Other OS

[darknrg]

Is there any other OS for the Palm? Lets say Linux?

[pgenie]

in plans...

[darknrg]

in plans...
In plans? :confused:

[AZ-TX]

There has been ongoing talks and development of a "Palm-Linux" even before Palmsource was aquired. They say it will be ready in late 2006, but I would not hold my breath.

[javispedro]

http://www.hackndev.com/ if you want linux.

No other OS is being ported afaik.

[mikeux50]

http://www.hackndev.com/ if you want linux.

No other OS is being ported afaik.

isnt this only for certain devices.. like the T3 and the Lifedrive?

[javispedro]

isnt this only for certain devices.. like the T3 and the Lifedrive?
It is being ported to the T|X too. But there seems not to be any visible progress on the T|X port.

[braj]

Wouldn't you be pretty limited if you switched to Linux on a Palm, even if you could get the OS ported? I just don't see the benefit beyond the geek factor.

[javispedro]

Wouldn't you be pretty limited if you switched to Linux on a Palm, even if you could get the OS ported? I just don't see the benefit beyond the geek factor.
In fact you would be free: Free to port every Linux app you ever wanted to ;).

[MetaView]

something you can do already now with PalmOS :-)

[Drunkard]

LOL

Thank you Henk, that made me laugh.

[Robyr]

to be totallly honest though,. with Linux on a palm, it would be as easy as typing "./configure && make" to "port" apps. Currently with palmOS, you have to actually re code it :P also, you gain MT, and other niceties of Linux.

[_Em]

to be totallly honest though,. with Linux on a palm, it would be as easy as typing "./configure && make" to "port" apps. Currently with palmOS, you have to actually re code it :P also, you gain MT, and other niceties of Linux.
There are a few issues with this... for one, Linux is not designed for low-powered devices; the message passing/etc. would drain the battery pretty quickly, unless the code was being ported from a USB-Linux style source.

Also, Qt and GTK apps wouldn't port with a simple configure/make; most apps have a minimum screen size of 800x600 these days; with the largest Palm screen at 320x480, those apps just aren't going to fit on the screen.

It's true that most command-line stuff should port without much difficulty -- however, now you run into the issue of using software designed for keyboard control on a device designed for point and click control.

Linux apps (in general) just aren't a great fit for a PDA. However, you could run a bunch of services and administration tools, which would be nice :)

Personally, I think that writing a linux-compat library and porting gcc to PalmOS would make just as much sense. However, running truely open software on Palm hardware has its allure as well :)

[MetaView]

Drunkard: hehe, you're welcome :-)

But, I still don't get the point to have Linux on my TX. I will lose the PIM functionality, but PIM is one of the reasons why I bought PalmOS. Now I have Linux on my PDA, but why haven't I bought then a Zaurus or an HP with a matured Linux port in the first case? Why buying a medium handheld from an expensive company to throw away the only advantage it had, the OS? It's a nice proof of concept but not more, IMHO.