There are new and crazy news-PalmOS and Linux gang up some way or the other! PalmSource today issued the following open letter to the Linux Community:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=7383
Now, what should that bring? Wasn’t OS6′s kernel totally rewritten just a few months ago? Lets face it-there is quite a lot of Linux/Unix applications that can now be ported easier, while still not needing the fat X11 implementation and a window manager for dispaying graphics. PalmOS will be a layer on the top of Linux, maybe replacing the X11 and other Linux GUI parts.
In my opinion, the main reason for this port is different, however. The Linux Kernel runs on x86, MIPS,RISC, SPARC,…. CPUs, while the PalmOS is bound to ARM CPU platforms only and will be difficult to port. Now, licensees can use their existing handheld hardware and snatch a Linux kernel for it-and alas, it is Cobalt compatible! The PalmOS layer still contains PACE though, so most 68k applications will work without porting. Native Cobalt apps will need to be recompiled for the Linux PalmOS version, but will then run too!
So, maybe we shall soon experience the PalmOS running on different mobile phones and handhelds-even if they do not support ARM CPU’s. I personally think that Cobalt isn’t widely accepted because it is pretty complicated to design a hardware that can work with it! However, Linux runs everywhere-and so, soon Cobalt shall be there too…
I am as always-looking forward to comments!
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