TamsPalm - the Palm OS Blog

A Palm insider has given us access to information that definitely and finally confirms the existance of two Palm devices currently codenamed Zeppelin and Skywriter.

The document that we are looking at covers a developer program that allows Palm’s favorite developers to make their applications ready for the two new devices AND maybe even comarket them with Palm. All applications must be submitted by May the 30th - this could point at a launch of the device(s) in Q3 2008.

Last but not least, a mock-up of the devices has been included and can be viewed at our sister site TamsPPC along with a copy of the original text!

Jan Slodicka from Resco’s has just informed me that his excellent Photo Viewer has seen an update!

Version 3 of the program improves the product’s fax support, makes cropping easier and is significantly faster when handling large folders. Owners of Treos with a green “call” key also get a new feature - they can now use this key in order to open the context menu.

People who have purchased the program in last year can get a new unlock key for free by following the procedures outlined on this web page. All other Resco Viewer owners must pay 50% of the regular price - more information on this option is to be found here.

You can find the details at PDA Performance’s website, but im posting a blurry screenshot for you to view. You can download the preview app from their website, and it will run on most newer Palm devices. The preview app simply shows the desktop with the CNN and Weather widgets running. Although there is not much that you can see, there is full multi-layer alpha blending on the widgets (think Konfabulator), and it is very cool to see.

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.