3 ms·

> As much as I love retro stuff I see no point in reviving Palm. I see a big opportunity should rePalm be ported to generic low cost embedded hardware. ESP32(|

> As much as I love retro stuff I see no point in reviving Palm. I see a big opportunity should rePalm be ported to generic low cost embedded hardware. ESP32(|ARM|Risc-V) board+LCD+LTE module, all costing a dozen bucks each or less, would make the basis for a powerful dumbphone for when manufacturers will cease any production of them. I would personally love to have such a device. Broadly speaking, PalmOS had filesystems, networking, graphics and interface controls, sound, hardware access and more. Who cares if I can't watch high resolution movies or play AAA games with it, the goal should rather be to use it to do things where Linux is not only overkill but also would require hardware that cost a lot more. Forget about phones and PDAs, if I want to build an I/O panel with buttons and display for some instrument, a light OS like this one could help to lower costs by doing it on much cheaper hardware.

muyuu 4y ago
why would you bother with the overhead to make it Palm-compatible though? at most, an emulation subsystem might make sense, but having all things including new development run in a Palm-compatible system right now makes no sense. Note that it wouldn't even be a dumbphone by definition if it has an OS running arbitrarily installed software on it.
- dmitrygr 4y ago
  > why would you bother with the overhead to make it Palm-compatible though Not having to design and explain API is a plus
  - muyuu 4y ago
    yes, then you go for the subsystem route as in MacOS Classic or Win32 perhaps worth a shot but I seriously doubt the compatibility is going to be worth enough for enough people, instead of just running an emulator
aidenn0 4y ago
FWIW, there was an arm-native video player for the T5, and I was able to watch mpeg4/divx encoded movies on it.
kmoser 4y ago
For that matter, why revive any older tech, like record players, wrist watches, and fountain pens? The simple answer is that people like the simplicity and retro feel of those old devices. Over 13 years ago I wrote an online tool (palm2csv.com) that converts Palm Datebook (Calendar) and To Do (Tasks) to CSV and iCal/ICS format. To this day people continue to use it and email me with stories of how they love Palm Desktop and their Palm device, and are reluctant to give it up in exchange for a modern phone.

muyuu 4y ago

why would you bother with the overhead to make it Palm-compatible though? at most, an emulation subsystem might make sense, but having all things including new development run in a Palm-compatible system right now makes no sense. Note that it wouldn't even be a dumbphone by definition if it has an OS running arbitrarily installed software on it.

dmitrygr 4y ago
> why would you bother with the overhead to make it Palm-compatible though Not having to design and explain API is a plus
- muyuu 4y ago
  yes, then you go for the subsystem route as in MacOS Classic or Win32 perhaps worth a shot but I seriously doubt the compatibility is going to be worth enough for enough people, instead of just running an emulator

aidenn0 4y ago

FWIW, there was an arm-native video player for the T5, and I was able to watch mpeg4/divx encoded movies on it.

kmoser 4y ago

For that matter, why revive any older tech, like record players, wrist watches, and fountain pens? The simple answer is that people like the simplicity and retro feel of those old devices. Over 13 years ago I wrote an online tool (palm2csv.com) that converts Palm Datebook (Calendar) and To Do (Tasks) to CSV and iCal/ICS format. To this day people continue to use it and email me with stories of how they love Palm Desktop and their Palm device, and are reluctant to give it up in exchange for a modern phone.