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Handhelds Operating Systems Software Hardware Linux

Palm OS To Run On Linux 408

Posted by timothy from the funky-upstart-linux-os dept.
mwk88 writes "PalmSource today announced it is acquiring China Mobile Soft, a leading Chinese mobile phone software company, and will offer future versions of Palm OS Cobalt running on Linux. Full disclosure: I am a PalmSource employee -- but also a Slashdot reader, and would like to get some feedback. You can find more detail in this letter to the Linux community." NewsForge (also part of OSTG) has a textified (non-PDF), linked version of the letter.
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Palm OS To Run On Linux More

Palm OS To Run On Linux

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  • best of both worlds (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RenHoek ( 101570 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:11AM (#11031951) Homepage
    I think it's a nice idea.. Get the best of both worlds.. Look at the Macintosh.. they got tons of software added to their platform by adopting BSD as their OS.

    • Hmmm..... (Score:5, Funny)

      by TheGrim ( 833455 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:16AM (#11032001)
      You are a PalmSource employee, so we trust you to know what you're talking about.

      But you are a slashdot reader, so you won't have read TFA.


      This is a dilly of a pickle.

      • Re:Hmmm..... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Pxtl ( 151020 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:37AM (#11032220) Homepage
        Hmm, a PalmSource employee... what would I want to say to a PalmSource employee.

        Oh, right.

        Apologise for Grafitti 2. Right now.

        (unless PalmSource had nothing to do with Grafitti 2 - I just feel that someone should apologise for the fact that I can type as fast in my Motorola T720's phonepad by mashing numbers as I can write in plain english on my friggin' Zire 21)

        • Re:Hmmm..... (Score:3, Informative)

          by BenjyD ( 316700 )
          Palm had to go to graffiti 2 because of a lawsuit over it with Xerox. I think Palm has now succesfully appealed the lawsuit result and so could, if they wanted to, go back to Graffiti 1 if they wanted to.

          Why they are sticking with G2, I have no idea. It's a horrible system. Or did the developers never have to write words that end in 't'?

          • Re:Hmmm..... (Score:2, Informative)

            by Pxtl ( 151020 )
            T? You mean words that end in 'l' that metamorphose into words that end in 't'.

            Or developers use some strange language where n, h, and u are all the same letter.

            • Re:Hmmm..... (Score:3, Informative)

              by BenjyD ( 316700 )
              Yes, that's what I meant to type. I think my mind is trying to protect me by blocking out the awfulness.

              My main annoyances were the l/t confusion, i's and k's.

              The *really* brain dead thing was that it actually broke backwards compatibility. With Graffiti 1, every app could assume that a single keydown event produced one unique key. You can't assume that with G2.

              Even Palm themselves were caught out by this: just try accessing a menu shortcut that is set as command+k (like the display keyboard command in e

              • Re:Hmmm..... (Score:5, Informative)

                by mattdm ( 1931 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @11:21AM (#11032735) Homepage
                Here's how I solve the problem: replace Graffiti with TealScript [tealpoint.com]. Unfortunately, it's ridiculously expensive for a Palm app, but I love it because I can actually use my own writing, which is actually very minimalist and original-graffiti like anyway -- but different enough that it was driving me crazy. And slowly, Graffiti was destroying my own handwriting. TealScript let me get it back. It's shareware, so you can try it out first (indefinitely, if you're into that).
        • My wife has a Nintendo DS, and I was flipping through the specs on it the other day. Its is AMAZING!!!! for $150 she got a piece of hardware with 2 screens, 1 of which is a touch screen, 2 ARM CPUs (a 7 and a 9, IIRC), and 802.11 wireless. Sure it is great for games, but that thing could also double as a PDA, given the right software package. So, would there be any way Palm could sell a DS "game" cartridge with, say, PalmOS, a couple apps, and a few MBs of storage? No need for a USB connection, as the w
          • I bet the Nintendo DS is sold at a loss, and Nintendo makes the profits from games. Thus, they'd probably deny the license to product such an application, because people would buy DS's just to be PDA's and not for games, costing them money.

            Either that or they'd sell the PDA cart at an outrageous price to make up the loss.

            -Z
            • They might well agree for a "nominal" price. People could then justify the purchase of the Nintendo as a business expense...but now that they have it, they might as well look at the games that are available...

              (That's one of the ways the PC overtook the Mac. Apple was determined to shed it's image as a gamer's computer, so they intentionally made it difficult to develop good games. It worked. The gamer's bought PC's. Apple's market share sunk like a rock to 10%. [I know it's less now, it slowed at aro

        • Re:Hmmm..... (Score:3, Informative)

          by GarfBond ( 565331 )
          Blame Xerox (http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47363, 0 0.html). They're the reasons they switched to Graffiti 2 to begin with.

          Although PalmSource did end up winning in the end, they decided to stick with it because they claim it's easier on users. (http://ir.thomsonfn.com/InvestorRelations/PubNews Story.aspx?partner=5150&product=IR&storyid=114652) . So, in the end it's PalmSource's fault, but Xerox started it all :)
        • You can easily replace Graffiti 2 with Graffiti 1 on any OS5 handheld other than the Treo 650 and the Tungsten T5.

          Just download Graffiti1.zip from http://zansstuff.com/palm [zansstuff.com], read the instructions in how_to.txt carefully, and you will soon be up and running with Graffiti 1 again.

    • It will be interesting to see how this develops. Obviously, the biggest selling feature of this scenario is that it gives OS licensees the ability to run the extensive set of preexisting Palm OS applications while letting them do more sophisticated things under the covers without running into Palm OS's limitations. The only hitch is the GUI, which will have to use the Palm OS APIs, so Linux apps will still need a piece written specifically for these devices. It may not be an issue in all cases, though, espe

    • But MAC has competent programmers.

      Given the sync problems and other assorted Palm related issues (Don;t get me started on the lack of a wireless card for the T2) I'd say this will be a disaster.

      They can barely get their own software to run. Even if they just toss their GUI on Linux, it still won't work, because based on the recent products I've seen, they don;t have the technical expertise to pull off such a project.

      Apple has skilled, competent developers.

      Palm has just enough talent to get the next hal

      • Re:best of both worlds (Score:5, Informative)

        by Bruce Perens ( 3872 ) <bruce@perens.com> on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @11:17AM (#11032687) Homepage Journal
        They are very conscious of the GPL and will make sure they are in compliance. I thought I had noticed a GPL violation and got two people there in a panic, only then to realize it was a false alarm. I am satisfied that they understand the problem.

        Regarding their software, it looks to me as if their software didn't grow to fit the ARM hardware as fast as it should have, due to the extent of 68K assembler programming in their original platform. Linux is part of their path out of that.

        Bruce

    • I'm sick of it (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rseuhs ( 322520 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @11:23AM (#11032771)
      I'm really getting sick of companies that "send out letters" to the Linux community, but don't support Linux for their products.

      Even with all the existing GPL-software for Palm devices on Linux, Palm doesn't include it on the CD-ROM they ship with the devices, they don't list Linux as supported operating system and needless to say, they will tell you to go away when you have a problem synching with Linux.

      It's the actions that count, not the words.

  • Add the rumors of PalmOne making a Windows Treo (Score:4, Insightful)

    by vincob ( 247090 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:13AM (#11031962) Homepage
    Previously there had been some rumors of PalmOne, the maker of the Palm PDAs and the Treo smartphone, doing Windows Mobile-powered Treo.

    All this pretty much feels like PalmOS is having its days counted.

    Vincent
    http://www.oberle.org/blog/2004/12/08/palmsource-c hinamobilesoft/ [oberle.org]

  • Linux has revivification potential (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rlgoer ( 784913 ) * on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:13AM (#11031964) Homepage
    Just yesterday one of our lead support people internally at my institution (Carleton College) commented that people are having sync problems with SP2, and noted that interest in support issues like this seems to be waning, and that less and less really interesting news seems to be coming out about Palm OS. Her impression is that there's serious trouble.

    Another outfit in serious trouble was Novell. The situations aren't entirely comparable, of course, but affiliating themselves with the open-source movement seems to have turned Novell (which looked a bit moribund just a few years ago) into an interesting outfit. This move also appears to have opened up new possibilities that nobody could
    have foreseen.

    So who knows. If Palm OS were able to run under Linux, perhaps some new possibilities would open up there as well, especially given that Linux isn't just a platform on which Palm OS could run, but also a kind of nascent competitor in the mobile device arena.

    I don't think halfway measures will help much, though. And the statement cited in the original posting (the PDF file) shows some ambivalence to the whole notion of open-source software.

    We'll just have to see where this leads.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Well, Novell hasn't exactly given us any great reason to upgrade. I still have a bunch of Netware 4.11 servers which we plan to replace this coming year with Samba running on a single IBM eServer. Nothing wrong with the Netware 4.11 servers -- they do a great job, but the hardware is showing it's age. It gets harder to run old software on new hardware, so it's time to move on.

        We'd consider continuing with Netware (migration would be a breeze), but the licensing is not attractive. We used to buy a few h

    • Extended Capabilities (Score:3, Interesting)

      by simpl3x ( 238301 )
      Perhaps this will help in extending hardware support for Palm. Wouldn't it be technically possible to run it as an OS on a small laptop? Like Microsoft's use of .net mobile, the Palm OS could run on anything from a watch to something like the NetBook from Psion. This is a great move, and I'd love to see if I could get it running as a VM on my PowerBook.
    • What I find pretty amusing is that it looks like this: UNIX, a system intended (or at least that made its name) to run big-iron machines, with first class multiprocessing and multiuser facilities at its core, now in your handheld, phone, and RSN toaster! I dunno, maybe it's ok but it does sound bizarre. I guess I'm nostalgic for simple(r) systems.
      • What I find pretty amusing is that it looks like this: UNIX, a system intended (or at least that made its name) to run big-iron machines

        UNIX has only recently become a big-iron machine. It was designed to be a small, portable multi-tasking system from the start.

  • Symbiosis (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thrill12 ( 711899 ) * on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:13AM (#11031971) Journal
    If I read this properly - what Palmsource actually plans is a symbiosis between Linux and Palm-OS - while keeping Palm-OS proprietary and closed-source software.
    It shows a few similarities with Mac-OS X imho - you can run Linux-software AND Palm software on the same platform.
    • My thoughts exactly. While Free Software purist will be against such a thing, I can imagine the advantages already. The same PalmOS GUI with the same Palm applications, meaning easy to use, quick, painless, relatively reliable. Together with the hackability of Linux.

      I'm hoping things like bash, python, perl, are installable and runnable on it. I can imagine scripting backups to SD cards, instead of having to buy additional apps like BackupBuddyVFS, or Backupman. Plus, maybe a real ssh client with it runnin

  • Sharp should sit up and take notice (Score:4, Interesting)

    by YetAnotherName ( 168064 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:15AM (#11031987) Homepage
    Sharp's Zaurus [zaurus.com] PDA already runs Linux, yet is doing enormously poorly in the USA (not sure how successful it is; suspect in Japan it's doing better). If anyone can bring Linux to the palm of your hand, PalmSource can.

    Sharp: it's not too late for you. Maybe an interoperability agreement with PalmSource would help?
    • I think the problem here is with the device itself, not with the software... availability is also an issue.

      These are problems similar to the Neuros - a great product with lots of hacker-friendly features, but it is huge, clunky, and you can only buy it online.
    • One of the problems with the Zaurus is its software - as a PDA it really doesn't cut it compared to Palm. It's great for a Linux hacker to mess around with, and for War Walking (got Kismet running on mine right now), but for the average user wanting a PDA it's poor. Which is a shame.

      Now if I could retrofit Palm software on to it... well... I might use it as a PDA!

    • Re:Sharp should sit up and take notice (Score:4, Insightful)

      by StateOfTheUnion ( 762194 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:36AM (#11032201) Homepage
      I think that part of the problem is the price of the Zaurus series . . . They seem to sit around a $500-$600 price point . . . which is loads higher than the typical pricepoint of the Palm or IPAQ line

      Granted, Palm and IPAQ have products at this pricepoint too, but they also have a significant line of products at much lower pricepoints to attract larger volumes of more mainstream users. This volume helps insure that these have a large consumer base and market presence.

    • Sharp can't help the problem (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Bruce Perens ( 3872 ) <bruce@perens.com> on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @11:26AM (#11032804) Homepage Journal
      One of the biggest issues is the sales channel. Palm has a fully-developed sales channel and is already an entrenched product. Sharp never got there.

      Bruce

  • Question... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by DarkMavis ( 767874 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:16AM (#11031997)
    So, forgive my lack of Linux knowledge but, will Palm OS on linux be like KDE or Gnome on linux in the sense that it's a GUI that sits on linux? I'm just trying to understand how this will work and why it's a good idea.
    • I would imagine that's exactly how it'll work. This isn't a new space for Linux or anything. Even the 16mb RAM iPAQ H3100 can run Linux plus Qtopia just fine.

      As for benefits, I see it mostly as easier driver development and maintenance, and reducing development costs. With Linux, they only need to make very specific changes to the kernel, especially now that they're on a platform with an MMU. That lets them spend more money on the GUI, which is what's really important on these things anyways.

      -Erwos

    • Re:Question... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by nuOpus ( 463845 )
      This is in fact no different than the way Pocket PC 2003 works. MS Windows CE is the underlying structure while Pocket PC is just an interface.
    • Sort of kinda. I am guessing the Palm API will be ported to Linux and there will be an emulation layer added. Old apps will run in emulation if they where writen for the dragonball palms like the III new apps will run with a translation layer like Wine and you will see native apps that only run on the APIs under Linux.
      Hope it works. I would love a Linux based PDA with broad driver support for things like 802.11 cards.

    • Re:Question... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by biglig2 ( 89374 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @11:20AM (#11032727) Homepage Journal
      It will be a Linux application, that runs on Linux, that runs PalmOS applications.

      Why are they doing this? to allow Linux to be an abstraction layer between the hardware and PalmOS.

      So, you can take all the zillions of wierd pieces of hardware that run Linux (Toasters, smartphones, IBM mainframes) and after a relatively small piece of work, run PalmOS on them.

      It's a way to drive PalmOS sales. Manufacturer makes some hardware, e.g. a smartphone, that runs linux. They buy a PalmOS for Linux license, and bing! their hardware runs PalmOS, with all the palmos goodies that entails. Including (after a recompile) all the third party PalmOS apps. Oh, and it can run native Linux apps too.

      • What about the BeOS sourcecode then? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by motown ( 178312 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @12:01PM (#11033208)
        Hmmm...

        If I recall correctly, PalmSource bought the BeOS sourcecode after it had failed in the marketplace.

        Everyone expected PalmSource to use the BeOS code as a basis to built another mobile OS on.

        Now that PalmSource has announced that they would be running future versions of PalmOS on top of Linux, that previous plan has apparently been axed.

        Well, in that case I do have a great proposal for PalmSource if they if they are prepared to give something back to the Open Source community: by releasing the BeOS sourcecode under the GPL or any another acceptable OSI-compliant license [opensource.org].

        I'll tell you this, mwk88: if PalmSource were to release the BeOS sourcecode, they would create a tremendous amount of goodwill throughout the entire OSS/FS community, even among many of us that do't use BeOS. And with that, you'd be attracting many talented volunteers who are prepared to help customize and optimize Linux for PalmOS. I can't think of any other use that PalmSource would have for BeOS, now that they're switching to a Linux-based platform.

        Please do this, PalmSource. If you do, I'm sure you'll become the next cool open-source friendly company idolized on Slashdot (sorry, Novell ;) ).
        • Sorry motown, PalmSource made it clear right from the start that they bought BeOS purely for the people - it was just a big pile of brilliant OS developers to them. They never intended to do anything with BeOS.

          I suspect they have not released the source code because this would require them to do stuff with it - at least have legal and a handful of developers go through it to make sure they can open all the source - and they will not spare the resource.

          It is a pity though.

  • If the apps run.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by filesiteguy ( 695431 ) <perfectreign@gmail.com> on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:17AM (#11032009)
    I have been a Palm fan since I got my 3Com Palm III back in the '90s. I recently bought a Tungsten. It is simple to use and has a brilliant interface. (If only they'd bring back Grafitti I.)
    If the old Palm .prc apps run without much of an issue, and if they keep the interface similar, I don't really care what OS is being used - Palm OS or Embedded Linux. My main concern will simply be integration with my (now six year old) data files.
    On the flip side, I'd love to see a Palm-created synch tool for my home machine which runs almost exclusively on SuSE. Right now I have to use the sometimes flaky KPilot and I get issues with AvantGo.

    • Re:If the apps run.... (Score:3, Informative)

      by jezor ( 51922 )
      Depending on the Tungsten model you have, Graffiti 1 *is* available. Search some of the old Palm discussions lists and message boards--the short version is that you need to find someone with an original Tungsten T (the first unit with the slider), which was the only Palm handheld with both OS5 *and* Graffiti 1, and get the two Graffiti libraries. Or, find someone who has the files already. I'm making no comment as to the legality of this, only the techniques involved. {Jonathan, Tungsten C owner}
    • can be done with tealscript, readily available at commercial palm sites.
      • Graffiti 1 has much better recognition then Tealscript in my experience. I tried it out for a bit, then figured out how to install Graffiti 1 on my Tungsten E and never looked back.

  • Is it all about emulation? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by freeze128 ( 544774 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:17AM (#11032010)
    The new OS5 already has emulation capabilities for the Motorola processors of the older palms. I wonder if the linux will run an OS5 emulator that will emulate the motorola CPUs...
    • I can only imagine that this is the case, since TFA states that M68k binaries will run unchanged, but Cobalt apps will require a minor recompile to run. In other words, as someone who's read TFA, I can only surmise that they're going to port/recompile their M68k emulator themselves and other stuff will require a recompile.
  • how does this affect opie qtopia and gpe. man. I wonder if it will work on ipaqs now (cautiously optimistic)
  • Wait, will this be a linux window manager/(desk|palm)top environment, like GNOME, and KDE, or will it be a distribution of linux?

  • Interesting FAQ (Score:5, Informative)

    by hajihill ( 755023 ) <haji_hill@hotm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:18AM (#11032021) Journal
    The FAQ in this article is better than the article...

    Two questions on the tip of my tongue were answered outright and the section gives good perspective on the angle company is taking. From the article:

    Q. Why are you calling it Palm OS for Linux? Isn't that like saying you have an operating system on top of an operating system?


    A. "Palm OS for Linux" is not the formal product name, it's just a description of what we're developing. Our software is known as Palm OS and we wanted to keep continuity with that.

    Q. Does Palm OS for Linux replace current versions of Palm OS?

    A. This is an addition to our line, not a replacement. Other versions of Palm OS continue to be available. As always, we'll make decisions on their future growth path based on feedback from our licensees and other partners.
    My suggestion: scroll down for the good stuff. It's at the bottom of the article.

  • Yes, but... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Folmer ( 827037 )
    does it run WinCE?

  • GPL ??? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by shis-ka-bob ( 595298 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:27AM (#11032105)
    Can they do all this without linking or modifying the underlying kernel Linux? I assume that they have carefully considered the implications of the GPL. This project sounds cool, but I think I would have chosen something like NetBSD & its less restrictive BSD license.

    • Re:GPL ??? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by biglig2 ( 89374 )
      It will comprise:

      Palm PIMs and GUI, closed source, running on:
      PalmOS for Linux, which might be open or closed or (most likely) a mixture of the two) running on:
      Linux, which is open of course.

      The reason for thinking Linux is that there seems to be plenty of PDA/smartphone hardware out there that already runs Linux, so it gives them a good installe dbase to start from.
  • Huh. Guess that whole "PalmOS 6.0" thing didn't work out quite as well as they'd hoped.

    The Curse of Be continues.

  • Does it come with a faux fur cover? (Score:4, Funny)

    by PornMaster ( 749461 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:30AM (#11032142) Homepage
    I'd bet everyone would love a Hairy Palm in their pocket.

    Oh, wait... this is Slashdot... they already do...
  • Full disclosure: I am a PalmSource employee -- and I am scared shitless because I don't know Linux. HELP!
  • I hate this stuff. Yet again some stupid company with a failing business model buys promising technology, squanders it, and then jumps ship. Is the problem with Palm devices really that the underpinnings of their OS are bad? If palm isn't going to use it anymore, could they at least, finally, gpl BeOS?

  • I NEED A DECENT PALM (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RecycledElectrons ( 695206 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:33AM (#11032171)
    What we need is not new software; it's new hardware. We need a Palm that has a real serial port, real USB expansion when it's sitting on a desktop, takes real compact flash (CF) cards (not those tiny palm things,) and has the option to read off of a real screen (that takes up the whole side of the palm; not 1/2 of it.) Also, most importantly, it must take real (AA) batteries. Internal rechargables don't work for those of us who use our plams 16 hours a day. Give me that in a Palm, and I'll arrange an order of 500. Andy Out!
    • What you want is pretty far out of alignment with what most people want.
      - Compact Flash is HUGE. SD (which last time I checked, was what Palm used) is much more suited for handhelds.
      - They tried AA batteries a long time ago. Data loss, "oh shit where'd I put those AA's", and the cost of batteries (running on 2 AA's a day would cost a good $20 a week or so.
      - A "real serial port"? Please tell me you mean serial as in, the definition that includes USB.

      What you want is not a "decent" palm; it's a highly specia
  • Seriously, I've been a suppporter of palms for many years (owned several different units, currently content with treo600), and I couldnt be more thrilled with this news.

    Firstly, I've been eagerly anticipating Cobalt since its announcement, and have been sorely dissapointed that it has not surfaced yet.
    Secondly, I'm a huge linux nut, and having my PDA running palmOS on top of linux thrills me to no end. My two favorite OSs working together (imagine being able to run Cobalt on your PC as a program to access
  • ... can you please explain to me when Palm is going to get Microsoft to fix the horrible synching issues with Outlook? It takes simply forever to do, and didn't start happening till the Outlook XP "security update".

    I know it was due to that patch and the "Allow access for 2 minutes" problem, but this is just downright ridiculous waiting for 2 minutes or more for the thing to either barely work or timeout.

    It would seem to me that switching to Linux isn't going to solve the problems of those of us that buy
  • Now that sharp is gone, I will buy.
  • So Linux apps that call the Palm GUI API will work. And the phones have such little memory that they rely on SD Flash cards, a cross-platform standard, and on network connections like WCDMA, via cross-platform standards like TCP/IP and HTTP. Now it's essential to split apps into presentation/logic/data components, with distinct APIs between them. Those apps can be ported among a huge range of platforms, from phones to supercomputers. If packaged properly, these components can interoperate outside their orig
  • This would have been great news, had Palm announced this a year or two ago when they weren't already far behind in the PDA curve.

    But instead, PalmOS Colbalt devices are still vaporware*, and we're still using PDAs with ancient OS designs that lack multithreading, decent network stacks, and outdated APIs that are compiled for a CPU no one even uses in their PDAs anymore.

    And now, to further cloud the situation, they're diverting their apparently already limited resources to start up yet another project: Pal
  • While I myself loved my Sharp Zaurus for the mobile powerhouse it was, I never could get used to its clunky interface. Even swapping out the OEM stuff for OpenZaurus and XFree, I always ended up carrying around a cheap Palm Zire for all of my PIM needs.

    A few of us may have a pretty good working knowledge of Linux, but a lot of end users trying to adopt these devices aren't looking for something that will require them to have that knowledge on-hand at all times. Unfortunately, a lot of open source developer

  • Some History/Explanation, and My Opinion (Score:3, Informative)

    by MythosTraecer ( 141226 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @01:37PM (#11034346)
    I think some Palm OS architecture/history is in order here. Porting Palm OS to Linux will not be a revolutionary step for PalmSource, because Palm OS (at least until version 5 and 6) does not encompass an OS kernel. Palm OS through version 4 ran on the Kadak AMX kernel, and part of the reason it was so limited (no multitasking or threading) was due to license agreements with Kadak. In Palm OS 5, (then) Palm, Inc. ported their OS piece to ARM devices, and started exposing new multithreading APIs available in the kernel (whether the 5.x kernel is AMX or another is unclear to me; Palm has rarely acknowledged it ever used AMX in the first place). In fact, one of the major features of PalmSource's "Protein" APIs is to allow maximum portability of Palm OS applications, regardless of device underpinnings. Ultimately, though it will take a lot of work for PalmSource's programmers, porting Palm OS to run on the Linux kernel should not be terribly hard, because its architecture is designed to be relatively kernel-independent.

    Now, for my opinions:
    Palm should have based Palm OS 5 (which PalmSource now calls Garnet) on the Linux kernel, and immediately started exposing Linux features through their API layer. The mess that OS 5/Garnet has turned out to be is just sad. And though OS 6 (Cobalt) has some nice screenshots, no Cobalt devices exist, even after it has been available for a year. Palm OS still has neither full multitasking nor a true filesystem. PalmSource's latest stab at a filesystem, NVFS, has caused their only important licensee, PalmOne, no end of embarrassment, and has rendered the Tungsten T5 and Treo 650 almost useless for many consumers. While Palm/Source/One insisted for many years devices like these didn't need advanced features like filesystems and multitasking, in reality they are needed for the applications people want.

    And speaking of applications, it is, relatively speaking, difficult to write Palm OS applications. The Windows CE/Mobile (or whatever they're calling it this week) API is a subset of Win32. Writing for QTopia or another Linux-based PDA platform is not unlike writing a normal Linux app. Even writing J2ME apps isn't terribly hard, though the API is limited. Writing Palm OS apps is weird, and confusing. PalmSource has helped a little by making Eclipse their preferred IDE, but Palm apps still work like nothing else, and you can forget porting code between platforms. Thus, there is an advantage to using Linux as the new kernel, since one would hope you would be able to port existing Linux-based code to the new platform, and make calls to it from the Palm OS API layer. This assumes PalmSource doesn't mess things up like they did with NVFS.

    Ultimately, however, I believe this move by PalmSource is too little, too late. Had this move been made with OS 5, they could have had something. Now that there are no devices or apps for the current Palm OS version, and the first pieces of Linux won't show up until the next version (OS 7?), I believe device makers and app developers will have lost all interest in the Palm OS platform by the time Palm OS for Linux sees the light of day. Windows Mobile and Symbian will take over the majority of the smartphone market, while a small number of phones and PDAs will use Linux. Meanwhile, the Linux on HP/Dell/etc. PocketPC movement will become stronger, since those devices will be readily available, and there will be a small dedicated core of people to write great software for it (case in point: Opie).

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