Nov
10
2004
10
2004
PocketPC JVM Options
An article by Glen
In my endless quest for some kinda JVM for my Ipaq 1940, I’ve come across two new contenders (and found out more about a third):
- Creme – which I’ve downloaded and successfully installed an eval of (I’m waiting to here back pricing); and
- Jeode for Dell Axim – which, despite what the Handago page says, apparently runs on PocketPC 2003s of most varieties. Retails for around $50. Apparently Sun have some licence agreement with Esmertec that stops them selling their VM to anyone but Device OEMs, hence the work around
- Websphere Studio Device Developer – which, after endless browsing on the IBM site, appears to retail for around $600. Which is pretty hefty to just get a JVM (it’s bundled with a whole WSAD Style IDE, hence the big ticket).
Anyone running any of these bad boys on their own Ipaq’s? Be interested to hear your experienced. Now that I’ve started playing with SWT, I’m keen to run an SWT app on my PocketPC. How cool would that be!!
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About the Author: Glen Smith
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Glen Smith
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I have some experience with this. The good news is that all 3 JVMs do work!
Here are some things I know from personal experience:
- Esmertec/JEODE works, but check if Esmertec has updated it since they bought it from Insignia. Last time I checked (9 months ago), JEODE was a bit dated.
- Creme, a very nice JVM owned by an Israeli company NISCOM. For 1000-unit bulk, expect to pay $15/unit. They do have a developer license which gives you a few units for something reasonable like $50.
- J9, by IBM. Don’t believe IBM’s pitch that you need the WSAD IDE for this. You can just copy the .exe/.jar’s to your PocketPC and be done with it (google for intall steps). I thought this was on sale on Handango for $10/pop, not $600.
I’ve heard there’s a SWT port for PocketPC project, but have not looked into it. I’m eager to hear how your experiement goes.
There aren’t too many JAVA folks paying attention to PocketPC. It’s all MIDLET mania.
We investigated the jvms for pocketpc earlier and came to the conclusion that superwaba is the best. They have a massive amount of extra libraries not included with other jvms and its free.
It runs fast on all platforms and will soon support symbian. Give it a go – theres even an eclipse plugin.
I remember reading that superwaba code is modified Java. Ie, it will not run on sun’s J2SE JDK. Is that true?
Thanks for the tip, Vik! I’ve paid my $5.99 and I’m downloading (the 80Mb) Websphere Everyplace Micro Environment as I write this. Awesome tip, buddy. Saved me heaps.
BTW, The update on CrEme was that their minimum sell is 40 units (again, to do with Sun licencing facism on J2ME stuff) which retails at $1000. Shame, since it looks like a cool product.
I have installed Superwaba before and the non-native widget set killed me. I’m sick of writing Java apps that don’t look native, hence the SWT exploration, and I don’t want to start writing dodgy-looking PocketPC apps! That said, the Superwaba community is pretty pumping, so that’s a plus.
Busting to write my first PocketPC Java app with J9, though…
You’re welcome! It occurred to me that it would help a lot of people for me to blog my Java-on-PocketPC project experiences.
When I was working on the PocketPC project I used to wish there was more blogging on this topic – precisely so I wouldn’t have to bang my head to learn ‘facts’ like J9 works without WSAD.
So now that I have a blog, I’ll get around to it…
I’m not clear on the difference between the MIDP version and the Personal Profile version. Which do I need if I want to build PPC apps in Java?
The Personal profile gives you java.sql and java.awt which you do NOT get with MIDP. If you want to write a more powerful app, then use the Personal profile. There are several mobile databases available for Java on PocketPC’s. Some are free, some are pure Java even.
We have project sing J9 here, and this is good product, but PocketPC’s ActivSync is not stable if you create a web services stuff, always crash here. but in Palm.