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Operating Systems Portables Software Hardware

PalmSource Ships Palm OS 6 36

Posted by Cliff from the happy-palms dept.
grndslm notes: "PalmSource has indeed shipped Palm OS 6, the next major release of its operating system, to its licensees. The company has posted a press release this morning, PalmSource CEO David Nagel will also be presenting at the Needham Growth Conference today as well."
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PalmSource Ships Palm OS 6 More

PalmSource Ships Palm OS 6

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  • I'd like to put it on my handspring. Is there a way to upgrade the OS? I don't see a "Buy it now!" or "Upgrade here!" button anywhere. Will this just go to new devices being sold?
    • You'll have to ask Handspring that, as they license the OS. What this announcement means is that they have now shipped OS6 to the licensees so it is possible that upgrades may appear in a few months time, but you'll need to get them from your device vendor, not palmsource.

    • Re:Can you buy it? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Kaimelar ( 121741 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @04:09PM (#7906310) Homepage
      I'd like to put it on my handspring. Is there a way to upgrade the OS? I don't see a "Buy it now!" or "Upgrade here!" button anywhere. Will this just go to new devices being sold?

      First, the reason you don't see a "Buy it now!" or similar button is because this is not a release to the general public, but instead just to licenced developers such as Sony, Handspring, PalmOne, and Kyocera. However, as far as I know the answer to your question is "maybe." Upgrading to Palm OS 6 depends on three factors:

      1. Having an ARM processor in your handheld -- older PDAs don't have the capabilities to run the new OS.
      2. Having the handheld be capable of flash upgrades of the OS. I know older Palms could do this, and I'm assuming the current ones can as well . . . don't know about HandSpring or Sony devices.
      3. Whether or not the hardware vendor releases an upgrade. Since you're upgrading the entire OS by flashing it (including any customizations done by the vendor), you can't simply have a generic image that will upgrade any device running Palm OS.

      Hope that helps some. I would hazard a guess and say that ARM-based devices from Palm (Tungsten|T, Tungsten|C, Zire 71, etc) will be upgradable, and that Palm will provide such an upgrade, simply because they've done so in the past. Couldn't say for other Handspring or other vendors.

      • Having the handheld be capable of flash upgrades of the OS. I know older Palms could do this, and I'm assuming the current ones can as well . . . don't know about HandSpring or Sony devices.

        Sony yes, Handspring no, at least not the older Visors. I remember the absence of flash memory was a matter of discussion when the first Visors came out.

        Palm used to make OS upgrades available for free download as soon as they were released. Then I suppose they got tired of supporting all those screwed-up upgrades a

        • Re:Can you buy it? (Score:5, Informative)

          by willfe ( 6537 ) <willfe@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @05:17PM (#7907127) Homepage

          At the very least, the Treo series have flash memory. Of course, Jack Flash and FlashPro appear not to work with it, but I have done the flash memory upgrades they've released (the Treo 300 runs PalmOS 3.x, I believe).

          This is one of the few devices I don't want the latest and greatest OS for -- this thing works (well) and I don't wanna screw with it. The *only* thing I would like to see improved is getting rid of that damned "Please Wait" crap when you flip the beast open and launch the phone app -- sometimes takes almost 20 seconds to launch it to make a call.

          Then again, if that's the biggest complaint I have about a device, I'd say it's doing pretty good :)

  • What really irks me with the Treo 300 device, and maybe the 600 has fixed this with it's 5-way toggle, is that you need to use the keypad AND a fingernail/stylus to run many apps that require some kind of tactile feedback. I get to the point where I keep the stylus between two fingers and shift my finger position so I can quickly use the stylus while texting. You have to text, because there is no grafitti. I would actually be quite happy with the graffiti area back and no keypad. Who needs a freaking ke

    • I was probably the best at Graffiti than anyone else I knew personally, and I still spent WAAAAAY too much time backspacing. It always felt like the sampling rate for it was too slow for my writing and it would only catch random glimpses of what I was trying to write and I had to slow down to get it to read accurately. That really blows. The first time I tried one of those thumb keyboards, I was instantly several times faster with it than I ever got using Graffiti. As much as I dedicated myself to Graff
    • I agree, only more so. I won't buy any PDA device that has a keyboard. When the main input device is a stylus, I want to do everything with the stylus. I'm bad at Graffiti, but there's keyboards you can use with a stylus [fitaly.com].

  • heres to hopeing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Vilim ( 615798 ) <ryan @ j abberwock.ca> on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @04:28PM (#7906544) Homepage
    I hope my Tungsten T will be upgradable. Does anyone know the policy of Palm with regard to upgrading the OS?
    • Does anyone know the policy of Palm with regard to upgrading the OS?

      Since the m-series came out, their policy seems to be "go jump off a cliff".

      When I had my Palm III, I was able to upgrade it from version 2 to 3 and then to 4.

      With my current unit (the m515), it came with 4.1. Palm has never offered an upgrade to 5. They probably won't offer an upgrade to 6.

      I feel very cheated. I paid good money to get a unit with flash memory, expecting to be able to upgrade the system software. I could've boug

      • Get real. Your m515m has a 68k CPU and Palm OS 6 requires an ARM CPU. There is just no way you are going to make OS6 work on a 68k. Nor would you. The ARM chip spends most of it's time emulating a 68k so that it can run old apps.
      • m515 is sort of last of its generation.
        • 160x160 screen
        • palmos < 5.x
        • < 100MHz CPU
        • no USB connector
        • ...
        It's a nice machine for its time, you have to admit :) Actually, its battery life is probably even better then todays more powerful PDAs.
        • Ummm.... The m515 definitely has a USB connector. It has the universal sync port that all the current models have. I've been performing USB hotsyncs on it for well over a year. Perhaps you're thinking of the m1xx series, which has a different connector.

          I understand that this is primitive compared to today's models. But it isn't that old, and it was second from the top of the line when I bought it (only the Tungsten:T was higher-end at the time.) Even so, it's a great device. The exact same unit, up

          • Seriously, it doesn't have a "connector" - it has that craddle with a usb interface. It's a difference, when you look at what's available today.

            It's not old in age, well, not that much I agree. But looking at it specs, it's easy to see it was surpassed in almost every aspect about 3-6 months after it came out.

            It's still the PDA I have, because it satisfies all my needs. It did when I bought it, and my needs haven't really changed that much. But I know if I'm buying a new one, it will be 5 times better in

            • Seriously, it doesn't have a "connector" - it has that craddle with a usb interface. It's a difference, when you look at what's available today.

              The universal cradle interface is nothing more than USB pins, plus serial port pins, plus power pins (for the battery charger.) You may find this diagram [palmos.com] of interest. Note that the only "circuitry" inside a cradle is a bunch of wires, a pushbutton and a resistor.

              If you look at what's available today [palmone.com], you'll find that all but the cheapest models (Zire, Zire 21

  • Bigger Devices (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    When is someone going to come up with a tablet pc form factor device that runs PalmOS? Old blind farts like me would like a bigger screen. Black and white is fine, no Windows Start Button (TM) or associated overhead is fine. I just want something big that works.

  • Filesystem? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cloudless.net ( 629916 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @09:35PM (#7909641) Homepage
    "These requirements include modularity, multi-tasking, memory protection, robust security and state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities. "

    After so many years Palm finally built a modern OS, with obvious assitance from Be OS. However I see no mention of the filesystem? Will Palm OS 6 finally get a true filesystem instead of the frustrating VFS?

    • After so many years Palm finally built a modern OS...

      ...and that's probably what will kill them. Or, at least, what will keep me from ever upgrading my current Palm. Why? Because I don't want a modern OS on my PDA. I have a desktop and a couple of laptops - the last thing I need is another full-blown OS.

      How could that possibly be a problem? Because developers are doing everything that can to make Palm OS approach Windows CE in functionality, but the vast majority of Palm users mainly want quick acc

  • So what are the new features of Palm OS 6? Why is it better?

  • here l am (Score:2, Funny)

    by kwoff ( 516741 )
    l'm actually reading and replying to th is message from my Tungsten C through a wireless network in the cafeteria at work.. :) (though it's Palm OS 5.2.1, so it's not on-topic)
  • My Treo 90 doesn't appear to be upgradeable to OS 5. I guess now it won't be upgradeable to 5 or 6. Meanwhile, Palm ISV's keep making OS5 only applications.

    It's the windows upgrade treadmill, except portable and you can't just upgrade the software. I have to buy a whole new device to run the latest apps.

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