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Device Drivers FAQ
By Chris De Herrera,
Copyright 2003
Version 1.00 Revised 6/29/2003
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Introduction
So you've got the latest and greatest Pocket PC and want to use peripheral X with it. Well most peripherals today require some special software to allow you to use them with your Pocket PC or Handheld PC. This article covers device driver compatibility.
Device Driver Compatibility
Generally device drivers have to be designed for each version of the Windows CE operating system. Here is a list of the different versions of Windows CE and the device driver compatibility.
| Windows CE Version | Driver Compatibility | Device Compatibility | Notes |
| Windows CE 1.0 | n/a | n/a | no drivers supported |
| Windows CE 2.0 | none | Handheld PC 2.0, Palm-size PC 1.0 | original release with device driver support. Used named handles |
| Windows CE 2.11 | none | Handheld PC Pro, Palm-size PC 2.0 | new device driver model. Used numeric handles |
| Windows CE 3.0 | partial Windows CE 2.11 compatibility | Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, Handheld PC 2000 | new GUI format for Pocket PC |
| Windows CE 4.2 | partial Windows CE 3.0 compatibility | Windows Mobile 2003 | Wi-Fi drivers require support of the ability to change the 128 bit WEP key in compliance with 802.1x. |
Installing an Old Device Driver
You may experience problems if you install a driver from an older release. The only fix is a hard reset. This is especially true between Windows CE 2.0 and all future releases. Windows CE 2.0 used named device driver handles and all future releases used numeric device driver handles.
Recommendations
Before you install a device driver, I suggest that you perform a full system backup. I would also visit the vendor's website for any device driver updates and install the latest driver that is compatible with your device. If the device driver for your specific version of device, then I would contact the manufacturer to ask them to create a driver for it.
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