Palm OS

Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc. for PDAs in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a graphical user interface. user based on touch screens. The system provides a set of delayed applications for personal information management. Newer versions of the OS have extended their support to smartphones. Many other Palm OS devices have been manufactured by various licensee companies.

After ACCESS purchased the Palm trademark, the latest version of the system was renamed Garnet OS. In 2007, ACCESS introduced the successor to Garnet OS, called the Access Linux Platform, and in 2009, Palm OS's primary licensee, Palm, Inc., switched from Palm OS to webOS for use on its future devices.

Creator and user

Palm OS was originally developed under the direction of Jeff Hawkins at Palm Computing, Inc. Palm was later acquired by U.S. Robotics, which markets the first Palm Pilots. The Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 were running version 1.0

U.S. Robotics is in turn acquired by 3Com, which makes Palm an independent publicly traded subsidiary on March 2, 2000. 3Com markets the PalmPilot Personal and Professional, which run Palm OS 2.0 and the Palm III, under its brand name. running version 3.0 of the operating system.

In January 2002, Palm created a wholly owned subsidiary to develop and license Palm OS, called PalmSource. PalmSource was spun off from Palm as an independent company on October 28, 2003. Palm (then called palmOne) became a licensee of Palm OS, losing control of the operating system.

In September 2005, PalmSource announced that it was being acquired by Japan's ACCESS.

In December 2006, Palm obtained perpetual rights to the Palm OS source code from ACCESS. With this Palm can modify the licensed operating system as needed without having to pay further royalties to ACCESS. Along with the May 2005 acquisition of the rights to the Palm trademark, only Palm is allowed to release versions of the operating system under the name 'Palm OS'.

As a consequence, on January 25, 2007, ACCESS announced a name change from its current Palm OS operating system to Garnet OS.

Operating System Overview

Palm OS is a non-free licensed mobile operating system. Designed in 1996 for Palm's new PDA Pilot 1000, it has since been implemented in a wide range of mobile devices, including smartphones, wristwatches, handheld game consoles, barcode scanners, and GPS devices.

Versions of Palm OS prior to 5.0 run on Motorola/Freescale DragonBall microprocessors. From 5.0 onwards, Palm OS runs on ARM architecture processors.

The main features of the latest version of Palm OS Garnet are:

• Simple monotasking environment to allow the launch of full screen applications with a basic common user graphical interface.
• Monochrome or color displays with a resolution of up to 480x320 pixels
• Graffiti 2 manual writing recognition system
• HotSync technology to synchronize data with desktop computers
• Sound recording and playback capabilities
• Simple security model: The device can be blocked with a password, each application can apply its own privacy model
• Access to TCP/IP networks
• Connections by serial/USB port, IrDA, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
• Memory card holder
• Standard format defined for personal information management application data to store calendar entries, addresses, tasks and notes, accessible by third party applications.

Included with the operating system is also a set of standard applications, the most relevant being the management of the four mentioned PIM operations.

History

Manufacturers are free to implement different operating system features on their devices, or even add new features. This section describes the officially licensed version of Palm/PalmSource/ACCESS.

All versions prior to Palm OS 5 are based on the upper layer of the AMX 68000 kernel licensed from KADAK Products Ltd. Although this kernel is technically capable of multitasking, the terms and conditions of that license specify that Palm may not include the API for task creation/manipulation within the operating system.

Palm OS 1.0

Palm OS 1.0 is the original version found on the Pilot 1000 and 5000.

Version 1.0 includes the four classic PIM applications Address, Date Book, Memo Pad, and To Do List. Also included is a calculator and security tool to hide private usage logs.

Palm OS 1.0 does not differentiate between RAM and file system storage. Applications are installed directly into RAM and run in place. Since a dedicated file system is not supported, system operations depend on constant RAM refresh cycles to maintain its memory. The operating system supports 160x160 monochrome screens. User data input is generated via the Graffiti handwriting recognition system or optionally via a virtual keyboard. The system supports data synchronization with a PC through its HotSync technology over a serial interface. The latest version with bug fixes is version 1.0.7.

Palm OS 2.0

Palm OS 2.0 was released on March 10, 1997 with the PalmPilot Personal and Professional. This version adds TCP/IP network support, Network HotSync, and support for display backlighting. The latest fix release is version 2.0.5.

Two new applications, Mail and Expense, are added, and the standard PIM applications have been enhanced.

Palm OS 3.0

Palm OS 3.0 was introduced on March 9, 1998, with the release of the Palm III series. This version adds IrDA infrared communications and improved font support. This version also features updated PIM apps and an updated app launcher.

Palm OS 3.1 adds minor new features, such as network HotSync support. It was introduced with the Palm IIIx and Palm V models.

Palm OS 3.2 adds support for Web Clipping, which is an initial Palm-specific solution specifically for displaying web content on the small PDA screen. It was introduced with the Palm VII.

Palm OS 3.3 adds faster HotSync speeds and the ability to do it over infrared. It was introduced with the Palm Vx.

Palm OS 3.5 is the first version to include native 8-bit color support. It also adds major convenience features that simplify operation, such as a context bar icon or simple menu activation. The agenda application is extended with an additional view of the agenda. This version was first introduced with the Palm IIIc. The latest bugfix release is version 3.5.3.

As an addition, Palm later offers an updated Mobile Internet Kit for Palm OS 3.5. This includes Palm Web Clipping software, MultiMail (later renamed to VersaMail) Version 2.26 as software e-mail, handPHONE Version 1.3 as SMS management software, and Neomar Version 1.5 as WAP browser.

Palm OS 4.0

Palm OS 4.0 was released with the new m500 series (Palm m500, Palm m505 and Palm m515) on March 19, 2001. This version adds a standard interface for accessing external file systems (such as Secure Digital cards). External file systems are a radical departure from previously running in place of the operating system. Now, the application code and data need to be loaded into the device's RAM, similar to the behavior of a desktop operating system. A new Universal Connector with USB support is introduced. The previously optional Mobile Internet Kit is now part of the operating system. Version 4.0 adds an attention manager to coordinate information from different applications, with various possibilities to attract the user's attention, including sound, LED flashing or vibration. Added support for 16-bit color displays and different time zones. This version also features security and user interface improvements.

Palm OS 4.1 is a bug-fixed release. It was introduced with the release of the Palm i705. The subsequent minor update of the operating system to version 4.1.2 includes a backport of Graffiti 2 from Palm OS 5.2.

Palm OS 4.2 Simplified Chinese Edition is targeted especially for the Chinese market with full support for Simplified Chinese, released at the same time as Palm OS 5.3. No device has been manufactured with this version so far.

Palm OS 5

Palm OS 5 (not called 5.0) was introduced by Palm subsidiary PalmSource in June 2002 and first implemented on the Palm Tungsten T. It is the first version released with support for the ARM architecture, with support for applications written for Motorola Dragonball via the Palm Application Compatibility Environment (PACE) emulator. Even with the added overhead of PACE, Palm applications generally run faster on ARM devices than on previous-generation hardware. New software can take advantage of ARM processors with small units of ARM code, known as ARMlets.

With a more powerful hardware foundation, Palm OS has vastly improved multimedia capabilities. High-density 320x320 displays are supported by a comprehensive API for digital sound recording and playback. Two separate TCP/IP stacks are added, one for Bluetooth and one for IEEE 802.11b Wi-Fi. Secure network connections via SSL are supported. The operating system can be customized with different color schemes.

For Palm OS 5, PalmSource develops and licenses a web browser called PalmSource Web Browser, which is based on ACCESS's NetFront 3.0 microbrowser.

Palm OS 5.2 is primarily a patch version, first implemented on the Samsung SGH-i500. It provides support for 480x320 resolutions and introduces a new handwriting recognition system called Graffiti. 2, due to the lost lawsuit against Xerox. Graffiti 2 is based on CIC's Jot. The latest bug fix release is version 5.2.8.

Palm OS 5.3 Simplified Chinese Edition provides full support for Simplified Chinese, adds additional support for QVGA resolution, and a standard API for Virtual Graffiti called Dynamic Input Area. This version was first introduced with the Lenovo P100 and Lenovo P300.

Palm OS Garnet (5.4) officially provides support for multiple screen resolutions, from 160x160 to 480x320. It also has updated Bluetooth libraries. This version introduces the nickname Garnet to distinguish it from Palm OS Cobalt 6.0. The latest bug fix release is version 5.4.9.

Garnet OS 5.5 is the current version developed by ACCESS. This version is dedicated to run inside the Garnet VM virtual machine. Garnet VM is a core part of the Access Linux Platform and is also available for Nokia Internet Tablets.

Palm OS Cobalt

Palm OS Cobalt (6.0) is the designated successor to Palm OS 5. It was released on February 10, 2004, but is no longer offered by ACCESS (see next section). Palm OS 6.0 was renamed to Palm OS Cobalt to make it clear that this version was not initially designed to replace Palm OS 5, which adopted the Palm OS Garnet name at the same time.

Palm OS Cobalt features features of modern operating systems such as an embedded operating system based on a new kernel with multitasking and memory protection, a modern multimedia and graphics framework (from Palm's purchase of BeOS), new features of security, and tweaks the PIM file formats to better cooperate with Microsoft Outlook.

Palm OS Cobalt 6.1 introduces standard communication libraries for telecommunications, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity. Despite other additions, it failed to interest potential Palm OS Cobalt licensees.

Third Party Enhancements

Various licensees have made custom modifications to the operating system. These are not part of the official authorized version.

• Palm developed a Bluetooth API for Secure Digital SDIO Bluetooth cards for Palm OS 4.0 devices. This Bluetooth battery was later included in Palm OS 5
• Palm adds a virtual API graffiti input area API especially for its Tungsten T3. This API was later replaced by the Officer Dynamic Input Area API in Palm OS 5.3.
• Palm adds to Palm OS 5.4 the Non-Volatile File System, and uses flash memory for storage instead of DRAM, avoiding data loss in case of battery depletion. However, this fundamentally changed the way programs run from the Execute-in-Place that Palm OS uses traditionally, and that they access data directly in their memory addresses, and has been the source of many compatibility problems, requiring many applications to have added NVFS support to become stable.
• For their camera-equipped devices, Palm added CameraLib API.
• Sony adds a bookstore to support the JogDial available on its CLIÉ teams.

Modernization

For several years, PalmSource had been trying to create a modern successor to Palm OS 5 and they have licensees implementing it. Although PalmSource shipped Palm OS Cobalt 6.0 to licensees in January 2004, none adopted it for their devices. PalmSource made significant improvements to Palm OS Cobalt with the release of Palm OS Cobalt 6.1 in September 2004 to please licensees, but none adopted the new version.

In December 2004, PalmSource announced a new strategy. With the acquisition of China's mobile phone software company MobileSoft, PalmSource plans to port Palm OS on top of a Linux kernel, while continuing to offer Palm OS Garnet and Palm OS Cobalt. This strategy was revised in June 2005, when it was not yet there was no device with Palm OS Cobalt. PalmSource announced that it would stop all development efforts for any products not directly related to its future Linux-based platform.

With the acquisition of PalmSource by ACCESS, Palm OS for Linux has changed to become the Access Linux Platform which was first announced in February 2006. Early versions of the platform and Linux development kits Software for the Access Linux Platform was officially released in February 2007. As of January 2011, the Access Linux Platform does not yet have any devices, however development kits do exist and public demos have been shown.

Palm, Inc. the primary licensee of Palm OS Garnet chooses not to license ACCESS Linux Platform for its devices. Instead, Palm developed another Linux-based operating system called webOS. On February 11, 2009, Palm CEO Ed Colligan said that there would be no new Palm OS devices (except for carrier-launched Palm Centro). Palm focuses on webOS and Windows Mobile. On April 1, 2009, Palm announced the availability of a Palm OS emulator for webOS.

Communications

Infrared

A feature of Palm OS machines is that many include an IrDA port that allows you to communicate with other devices that include an infrared port, such as some models of printers and modems, laptop computers, and certain models of cell phones. It is supported since PalmOS 3.0.

One of the limitations of infrared communication is that there can be no obstacles between the communicating devices. Although widely replaced by Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, it is still an effective method for older equipment. It has been put to some exotic uses, such as communicating with a Nintendo Game Boy or using it as a remote control through a third-party program.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless connection system (approximately 10 meters). Starting with PalmOS 5.0, which came out with the Palm Tungsten T, the operating system includes support for Bluetooth communications, according to the Bluetooth v1.1 standard, which corresponds to 802.15.1 IEEE, and uses the same frequency range (2.4 Ghz) than IEEE 802.11b, although they should not be confused.

Screen resolution

Palm OS supports multiple screen resolutions. The original Palm used a resolution of 160x160 pixels. The first third-party pocket computers could hide the writing area (or Graffiti area) up to 160x250 pixels. There are pocket computers with high resolution screens of 320x320 pixels such as the Zire 72 and Treo 650 from PalmOne, the Sony Clie range or the Tungsten T3 from PalmOne that are sold with high resolution screens of 320x480 with virtual Graffiti areas.

Applications included with the Palm OS

Palm OS licensees decide which applications are included on their Palm OS devices, and can also customize the applications.

Address Book

The Palm Address Book program stores personal information, in any of the user-defined categories. The inputs and outputs are displayed sorted by last name, and first name (this can only be changed to Company, Last Name). There are five fields for phone or email, each of which can be designated Work, Home, Fax or Other, Email, Home, Pager, or Mobile (field names cannot be changed).

Calculator

The Calculator turns your pocket computer into a standard 4-function calculator with tri-tone purple and blue buttons that contrast with the two red delete buttons. It includes square root and percentage keys and has memory.

It also has an option to display a history of the calculations made, like many calculators used before.

Calendar

The Calendar shows a daily or weekly schedule, or a simple month view (the new ones have a fancier month view). The daily schedule has a line every hour, between two hours of the day that the user can choose. Clicking on an empty line creates a new appointment. The empty lines are filled with the corresponding appointments, and the time they start and their duration are shown in the left margin.

The operating system can announce an appointment with an alarm, at the indicated time, minutes, hours or days before. These alarms sound even when the unit is turned off.

Appointments can repeat over a specified number of days, weeks, months, or years, and can contain notes.

Expenses

The Expenses app allows a user to track regular business expenses. The pocket computer does not perform any calculations to obtain the total. The user has to synchronize with a desktop computer and view the expense data in a spreadsheet that includes templates for Microsoft Excel. Due to this drawback, many users find this application unhelpful.

Notebook

Text Notes allow you to write notes of up to 4000 characters, classified into user-configurable categories. Notes can be sorted alphabetically or manually (allowing the user to choose the order of the notes). Text Notes can only include text, not pictures. For this reason, the text in the Notes has to be entered using the Graffiti alphabet.

Notes

In Notes you can make drawings and handwritten notes. Up to 10 words per page can be entered and limit writing to certain bytes, if the writing is neat. Otherwise, it is better to put text in the Notepad. There are three sizes of drawing pencils, plus an eraser. It is possible to draw a very simple map.

Tasks

Also called a task list. It is the right place for creating personal reminders and prioritizing the things you have to do. Each task list item can also have: a priority, categories (for organizing and grouping tasks into logical groups), attaching a Note (for adding a description or clarification of the task). Tasks can be sorted by: date, priority, or category.

Third-party applications

There are many interesting applications for the Palm OS operating system. In August 2003, there were more than 19,000 than in 2008, there were already more than 50,000, who have different types of licenses, including free software (fully released) such as the Plucker document reader or the Pilot-DB database., and various proprietary software licensing schemes, such as freeware, shareware, and commercial applications.

Application development

Applications for Palm OS Garnet are coded primarily in C and C++. There are two officially supported compilers: a commercial product, CodeWarrior Development Studio for Palm OS, and a series of open source development tools called prc-tools, based on an old version of gcc. CodeWarrior is criticized for being expensive and not being updated, while PRC-Tools lacks many of CodeWarrior's features. A version of PRC-Tools is included in the free Palm OS Developer Suite (PODS).

OnBoardC is a C compiler, assembler, linker, and programming editor that runs on Palm computers.

The Palm OS Cobalt applications are also coded in a variation of gcc, but the Cobalt compilers have fewer limitations.

There are development tools available for programming on Palm that do not require low-level C/C++ programming, such as PocketC/PocketC Architect, CASL, AppForge Crossfire (which uses Visual Basic, Visual Basic.NET, or C#), Handheld Basic, Pendragon Forms, Satellite Forms and NSBasic/Palm (Visual Basic-like languages). A Java Virtual Machine was available for the Palm OS platform, however on January 12, 2008 Palm, Inc. announced that it will no longer be available. Palm, Inc. further said "there is no alternative Java virtual machine that we are aware of, for Palm OS." Waba and a derivative thereof, SuperWaba, provide a Java virtual machine and programming language. A version of the Lua language, called Plua, is also available for the Palm; however, due to the fact that it requires an additional runtime to be installed along with the application, it is only used for applications commonly used by a minority of software companies. Quartus Forth is an ISO/ANSI standard Forth compiler that runs on Palm computers. It also has an interactive console for dynamic development and debugging.

Three environments allow programming in Pascal for Palm OS. The freeware PP Compiler runs directly on the PDA, while PocketStudio is a Delphi-like integrated development environment for Windows computers that has a visual forms designer and generates PRC files for transfer to PDAs via HotSync. The third option was HSPascal Archived 2005-11-04 at the Wayback Machine, developed by Danish developer Chriten Fihl, based on his experience with the High Speed Pascal compiler Archived 2009-03-07 at the Wayback Machine. for various 16-bit computers, including the Commodore Amiga. Previously marketed at 75 Euros, it can now be purchased in its entirety by donation.

Since Palm does not have connection drivers that allow data transfer with a DBMS server (Oracle, mySQL, Microsoft SQL Server), the developer can use Middleware software that enables connectivity.

A roughly R4RS-compatible implementation of Scheme, LispMe, provides Palm OS under the GPL with a Lisp REPL with some Palm OS-specific adaptations, but although it is functionally a compiler it does not produce code that operates outside of the GPL. development environment, so its use is restricted to prototyping.

A free development tool, LaFac, runs directly on the PDA, using Notepad for source code editing, and provides support for a limited subset of C, Pascal, and Basic.

Legal issues

Palm OS has been involved in several lawsuits in recent years.

In 1997, Xerox was granted a patent (5,596,656) on "unistroke." A lawsuit was filed against Palm (then U.S. Robotics), alleging that Graffiti infringed this patent. The change from Graffiti 1 to Graffiti 2 was triggered by the loss of the lawsuit with Xerox. The patent was revoked in May 2004 due to prior art.

Pilot Pen Corporation vs. Palm Computing (1998) The original name of the first Palm OS PDAs was Pilot. However, a lawsuit by the Pilot Pen Corporation forced a name change to PalmPilot, and later to Palm.

Palm vs. Microsoft (1998) In 1998, Microsoft plans to call the next version of its portable computing platform 'Palm PC'. Palm filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, which forced the name change, first to Palm-sized PC, and later to Pocket PC.

E-Pass Technologies vs. Palm, Microsoft and HP (2000) In 2000, E-Pass Technologies filed a lawsuit against Palm, alleging that its PDAs had infringed E-Pass's patent (#5,276,311) on a multi-computer. credit card-sized function, which allows users to store account numbers, PIN codes, etc. This lawsuit continues.

NCR vs. Handspring and Palm (2001) In 1987, NCR was granted a patent for a portable electronic commerce terminal. In 2001, NCR sued Handspring and Palm. This case was settled without a case in 2002, a decision that was upheld on appeal.

RIM vs. Handspring (2002) In 2002, Research In Motion (creators of the BlackBerry), sued Handspring. By the end of the year, Handspring and Palm licensed the patents, and the lawsuit was dropped.

Peer-to-Peer Systems vs. Palm (2002) Also in 2002, Peer-to-Peer systems filed a lawsuit against Palm alleging that it infringes their patent for wireless gaming. This lawsuit has been resolved on February 9, 2005.

Forgent Networks vs. HP, Toshiba, palmOne, etc., etc. (2004) Starting in 2002, Forgent Networks began to license a patent covering JPEG. In 2004, a lawsuit was filed against several companies, including palmOne. The JPEG patent or 672 has been reviewed by the US Patent and Trademark Office which has rejected 19 of the 47 claims for Prior Art.