Improve your Pocket PC support
John C. Iosub
Published: 17 Apr 2003 09:31 BST
As handheld devices take their place in the corporate world, the need to train users and offer technical support continues to grow. The Remote Display Control applet, which enables you to interact with a Pocket PC device via a connected standard computer, is a useful way to extend the Pocket PC's power beyond a tiny screen and clumsy stylus.
Remote Display Control shows actions on a Pocket PC on the monitor of a remotely connected desktop or laptop. With this tool, developers can test their applications for the Pocket PC on a larger screen while they run in their native environment. Remote Display Control uses TCP/IP and can work with ActiveSync connections via Ethernet or dial-up. In this article, I'll explain how this PowerToy can come in handy for PC support professionals and walk you through some setup scenarios so you can get started using Remote Display Control.
Who can benefit
Software developers, tech support staff, sales and marketing representatives, and training providers can all benefit from this technology. As a developer, I find it much easier to use a standard mouse and keyboard when I test Pocket PC applications. Although there are plenty of emulators available for programmers, it's much nicer to test the applications while they are running in the actual Pocket PC environment. ActiveSync allows you to accomplish this by displaying a Pocket PC's screen on a PC's monitor.
Help desk and tech support staff who can control desktops remotely using systems management server (SMS), virtual network computing (VNC), or XP's Remote Desktop feature can extend that functionality to handheld devices using Remote Display Control.
Sales, marketing, or technical training teams can remotely connect to a Pocket PC device using Remote Display Control to run demos, presentations, and training sessions. A salesman showed up at my company recently for a presentation carrying only his Pocket PC. He connected via USB cable to the presentation computer and activated Remote Desktop. He then copied his PowerPoint file from the device and started the slideshow side-by-side with ActiveSync's remote display of the Pocket PC. He went back and forth between PowerPoint and the remote display to produce an interactive presentation.
Before we start
Let's have a quick look at Remote Display Control's system requirements and setup procedures. The utility works on any platform running Windows CE version 2.11 or later. To learn the version running on your Windows CE device, go to Start | Settings | About. Remember, you can update your device only through system updates obtained from your Pocket PC vendor, and your Microsoft ActiveSync software must be version 3.1 or higher. To find your current version of the software, go to Start | Programs, click ActiveSync, and then go to Help | About. I just updated mine, and it reads version 3.6 (Build 2148). To update ActiveSync, go to the Pocket PC Web site and then get the latest version from the download section. For TCP/IP, you will need to have a configured Ethernet network card (wired or wireless).
Getting the setup file
The Remote Display Control application (Cerdisp by the code name) can be downloaded separately from the Pocket PC Web site and is part of the Pocket PC PowerToys collection. To get the file, follow the PowerToys link under the Microsoft Downloads section. You may need to scroll down the page to get to the Remote Display Control for Pocket PC section. Click Download and save the remoteDSP.exe file on your desktop.
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