C230’s Weblog

NOTE that this is not an UPDATE – it is a new LITE Version of my Unlock without the desktop and miscellaneous programs you might be expecting.  The FULL version is here.

OK, by special request, I’m making available this LITE version, which is half the size of the regular version because it doesn’t have the regular desktop screen nor all of the miscellaneous programs.   Just the simple Clock screen, a simple Tools screen and my Route Management Menu that includes MioMap access.  It will reportedly fit into the free space of a brand new Mio C230’s flash disk, but don’t hold me to it as I’m unable to verify that claim.  (see Note 3)

Like the regular Unlock Version 3.3 release, this brand new LITE version depends on the data.zip modification to unhide the Exit button.  (see Note 4)

This build allows quick changes of SYS.TXT (the MioMap “ini” file) settings which also has the advantage of being able to change flyover and street settings as often as you wish (you can add your own as well if you find a setting that you toggle often).   The largest advantage however is the ability to pre-plan upcoming vacation trips, business trips, delivery routes, etc., save those routes, and activate them at your convenience.   Many blog readers are stating that this is their main reason for unlocking, not for the desktop access of other programs.

I’ve gone through a lot of coffee on the 3.3 Regular and LITE releases ( the best ones yet! ) and if you are pleased with the results, kindly consider a small donation to my coffee fund.   My next project is investigating how to delete individual items in the Route History list which is part of the SQLite 3.0 database file iGo.db, since right now it’s Clear All or nothing.

Route Management

Someday, there could well be built-in MioMap screens (I’m available, Mio) either in alternative skins or adopted by iGo or Mio in an update, to do these same functions using the logic strategy contained in my menus (with thanks to Xania for the initial work), but for now the menus seem like an excellent alternative, especially now that the Exit button functions so nicely.  [added 1/12/08]  With the Route Management menu, you can not only preplan your routes, but by

• Exiting
• Saving your route with a descriptive name  
• Restarting MioMap back up again with that route still in memory or loading that route into memory at a later time
• Using the Edit Route screen and reversing the order of your waypoints
• Exiting and Saving once again with a different name representing the  return trip
•  - Voila – you’ve got your return trip available in the menu without reinputing all of your waypoints.

I’ve updated the menu to Version 3.3 as well to include automatic entries to the SYS.TXT file needed for this menu to function.  You no longer need to run through the setup process.  This version does not have the Toggle Taskbar option, as there is no taskbar.

 Oh, and don’t forget to check out my Mio-C230 StickiNotes in the right column where blog items and other tidbits readers provide will be easy to find.

Unlock Version NXT-R3.3 LITE

[BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR MIO C230, KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR C230 UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY.  YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.]

Installation procedure

1. Turn on C230 and connect it to the computer using a 5-pin Mini-B USB 2.0 cable (not included in the package).
2. C230 will show up as a flash drive in My Computer as Mio Device. Mine is assigned as F drive. I’ll use F drive in the following steps. Substitute it with the actual drive letter of your system.  If you have a SD card in the slot, it shows up as well – in my case as G drive.
3. Rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap to F:\MioMap\MioMap2.
4. According to one user, this LITE version is small enough to fit onto your flash disk  without making room, but I’d atleast set aside one map file (perhaps Puerto Rico?).   (see Note 3) 
5. Download MioC230_NXT_R3_3LITE.zip 
6. USA MioC230 users -  download the modified MioC230 data.zip file with the Exit Door button restored.    Owners of the European C230, please review this page and Note 4, before Unlocking for information on using this Unlock on your units.   You can modify the file yourself – See Note 4.  
7. Extract the files from the Unlock download ONLY and find the two folders MioMap and  Script 
8. Copy MioMap to F:\MioMap\ and copy Script to F:\ as in the screenshot.  Don’t speed through this step – it’s got to be done as described!
    
9. Copy the data.zip file AS IS (don’t unzip it) to the MioMap2 folder after copying the original file to your PC or to the Storage Card as a backup . 
10. Disconnect Mio C230 and do a hard reset by sliding the switch on the rear of your C230 to OFF and back to ON again.
11. After calibrating the touch screen, the initial Unlock script will automatically run AUTOPATCHER (no menu selection necessary), soft reset and present you with a simple clock screen with two icons to proceed into either a Tools screen or into the MioMap Route Management screen. 

Note 1: If you wish to undo the enhancements and return the Mio C230 back to factory condition:

1. Turn on C230 and connect it to the computer using a USB cable.
2. Rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap to F:\MioMap\MioMap3 (or delete) and rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap2 to F:\MioMap\MioMap
3. Copy back any map files you may have deleted or moved to your SD card and restore your data.zip file.  The SYS.TXT file shouldn’t need to be restored.
4. Disconnect the cable and hard reset C230 using the switch on the back of the unit.

Note 2: Remember, every time you disconnect the USB cable linked to your PC, you will need to do atleast a soft reset, although in most cases you really should do a hard reset.  The time and date will need to be reset, unless you are going right into MioMap with Time Autosync enabled. 

Note 3: Since this LITE version is a lot smaller, I don’t have experience as to how much space needs to be freed up in order not to get the message ”destination full”.   Create a MioMap folder in the root of of your SD card and within that folder a maps folder so that the path appears as G:\MioMap\maps.   Choose a combination of map file(s) you’re not accessing every day (in case your SD card isn’t always inserted) from F:\MioMap\MioMap2\maps and move them to the maps folder on your SD card.  MioMap will see them after a hard reset as if nothing happened.  Or you could delete them (or copy to your PC) if you choose not to use a SD card at this time, since it’s easy to explore your MioMap DVD and copy them back to the original folder or a SD card later, if needed. 

And now the manual:  Using your unlocked C230 LITE

Default Screen

• The MioMap icon will take you directly to my new menu with options to either proceed into the MioMap program, Save / Delete / Rename / Load routes, View / Update MioMap settings in SYS.TXT, view a brief  Help screen on Exiting MioMap.
• The Next Screen icon will take you to a Tools screen so that you can do a soft reset or the Mio Utility program for quick access to adjust Backlight, Volume, Screen calibrate, Power, Date/Time and Language.

I’ve provided an alternate clock screen in the Sysinfo folder, so that you have an example on how to change to your liking.  In the /script/sysinfo folder, rename clock.ini to clock_orig.ini and then rename clock_alt.ini to clock.ini if you wish to use the alternate screen.  A secondary text line is already set-up for you if you wish to add your name or a short message.

Route Management

From the clock screen, click on the MioMap icon (the GPS unit in the upper left)

Prior to unlocking your Mio GPS, you would be unable to save multiple routes and the default route.dat file normally saved in \My Documents\MioMap folder would be erased during a hard reset, making the Route Management menu feature a substantial add-on to your Mio C230!

Normally you don’t need to save a route on your Mio, since you can just create a POI for the destination and regenerate the route dynamically when you want to go there.   If you want to see where you actually drove along the way, you can record a track log.   However, there could be times when you have created a more complex route with multiple waypoints, and you want to save it.   This could be because:

• you’ve imported the route as a set of waypoints from an online route planning site, and you don’t want to lose the effort of setting it up on the Mio
• vacation pre-planning – you’ve set up a complex route for a vacation trip that doesn’t start from “home” and you want to load it into memory once you’ve arrived at the start point
• you want to share your route with another Mio user. 

NOTE:  When planning routes that start from a location different from your present location (Vacation pre-planning), the Off-Route Recalculation option has a habit of interfering.  You have a couple of options here: 

• The first leg of your trip can be from your present location to the intended starting point.  Just keep setting your route up and when you’re finished, remove the first Waypoint (using the second button on the bottom of the Edit Route screen) which deletes that first segment of the Route.   It seems that once you’re in the Edit Route screens /Fit to screen/ etc., that the GPS doesn’t recalculate from your present position.  It’s when you are in Map or Cockpit where that happens.  With the Route Management Menu, you just exit and Save your Route for future viewing or navigating. 
• The bottom selection on the General Settings page is Off-Route Recalculation. Switch this from Automatic to Disabled.  This doesn’t actually turn off the GPS receiver, but it keeps the C230 from messing up your Route planning.  Just don’t forget to switch it back to Automatic when your done with your Route planning.

Sample pre-loaded route to view

^ click on “Load a Saved Route…” and select this sample file and it should copy itself as route.dat and open up in MioMap.  To visualize this Route, select Cockpit > Menu > Routes icon (third in bottom row) > Info > Fit to screen.  When you edit or delete route from within MioMap, you are impacting route.dat file, not the saved file you selected from the menu, so if you want to save changes you’ve made, you’ll have to do so after you exit MioMap and return to the Route Management menu.

Creating Routes

• We’ll make an example up > Go to History or Address and select a destination,  Mio will create a route, click in the area of the 3 green rectangles, Select Fit to Screen to see route.   Your route has already been autosaved as route.dat.
• Now we’re going to save it with another name so it doesn’t get erased > Menu, Home, Exit, go to Route Management Menu, select Save, select a Name and you’re done.
• If we go back into MioMap, it always resumes with the route.dat file (if it exists) so if you wan’t to work on a different saved route, you need to load it into memory using that option in the Route Management menu.
• If you create a new route in MioMap now, that route replaces route.dat with this new information, but since you’ve saved the former route with another name, you can just load that saved route in to replace route.dat again.

SYS.TXT Options

iGo calls the two flyover modes: Lifelike simulation mode  which runs real-time (at speed-limit rate) and includes voice instructions - mainly used by retail stores with looping turned ON as DEMO mode, and for the user to become familiar with it’s routing functioning.   Fast-flyover mode runs 10 times faster (10X the speed-limit rate) and voice instructions are not played in this mode, but I find that it is much more useful for reviewing a planned route.

(Screen captures are from the FULL version and are for illustrative purposes only)

^ your choice.  Mio’s default is YES (demo mode).

 ^ the script reads your current SLOWSIM value (slow simulation – which is the inverse of fast flyover) entry in the file and allows you to keep the value (YES) or change it (NO).   For fast flyover, slowsim=1 is changed to slowsim=0.  

 ^ the script reads your current entry in the file and allows you to keep the value (YES) or change it (NO).

Registry tweaks that are included

• The 2007 changes for DST work correctly now for the EST time zone*
• The default time zone is GMT-5 (EST)*
• Key clicks and screen tap sounds are enabled
• Volume level in Windows CE, which is independent of the volume settings within MioMap, is cranked up a little

ENJOY!!

[UPDATE]  Version 3.5  Released Feb 1, 2008 

OK, I’m done tweaking my Mio C230 for now.   This update includes the latest combination of drivers I could find to give you the best performance and screen displays thus far.   I’ve gotten programs that have never worked before in my C230 to run with this build.

Like Amida with his Version 3 release, my new version depends on replacing the BananaPC exit option with the data.zip modification to unhide the Exit Door button.

I must say I like his iPhone desktop look,  and it will be very easy for you to use his main.ini icon settings and his icons with my build if you so desire, but my build continues to diverge from his with my menu approach to allow easy and quick changes of SYS.TXT (the MioMap “ini” file) settings which also has the advantage of being able to change flyover and street settings as often as you wish (you can add your own as well if you find a setting that you toggle often).   The largest advantage however is the ability to pre-plan upcoming vacation trips, business trips, delivery routes, etc., save those routes, and activate them at your convenience.   Many blog readers are stating that this is their main reason for unlocking, not for the desktop access of other programs.

I’ve gone through a lot of coffee on this release ( the best one yet! ) and if you are pleased with the results, kindly consider a small donation to my coffee fund.   My next project is investigating how to delete individual items in the Route History list which is part of the SQLite 3.0 database file iGo.db, since right now it’s Clear All or nothing.

Route Management

Someday, there could well be built-in MioMap screens (I’m available, Mio) either in alternative skins or adopted by iGo or Mio in an update, to do these same functions using the logic strategy contained in my menus (with thanks to Xania for the initial work), but for now the menus seem like an excellent alternative, especially now that the Exit button functions so nicely.  I’ve updated the menu to Version 3.3 as well to include automatic entries to the SYS.TXT file needed for this menu to function.  You no longer need to run through the setup process.

Unlock Version NXT-R3.3

[BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR MIO C230, KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR C230 UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY.  YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.]

Installation procedure

1. Turn on C230 and connect it to the computer using a 5-pin Mini-B USB 2.0 cable (not included in the package).
2. C230 will show up as a flash drive in My Computer as Mio Device. Mine is assigned as F drive. I’ll use F drive in the following steps. Substitute it with the actual drive letter of your system.  If you have a SD card in the slot, it shows up as well – in my case as G drive.
3. Rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap to F:\MioMap\MioMap2.
4. In order not to get the message ”destination full”, you may need to free up some space on your flash disk.  See Note3.    
5. Download MioC230_NXT_R3_3.zip  
6. USA MioC230 users -  download the modified MioC230 data.zip file with the Exit Door button restored.    Owners of the European C230, please review this page and Note 4, before Unlocking for information on using this Unlock on your units.   You can modify the file yourself – See Note 4. 
7. Extract the files from your Unlock download ONLY and find the two folders MioMap and  Script 
8. Copy MioMap to F:\MioMap\ and copy Script to F:\ as in the screenshot.  Don’t speed through this step – it’s got to be done as described!
    
9. Copy the data.zip file AS IS (don’t unzip it) to the MioMap2 folder after copying the original file to your PC or to the Storage Card as a backup. 
10. Disconnect Mio C230 and do a hard reset by sliding the switch on the rear of your C230 to OFF and back to ON again.
11. After calibrating the touch screen, the initial Unlock script will automatically run AUTOPATCHER (no menu selection necessary), soft reset and present you with a simple clock screen with two faint icons to proceed into either the main desktop screen or into the MioMap Route Management screen, that each become more visible when pressed. 

Note 1: If you wish to undo the enhancements and return the Mio C230 back to factory condition:

1. Turn on C230 and connect it to the computer using a USB cable.
2. Rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap to F:\MioMap\MioMap3 (or delete) and rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap2 to F:\MioMap\MioMap
3. Copy back any map files you may have deleted or moved to your SD card and restore your data.zip file.  The SYS.TXT file shouldn’t need to be restored.
4. Disconnect the cable and hard reset C230 using the switch on the back of the unit.

Note 2: Remember, every time you disconnect the USB cable linked to your PC, you will need to do atleast a soft reset, although in most cases you really should do a hard reset.  The time and date will need to be reset, unless you are going right into MioMap with Time Autosync enabled.   This is why you might consider using a SD card in conjunction with a USB card reader for adding programs and storing media files once you’re happy with your unlocked Mio setup.

Note 3: In order not to get the message ”destination full”, you’ll need to free up some space on your flash disk by moving at-least 12MB of map files to your SD card by creating a MioMap folder and within that folder a maps folder so that the path appears as G:\MioMap\maps.   Choose a combination of map file(s) you’re not accessing every day (in case your SD card isn’t always inserted) from F:\MioMap\MioMap2\maps and move them to the maps folder on your SD card.  MioMap will see them after a hard reset as if nothing happened.  Or you could delete them (or copy to your PC) if you choose not to use a SD card at this time, since it’s easy to explore your MioMap DVD and copy them back to the original folder or a SD card later, if needed.
Note 4:  Instructions to Modify your DATA.ZIP file yourself  (from Amida’s Hack #2)

And now the manual:  Using your unlocked C230

Default Screen

You’ll note that the MioMap icon and the Next Screen icons are dimmed, so that the initial screen might serve as a simple, unclutterd clock screen in your RV or automobile.

• The MioMap icon will take you directly to my new menu with options to either proceed into the MioMap program, Save / Delete / Rename / Load routes, View / Update MioMap settings in SYS.TXT, view a brief  Help screen on Exiting MioMap, and quickly be able to turn off the taskbar before running MioMap.
• The Next Screen icon will take you to the regular Desktop screen which was the Main screen in former releases.  (I’ve included instructions in SysInfoSettings.ini if you would rather this be your default screen)

I’ve provided an alternate clock screen in the Sysinfo folder, so that you have an example on how to change to your liking.  In the /script/sysinfo folder, rename clock.ini to clock_orig.ini and then rename clock_alt.ini to clock.ini if you wish to use the alternate screen.  A secondary text line is already set-up for you if you wish to add your name or a short message.

Route Management

^ From either the clock screen or the desktop screen, click on the MioMap icon (the GPS unit in the upper left)

Prior to unlocking your Mio GPS, you would be unable to save multiple routes and the default route.dat file normally saved in \My Documents\MioMap folder would be erased during a hard reset, making the Route Management menu feature a substantial add-on to your Mio C230!

Normally you don’t need to save a route on your Mio, since you can just create a POI for the destination and regenerate the route dynamically when you want to go there.   If you want to see where you actually drove along the way, you can record a track log.   However, there could be times when you have created a more complex route with multiple waypoints, and you want to save it.   This could be because:

• you’ve imported the route as a set of waypoints from an online route planning site, and you don’t want to lose the effort of setting it up on the Mio
• vacation pre-planning – you’ve set up a complex route for a vacation trip that doesn’t start from “home” and you want to load it into memory once you’ve arrived at the start point
• you want to share your route with another Mio user. 

NOTE:  When planning routes that start from a location different from your present location (Vacation pre-planning), the Off-Route Recalculation option has a habit of interfering.  You have a couple of options here: 

• The first leg of your trip can be from your present location to the intended starting point.  Just keep setting your route up and when you’re finished, remove the first Waypoint (using the second button on the bottom of the Edit Route screen) which deletes that first segment of the Route.   It seems that once you’re in the Edit Route screens /Fit to screen/ etc., that the GPS doesn’t recalculate from your present position.  It’s when you are in Map or Cockpit where that happens.  With the Route Management Menu, you just exit and Save your Route for future viewing or navigating. 
• The bottom selection on the General Settings page is Off-Route Recalculation. Switch this from Automatic to Disabled.  This doesn’t actually turn off the GPS receiver, but it keeps the C230 from messing up your Route planning.  Just don’t forget to switch it back to Automatic when your done with your Route planning.

Sample pre-loaded route to view

^ click on “Load a Saved Route…” and select this sample file and it should copy itself as route.dat and open up in MioMap.  To visualize this Route, select Cockpit > Menu > Routes icon (third in bottom row) > Info > Fit to screen.  When you edit or delete route from within MioMap, you are impacting route.dat file, not the saved file you selected from the menu, so if you want to save changes you’ve made, you’ll have to do so after you exit MioMap and return to the Route Management menu.

Creating Routes

• We’ll make an example up > Go to History or Address and select a destination,  Mio will create a route, click in the area of the 3 green rectangles, Select Fit to Screen to see route.   Your route has already been autosaved as route.dat.
• Now we’re going to save it with another name so it doesn’t get erased > Menu, Home, Exit, go to Route Management Menu, select Save, select a Name and you’re done.
• If we go back into MioMap, it always resumes with the route.dat file (if it exists) so if you wan’t to work on a different saved route, you need to load it into memory using that option in the Route Management menu.
• If you create a new route in MioMap now, that route replaces route.dat with this new information, but since you’ve saved the former route with another name, you can just load that saved route in to replace route.dat again.

SYS.TXT Options

iGo calls the two flyover modes: Lifelike simulation mode  which runs real-time (at speed-limit rate) and includes voice instructions - mainly used by retail stores with looping turned ON as DEMO mode, and for the user to become familiar with it’s routing functioning.   Fast-flyover mode runs 10 times faster (10X the speed-limit rate) and voice instructions are not played in this mode, but I find that it is much more useful for reviewing a planned route.

^ your choice.  Mio’s default is YES (demo mode).

 ^ the script reads your current SLOWSIM value (slow simulation – which is the inverse of fast flyover) entry in the file and allows you to keep the value (YES) or change it (NO).   For fast flyover, slowsim=1 is changed to slowsim=0.  

 ^ the script reads your current entry in the file and allows you to keep the value (YES) or change it (NO).

Main Desktop Screen

You’ll note that the MioMap icon and the Media Player are larger than the rest.  My reasoning for this is that they will probably be your favorites and you are likely to access these without a stylus.   The other icons…

• MioTool - hitting the small “ab” box in the top left corner with your stylus will reveal a virtual keyboard for entering data.  To turn the keyboard off again, just hit the icon again.  Another method of engaging the keyboard is hitting the keyboard icon on the taskbar (2^nd from the right).
• MioMap – Starts my new menu with options to either proceed into the MioMap program, Save / Delete / Rename / Load routes, View / Update MioMap settings in SYS.TXT, view a brief  Help screen on Exiting MioMap, and quickly be able to turn off the taskbar before running MioMap.   Exit and Cancel both take you back to the desktop screen.  You can either select your option and hit OK, or simply double-click your option.
• TCPMP Media Player – Core Pocket Media Player is loaded with features and options that aren’t realized until you click Options\Settings\Select Page and explore around.  The current version in this build is TCPMP version 0.72RC1 with all of the available extra drivers and it will play many audio and video formats, as well as photo files and flash videos.   By running the program once, you will associate all of the supported file types, so that you will then be able to click on a .wav file, as an example, in File Manager and play the file.

Shortcuts 2nd row-from-bottom across:

• Clock - returns to the (default) clock screen for that uncluttered look. 
• Windows Explorer – my primary reason for using this shortcut is to fix file icon associations in File Manager and to  resolve the Show Toolbar performance.  It should be noted that the first time you select Windows Explorer, you are likely to get the Mio orange screen with a minimized taskbar at the bottom.  You just need to use your stylus in the right corner of the hidden taskbar (the narrow gray stripe at the bottom edge – this is why it is important to carefully calibrate your screen with a stylus!) and choose Desktop (don’t click on MainShell).  At this point, the taskbar and Windows Explorer will behave better, and the icon associations in File Explorer will work, and other programs that seem to be missing menus, like exit, folder selection, etc. will display their own taskbar (see the Freecell screenshot).
• Pocket Notepad – viewing txt files and for creating quick txt files with the virtual keyboard.  Comes in handy for quick editing ini, mscr and other text files.
• Volume Control – graphic volume control display
• Pocket-G Freecell - so you can have a little fun.  Stylus recommended though (not a pen).

  

• An empty spot for a shortcut of your own (plus room for another 8 shortcuts above this row and as many more pages full of icons as you wish) *
• GQ Photo Viewer – GQ is easier to use for viewing multiple photos than media player, and it has a zoom function
• Restart – soft reset button

Shortcuts 1st row-from-bottom across:

• MioUtility – quick access to adjust Backlight, Volume, Screen calibrate, Power, Date/Time and Language.  This is the program that older units like the Mio C220 used to exit from MioMap into, but MioMap 3.3 has been written such that these choices are all available from within the program now and in fact the Volume Control appears to be non-functional.   You’ll find that setting the date and time is much easier by clicking on the clock on the toolbar, unless you like the 24-hour format.

• Taskbar toggle - toggles the taskbar on and off in whatever state it is in (hidden or revealed)  The taskbar area of the main desktop screen is also programmed to trigger this function.
• FileManCE2 - Two-pane File Manager application alternative to Windows Explorer.
• Another empty spot for a shortcut of your own * 
• More Tools Screen - <described below> an animated slide to another Desktop screen with additional tool programs that may not be used as frequently.  This will serve as an example for you to come up with alternative screens if you install many other programs onto your Mio C230 and wish to group them onto their own screens. 
• WR-Tooks ResInfo - Quick access to status info on battery, program memory, storage memory, Flash Disk useage, Storage Card useage, tasks and processes currently running, system information and settings.  Most of this information is also available from Control Panel as well.



• My Calculator – a scientific calculator that is large enough to use without a stylus.  To exit, click on the About tab, then on the X on the right side
• CapScrUtil – a screen capture utility. Remember to store the .bmp images to either Storage Card or My Flash Disk for easy access to the screenshots.  (This utility was used to create all of the images in this blog page)

More Tools

• ScreenRotate – gives you the ability to rotate the screen counterclockwise 90° with each tap
• DPMS – puts your screen to sleep while everything else continues to run.  This could save battery consumption while recording GPS track logs or playing an audio book, etc.
• Suspend – suspends the C230 in sleep mode, using some power though – so don’t use this in place of the actual orange power button.
• Taskbar toggle - toggles the taskbar on and off in whatever state it is in (hidden or revealed)
• Move Any Window - the mouse icon, is used when you anticipate needing to move windows around (those that drag properly can just be slid over with your finger) or gaining access to the right mouse function by opening this program window beforehand
• RegEditor – TRE Registry Editor ver 0.82    Only use this to view entries though until you are confident that you are not going to end up with a C230 “brick” (Not really since a hard reset wipes out all of your changes)
• ITaskMgr - Another tool to allow you to view CPU usage, as well as view and manage processes and tasks that are currently running
• Restart – soft reset button

Taskbar 

The registry tweaks introduced with version 3.1 should help tame the taskbar performance.  The default setting for “Always on Top” has been deactivated.   Try to remember to toggle the taskbar OFF prior to using MioMap though.   Want the day and date?  Press and hold the clock on the screen.  Want to minimize the taskbar?  Start/Settings/Taskbar Properties/OK.

Adding your own programs and icons

Add any additional programs (.exe files, not .cab files) you’re interested in to the script folder, try them, and if you decide to keep them and want a desktop shortcut to them, add your own icon (.ico file) to the script folder and add the data to main.ini, also in the script folder.

 *  The two “empty” icons on the desktop screen are in fact not empty, but the icons are “dimmed” to zero (actually 1).    Otherwise the go.ico would show with no program associated with it and people would complain about the error message and ask why the icon doesn’t work.    I doubt that you’ll find this documented anywhere else on the web – but just change the ScaleAlpha parameter to 100, and wala, the icon will shine thru at full “brightness”.    That is how I “dimmed” the two icons on the default clock desktop screen  – I set the ScaleAlpha to 25.   You could dim those icons to 1 if you wanted to hide them completely, but they would still function.

ICONXPBUTTON
X = 121
Y = 175
Command = \My Flash Disk\Script\(your program.exe)
SizeNormal = 32
SizePushed = 32
ScaleAlpha = 1 (change to 100)
IconNormal = \My Flash Disk\Script\(your icon file name).ico
ScaleAlpha = 100
IconPushed = \My Flash Disk\Script\go.ico

Registry tweaks that are included

• The 2007 changes for DST work correctly now for the EST time zone*
• The default time zone is GMT-5 (EST)*
• Key clicks and screen tap sounds are enabled
• Volume level in Windows CE, which is independent of the volume settings within MioMap, is cranked up
• File Manager font is Tahoma 7, which works much better on the 3.5″ screen
• The default folder for GQ Viewer media is \Storage Card
• The default ALWAYS ON TOP behavior for the taskbar is disabled, although the setting seems to sneak back in once in awhile
• The automatic tutorial during startup of the Calculator is disabled

ENJOY!!

[UPDATE]  Version 3.3  Released Dec. 28, 2007 

OK, since I did all the work for an Alarm Clock Page with menus, etc. that it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to use, I thought I’d still like to publish the clock page anyways as part of the next version to be the simple default page, rather than the “green” desktop page.

There will be a faint icons (to return to the main desktop page or into the MioMap Route Management screen) that become more visible when pressed. 

My Questions:

• What is your preference -  Have the clock page come up first after a hard reset or the “main” desktop page?   By clicking on the clock icon on the main page, you’ll be able to access this clock page.
• Or does anyone else even care about a clock page?
• Can we turn off the virtual keyboard in the SystemInformation ini files?

 
 

We sure got a lot done in 1½ months!

I liked this modified MioMap loading screen that I found somewhere on gpspassion.com and in the spirit of the season, I thought I’d share it.   Again, it follows a similiar install as the Easy Button thread in that this file  replaces loading.bmp in data.zip\mio\320_240.

Next rev, I’ll have another desktop screen (just for Tools) so you will have an example on creating multiple animated menu screens for Tools, Games, other GPS programs, etc.  The shortcuts will be ScreenRotate, DPMS, Suspend, ShowTaskbar, MoveWindow, TRE RegEditor, ITaskMgr, and SoftReset.

All of the software revisions resulting from the move from BananaPC to the Exit Door have already been completed.

Robb1 generously forwarded this Easy Button mod (original source unknown) that’s been talked about on other Mio forums, but until now was not tested and verified for the C230.

Many firmly believe that the computed route using this option is usually better than the others (Fastest, Shortest, and Most Economical) and it has now been verified that the tweak works for the C230.   Using this option, MioMap seems to compute a route involving the least turns and complexity.   This usually ends up being more distance but less turns.   Again, we unhide an option in the software that is probably intended for premium GPS units.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my Mio-C230 StickiNotes in the right column where blog items and other tidbits readers provide will be easy to find.

[BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR MIO C230, KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR C230 UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY.  YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.] To Add EASY ROUTE TO ROUTING OPTIONS in MIO C230(locked or Unlocked):1) Copy your “K:\MioMap\MioMap\DATA.ZIP” file to a work directory on your harddrive.

[UPDATE]  Version 3.4  Released Jan. 4, 2008

Rather than issue a new version of my Unlock package at this time, I’m making available the one file that needs to be changed*  if you wish to take advantage of the recently announced skin change on Amida’s site. 

Anyone using my Ver2.0 or 3.2 Unlock script packages that has downloaded Amida’s modified data.zip  (or modified the file itself using his Hack #2 instructions) for the Mio C230 with the Exit Door button restored on the main screen should download this file to replace their MioNav.mscr in the Script folder.   This will insure that:

• The keyboard utility is handled properly
• That BananaPC is no longer loaded
• That the reminder message regarding the pending soft reset is no longer shown
• That a soft reset is no longer triggered

By clicking on the Door icon in the top-right corner of the MioMap 3.3 Home page, it will now be very easy to return to your unlocked C230 for Route Management, SYS.TXT changes, or any of the other programs you’ve enabled. 

GREAT!

OH YEAH!

* Tasks for me to keep in mind for a future Rev. because of the revised skin:

1. It should be noted that if you bypassed the Unlock and went directly to MioMap 3.3 from the first screen presented after a hard reset, you should not use the MioMap Exit Door, as you have nothing to exit to and you will simply need to do a hard reset anyways.  In future releases with the Exit Door strategy, we will simply proceed to the Unlocked C230 script automatically, rather than presenting a menu to the user.  I’m choosing to leave the menu in-place for now, in case “hackers” wish to proceed directly into the File Manager after a hard reset to see what they are working with.  This is what enabled Amida168 to develop the original C230 unlock last month. √
2. Change BananaPC Help screen in the Menu (thanx robb1) to “Returning to the Desktop…” Help Screen. √
3. Possibly remove BananaPC program from scripts folder.

For those of you wishing to procure maps for your Mio C230, Mio Europe has just announced that Australia, Eastern Europe and USA (with Canada) are available on sale on SD cards with the MioMap software included (in Euros) right now, and the exchange rate should help us out some.  Perhaps they want to get rid of them before a 2008 version comes out.   Anyways, here’s the link in case you’re interested;

http://www.mio-tech.be/shop/index.php?cPath=34&sort=2a&filter_id=48&listing=1 

I’m just curious as to whether anyone is interested in a Mio alarm clock.   While experimenting with the System Information 1.6 software that the pseudo desktop is based on, I’ve come up with a separate Clock screen which could include a button or two to:

• Set Alarm(s) with an assortment of sound files
• Set Sleep Timer with some white noise files like Rain, Brook, Wind, Windchimes, etc.

either written in MortScript or perhaps interfacing with a CE program already written (the program included in other unlock packages doesn’t seem to be compatible with WinCE 5).

Today I’ve updated the Version 3 package to version 3.2 which incorporates the updated AYGSHELL.DLL and menus for updating and editing the SYS.TXT settings file for MioMap  and in particular making the changes necessary for the Route Management menus.  Rather than manually editing the settings file which might be a little overwhelming or confusing for some (it turns out I didn’t have it perfectly correct either), I’ve automated the procedure, which also has the advantage of being able to change flyover settings and show One-way street settings as often as you wish via easy menu selections and with no changes to the factory skins.

I’ve pulled Ver3.1 because the routepath wasn’t being written correctly into the settings file.

Question:  I’ve noticed that some European sites show that the C230 has a headphone jack and that the SD port is 4-bit SDIO compatible.  Is this in fact true?

SD cards with Wi-Fi built in came out in 2003 and are still available and it would be great to know whether these would enable the Mio C230 to browse the internet.