Do you know some apps that won't work when installed in the "File Store" ?

[PocketTV Team]

Besides PocketTV and MS Pocket Money, do you know some apps that won't work when installed in the internal permanent "File Store", but that work perfectly fine when installed in RAM or on a Storage Card ?

Microsoft seems to be interested to look into this problem (finally, after 3 years!), because it affects their new Smartphone in which all the apps are installed in the permanent flash-memory "File Store".

[Underbelly]

MS Reader won't work unless installed to main memory I believe.

[Gerard]

Well, in my use of the iPAQ 3835 over the past year, I have seen \iPAQ File Store installations of various programs cause over 100 hard resets. I test a lot of software, but it has never once been beta software in that location causing these problems - always release versions of established programs. I've found that avoiding certain program installations there, in combination with a total file size limit, result in more stable operation and close to zero hard resets. Here's my 'rules' generated over the past year:
~ Pocket Artist and Photogenics both cause hard resets there, so I install to default. Installing either to SD can also cause instability, but not so frequently. I used to think that this was the result of the intensive use of graphics processing by these programs, but that does not bear out. I have run a number of graphically intensive games installed to the \iPAQ File Store, and not one has caused a crash.
~ No Today plugin should ever be installed to the \iPAQ File Store. This area gets read very late in the reboot (soft reset) order, and if many Today plugins are not found in time, the 'White Screen of Death' (known commonly to PPC 2002 users as 'WSOD') is the inevitable result. This is also common to SD card installs, though again not nearly so often.
~ With the 38xx series, there is an apparent file system flaw which results in certain program functions mysteriously failing. This has become very clear in the past week with the latest release version of Sprite's Pocket Backup. This program can generate either PBF files (which can be restored using the program) or EXE file backups (which can be used for a restore without PB being installed). But when installed to the \iPAQ File Store, the EXE files are corrupt. They are not recognised by the device when tapped, and do not carry the intended Sprite icon. However, the Sprite team discovered during my reports on this behavior that simply renaming the extension from .exe to .pbf the program itself could then use them. Turned out that Pocket Backup was generating the same form of backup file as when the PBF option was selected, just generating the .exe extension for them. This cannot be reproduced on a non-38xx iPAQ, apparently, so perhaps Microsoft repaired that problem in the OS. Sprite are intending a 'fixed' installer for the next week or so, in which \iPAQ File Store installations are prevented on 38xx devices.
~ GigaBar's old beta version 1.90.31, which might as well be considered a release version (it's been out for a year now), contains also GigaPad, an advanced 'notepad' program for TXT and certain other files. I use it constantly for HTML, INI, URL, and other files. Anyway, it behaves very, very strangely when attempting to read or edit any file placed in the \iPAQ File Store. Every second or so, this program pops up an error saying 'This document has been modified outside of GigaPad. Do you want to save changes?' I tap 'No', and the error pops up again instantly. It is impossible to read a file like this, never mind edit it. This is true whether I leave the ignore_my_docs file alone and have the files in question any old place in there or of I delete the ignore_my_docs file and create an \iPAQ File Store\My Documents folder and place the files in there before opening. There is, again, something very fishy about this location's behavior.
~ Installing to any more than about 75% of the \iPAQ File Store's capacity, regardless of file type, inevitably results in a WSOD within a few days, or hours, or minutes. I determined by August last year, after many dozens of forced hard resets, that this limit should never be exceeded. Apparently this is not the case with some other iPAQ users.... However, I had an iPAQ 3870 for a few months last year as well, and found that it suffered all the same limits, including this one. So I never exceed this limit, and in fact I give a safety margin of about 10%. Currently I have had stable operation for about 8 weeks, since the last time I accidentally installed something about 200KB too large to this area and suffered a spontaneous WSOD. My current file load in the \iPAQ File Store is a hair under 4MB, of the 6.59MB total available.
I'm certain that I've left something out, but that's a good start. In my many posts to various forums on this subject, I have found that at first there were few other users finding similar problems. But as time passes, more and more users report similar problems, and not just with the iPAQ 38xx devices. I do hope that Microsoft is indeed capable of paying attention this time. A ROM update fixing this is long overdue. I have done all the ROM updates offered by Compaq so far, and have not found any of them to amend the situation at all. The only file system error they have sort of fixed (though it still surfaces every couple of weeks, that's a lot better than the original every third or fourth time!) is the 'do you want to format?' error on inserting an SD card. Another error which persists is the way that File Explorer locks the device about every third time I try to copy or move any size or type of file or multiple files to an SD or MMC card, or even to a CF card or external hard drive (though a little less often for these latter). Just about a second after tapping 'Paste' on either the tap&hold pop-up menu or from the toolbar menu, the device freezes, and a soft reset is the only remedy. I usually find that about 40KB or a little more has been copied, but often this is corrupt as it is incomplete. I've had this error many hundreds of times, with files as small as 1KB. And the same exact error applies to copying/moving files to the \iPAQ File Store! So I have been trying to remember not to use File Explorer. It's difficult, as the program is handy for some things. But this error has not happened once, every, using any third party file explorer. So I use FtpView or Resco Explorer 2003, and have no such problems there. Both are capable of faster copying operations anyway.
I've read Bill Gates' statements about the file system being a priority in developing PPC 2003 or .NET, but these were vague. Of course, I haven't the technical background to understand a detailed explanation... but the essence became very clear: the existing PPC file system is deeply flawed, he acknowledges this, and his team is hard at work making it work properly. I wish I'd saved the interview I refer to... sorry about that. Can't recall where it was published.
By the way, for comparison, the Casio EG-800 (MIPS device, operating under PPC 2000, 32MB RAM plus 2 partitionable flash store locations totalling about 14.21MB capacity) has never suffered any related problems. I can install anything I want to the \Flash Disk or \Flash Disk2 locations, including any Pocket IE plugin, Today plugin, or graphics software. And File Explorer never freezes on this device.
Good luck in getting results on this. A more reliable device would be very welcome.

[JmE]

Originally posted by PocketTV Team
Besides PocketTV and MS Pocket Money, do you know some apps that won't work when installed in the internal permanent "File Store", but that work perfectly fine when installed in RAM or on a Storage Card ?
".

Won't work in what ways? I believe I have PocketTV in flashRAM on my Axim. It seems to work, but streaming from a network is very choppy. I am wondering if this is because of where I have it installed?

-JmE-

[neuron]

BUGME won't work.(it runs ok, but alarm won't work).

[snOOp]

Originally posted by JmE
Won't work in what ways? I believe I have PocketTV in flashRAM on my Axim. It seems to work, but streaming from a network is very choppy. I am wondering if this is because of where I have it installed?

-JmE-

I'm with you. I have PocketMTV and PocketTV stored in 'filestore', no problems at all. Now I don't stream video, so don't know if that would be choppy.

So far I have 14 programs in 'filestore', and the only one that gave me trouble was 'Monopoly'.

[JmE]

Originally posted by snOOp
I'm with you. I have PocketMTV and PocketTV stored in 'filestore', no problems at all. Now I don't stream video, so don't know if that would be choppy.

So far I have 14 programs in 'filestore', and the only one that gave me trouble was 'Monopoly'.

Yes, I had never heard of problems running programs from FileStore until this thread. Hence I was wondering if that is what was causing my streaming audio problems. Now I know not to put Monopoly in filestore

The web is great, I learn something new every five minutes

Cheers!
-JmE-