I helped one forum user to modify my Navigon unlock package to use in a Mio C230. The default navigation software is Destinator. The original thread is here.

Note that the tweaks application is only for Navigon 2100. Please just ignore it.

I wrote a post about OCN 8 back in May. It was long over due at that time. Now, 4 months later, it’s finally ready to ship. The estimate ship date is 9/19/2008.

The regular price for OCN 8 on a 2GB microSD card is $75.00. BuyGPSNow.com has a sale going on right now. If you purchase it before 9/30/2008, the price is $59.95. Click here for the direct link. Shipping is $8.00 to US. The price is better than I expected.

It looks promising, but there is a potential problem. This version does NOT support PNA or PND like Mio C230 that we love. It is only compatible with PDAs and SmartPhones running Windows Mobile OS. Here is a short list of compatible devices.

Mio Tech has just announced a special one-time offer for one Free Map Update for Mio Moov and Knight Rider GPS customers, who purchased a unit between 4/1/2008 and 1/20/2009.

You must register first, otherwise you have to purchase it later on. Please see this page for details. They have a new web site up for registration.

http://www.freemapupdate.com/

There is no mention about updates for older GPS, maybe we should complain to Mio Tech.

It’s been a while for me to write something about Mio C230. Some of you might notice the recent posts about iPhone. I have not forgotten about my little Mio C230 yet. It’s just that I don’t have much time to cover both topics.

Anyway, remember that I wrote a post about updating the speedcam file for Mio C230. The file was compiled back in 2007 and it has not been updated since then. I thought it’s time to get an updated file. This time, I’ll tell you a way to generate the file using free download from a web site. As long as the site keeps updating the file, the data should be accurate.

1. Visit this site. Click on the Download button to download the file.
2. Click on iGo 8 Text Format on the next screen. Name the file speedcam.txt .
3. Connect your Mio GPS to the computer using a USB cable. The device shows up as a drive (Mio Device).
4. Browse to the folder MioMap/MioMap/POI/SPEEDCAM on the Mio Device. If you have previous file in the folder, make a backup and then either delete it or rename it.
5. Copy speedcam.txt to this location.
6. Disconnect the GPS. (You might want to do safely remove the mass storage device before you disconnect it.)

The next time you run MioMap, you can see the speedcams on your map.

Notes:

1. If you have previously added some customary speedcams, the info is lost if you follow this guide to update the file.
2. The downloaded file includes both red light cameras and speed traps.

One reader has experienced a problem with the arrival time on Mio C230. Even though I do not have this problem on mine, I thought this might benefit other Mio C230 owners.

Question: “I have a C230 that is set to Eastern Std time and the clock is correct but my Arrival Time is behind by 1 hour. For instance: The current time is 11:15. If I set a route that takes 30minutes, the arrival at your destination will say I will get there at 10:45.

Now this would be a great if I could actually get there an hour earlier than I left (Time Warp Continum kinda thing) but it is annoying when I look at the display and it is incorrect.”

Solution: “I got this answer from tech support at MIO. I wrote up the example below for Eastern Std Time zone.

To correct the Estimated Time of Arrival during Daylight Savings Time.

At Daylight Savings Time Begins:

1) Go to Tools/Language/SetDate&Time and set to GMT-5 Indiana (USA)
2) Tap the Satellite button then Time Sync. Uncheck Auto Correct and set the PNA: manually to the correct time.

At Daylight Savings Time Ends:

1) Go to Tools/Language/SetDate&Time and set to GMT-5 Eastern (USA)
2) Tap the Satellite button then Time Sync. Check Auto Correct and press the arrow between GPS and PNA to sync with the GPS.”

Thank you, Strike (Mike)!

License: Freeware

Links: Site

I have been searching for a dictionary program for my Mio C230 for a long time. Finally, I found one that’s working. It’s the Free Dictionary from Tilde Tech. The installation is not that straight forward, so I am writing down the steps. It requires .Net Compact Framework, so you’ll need to have my unlock release 4.1 or later to run it.

1. There are two files you need to download. The first one is the Dictionary Kit. It contains the dictionary files. The second file is the program itself. Unfortunately, there is no direct download of this file, you need to visit PocketGear to “buy” it for $0. Here is the link to the product page. You will not be charged with the download, but you have to add it to the cart and check it out.
2. After you downloaded the two files, run them and get them installed on your Windows PC. The programs and dictionary files are installed in this directory.
   C:Program FilesTildeTech
3. Browse to the folder in step 2 and copy the following dictionary files to a directory of your choice on your SD card.
   Easy.dct
   Medium.dct
   Standard.dct
   Hard.dct
   UKEnglish.dct
   WordNet.dct
   words.def
4. We need to copy the FreeDict.exe now. Before you copy the FreeDict.exe to the SD card, make sure your system allows you to view hidden files. Here is the tutorial is you don’t know how to enable it. Browse to this directory.
   C:Program FilesTildeTechPocketPC
   Note that this is different from the directory in step 2 and 3. Right click on FreeDict.exe and select Properties. Uncheck the Hidden box and click on OK to exit the dialog box.
   
5. Copy the FreeDict.exe in step 4 to the directory you created on the SD card with the dictionary files.

You can now move the SD card to your Mio C230 and either use FileMan CE to invoke it or put it on the desktop. Note that FreeDict runs better in portrait mode, so you might want to rotate the screen before you invoke it. As you can see in the first screenshot, the top menu is missing like other .NET applications on Mio C230, but it doesn’t affect the functionality of the program. There are also some trial games and one full version of Hangman in C:Program FilesTildeTechPocketPC . You can move them to the SD card using the methods in step 4.

Here is what’s new about the release.

• Cab files installation
• .Net Compact Framework 3.5
• Increased Storage Memory
• Functional Taskbar

If you already have a high speed SD card, you are fine. Otherwise, the first thing you need to do is to buy a nice SD card. Note that you cannot just use an age-old SD card from several years ago. Chances are your Mio cannot recognize it. This is a good 1 GB card from Kingston. 1 GB is sufficient for me. If you like to have a lot of MP3s and movies, consider a card with bigger capability(2 GB , 4 GB ).

BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR MIO C230. YOU KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR C230 UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY. YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISKS. THE FOLLOWING STEPS HAVE BEEN TESTED ON US MODEL OF MIO C230 ONLY. THEY ARE NOT MEANT FOR MIO C230 PURCHASED IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

Background

Before you begin, make sure you read the post entirely and you have no questions about each step. A little background might help you understand what you are doing. There is a back door for MioMap to run external application. This is different for different models of Mio GPS. For Mio C230, this back door is an application called autorun_ABC.exe (or GOCE.exe) on the storage card. What we are going to do is to have our unlock package on a storage card and trick the MioMap to run our unlock script. Note that with this approach, you don’t need to change the default MioMap directory. If you have changed the default MioMap directory, you’ll have to change it back before you try this unlock. If you have a USB cable, connect the unit to a computer and backup everything on the unit before you go on.

Step by Step Instructions

1. Download the zip file from here.
2. Unzip the file and copy everything to a SD card. Note that if you already have a Skins or Routes directory, just copy the content of Skins or Routes directories to your existing Skins or Routes directories. Here is a screenshot of the folders and files on the storage card’s root directory.
   
3. Turn off Mio C230 using the switch on the back. Insert the SD card into the unit.
4. Turn on Mio C230 using the switch on the back. A dialog pops up telling you the unlock is done and begging for donation. Click on OK to continue.
5. (Optional) If you still have the default MioMap user interface(skin), you need to change it so that you can exit MioMap. I have included a modified skin in the Skins directory.
   • Click on Routes on the desktop.
   • Select MioMap Skin Choices and click on OK.
   • Select kombitz and click on OK.
   • A new skin is being copied, this process can take up to 30 secs or more.

Mini Manual

There are 3 desktops included in this package. You can use the left and right arrows on the lower right corner to switch between the desktops. The top row and bottom row are the same for each desktop. Right next to ab icon, there are 3 small icons. They are:

• Restart: Restarts the unit.
• Toggle Screen Orientation: Toggles the screen between landscape or portrait mode.
• Taskbar: Brings up taskbar.
• Toggle MioTool: Toggles MioTool(keyb.exe) which you can use to open an on-screen keyboard. You need a stylus to us it. Make sure the cursor is in the input field of the window when you use it. Tap the ab icon again to close the on-screen keyboard.
• Volume: Changes the volume. The default volume is set to maximum. You can use this to change volume before playing a game with sound like Tetris.

The bottom row from left to right:

• GPS: Invokes MioMap.
• Media: Invokes TCPMP. This is a versatile media player. It plays various video formats and MP3. It can also be used to view photos. I added the plugin to play FLV video downloaded from YouTube or other flash video sites. Plugins for playing Podcast video are also included.
• FileMan CE: Invokes FileMan CE, a file manager for CE devices. You can use it to launch other programs not on the desktop or manage files.

Main Desktop

• Paint: Invokes PocketPaint. This is a simple paint program.
• Calculator: Invokes MyCalculator. To exit out MyCalculator, tap About and then the “X” in the about screen.
• Photos: Invokes GQe. You can use it to view photos on the storage card.
• Notes: Invokes NotePad, a notepad program for creating/viewing text files.
• Routes: Route Management and MioMap Skin Chooser(Switcher). See the Note section for instruction.
• uBook: uBook reader. It can open HTML, TXT, RTF, PDB and PRC (not secure) ebook files. A free Webster dictionary is included. I don’t know if anyone is interested in reading a dictionary, but it’s there.
• NoniGPSPlot: A straight line GPS application.
• XnViewPocket: Image viewing application. You can use it for photo slide show.

Games Desktop

In this desktop, there are a lot of new games. Most of the games are from XFlib. If you like the games, please consider a donation to their site. You can download a lot more games from the site. A lot of games run in portrait mode. Ameridan has come up with a way using scripts to rotate the screen automatically. I have borrowed the scripts to run these games.

• Lights On: Invokes LightsON. The goal of the game is to turn all lights on.
• Free Cell: Invokes FreeCell, a poker game.
• Sudoku: A Sudoku game from XFlib.
• Caisses: A Sukoban clone game from XFlib.
• HexaVirus: My personal favorite from XFlib. Your goal is to active every virus in 30 moves or less.
• Aquella: A JezzBall-like game from XFlib.
• BallBreaker: An interesting game from XFlib to test your reflexes. All the balls are shooting at your cursor. Try to lure the balls to hit the block(s) and break them.
• SmartMahjongg: My favorite PocketPC game. It’s now possible now that we have .Net compact framework 3.5. The game is a bit slow to load, please be patient. If you like it, please consider a donation. This is the author’s site.
• Tetris: A classic Tetris game. Click on the block to rotate it. Click on the left or right side of the window to move the block.
• Shift: Another game from XFlib. Click on the border of the screen to move the blocks that can move in the direction. When 3 or more of the same block form, they disappear.

Utilities Desktop

• RegEdit: Registry editor for your Mio C230.
• iTaskMgr: Shows you CPU, Process and Task(Application) info. You can use this to terminal a process or switch to an application.
• Move: Utility to move windows around.
• DPMS: Turn your screen off.
• Resinfo: Invokes Resinfo. It shows you some resources informations for your device. Kinda like task manager in Windows. You can use it to terminate applications or processes.
• Restart: Restarts Mio C230. Use this when an application crashes or after you load new files to the SD card.
• Rotate: Rotates the screen counter-clockwise by 90 degrees.
• Snapshot: Invokes CapScrUtil. A screen capture utility. Remember to store the image to either Storage Card or My Flash Disk for easy access to the screenshots.
• Settings: Invokes MioUtility, a control panel like application for adjusting backlight, volume, screen, power, date/time and language.
• SirfTech: Utility to manage settings for GPS. Can be used to turn off static navigation. This program is NOT included in the package. Please download it from the author’s site.

Note

1. If you want to use your own background image, just create a 320×240 bitmap file. Put them in the Scriptdesktop directory. Edit the ini files in the directory to use the bitmap file you created. main.ini is for Main desktop, gmaes.ini is for Games desktop and utilities.ini is for Utilities desktop. Change the variable BackgroudBitmap to point to the new file.
2. If you want to change or add the icons(shortcuts) on the desktop, you can do so by editing the files in note #1. An icon entry is like this.

   ICONXPBUTTON
   x = 0
   y = 95
   Command = \Storage Card\Script\your_program.exe
   SizeNormal =64
   SizePushed =64
   ScaleAlpha = 80
   IconNormal = iconsyouricon.ico
   ScaleAlpha = 100
   IconPushed = iconsyouricon.ico

3. When you have the program and icon(64×64) ready, copy the program to Script directory and copy the icon to Scriptdesktopicons directory and modify the variable Command, IconNormal and IconPushed. Note that you have to use absolute path for Command, but use relative path for IconNormal and IconPushed. If you follow this rule, you can use the included SystemInformation32.exe in that directory to test the desktops on your computer. This tool is very useful for those who like to change the desktops frequently. I have commented out some of the ICONXPBUTTON sections on the ini files. If you want to use them, remove the # signs in front of the lines.
4. If for whatever reason, you cannot exit a certain application, you can use Resinfo to terminate the application. Tap the “ab” icon on the upper left corner. Tap “Ctl” and then “Esc” on the on-screen keyboard, this brings up taskbar. Once taskbar appears, tap “Programs” and then “Resinfo”. Use “Tasks” tab of Resinfo to terminate the application (task). You might want to soft reset (restart) the unit. Sometimes, the taskbar is on top when you run MioMap or other applications. It’s very annoying. You can disable the behavior by click on Start -> Settings -> Taskbar and Start Menu… and uncheck Always on top.
5. Now that we have everything on the SD card, you don’t need to connect the unit to the computer any more. You can just take out the SD card and work on the SD card. When you are done working on the SD card. Insert the SD card back into the unit. If your unit did see the new files you added to the SD card, restart the unit by using the restart icon on the desktop. If you have Map files on your SD card, you might notice that the system soft reboots when you insert the card into the unit when it’s on. This is normal.
6. If you still like to connect your unit to the computer, sometimes the unit freezes up. You will need to hard reset the machine using the switch on the back.
7. Route management lets you Save/Load/Delete/Rename routes. The default location for routes is at Routes on the storage card. If you have saved your routes in other location, you can move them to here. To save a route, start MioMap. Plan a route as you wish. You might want to disable off-route automatic recalculation(Home -> Settings -> General -> Off-route recalculation) when you plan a route. When you are done planning, exit MioMap. Then click on Routes icon to run the route management program and click on “Save current Route” to save it. To load a route, click on Routes icon. Then click on “Load a saved Route”. Pick the route you want and click on OK. The MioMap starts up automatically with the route your picked.One added feature of this release is MioMap Skin Chooser (Switcher) by Mike FFI. If you have found a skin you want to use. Just create a subdirectory under Skins on the storage card. Copy the DATA.ZIP to the subdirectory. Please see this post about MioMap skins. Note that whenever you load a new skin, it takes a bit of time for the copy process to finish.
8. The use of unlicensed maps is illegal. Please don’t ask where can you get maps not licensed for your device or how can you get MioMap to recognize the unlicensed maps. Any question regarding unlicensed maps will either be deleted or ignored.

Backing Off

If you don’t like it the way it is, you want to undo everything. It’s very easy to revert back to the factory state, just hard reset the unit using the switch on the back and copy the backup DATA.ZIP back to the unit if you wish.

If your Mio C230 is not working at all even after you perform the aforementioned steps, you can use the DVD that came with your unit to restore it.

MISC

Don’t forget the other posts about Mio C230

• Updating SpeedCam file for Mio C230
• Adding Custom POIs to Mio C230
• Adding Canada Map to Mio C230
• MioMap 3.3 Skins for Mio C230 (split screen!)
• MioMap 3.3 DATA.ZIP Tweaks
• Running ScummVM on Mio C230
• Requesting 12M POIs Maps for Mio C230
• Tweaking SYS.TXT for MioMap 3.3
• Adding a Program to the Desktop for Unlocking Guide Release 4
• Adding a Desktop for Unlocking Guide Release 4
• Wishlist for Unlocking Mio C230
• Getting Programs for Mio C230
• Increasing Storage Memory for Mio C230
• Programs for PNA

If you don’t have a Mio C230 yet, you can consider buying it from Amazon.

I published the original unlock guide on 10/31/2007. The guide is a FIRST and ORIGINAL unlocking guide for Mio C230. The guide has made hacking/unlocking Mio C230 possible and it has inspired other efforts for making Mio C230 a wonderful device to own. If you find my articles useful and you would like me to continue this project, please consider making a donation to my site. Thank you!

When I created the new category for the programs I found for Mio C230, I thought you might be able to run these programs on other Mio GPSs or other Windows CE based Personal Navigation Assistant. I decided to name this category Programs for PNA.

These programs are tested using Mio C230 which runs on Windows CE Core 5.0 with ARM CPU. If you found that the program is working for your device, please drop us a note so other people knows about it.

Mio C230 comes with 64 MB RAM and by default only 512KB is reserved for storage memory. The storage memory is for system files, it’s kinda like the system drive for your computer. Because of the limitation, you often encounter error messages when you tried to copy stuff to the Windows directory.

You can adjust it by using the Control Panel. Open up FileMan CE and browse to the root directory. Double click on Control Panel.lnk to invoke Control Panel. Scroll down and double click on System. Click on the Memory tab and adjust the storage memory.

Note that you have to do this every time you hard reboot your unit. I’ll try to see if there is a registry trick to adjust the Storage Memory by script.

Now that you have unlocked your Mio C230, you are eager to try out various PocketPC or Windows CE applications. But where to start? There are a lot of PocketPC freeware sites. I like this particular site very much because it has ratings for most of the freeware you can download from the site.

http://pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php

You don’t have to waste your time on those lowly rated software. Most PocketPC software come in three formats.

• Stand alone executable
• Installer package
• CAB file

I will start with stand alone executable. When I find a program I want to try, I usually copy the executable to Script directory and use FileMan CE to invoke it. If it runs, that’s great. If it doesn’t run, I have no clue what to try. I didn’t know what are the required dlls for it.

However, I just found out a way to determine the required dlls. It’s actually quite simple and I am going to share that “secret”with you. What you need is a program that can open binary file in hex format. If you are curious about what I use, I use TextPad. Open the executable using the hex editor. Search the executable for the text string “dll” (without the quote). Here is a screenshot.

We now know that this application requires COREDLL.dll and commctrl.dll to run. Please note that even though you know the required dlls. It’s still possible the application doesn’t run with dlls. I think the reason might be the program is not compatible with Windows CE 5 or the dlls version is not correct. One dll that most applications need is AYGSHELL.DLL. There are different versions of that dll. My release 4 includes one that’s newer than the one from my earlier releases. You can get the older AYGSHELL.DLL from my earlier releases. Some applications run well with the newer AYGSHELL.DLL, some run well with the older one. You’ll need to experiment it to determine what’s better for an application.

[Update:] One reader has pointed out there is a better way to identify the DLLs needed for an application. It’s called Dependency Walker. It is indeed better and you get to know the details about each DLL and the CPU architecture.

The second form of application is an installer package. You can use a program called EXE to CAB Converter to convert the installer package to a CAB file. The EXE to CAB program is a very old program. It’s very likely it would not work for newer installers. One other thing to try is just run the installer on you computer. When it’s done, you can look for the cab files on the system drive.

For Vista, the directory is at
C:\Windows\WindowsMobile

For XP, please refer to this article. You need to have ActiveSync (XP) or Windows Mobile Device Center (Vista) installed for installer to install the application.

When you get a CAB file for the application, there are two ways to use it. The first one is to use wceload to install it directly on Mio C230. Dominique first discovered the correct procedure to do it and Ameridan has a post about the procedure. The second way is to use a program like WinZip to extract the files from the CAB file. This part is tedious and note that the file names are different from the original names. You’ll need to change the file names back to their original names. For older CAB file, look for the .000 file. Use a text editor to open the file and you’ll know what are the original file names. For new CAB file, look for a setup.xml file. It has the info regarding the original file names.

Once you have all the files you need for an application. You could put everything under Script folder. However, I think creating a folder under Scriptprograms and put the required files in it might be a better solution.

If you get an application to work for Mio C230, please kindly share your find and tell us where to get the application and how did you get it to run. Freeware and Shareware only. If you get a commercial software you own to work, please share your experience here too.

I have started a new category: Programs for PNA. When I find a new program working for Mio C230, I’ll post it under that category. The first one is XnView Pocket.