Palmsource To Port Palm Os On Top Of Linux

[2devnull]

Interesting.....Will we see this on the Z?

PalmSource to Port Palm OS on top of Linux

[Nexus7]

I  rushed here to post this, and you beat me to it

Anyhow, this is very very interesting. Do you supposed Sharp had some inkling of this, leading them to pull out of  the (US) personal market. On the business side they seem to have enlisted IBM for support and distribution (?). If they had heard of this, they might've viewed a separate support infrastructure for personal sales as a waste, and not likely to beat the Palm momentum with its installed base.

If that is true, and perhaps if it isn't, maybe Sharp is working on a Palm/Linux based machine, with their history of innovation. Certainly a company such as Sharp is in a better position here, unlike HP, Dell, Asus, etc. which rely on technology providers for everything (screens, processors, OS, software).  Sharp makes the screens, has a broad range of consumer electronics, and is generally known to make higher grade stuff. Now they could also take advantage of Palm's name recognition. I hope the day isn't far away when a Zaurus is advertised in the weekly flyers, just like the cheaper Sharp organizers are.

[nilch]

So instead of having the Qtopia layer on top of the Lnux kernel, we will be having a Palm OS layer on top of that - is that what it implies ?

Of course apart from the fact of it being a vapourware news right now, I think having Linux as the base layer is showing up to be more flexible and powerful to Palm also rather tahn the Palm OS itself. And bringing the familiar and very intuitive Palm OS apps layer to Linux PDA's will be a big win for them.

Only if it happens...

[clivel]

Interesting.....Will we see this on the Z?

PalmSource to Port Palm OS on top of Linux

This is interesting.
About year back, I was looking into licensing the Palm OS with a view to embedding it into the Zaurus. That way, the Z would retain all it's Linux functionality, and also be able to run Palm apps "natively" (i.e not using a separate emulator). Unfortunately my potential investors were scared off by the Zaurus's shrinking market share and Sharps indifferent attitude to North American and European markets.
It is a pity that I didn't manage to pull this off, I thought that the combination of, at the time, the world's best PDA hardware with the world's most popular PDA OS, combined with the full power of Linux, would be a killer.
Regards,
Clive

[kopsis]

So instead of having the Qtopia layer on top of the Lnux kernel, we will be having a Palm OS layer on top of that - is that what it implies ?

That's essentially what is implied.

Before anyone gets too optimistic about this, keep in mind that there's a big difference between a Linux kernel and a GNU/Linux system. Although it's possible we could see the later running this PalmOS layer, it's certainly not guaranteed. PalmSource is pitching this to smartphone makers and I can easily see them ditching all but the bare kernel and the minimum filesystem necesarry to launch the PalmOS layer. Such a device would be a long way from the kind of capabilities we have on the Zaurus. In fact to the end user, it may not even be possible to see the Linux portion of the device. It could look like just another PalmOS gadget.

[doseas]

Here's a link to the original press release:
http://www.palmsource.com/press/2004/120804_cms.html

[nathanwms]

Link to the Open Letter to the Linux Community from PalmSource explaining their intentions.

http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT4370623861.html

[mars]

If the Palm OS runs on top of linux and this gets linux support in more hardware, I see this as a good thing, and may eventually bring more people to the linux fold.

While more choice is good, from a personal standpoint there is nothing I miss from my Palm days (Palm Pilot Pro, Palm IIIx, Palm m505). I used DatebookIV, purchased a database program, played some games, and read lots of books from Peanutpress before Palm bought them. Ka/Pi, Ko/Pi, and Portabase more than fit my needs. OpieReader is the perfect ebook reader because while I still purchase my share of ebooks, I no longer buy DRM-enabled books.

The best thing about the m505 was that it was so thin. But the Palm hardware has since grown in size.

Don't even get me started on my PocketPC experience . . .

[speculatrix]

Personally, I'd love to have a zaurus 860 or 3000 with the palm app suite on it, to give me the very best of all worlds. I suppose its possible with emulation now, just as I can run windows apps using wine on linux, but a proper native port fully tested would be worth paying for! I currently have a palmT3, because I can't justify both a Z and a Palm, and I need the power and simplicity of the P's apps.

When it comes down to it, there's not actually much difference between pocket PC, palm, clie, yopy and zaurus hardware... even to the point where some hardware variants of the T3 use Sharp LCD displays, others use Sony.

At the end of the day, they've got a:
* CPU - arm
* memory - flash, battery backed ram, etc
* LCD - digitiser
* keyboard - optional
* I/O - serial, usb
* interface slot - CF, SD

hence it's been possible to run linux on pocketPCs (with some degree of risk, i.e. bricking the device). The project to run linux on palm seems to have fallen by the wayside, although some people had uclinux running on the 505.

I can't wait till I can buy the hardware of choice - Z, and run the applications of choice - P.

Paul