Palm OS 5 on NR70V

[kanzler]

Hello

a stupid question: I sit possible to install Palm OS 5 on my device? Till now i have not studied the prerequisites for Palm OS 5 and wonder if anybody succeeded in doing!

[RichInKC]

If I remember correctly, OS5 has a hardware requirement that is not met by the NR70V. Right now, I am drawing a blank on which component it is. I want to say it is the processor, but I am not positive. I know I have seen this question on ClieSource before and the answer has been that the NR70V is not compatible with OS5.

[rob_squared]

NR's use DragonBall, NX's use ARM. Different processor, different OS.

[holmesness]

OS5 isn't all that great anyhow; without hacks it's less customizable.

of course the faster processor would be nice...

[crh3f]

Originally posted by rob_squared
NR's use DragonBall, NX's use ARM. Different processor, different OS.

Could someone tell my why the processor makes this huge difference? I don't understand...I've run Windows on Pentiums, Athlons, etc. Why can't Palm OS run on different processors?

[Tedlick]

Pentiums & Athalons use the same "x86" architecture in their chips, so they are compatable.

Motorola PowerPC chips, on the other hand, aren't. Likewise with the old Digital/Compaq/HP Alpha chips. There was once a time when Windows NT would run on all these platforms, but there had to be 3 versions of the software-- the version configured for your chip architecture is the one you'd use. Likewise, whenever bug fixes were released, there would be 3 versions of the fix-- one for x86 chips, one for PowerPC, and one for Alpha.

This is why you can't run Mac OSX on your Pentium system, and you can't run Windows XP on a G4 Mac, too.

[ami7878]

So what you are basically saying is that if Palm decides to create an OS5 version that would work on the old DragonBall then this upgrade would be possible.

[pigburger]

No, because Palmsource has made the strategic decision to move to the ARM processor for all future OSes. If your PDA does not run OS 5 right now, you will NEVER be able to upgrade to it. This topic has been covered ad nauseum dozens of times on this board, it's just not going to happen.

Frankly I don't see what the big deal is, there really isn't anything revolutionary about OS 5, it is very similar to 4.1 in look and feel. The big difference is speed, which has nothing to do with the OS but the hardware, which is the whole reason Palmsource decided to move to the ARM processor anyway.

Just because your Clie doesn't run the latest OS doesn't mean it's obsolete.....

[milmber]

Hmm..well..how to explain it in an easy way..using your analogy of windows running on Pentiums, Athlons, etc...palmos 4.1 has been compiled to run on the dragonball processor family - and hence uses the hardware instruction set for that family on a very low level.
Palmos 5 has been compiled for the ARM family instruction set - and hence will only run on that family of processors.

If you could get someone to compile the c++ source code of palmos 5 -> then some of it that is not processor specifc might run on a dragonball processor. Even this is wishfull thinking though...

All in all...the compiled operating system is very closely linked to the processer instruction set for which it has been compiled - on all computers ..except that on x86 family processors ( Intel, Amd, etc)..the processors are backwards compatible and compatible with each other.(ie code runs on amd and intel chips cause they share the same instruction sets..)

If you want more info - then find a good book about compilers and it should explains things a bet better than what I have tried here;-)

[Medcat99]

I agree that this topic has been covered over and over. I think it's safe to say that there will NEVER be an upgrade for the NR to the new OS5 system. But, I also agree that I wouldn't want one anyway. I like the hacks I use, and I keep seeing posts in the NZ and NX sections about software incompatibilities.

I will care more about upgrading software when more OS5 specific software is released. Until then, I'm happy.

[ami7878]

I have been convinced.

I also use hacks and I'm happy with the NR performance. The reason I was interested in upgrading was my understanding that OS5 was better integrated with wireless communication (bluetooth), but as you said the whole thing does not worth the effort anyway.

[crh3f]

You're right about this topic being discussed way too often...I only wanted to know the "why" not the "what." Thanks for all the info...not sure I understand it all, but not being much of a tech person, that's not surprising.

As for OS5...I agree. I really don't care at this point. Ooooh...so I can use a 1GB memory stick. Anyone wanna give me $400?? (no personal use for wifi/bluetooth yet)

[rob_squared]

Agreed, I like my memory sticks nice and cheap. But the 1GB modules are actually $640, not $400 (last I look).