The Palm Treo 680 has a side button that usually isn’t very useful – but SrcEdit’s John Wilund found a cool way to use it. Pressing the side button on a Treo 680 opens up a list of the last-used files. You can then access them with a single click:
This handy feature currently is not part of the SrcEdit distribution. Please use this beta to benefit from it!
The folks at HackNDev have just managed to get OpenMoko(another mobile Linux, this time aimed at an opensource phone) running on a Palm TX. Let’s quote them for some technical details:
I managed to run and adapt OpenMoko on PalmTX. It is built using the good-old OpenEmbedded, so using a Palm kernel (and modules, of course) and a root image from http://buildhost.openmoko.org/ , you can run OpenMoko on Palm.
One problem is OpenMoko is based on GTK, so it will need more than 32MB RAM (the phone has 128MB). Another problem is the screen size: 640×480, so everything looks a bit too large. I was able to scale the interface down to 480×320, but there still were some elements not to fit the PalmTX’s display. And one final problem: OpenMoko has a looong road ahead, meaning that the distribution and the interface are not fully functional, but I am sure they WILL be.
The announcement is here:
http://hackndev.com/node/701
A few screenshots of the TX running OpenMoko are available here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/costinstroie/LinuxOnPalmTXOpenMoko
Overall, congratulations to HackNDev – another success story from there…
Arkanoid, the game of paddle+ball+brick, has always been a very popular game ever since Taito made it popular with its famous Arkanoid of DOH series. The Palm OS has had its fair share of Arkanoids over the years…and MobileStream’s Meteor Breakout wants to be the best. But can it stack up?
Meteor’s interface is very well-done. The splash screen takes you to a level selection toggle, where one of the nine available campaigns can be chosen:
After starting a game, one immediately notices the creativity of the game designers. Levels look really cool, and none is similar to the one before it. The engine supports a huge variety of brick types, leading to a very interesting overall gameplay experience:
A variety of powerups is available to spice up the game like in every other Arkanoid clone. For all who are new to Arkanoid, a powerup changes the behavior of the paddle if you touch it.
The variety of powerups is astonishing. For example, there are two different ‘shoot’ powerups and three ball modifiers – more than I ever saw before:
Meteor’s levels are spiced up with enemies that can be destroyed by hitting them a few times with a ball. Some enemies survive more than one hit, and some of them even fire back:
Last but not least, the game has excellent sound effects and a very cool background jingle tune…
This review looked at version 1.10 of Meteor on a Treo 680. The game was stable in the testing period, it needs about 3MB of RAM.
Overall, congratulations to MobileStream. Meteor Breakout is the new king of Arkanoid clones for the Palm OS. The game has extremely interesting gameplay and looks damn cool – a must have for every Arkanoid lover with an OS5 handheld…
Meteor costs 14.95$ in the TamsPalm store. Use the discount code ARKANOIDNOW to get 20% off the price for a week!
Access has released its Access Linux Platform SDK a few hours ago, thereby officially starting the development process for its developer partners(who weren’t privileged enough to get the SDK before its public release). Anyways, I don’t crank up my compiler yet; and won’t do so in the near future either – for one simple reason:
No one knows how and when this thingy will ship out!
Thousands of man-hours were wasted in PalmSource’s huge Cobalt debacle – applications were rewritten for an OS that simply never materialized(ok, there were 20 Cobalt smartphones – what a market). Back then, developers wanted to be the first to be Cobalt compatible…but why?
Both ALP and Palm’s Linux derivative will run Palm OS Garnet apps
Let the message above sink in carefully, please. You can support both platforms with the same code base and the same executable file…by simply sticking to what you know best(aka developing OS5 apps).
Eventually, you may want to move to one of the two platforms exclusively(and dump StyleTap in the process) – but this is a step that shouldn’t be taken just for marketing reasons IMHO. Unless the technology forces you to move, don’t…why alienate half of your potential customers?
Please tell us how you handle the upcoming Linuxii!…off to learn some PocketPC programming =)…
This email was sent to TamsPalm by John Wilund. It is said to describe a new Access SDK for their Access Linux Platform, which is said to be downloadable now. I have checked the URL’s to find out that they do exist – but can’t say anything more as of now:
On the same website as the Garnet VM Compatibility kit you can also find a
SDK for ALP.
There is a 485 Mbyte file at http://dl.access-company.com/sdk/sdk.tgz.
The tar file contains a Debian package archive for i386 Linux.
It seeems to contain everything you need: Eclipse, compilers, simulator
etc.
Here is an excerpt of the Packages.gz file:
——————————————————————————–
Package: alp-eclipse
Description: ALP Development Suite based on Eclipse
The Eclipse-based ALP Development Suite.Package: alp-eclipse-cdt
Description: Eclipse/CDT for the ALP Development Suite
The Eclipse/CDT for the IDE Development Environment for ALP.Package: alp-eclipse-platform
Description: Eclipse Platform for the ALP Development Suite
The Eclipse Platform for the ALP Development Suite.Package: alp-eclipse-runtime
Description: Java runtime for the ALP Development Suite
The Java runtime for the ALP Development Suite.Package: alp-gdb-arm
Conflicts: alp-toolchain-arm5te-softfloat-linux-gnu (< = 3.4.4-1alpdev2)
Description: ALP GDB for ARM
arm-linux-gdb for debugging arm targets from ScratchboxPackage: alp-gdb-x86
Conflicts: alp-toolchain-i486-linux-gnu (<= 3.4.4-1alpdev2)
Description: ALP GDB for UML (alp-simulator)
i486-linux-gdb for debugging i486 targets from ScratchboxPackage: alp-glade
Description: ALP UI Builder based on Glade-3
The UI Builder for ALP with MAX widget set integration.
Based on the development snapshot of Glade-3 from gnome.org.Package: alp-rootstrap-arm-sdk-rel
Description: ACCESS Linux Platform ARM device rootstrap release version
The rootstrap includes all the necessary libraries and headers for Access
Linux Platform ARM target. Used for booting the ARM device.Package: alp-rootstrap-simulator-sdk-dbg
Description: ALP Scratchbox Rootstrap with debugging symbols for a
simulator target
The Scratchbox rootstrap for the ALP simulator target with debugging
symbols.
Used for booting the UML simulator.Package: alp-scratchbox
Description: Scratchbox development environment for ACCESS Linux Platform
Scratchbox development environment for ACCESS Linux PlatformPackage: alp-sdk
Description: The ACCESS Linux Platform Development Suite
This is the root package for tools, libraries, and headers necessary to
build
and test ACCESS Linux Platform applications.Package: alp-sdk-docs
Description: ACCESS Linux Platform Development Suite Documentation
Development Suite contains appropriate documentations both for open
source and
Access Linux Platform middleware components.
It contains a general README document which describes last minute changes
to
the Development Suite and a getting start page for first time users.Package: alp-sdk-rootstraps
Description: ACCESS Linux Platform Rootstrap
This is the root package for ARM device rootstrap and simulator
rootstrap.Package: alp-sdk-samples
Conflicts: alp-sdk-samples (<= 1.1alpdev1 )
Description: ACCESS Linux Platform Development Suite Samples
This includes a set of sample projects that illustrates GTK and GLADE
widget
usage and good coding practices (clean, commented, formatted) and
demonstrate
the programming style that developers should adopt.Package: alp-simulator
Description: ALP Simulator (UML)
ALP Simulator package (based on User Mode Linux kernel aka UML).
Also includes alp-simulator startup script as well as
alp-versions script (which displays package info for
all currently-installed ALP-related packages).Package: alp-toolchain-arm5te-softfloat-linux-gnu
Description: Scratchbox arm-gcc3.4.4 toolchain for ALP
GCC 3.4.4 toolchain for arm device target (sans gdb).Package: alp-toolchain-i486-linux-gnu
Description: Scratchbox i486-gcc3.4.4 toolchain for ALP
GCC 3.4.4 toolchain for i486 simulator target (sans gdb).Package: alp-toolchains
Description: Scratchbox toolchains for ALP development
Toolchains used for ALP Development in Scratchbox.
Compilers etc. for arm device and x86 simulator targets.Package: scratchbox-core
Description: Scratchbox base system
Development tools.Package: scratchbox-devkit-cputransp
Description: CPU transparency methods
CPU transparency methods for ScratchboxPackage: scratchbox-libs
Description: Scratchbox libraries
Libraries and includes required by compilers and tools.Package: uml-utilities
Description: User-mode Linux (utility programs)
User-mode Linux is a port of the Linux kernel to its own system call
interface. It provides a kind of virtual machine, which runs Linux
as a user process under another Linux kernel. This is useful for
kernel development, sandboxing, jailing, experimentation, and
many other things.
.
This package contains userspace utilities for use with User-mode
Linux, including uml_mconsole, uml_moo, uml_switch, uml_net and
tunctl.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have not had the time to unpack any of the packages and to check it out.
Anyway, enjoy.Ton van Overbeek
It’s time once again for this part of the game…after months of silence, I finally have the time and health again to release a few new software updates. The first product to get an update is Binary Clock – version 4 will gain the following new features:
The application will probably be released in a few hours(along with a small price hike)…but as always, TamsPalm readers get to see it first =).
Download version 4 here, feel free to talk back!
On the Access site, you can download an Garnet OS Emulator. The emulator is called Janeiro, which was announced by PalmSource already two years ago and emulates both ARM and 68k. Finally, it has now been published. But it doesn’t include Garnet and Cobalt ROMs, but a Linux kernel on which runs Garnet OS 5.5 (in the launcher it says Palm OS Garnet 5.50).
You can download a TAR GZ archive (20 MB) which includes a Linux and a Windows version. The emulator is slower than other Palm simulators (the simulator runs Palm OS native on your x86 computer, whereas Janeiro is a true ARM emulator). The interface is similar to Palm OS 5.2 or 5.4, but it has other fonts and uses the untypical display resolution of 240×320. I couldn’t install Palm applications (at least not by Drag & Drop), and it only contained the standard PIM applications, preferences and one test application.
Other tests and information will follow soon.
Apparently, Palm’s Steve Sinclair felt that it was time to make the beat go on(please forgive me the pun, but this song was a hit in Austria a few years ago:)). Bob posted a short explanation of the delay to the Palm corporate blog…to cut a long story short, he blames long review processes for so-called Maintenance Releases(aka ROM updates).
The really interesting thing about this, however, is the May 28th release date…the Treo 700p gets its update after the Treo 755p gets out onto the market. When the Treo 650 had quirks, a ROM update was pressed out pretty fast…this makes me wonder about why Palm lags behind so much with their flagship CDMA machine.
Are they just slow, or is there a bigger reason? What do you think?
P.s. One little thingy that makes me think a bit is that no one from Palm’s has reacted yet about the ROM patch delay story. Could it be that I am right??? 
Resco has always been one of my favorite Palm development houses – their products score rave reviews on TamsPalm, and they are always ready for an interview or a site tour…cool! Anyways, their file manager will soon get a very interesting upgrade…and TamsPalm readers get to look at it first.
After starting up Explorer, one immediately notes the ‘taskbar’ at the top. This bar shows your position in the file system structure and allows you to go back by a few levels quickly:
When back-tracking, the folders below get greyed out to make jumping back there later easy. This is a great feature that can be very handy in everyday use…
The Network node in the main tree allows you to add FTP servers to the file system tree:
These servers appear as ‘memory cards’ and can be used exactly like those – FTP is implemented very well in Explorer:
Transfer speed is high on my Palm TX – no lagging when browsing folders,…
As for getting this upgrade, FTP is expected to become available to the public in May. As for the other function, no ETA is given as of now…we’ll keep you updated though. Customers who can prove having purchased Explorer less than a year ago(the TamsShop team has these proves prepared for its customers) get the update for free. Otherwise, 50% of the then-current purchase price applies as upgrade fee.
Resco plans to increase the price of the product significantly with this update – thus, getting the program now may be a good idea. The discount code BETTERFASTTHANCLAUCI gets you 20% off the program at the TamsShop btw…
Overall, congratulations to Resco on yet another well-done update to their file manager…nothing more to say here…
All kinds of “multitasking emulators” have recently popped up on 1src, promising you to “run” one application over another one. Of course, the background application doesn’t move one bit while the foreground one is running…but hey, these thingies are still helpful(for me and almost everyone else). However, a very popular programmer keeps commenting on how this is not true multitasking,… .
Yes, he is right. This is not real multitasking. But hey, it’s a thing that helps some people(me for example). Its good enough for me – although I am completely aware that my ipaq is still the only multitasking PDA around my house.
If it works, it’s cool(IMHO) – what do you think?
We have heard all kinds of weird stories about mobile phone virii recently – but the one the German news service GMX is currently spreading really hits the bulls eye.
According to them, Pakistani people are afraid of a mobile phone virus that doesn’t only attack their mobile phones, but also kills the phone’s owner. So far so good…but the rumor has apparently caused such a load on carrier’s call centers that the carriers ganged up to calm their users down!
All I can say here is..eeek, I feel it, I’m gonna die soon…laughing myself to death =).
According to various news sites, the release of the Palm Treo 700p ROM update will see yet another delay – it starts to remind me a bit of Astraware’s famous Zap Evolution actually(he he). Anyways, let’s for a second assume that the reasons for the release delay are not of technical nature but rather a clever marketing plot…the outcome is surprising…let’s go!
First of all, Palm is a classic device seller company. That means that their main revenue source is the sale of their devices. User/carrier buys Treo, Palm makes cash. However, Palm does not usually profit from a customer who actively uses one of their products(their wireless backup solution could be seen as a step in that direction) – when you buy software or hardware at a non-Palm-store, Palm doesn’t see much cash. So, for Palm, the best way of making money is by selling many many devices.
The Treo 755p – as cool as it may look, was a very cheap hound for Palm to develop(IMHO). The outside has already been developed, and so has the planar(probably). A few small modifications to accommodate the CDMA modem, a bit of software patching – and Palm has literally “pulled a Palm”, to quote an old PalmInfoCenter commenter.
Selling the Treo 755p as dear as the 700p will probably not be possible now that Cingular has “set the price” for a Treo(anyone remember IBM DOS and OS/2??) with contract…and hey, if Palm can build a 680 for that price, their modified 755p won’t cost them much more now that most R&D has already been paid by WinMob and 680 customers.
And this is where someone in Palm’s marketing department stepped in. He thought about how – first of all – the number of users really feeling the Treo 700p’s shortcomings are a vocal minority of customers…upgrade-happy, tech-savvy customers. Customers who probably would love a better-looking, thinner and antennaless device.
So, by delaying the release date of the ROM update until the Treo 755p came out in “lots”, quite a few of those customers would probably update to a Treo 755p instead of waiting for the update. The carriers will probably give their customers discounts on the new machines to keep them happy(maybe instructed to do so by guys in orange overalls); and this leads to an extra bit of sales for Palm. It may not be much, but it is easily earned cash…something most people and especially large companies like….
Once again. This is all just speculation. I have not met anyone from Palm and asked him about this – so this is just a bit of far-fetched speculation that IMHO should be considered when looking at the whole Treo 700p story
Classic(aluminium or leather) cases make the protected handheld significantly thicker while offering excellent protection. Silicone cases came up a few years ago and followed a different metaphor: be unobtrusive first, and then offer as much protection as you can. Proporta sent us a sample of their silicone case for the Treo 680(or 750) – but can it stack up?
Proporta’s products ship in big envelopes using standard mail – the envelopes can get pretty fat at times, but the gadgets always made it through undamaged so far:
The silicone case itself shipped in a small box:
That box contained even more protective material. The case was stuffed with a belt clip and a wrist strap – Proporta has a good tradition of enclosing loads of accessories:
Fitting the Treo 680 into the case is a bit difficult as it’s really ‘tight’. I found it easiest to slide the 680 in from the bottom:
The case itself fits the Treo very well and looks cool. Accessing the keyboard and hardware buttons via the cutouts works well. The silicone has a pretty ‘rough’ surface that improves grip – this is very helpful.
Proporta included cutouts for sync/charge connector, memory card slot, status LED and volume switch. The side buttons get ‘cutout molds’, too:
The only nuisance I found in everyday use was that resetting the Treo in the case is next to impossible. However, Proporta is not to blame here – someone at Palm’s decided to leave the reset hole out…
Overall, Proporta’s engineers did a great job with their silicone case. There’s absolutely nothing negative to say about it except the reset problem- if you want a silicone case, this is the way to go! The price of about 20$ is more than justified IMHO.
The CeBit hall 7 was full of anti-virus vendors and manufacturers. Read: loads of people to bug for an opinion about mobile virii. I asked a few people from different AV houses, and here is what they told me:
Avira(former H+BEDV)
The Avira rep stated that his company expects a significant epidemic of virii for both Symbian and Windows Mobile due to the increasing user bases and also the increased capabilities and usage times.
Carriers will eventually step into the fight – but only after the first epidemic makes their customers force them to participate.
ESET
ESET, better known as the manufacturer of the award-winning NOD32 antivirus program, currently doesn’t offer any kind of antivirus product for mobile devices. However, the company plans to release such a product in fall of this year.
ESET expects the virus situation to get _much_ worse in the next time…
F-Secure
The F-Secure rep was giving a lecture while I visited their booth. However, he is willing to take a 10q interview later if you want him to(just post a comment saying yes and maybe giving some example questions
Symantec
The Symantec rep told me that a new research bulletin will become available on the 20th of March(we will receive a copy afaik). This bulletin will contain further information. Meanwhile, he gave me the following statements:
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