HTC Apache Tips and Tricks/n00b guide (Please Read First)
 

Alright since the HTC Apache forum was getting a little out of had with all the stickies, I decided to compile the list and remove most of the stickies to tidy up. This will be a the main thread for posting all the basic needs of the HTC Apache and links to helpful info for n00bs. Please feel free to edit and add more mods.
~mike

1. If your HTC Apache didn't come with the newest ROM which is version 2.06.00 WWE as of 10/2/06. To check your ROM version, you can do this by going to start/settings/system/device information. If you do not have the newest ROM, you can upgrade using this tutorial here

2. If you want to send mms messages a.k.a. picture and video mail you will need to install this program and/or follow this tutorial here.

3. Here's a great guide for using your HTC Apache one-handed and programs that help with that.

4. Want to know how to use you HTC Apache as a modem, you can check out this tutorial for using the USB cable or you can check out this tutorial for using it as a modem via Bluetooth.

5. I created a custom .cab to implement a few registry hacks to improve overall performance of your device. Download and discussion available here.

6. Want to free up some more space. Then you can remove the "junk" software Sprint installs. You can do this after a hard reset or there is a non-hard reset method. Basically removes Audible player and its samples, get good and a few others to free up about 6-7mbs or so. If you would like to do this, see this tutorial here.

7. There are also many hacks/mods you can do to the registry of windows mobile devices. To see a list of hacks and what they do see this thread here.

how bout someone write up one on useful programs to install when first getting the device and I will delete this post to move it up under mine.....anybody?
~mike

install a task manager. wisbar, ilauncher, spb pocket: you need a program that closes programs when you click the X or OK.

Wisbar Advance
http://lakeridgesoftware.com/downloa...WisBar+Advance

iLauncher
http://www.sbsh.net/products/ilauncher/

SPB Pocket Plus
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/prod...wnload.html?en

DevState
Those are all pay programs. Here is a free alternative to those and one of my personal favorites. Version 1.5 is found at the end of the thread and has some nice changes from version 1.4. :wink: You can also try Magic button find it Here :thumbright:

that is true, but I don't like devstate as much. iLauncher provides more plugin options and interface tweaks, and more task manager options. spb is the best-looking one of all.

i love free software, but sometimes you get what you pay for. sometimes.

this is all just IMHO, anyway.

True that :) These are all grate options :thumbright:

First post should be edited because i believe the NEWEST rom is dated 2/2006

nall I was just saying at the time of that post that was/is the newest rom version available and still is the newest as of now.
~mike

NOOB here
 

This is going to sound pretty dumb to you all but I have been reading through these threads pretty much all day and need some serious help. Neww PPC user with no programming knowledge and don't quite understand how to begin without messing up my phone. Is there a guide for the newbie to walk me through exactly what to do? I don't even know what a .cab is.

you can look up things you dont understand in google. For example, defination of a .cab file can be found in this link http://www.pccomputernotes.com/pcterms/glossaryc.htm
Also, kind of figure out what you know about your phone, what you dont like and what you like, that way you dont install everything (stuff you need and stuff you dont need).

So do I log in to this forum and download these hacks onto my phone directly or put them onto my PC and sync them?

if you are dl cab files you want them on ur phn first b4 you install them. if its a .exe file then you have to have active sync to put it on ur phn. also any cab files u dl, make sure u save them on ur memory card or your computer, just in case you hard reset ur phn and u want those files again. saves u looking for it later.

another tip, when downloading from your phone try to keep all your files in order like put all cab files and zip in one folder. that way you won't have a hard time find stuff when you need them.

I have a possibly stupid question but haven't been able to find an answer searching. In the quote above you state that the newest version is 2.06.00 as of 10/2/06. I looked up my version and have version 2.07.20--but it is dated 2/24/06. My logic says that since mine is a "newer" version (isn't it?) that the date should be some time after 10/2/06. What am I missing?

Thanks!

Are you with Sprint? I think ur with a different carrier which may have a newer update.
~Mike

Well now--I guess that would explain it. I have Verizon. Idiocy grows exponentially with my age.... Thank you for the response!

Keyboard Layout Change
 

Hi,

First off, thank you for the site. Fantastically helpful.

I want to change the layout of the slide-out keyboard from QWERTY to Dvorak.

I noticed the following, but I'm not sure how to get from there to Dvorak. Any thoughts?


I've searched around a few different places, other pocketpc sites, microsoft... I got this from MS: "United States - Dvorak 0x00010409 66569"

But I don't know...

I also don't know how that would affect other keys. Actually, all I really want to do is remap some of the current keys. Is there an easier way to do this than registry editing? I've seen programs to change the other buttons...

Thanks for any help.

-bricoleur

helpppp
 

i have a new xv6700 and i think i broke it. I was dowloading, i dont knwo what, and the screen went black and now all i have is a black screen with the words serial v1. 00 on it. I tried a soft and a hard reset and nothing. please helpppp me.

thanks

before you flash that new rom
 

I'm shure we have all gotten excited and flashed to a new rom only to realize you have lost those all important text messages from friends and colleages or that call log or something like that well in addition to the before you flash instructions i think we all should get together and list the little things that have helped us get-er-done and do it with the least amount of stress here's my first one

http://www.dotfred.net/PIM/PPCPimBackupV1.0_wm2005.zip

great little prog that saved my arse with a couple of texts that could have cost me my job had i lost them. it also backs up call logs and e-mail and a whole lot more

Very nice - sped things up noticably.

How big of a performance hit are the sys tray icons? I kinda' liked them.

How would I go about re-enabling them? Assuming the performance wouldn't suffer significantly.....

Re: before you flash that new rom
 

This link doesn't work.

Here's the new link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/atta...7&d=1179263807

TTT I would like to know this also too please. I dont care about the performance hit, I want the icon that turns on/off BT, WIFI, ETC.

No offense, but this isn't very helpful to total n00bs as is
 

Just got my phone, and looking to tweak it to my needs, and I don't really know where to start.

First, I see a lot of talk about "cooking" different ROMs, and something about kitchens, and some other stuff that doesn't really make sense right off the bat (or even after a few hours of forum reading). If I understand correctly, these are different custom firmware versions? Thing is, I don't really know what I need, let alone what these do. Some comparison of the various firmware and the pros and cons of each would be really helpful. Also, do you need to install the firmware you want before doing anything else? Or can you start setting things up then install different firmware without losing data?

Second, I don't understand what to do with the CAB files. Yes I can open them and extract the contents on my computer, but how do I install them on my phone? And is there a way to only use some of the custom hacks included? For example, as others have mentioned, I rather like the system tray icons, unless there is some reason unknown to me why I should not.

I appreciate all the work some of you have obviously put in here, and I don't mean to come across as bitchy or demanding entitlements or anything of the sort, it's just that, as a total n00b to PPCs and my phone, the thread for total n00bs is still way too confusing for me ='(

Stufff,

I've only been doing this maybe three weeks, so if I'm wrong I know someone will correct me. "Cooking" is basically taking all sorts of programs and making it into one giant "install" (ROM) to your PPC. It's "cooked" into your phone, meaning it doesn't show up as an installed program, it's just there, but it's on a separate part of your memory, so you have more space avilable afterwards. Downloading a kitchen and running the "BuildOS" program will probably help this make sense, its a big list of all the available programs that come on the PPC and that people have made available to us. Simply check the ones you want and they will be "cooked" into your ROM. You have to start over after flashing firmware, it would be a waste of time to set everything up and then flash your phone. That is the basis for cooking your own roms, because you have all the programs available to you after a hard reset, they're in your ROM, so they're there immediately.

Second, CAB files are like EXE files, but for your PPC. Sync to your PC and drag and drop the files onto your PPC. From your PPC go into file explorer and run the CAB. It will then install a program on your PPC. Yet another reason cooking your own ROM is such a great idea, you don't have to mess with CAB installs of your favorite programs if you include it in your ROM, because the ROM installs it automatically!

Don't worry about being confused... I'm still confused about a lot of stuff these guys do. The mods and members of this forum have amazing talents... people like you and me just hang on for the ride, and hope to grab some helpful advice along the way!

Thanks! That was very helpful.

One more question, about installing firmware. What do I need to do? Just hit the voice button and power? I don't get a notification that the phone has gone into bootloader mode or anything.

Also, can I do this without an SD card? I'm still waiting on mine to come in the mail and it wont be here for another 4 days.

I would suggest that you read the information found on the wiki. It will answer most of your questions.

http://wiki.ppcgeeks.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

The only real article on the Wiki is just a copypasta of this exact post from what I can see, unless you can direct me to a specific article.

Your kidding right?

Links to things are on the left side of the main page. One of them leads to: http://wiki.ppcgeeks.com/index.php?title=Kitchen

Indeed the wiki is muchos helpful.... however as far as your bootloader question goes, you won't really get a "notificiation" per se... but your LCD will go dark and it will say "serial" at the top... or "USB" once you plug it in. A handy thing to note is also your bootloader version which will be at the bottom of your screen.

To get in to bootloader you must hit voice, power and then soft reset, all at the same time. Otherwise you will not enter bootloader mode.

I found an interesting trick that can be done to 6700's that have a broken Soft Reset Button...

To put the phone in Bootloader or Hard Reset, You technically do Not need to use the soft reset button at all...

Simply remove the battery to power the phone off, Re-insert the battery, and instead of hitting the Soft Reset with the button combo, Use power...

For Bootloader: just Hold power and notes when the phone is powered off...

For Hard Reset: Hold soft buttons and power button when phone is powered off...

Hello, can someone update the links in the first post please.

Yup. I was just about to say they're all dead.

This sticky is old but still very awesome.

Real Dead! search is not helpfull much anymore.

Sure it is! For example, let's say that you want to find the thread for registry hacks mentioned in the first post of this thread. Mouse-over the link that points there, and then look down in your status bar of Firefox/IE. You'll see where the link is pointing to: http://ppcgeeks.com/wm5-registry-hac...tion-t113.html

Obviously, that link is currently dead. However, if you search for "registry hacks huge collection", the thread you're looking for is 7 threads down on the results page.

Moving a large forum like ppcgeeks from one software (phpBB) to another (vBulletin) is extremely time consuming. It may be some time before all of the functionality is restored. Please be as patient as possible until the guys finish the process :)

can someone please update the links

Hi any other way to I can change the home page color now is on wt and black

thank

Until I can get a moderator to replace the first post, here it is with updated links. Enjoy :)

1. If your HTC Apache didn't come with the newest ROM which is version 2.06.00 WWE as of 10/2/06. To check your ROM version, you can do this by going to start/settings/system/device information. If you do not have the newest ROM, you can upgrade using this tutorial here

2. If you want to send mms messages a.k.a. picture and video mail you will need to install this program and/or follow this tutorial here.

3. Here's a great guide for using your HTC Apache one-handed and programs that help with that.

4. Want to know how to use you HTC Apache as a modem, you can check out this tutorial for using the USB cable or you can check out this tutorial for using it as a modem via Bluetooth.

5. I created a custom .cab to implement a few registry hacks to improve overall performance of your device. Download and discussion available here.

6. Want to free up some more space. Then you can remove the "junk" software Sprint installs. You can do this after a hard reset or there is a non-hard reset method. Basically removes Audible player and its samples, get good and a few others to free up about 6-7mbs or so. If you would like to do this, see this tutorial here.

7. There are also many hacks/mods you can do to the registry of windows mobile devices. To see a list of hacks and what they do see this thread here.

<edit>
Naiga, one of our friendly mods, was kind enough to replace the first post with what I have provided above.
</edit>

For those that are new, and perhaps nervous, many of these hacks are available through CAB application versions, or through OEMs now included in the latest WM6 Kitchen, named Advanced Configuration 0.9 and PPC/XV6700 Hack 2.2. It is absolutely amazing what these guys have put together for us.

hello every body i need help i just downloaded total commander and im trying to do Registry hacks how do i find my Registry.



thanks