4 ms·

I wonder why they chose Palm, but then why not, and what else would they use? Ipaq? It's not clear, but I assume it sends commands to the actual film hardware,

I wonder why they chose Palm, but then why not, and what else would they use? Ipaq? It's not clear, but I assume it sends commands to the actual film hardware, and its not doing some real-time control. "The software shows a handful of controls for the projectionist to queue up the film and control the platters that feed film at six feet per second. " [0] [0] https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/imax-using-20-year-old-palm-software-to-project-oppenheimer https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/imax-using-20-year-old-pa...

photoGrant 3y ago
I'm making it up, but want to say it had a serial port. Also, fun fact - they emulated instead of redesigned literally for aesthetic reasons.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- snotrockets 3y ago
  PalmPilots used a serial port to connect to a computer, modem, or the infra-red module.
  - formerly_proven 3y ago
    There was also a folding keyboard that used the serial port in the dock connector.
- sbarre 3y ago
  I think it's a bit unfair to say "for aesthetic reasons". The article says it's because projectionists are familiar with the Palm Pilot UI (because to them it's just another tool), and rather than get them to re-learn a different UI, they used emulation to provide the same familiar UI on newer hardware. We (technology/digital experts) take for granted our level of comfort in sussing out how a new UI works.
  - photoGrant 3y ago
    I don't say it lightly. It's trivial to remove the process entirely. The whole point of this style of projection is that it's as much theatre as the theatre itself. It's kept, including the aesthetic of the Pilot device itself, purely for nostalgic decoration and little more!
    - sbarre 3y ago
      Ok well the text of the literal article we're commenting on seems to contradict you, but all good.
      - TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
        I think this is basically similar to the tension between if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and the desire to improve (or if you like, recreate, iterate, etc) what exists.
- toast0 3y ago
  They definitely did. My brother was happy to get my ibm branded palm pilot (WorkPad) because it would interface with serial obd-ii dongles. And the ice rink where my kiddo plays hockey has a scoreboard that was sold with a palm pilot to control it (someone in the beer league built replacement software for a PC when palm pilots became hard to source)
- abruzzi 3y ago
  thats exactly why. It was a simple serial connection that could connect directly with other simple embedded systems. My local Lowes home store had a palm pilot that controlled their security system, and it was still in use just pre-COVID for exactly the same reason.
cududa 3y ago
Totally guessing here. iPAQ ran Windows Mobile (a derivative of windows CE). I believe custom drivers were not well supported. As well, back around 2009 I looked into Windows CE for a hobby project I thought about commercializing, and the licensing costs were INSANE. IIRC, there was a revenue component too. While I don’t recall all specifics, I believe using Windows Mobile in an industrial use case it violated the EULA and you’d need to use a proper Windows CE env. Total total guess here, but I wonder if they were tied to Windows CE, still paying licensing costs, given how few “true” imax screens there are, if the base licensing costs they’d have locked into 20 years ago, would’ve made “true” imax screens unprofitable/ have retired them at the onset of the pandemic
- garaetjjte 3y ago
  Windows CE was cheap, like $3 per device.
- xyzzy_plugh 3y ago
  Idunno, Microsoft jumped through hoops to get folks ported to Windows Mobile. The problem was that WinCE was just vastly... more. At some point it essentially just looked like Windows. App development was quite straightforward. Mobile, on the other hand, was powerful but complex. And Mobile also had a really high bar for certification. We definitely used Mobile in industrial use cases but WinCE was much, much easier to certify and much cheaper to keep around on old SKUs and LTS contracts.
rythie 3y ago
Palm was the market leader, it would have been the obvious choice. Palm had been around since 1996 and by 1998 had sold 30 million devices [1]. PocketPC didn’t come out until 2000, in 2001 they had only sold 1.25 million devices, equating to less than 10% market share [2]. From what I remember Palm Pilots were the go to choice for PDAs, they were simple and worked. Other devices had come and gone. It would have been odd if they chosen something else. I doubt anyone was thinking it would be used for 20 years, though I don’t think people would have thought it would go away at the time. [1] https://history-computer.com/palm-pilot-guide/ https://history-computer.com/palm-pilot-guide/ [2] https://www.zdnet.com/article/pocket-pc-sales-1-million-and-counting-5000117461/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/pocket-pc-sales-1-million-and-...
- zgluck 3y ago
  Did you you ever attempt programming anything under PalmOs back then? It was quite fragile because of the extremely low amount of memory on board, which forced the use of relocatable memory handles, a bit like classic mac OS. https://www.fuw.edu.pl/~michalj/palmos/Memory.html https://www.fuw.edu.pl/~michalj/palmos/Memory.html PalmOS and it's extreme focus on low end hardware was a super weird choice at the time. The one reason for using PalmOS was extreme battery life, which obviously was not a factor here. There existed plenty better alternatives at the time.
  - TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
    I am not necessarily disagreeing with you. I had a Z22 toward the end of the Palm era; back when LifeDrive was on their higher end and webOS seemed to be where the future might end up. I loved that thing. I read tons of books on it.
- ericcumbee 3y ago
  That device specifically was cheap and readily available. If it failed you could have gone to any OfficeMax or Circuit City and picked up a replacement.
  - 3y ago

photoGrant 3y ago

I'm making it up, but want to say it had a serial port. Also, fun fact - they emulated instead of redesigned literally for aesthetic reasons.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
snotrockets 3y ago
PalmPilots used a serial port to connect to a computer, modem, or the infra-red module.
- formerly_proven 3y ago
  There was also a folding keyboard that used the serial port in the dock connector.
sbarre 3y ago
I think it's a bit unfair to say "for aesthetic reasons". The article says it's because projectionists are familiar with the Palm Pilot UI (because to them it's just another tool), and rather than get them to re-learn a different UI, they used emulation to provide the same familiar UI on newer hardware. We (technology/digital experts) take for granted our level of comfort in sussing out how a new UI works.
- photoGrant 3y ago
  I don't say it lightly. It's trivial to remove the process entirely. The whole point of this style of projection is that it's as much theatre as the theatre itself. It's kept, including the aesthetic of the Pilot device itself, purely for nostalgic decoration and little more!
  - sbarre 3y ago
    Ok well the text of the literal article we're commenting on seems to contradict you, but all good.
    - TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
      I think this is basically similar to the tension between if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and the desire to improve (or if you like, recreate, iterate, etc) what exists.
toast0 3y ago
They definitely did. My brother was happy to get my ibm branded palm pilot (WorkPad) because it would interface with serial obd-ii dongles. And the ice rink where my kiddo plays hockey has a scoreboard that was sold with a palm pilot to control it (someone in the beer league built replacement software for a PC when palm pilots became hard to source)
abruzzi 3y ago
thats exactly why. It was a simple serial connection that could connect directly with other simple embedded systems. My local Lowes home store had a palm pilot that controlled their security system, and it was still in use just pre-COVID for exactly the same reason.

cududa 3y ago

Totally guessing here. iPAQ ran Windows Mobile (a derivative of windows CE). I believe custom drivers were not well supported. As well, back around 2009 I looked into Windows CE for a hobby project I thought about commercializing, and the licensing costs were INSANE. IIRC, there was a revenue component too. While I don’t recall all specifics, I believe using Windows Mobile in an industrial use case it violated the EULA and you’d need to use a proper Windows CE env. Total total guess here, but I wonder if they were tied to Windows CE, still paying licensing costs, given how few “true” imax screens there are, if the base licensing costs they’d have locked into 20 years ago, would’ve made “true” imax screens unprofitable/ have retired them at the onset of the pandemic

garaetjjte 3y ago
Windows CE was cheap, like $3 per device.
xyzzy_plugh 3y ago
Idunno, Microsoft jumped through hoops to get folks ported to Windows Mobile. The problem was that WinCE was just vastly... more. At some point it essentially just looked like Windows. App development was quite straightforward. Mobile, on the other hand, was powerful but complex. And Mobile also had a really high bar for certification. We definitely used Mobile in industrial use cases but WinCE was much, much easier to certify and much cheaper to keep around on old SKUs and LTS contracts.

rythie 3y ago

Palm was the market leader, it would have been the obvious choice. Palm had been around since 1996 and by 1998 had sold 30 million devices [1]. PocketPC didn’t come out until 2000, in 2001 they had only sold 1.25 million devices, equating to less than 10% market share [2]. From what I remember Palm Pilots were the go to choice for PDAs, they were simple and worked. Other devices had come and gone. It would have been odd if they chosen something else. I doubt anyone was thinking it would be used for 20 years, though I don’t think people would have thought it would go away at the time. [1] https://history-computer.com/palm-pilot-guide/ https://history-computer.com/palm-pilot-guide/ [2] https://www.zdnet.com/article/pocket-pc-sales-1-million-and-counting-5000117461/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/pocket-pc-sales-1-million-and-...

zgluck 3y ago
Did you you ever attempt programming anything under PalmOs back then? It was quite fragile because of the extremely low amount of memory on board, which forced the use of relocatable memory handles, a bit like classic mac OS. https://www.fuw.edu.pl/~michalj/palmos/Memory.html https://www.fuw.edu.pl/~michalj/palmos/Memory.html PalmOS and it's extreme focus on low end hardware was a super weird choice at the time. The one reason for using PalmOS was extreme battery life, which obviously was not a factor here. There existed plenty better alternatives at the time.
- TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
  I am not necessarily disagreeing with you. I had a Z22 toward the end of the Palm era; back when LifeDrive was on their higher end and webOS seemed to be where the future might end up. I loved that thing. I read tons of books on it.
ericcumbee 3y ago
That device specifically was cheap and readily available. If it failed you could have gone to any OfficeMax or Circuit City and picked up a replacement.
- 3y ago