Any interest in Palm Pilots?
- Thread starter padcrafting
- Start date
I spent almost an entire 2-weeks paycheque on a Handspring Visor back in late 2000...It was cool, but the novelty wore off fast...
I had one of the original ones, and used it for a few years in preference to many of the alternatives, including Apple Newton (still have a 130). I bought a couple of later models, but always preferred the original - and still have it in good working order. My Palm of choice was the IIIxe - I still have that too.
I kept one in my pocket until the age of cell phones!
I have a bunch I picked up at GoodWill, and had dug one of them out earlier this year to play bejeweled, shanghai and solitaire on.
Used to love writing code to run on different platforms (I used my own extremely funky framework), and it worked on Palms too...although the fact that there's no real filesystem or very partial stdio made that a bit rough! I'd also dug them out because I've been meaning to take the most recent version of my code and get it compiling again with CodeWarrior for Palm.
They resemble classic M68k macs both in the cpu (68k dragonball for the old ones, emulated on arm on newer), and their OS...which uses resources, four character codes, and has many other similarities. (WAY closer to a Mac than the Newton ever was!).
I have a bunch I picked up at GoodWill, and had dug one of them out earlier this year to play bejeweled, shanghai and solitaire on.
Used to love writing code to run on different platforms (I used my own extremely funky framework), and it worked on Palms too...although the fact that there's no real filesystem or very partial stdio made that a bit rough! I'd also dug them out because I've been meaning to take the most recent version of my code and get it compiling again with CodeWarrior for Palm.
They resemble classic M68k macs both in the cpu (68k dragonball for the old ones, emulated on arm on newer), and their OS...which uses resources, four character codes, and has many other similarities. (WAY closer to a Mac than the Newton ever was!).
I have a decent collection of Palms:
a Casio OEM version of the Zoomer, Palm Computing's first device
an original USR Pilot 1000 (upgraded with a 5000 card), Palm modem, Mac converter, cradle
Palm VII in its original box and all accessories, mostly unused (very expensive to use back in the day)
Handspring Visor Deluxe with cradle
m505 with cradle, my first Palm
Another m505 complete in box, practically new
Fossil-Abacus Wrist PDA, one loose, one new in box, both with all accessories
AlphaSmart dana wireless, two units, one with case and all accessories
at least four Zire 72 units (one 72s), including my second Palm in its hard case, two in boxes
Palm T|X in box
Treo 650 in OEM box
two Palm Centros in OEM boxes
a Casio OEM version of the Zoomer, Palm Computing's first device
an original USR Pilot 1000 (upgraded with a 5000 card), Palm modem, Mac converter, cradle
Palm VII in its original box and all accessories, mostly unused (very expensive to use back in the day)
Handspring Visor Deluxe with cradle
m505 with cradle, my first Palm
Another m505 complete in box, practically new
Fossil-Abacus Wrist PDA, one loose, one new in box, both with all accessories
AlphaSmart dana wireless, two units, one with case and all accessories
at least four Zire 72 units (one 72s), including my second Palm in its hard case, two in boxes
Palm T|X in box
Treo 650 in OEM box
two Palm Centros in OEM boxes
Currently have one Palm and three interlopers. Family photo:
Left to right: 3Com Palm V, Sony Clie NR70V, HP iPAQ 211, Psion Revo.
The Clie and the iPAQ are operational. The Palm V needs its battery replaced - the thing is glued together like a smartphone so I haven't been motivated enough to do it yet.
A friendly PSA to check your device's battery before attempting to charge it. Soft-enclosure lithium batteries that look puffed up could be a fire hazard if charged. This is the one that came out of the Clie:
It is not supposed to mimic a party balloon.....
The Psion is a long term reverse-engineering project. The battery leaked and corroded the power board beyond repair. To my uneducated eyes it looks like a mostly simple circuit, so my intention is to KiCad a replacement power board.
I also have this Sony Vaio UX17, which I guess tries to mimic a PDA in full-flavoured Windows form:
Left to right: 3Com Palm V, Sony Clie NR70V, HP iPAQ 211, Psion Revo.
The Clie and the iPAQ are operational. The Palm V needs its battery replaced - the thing is glued together like a smartphone so I haven't been motivated enough to do it yet.
A friendly PSA to check your device's battery before attempting to charge it. Soft-enclosure lithium batteries that look puffed up could be a fire hazard if charged. This is the one that came out of the Clie:
It is not supposed to mimic a party balloon.....
The Psion is a long term reverse-engineering project. The battery leaked and corroded the power board beyond repair. To my uneducated eyes it looks like a mostly simple circuit, so my intention is to KiCad a replacement power board.
I also have this Sony Vaio UX17, which I guess tries to mimic a PDA in full-flavoured Windows form:
I loved my Palm Pilots. Unlike my iPhone, they actually beeped at the scheduled time. My iPhone SE gen2 is occasionally late, as much as 45 minutes.
Also unlike my iPhone, they did not respond well to being dropped. I tend to drop things - always have. In school, my books would go flying out of my hands. My Palm Pilots each lasted less than a year. My iPhone gets dropped almost daily, and keeps on ticking.
Also unlike my iPhone, they did not respond well to being dropped. I tend to drop things - always have. In school, my books would go flying out of my hands. My Palm Pilots each lasted less than a year. My iPhone gets dropped almost daily, and keeps on ticking.
Yes!
I loved my Palm Pilot. Got me through late high school and university. I think I went through three of them. (They took a lot of punishment. One got crushed by textbooks, another by a folding lecture hall seat).
Would love to pick one up and get back into it though!
I loved my Palm Pilot. Got me through late high school and university. I think I went through three of them. (They took a lot of punishment. One got crushed by textbooks, another by a folding lecture hall seat).
Would love to pick one up and get back into it though!
PumpkinOS: A FOSS PalmOS-compatible runtime environment
And rePalm may yet bring real PalmOS to new hardware … even the Raspberry Pi
www.theregister.com
This details some amazing modern open source attempts to resurrect the os...like Wine/ReactOS (Windows) or AROS (Amiga).
I've got four PDAs and two phones that run Palm OS.
- Handspring Visor (the original AFAIK, I need its sync cable)
- Palm Pilot M105 (I think)
- Palm Pilot M505
- Palm Tungsten E2
- Palm Treo 650 w/ original box
- Palm Centro
I honestly don't use them that often but they're pretty neat devices.
- Handspring Visor (the original AFAIK, I need its sync cable)
- Palm Pilot M105 (I think)
- Palm Pilot M505
- Palm Tungsten E2
- Palm Treo 650 w/ original box
- Palm Centro
I honestly don't use them that often but they're pretty neat devices.
Even though I’m mostly a collector of Newton devices, I do have a soft spot for Handspring Visors.
Anyone have the TRG Xtra Xtra (or Pro) upgrade, or any other RAM / flash upgrade boards for Palm Pilots? You may be able to guess where I'm going with this question.
I used a Palm IIIxe Special Edition for a couple of years in college, until I dropped it and cracked the screen. Mostly it was for taking notes in class (using one of those fold-up keyboards) and/or playing games. I picked up a Handspring Visor to replace it, though I never got any of the Springboard modules.
I still use my IIIxe as a datebook/todo list manager, because it's always with me - and syncs with the desktop app on my Performa 630. Beats every other organizer/PIM I've tried, including Newtons (too big), Psion (needlessly complex) and CE devices like my HP Jornada (cool, but too slow). I even tried pocket PCs such as a Mitac 1600 (still have that too).
I do still use a pair of AlphaSmart Dana Wireless units for distraction free writing, but the displays are getting a tiny bit cramped and dim for my old eyes.
I do still use a pair of AlphaSmart Dana Wireless units for distraction free writing, but the displays are getting a tiny bit cramped and dim for my old eyes.
I also tried some Windows CE devices. The most interesting was the Jornada 680, because it was like a weird mini computer thing, larger than a palm computer but smaller than a small laptop too. CE devices always felt slow, interesting but slow. It's weird to see a Windows CE device boasting 800Mhz speed but still feel so slow.