Some of you have widescreen GPS. Here is a background I made that might be better. The resolution is 480×272. Here is the link.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jm13wihy2zz

To use it, put it in the \Script\desktop folder and edit the ini files. Here is one example:

GLOBALSETTINGS
ShowMessage = 0
QuitOnDoubleClick = no
X = 0
Y = 0
Width = 320
Height = 240
Arrange = No
BackgroundBitmap = back480x272.bmp
StartUpAnimation = FlyDown
Accelerated = yes
TopMost = no

You also need to modify the locations of the icons.

My Navigon 2100 comes with Mobile Navigator 6 preinstalled. Like MioMap 3.3, you can change the skin of it. The file is in MN6 directory and it’s called MN6ResourcesBinary.res . There is an active thread discussing the skin for Navigon 2100 on GpsPasSion.com. If you have time, you can read through the 100+ pages of discussion. There is another thread dedicated to just the finished skins. This is where I got the skins for my package. You can download more skins from this thread.

I modified a script that does skin switching for MioMap 3.3 to work with Mobile Navigator 6. Therefore, you can switch the skin from within Navigon 2100. You can find the script in my Navigon unlock package. The script is called tweaks.mscr in the Script directory on the storage card. If you want to add more skins, just create a separate directory for each skin under Skins directory and put the MN6ResourcesBinary.res file in that directory.

Here are the screenshots of the skins I included in release 4.2.

350Z by BLUE

Mini Cooper by josephgullett

L0st3 by L0stS0ul

Superman by cajnape

I am going to post a series of articles about unlocking and customizing Navigon 2100 GPS. Note that unlocking is a process to enable your Windows CE based GPS to run other programs not intended by the manufacturers. It is possible to run other Navigation software like iGo or TomTom on Navigon if you own the software. However, this blog and the associate forum are not for discussing how to obtain the unlicensed software and maps. Any questions about illegal downloads will be either ignored or deleted.

Release 4.2

This is my first unlock release for Navigon 2100. It’s release 4.2 because it’s based upon my Mio C230 release 4.1. What’s new is My Apps (WolfNCU) which lets you add your own programs to the desktop easily. A skins swticher is also included for you to switch skins for MN6.

Release 4.2.1

A minor update to fix continuous reboot on some GPSs other than Navigon 2100. A functional taskbar is also included.

Other Articles Related to Navigon 2100

• At a glance
• Navigon 2100 Skins
• Accessories
• Programs for PNA

If you like my articles, please consider a small donation. Thanks!

This is my first unlocking guide for Navigon 2100. It is base upon the Mio C230 unlock release 4.1. What’s new is My Apps (WolfNCU) which lets you add your own programs to the desktop easily. A skins swticher is also included for you to switch skins for MN6.

BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR PNA. YOU KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR PNA UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY. YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISKS. THE FOLLOWING STEPS HAVE BEEN TESTED ON US MODEL OF NAVIGON 2100 ONLY. THEY ARE NOT MEANT FOR NAVIGON 2100 PURCHASED IN OTHER COUNTRIES EVEN THOUGH THEY MIGHT WORK.

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. At startup, Navigon executes autorunce.exe which invokes MN6, the navigation software for Navigon. We just change the name of the original autorunce.exe and put our unlocking script in its place. This way we trick the Navigon to run the unlocking script.

Step by Step Instructions

1. Put the SD card that comes with Navigon into your computer’s card reader. If you don’t have a SD card reader, you can connect your Navigon to the computer directly using a mini-USB cable(not included).
2. Change the file autorunce.exe on the SD card to autorunec.exe.
3. Download the zip file from here. (This link has been updated to download the release 4.2.1)
4. Unzip the file and copy everything to the SD card. Note that if you already have a Skins directory, just copy the content of Skins directory to your existing Skins directory. Here is a screenshot of the folders and files on the storage card’s root directory.
   
5. Put the SD card back to the unit. Turn it off completely by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds.
6. Turn on Navigon 2100 by pressing the power button and holding it for a few seconds. A dialog pops up telling you the unlock is done and begging for donation. Click on OK to continue.

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. The top row from left to right:

• Restart: Restarts the unit.
• Toggle Screen Orientation: Toggles the screen between landscape or portrait mode.
• Taskbar: Brings up the taskbar.
• Toggle Keyboard: 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 MN6.
• 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.
• Tweaks: Tweaks Management. I have modified a MioMap Skins switcher to switch MN6 skins.
• 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.
• My Apps: If you want to add your own programs, this is the place.

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. Some 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 PNA.
• 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 PNA. 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 Control Panel. Note that some of the settings might mess up your unit. Please use it with caution.
• 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. I have not found a way to terminate MN6 gracefully. Therefore, a utility called WolfToolbar is included for quiting MN6. WolfToolbar is executed first every time you try to start MN6. You can exit out MN6 by clicking on WolfToolbar icon and then click on Task. This brings up the task manager, you then click on Process tab and select MN6.exe to terminate it. If you think WolfToolbar is really annoying and you don’t want to use it, find the file MioNav.mscr in the Script directory and delete the line that says
   Run ("\Storage Card\Script\wolftoolbar.exe")
2. 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.
3. If you want to change or add the icons(shortcuts) on the desktop, you can do so by editing the files in note #2. 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 = icons\youricon.ico
   ScaleAlpha = 100
   IconPushed = icons\youricon.ico

4. 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.
5. If you experience programs with your unit, you can hard reset the machine using the power button on the top.
6. The use of unlicensed maps is illegal. Please don’t ask me where can you get maps not licensed for your device or how can you get MN6 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 delete all the files you copied to your unit and rename the autorunec.exe back to autorunce.exe. Hard reset your unit afterward.

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!

I saw a great deal for Navigon 2100 on Staples.com . After discount, easy rebate and coupon, the total comes to about $84.00. The price is excellent for a GPS with TTS (Text to speech). The shipping is fast, too. I ordered it on Tuesday and it arrived on Wednesday.

It came in a very tiny box.

It has all the accessories for an automotive GPS. What’s interesting is a sticker saying this GPS is PIN protected. I don’t know if this is enough to deter the thieves. I am not going to leave my GPS in my unattended again after my first GPS got stolen.

The surface of the Navigon is shiny and looks great initially. However, it’s very easy to get your figer prints all over the surface.

This is a shot with Mio C230. Navigon 2100 is thinner but broader than C230. The built quality is good and it also has bigger speaker on the back. A 2GB SD card is included with 48 states maps.

This is how it look in the mount. Note that it’s kinda hard to get the unit off the mount. You need to bend the holding bracket quite a bit to get it out. I am afraid that I might break the bracket someday.

The package does not include a printed manual. You have to visit the company’s web site and download it. Be sure to register your unit. I got a link to a free update which includes the latest maps right after my registration.

One major advantage over Mio C230 is the Navteq maps. Almost all the new roads in my neighborhood are included. How does it do about navigation? I took it out for several short trips and found it performs very well. I have read some complaints about routing problems, but I only experienced this problem when I accidentally select a very nearby destination. From my understanding, you can fine tune how it routes, I will post my findings once I learn more.

Unlocking Navigon is very simple. They put everything on the SD card, it’s easy to identify the autorun executable. I have successfully modified my unlocking scripts for Mio C230 to be used on this unit. I will publish the whole package once I get the kinks out of it.

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.

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.

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.

Adding a new desktop to this release is quite easy. You can use the new desktop to add any programs you want. After trying out the tutorial on how to add a program to the desktop, you know that we use INI files for desktop configuration. main.ini is for Main desktop, games.ini is for Games desktop and utilities.ini is for Utilities. These files are located in Script\desktop folder on the SD card.

The code for switching between desktops is shown here.

ICONXPBUTTON

x = 192

y = 165

NewIni = leftdesktop.ini

SizeNormal = 64

SizePushed = 64

Add = 0

ScaleAlpha = 80

IconNormal = Icons\left64.ico

Add = 0

ScaleAlpha = 100

IconPushed = Icons\left64.ico

ShutDownAnimation = FlyRight

ICONXPBUTTON

x = 256

y = 165

NewIni = rightdesktop.ini

SizeNormal = 64

SizePushed = 64

ScaleAlpha = 80

IconNormal = Icons\right64.ico

ScaleAlpha = 100

IconPushed = Icons\right64.ico

ShutDownAnimation = FlyLeft

I have prepared a desktop template called user.ini. You can download the file here. Just copy the file to Script\desktop on the SD card. We want this desktop to be sandwiched between games.ini and utilities.ini, so we need to modify the two INI files.

Modify games.ini so that the right arrow icon loads user.ini.

ICONXPBUTTON

x = 256

y = 165

NewIni = user.ini

SizeNormal = 64

SizePushed = 64

ScaleAlpha = 80

IconNormal = Icons\right64.ico

ScaleAlpha = 100

IconPushed = Icons\right64.ico

ShutDownAnimation = FlyLeft

Modify utilities.ini so that the left arrow icon loads user.ini

ICONXPBUTTON

x = 192

y = 160

NewIni = user.ini

SizeNormal = 64

SizePushed = 64

Add = 0

ScaleAlpha = 80

IconNormal = Icons\left64.ico

Add = 0

ScaleAlpha = 100

IconPushed = Icons\left64.ico

ShutDownAnimation = FlyRight

That’s it. Now you have a brand new desktop to add your favorite programs. You can use SystemInformation32.exe to test the new desktop first. I encourage you to put your modification in this desktop so you won’t loose your customization when the new release is out.

Mio C230 Mio GPS Garmin GPS TomTom GPS GPS and Navigation

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