do with thunderhawk settings so I can't do much about it.

I ended up having the best solution for my case (for now!) which is www.e-messenger.net. E-messenger is a java based webpage that provides for free all the three major java versions of AIM, Yahoo and MSN respectively. All of them work smoothly. For those who still want something even lighter they can try the wap IM version (currently available only for MSN) wap.e-messenger.com. It works just fine.

About MSN and ICQ (includes details for Yahoo as well).

Pocket MSN Messenger is provided only for pocketpc running winCE 2002 so this was out of question! I then tried MSN Force and Odigo Force software. MSN Force supports only MSN Messenger while Odigo is exactly like Agility (supports yahoo as well). Both installed flawlessly on my pda but I couldn't connect. No services existed, exactly the same way as it happened to yahoo for pocket pc and imove. On Java version of MSN I have the same problem as the Java Version of Yahoo (pop up blocker). So far the only way to check MSN is e-messenger.net.

For ICQ results are quite good because ICQ 1.0 (ICQ10PocketPC.exe)for Pocket PC works excellent with my pda (it must be working as good to all the newer pdas) and can connect to their services, so this is the only software based IM that I managed to make it work. I haven't tried the icq2go (the java version of icq) with my pda, I will do it later.

So that's all about IM software on my pda and probably on every old pda running MIPS and propably SH3 and SH4 on winCE 3.0. Obviously newer versions and processors have more options to choose from. However, I am still happy with what I have found so far. Hopefully, I will be able to find some kind of IM software that can work with my Casio.

Still I would be grateful if somebody can send the pyahoo.cab to me provided that it supports MIPS processor and winCE 3.0.

Best Regards,

Grigorios Kokorakis
Athens, Greece