is a compact
Operating System initially developed by
U.S. Robotics Corp. owned
Palm Computing, Inc. for
Personal Digital Assistant s (PDAs) in
1996 . Besides Palm, several other licensees
Have Manufactured Devices powerd by Palm OS. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a
Touchscreen -based
Graphical User Interface . It is provided with a suite of basic applications including an
Address Book ,
Clock ,
Note Pad ,
Sync ,
Memo viewer and
Security software. The currently licensed version from
ACCESS is called ''Garnet OS'', as the Palm OS trademark belongs to
Palm, Inc. .
Palm OS was originally developed by
Jeff Hawkins with his
U.S. Robotics Corp. owned
Palm Computing, Inc. U.S. Robotics was later bought by
3Com , which made the Palm subsidiary an independent publicly traded company on March 2, 2000.
In January 2002, Palm set up a wholly owned subsidiary to develop and license Palm OS
Palm Completes Formation of Palm OS Subsidiary as Palm Powered Devices Hit 20 Million Sold , Palm press release, January 21, 2002, which was named
PalmSource . PalmSource was then spun off from Palm (then called palmOne) as an independent company. Palm then became a regular
Licensee of Palm OS, no longer in control of the operating system.
In September 2005, PalmSource announced that it was being acquired by
ACCESS ACCESS to Extend Leadership in Mobile Device Software with Acquisition of PalmSource .
In December 2006, Palm paid $44 million to ACCESS for perpetual rights to the source code for Palm OS Garnet. Palm can modify the licensed software as needed without paying royalties to ACCESS. Together with the May 2005 acquisition of full rights to the ''Palm'' brand name, only new operating system versions from Palm may be called 'Palm OS'.
As a consequence, on January 24th, 2007 ACCESS announced a name change to their current Palm OS Garnet operating system, now titled
Garnet OS.
Palm OS is a proprietary, compact operating system to power mobile devices. Designed in 1996 for Palm Computing, Inc.'s new
Pilot PDA , it has been implemented on a wide array of mobile devices, including
Smartphones ,
Wrist Watches ,
Handheld Gaming Consoles ,
Barcode Readers and
GPS devices.
Palm OS versions below 5.0 run on Motorola/Freescale
M68k processors, especially on
Freescale DragonBall processors. From version 5.0 onwards, Palm OS runs on
ARM Architecture -based processors.
The key features of the current Palm OS (Garnet 5.4) are:
- Simple, single-tasking environment to allow launching of full screen applications with a basic, common GUI set
- Monochrome or color screens with resolutions up to 480x320
- Handwriting recognition input system called Graffiti 2
- HotSync technology for synchronization with desk top computers
- Sound playback and record capabilities
- Simple security model: Device can be locked by password, arbitrary application records can be made private
- TCP/IP network access
- Serial/USB, Infrared, Bluetooth and WiFi connections
- Expansion memory card support (Licensees have implemented: SD, MMC, MS, CF, miniSD)
Included with the OS is also a set of
Standard Applications , with the most relevant ones dedicated for
Personal Information Management .
Manufacturers are free to implement different features of the OS in their devices or even add
New Features . This version history describes the officially licensed version from Palm/PalmSource/ACCESS.
Palm OS 1.0 is the original version present on the handwriting recognition system or through an optional softkeyboard overlay. The system supports data synchronization to another PC via its HotSync technology over a serial interface.
Version 1.0 features the classic PIM applications Address, Datebook, Memo Pad, and To Do. Also included is a calculator and the Security tool to hide records for private use.
Palm OS 2.0 was introduced on March 10, 1997 with the
PalmPilot Personal And Professional U.S. Robotics Announces Two New Models of the Best Selling Pilot Connected Organizer , Palm Press Release, March 10, 1997. This version adds TCP/IP network, network HotSync, and display backlight support. The last bugfix release is version 2.05.
Two new applications, Mail and Expense are added, and the standard PIM applications have been enhanced.
Palm OS 3.0 was introduced on March 9, 1998 with the launch of the infrared and enhanced font support. This version also features updated PIM applications and an update to the application launcher.
Version 3.1 adds only minor new features, like network HotSync support. It was introduced with the
Palm IIIx and
Palm V 3Com Unveils the Palm V™ and Palm IIIx™ Connected Organizers , Palm Press Release, February 22, 1999.
Version 3.2 added Web Clipping support, which is an early Palm-specific solution to bring web-content to a small PDA screen. It was introduced with the
Palm VII organizer.
Version 3.3 adds faster HotSync speeds and the ability to do infrared hotsyncing. It was introduced with the
Palm Vx organizer.
Version 3.5 is the first version to include color support. It also adds major convenience feature that simplify operation, like a context-sensitive icon-bar or simpler menu activation. The datebook application is extended with an additional agenda view. This version was first introduced with the
Palm IIIc device
Palm, Inc. Introduces The Palm IIIc™ Product Industry's Smallest, Lightest Color Handheld Computer , Palm Press Release, February 22, 2000.
As a companion, Palm later offered a ''Mobile Internet Kit'' software upgrade for Palm OS 3.5
Palm Mobile Internet Kit Ships, Links Palm Handhelds With Mobile Phones To Connect Wirelessly to the Web , Palm Press Release, November 13, 2000. This included Palm's Web Clipping software, MultiMail (which was later renamed to VersaMail) Version 2.26 e-mail software, handPHONE Version 1.3
SMS software, and Neomar Version 1.5
WAP browser.
Palm OS 4.0 was released with the access (such as
SD Cards ). External filesystems are a radical change to the operating system's previous in-place execution. Now, application code and data need to be loaded into the device's RAM, similar to desktop operating system behaviour. The new Universal Connector with USB support is supported. The previous optional Mobile Internet Kit is now part of the operating system. It adds an attention manager to coordinate information from different applications, with several possibilities to get the user's attention, including sound, LED blinking or vibration. Different time zones are supported. It has also security and UI enhancements.
Version 4.1 includes a series of bug fixes. It was introduced with the launch of the
Palm I705 .
Version 4.2 is a Simplified Chinese localized version. No device has been manufactured with this version until today.
Palm OS 5 (not called 5.0) was unveiled by the Palm subsidiary PalmSource in June 2002
PalmSource Ships Faster, More Powerful Palm OS 5 , PalmSource Press Release, June 10, 2002 and first implemented on the Palm
Tungsten T . It is the first version released to support
ARM devices, with support for DragonBall applications through the ''Palm Application Compatibility Environment'' (PACE) emulator. Even with the additional overhead of PACE, Palm applications usually run faster on ARM devices than on previous generation hardware. New software can take advantage of the ARM processors with small units of ARM code, referred to as ''ARMlets''.
With a more powerful hardware basis, Palm OS was substantially enhanced for multimedia capabilities. High density 320x320 screens are supported together with a full digital sound playback and record API. Palm's separate Bluetooth stack is added together with a
WLAN stack. Secure network connections over
SSL are supported. The OS can be customized with different color schemes.
For Palm OS 5 PalmSource developed and licensed a web browser called ''PalmSource Web Browser''
First PalmSource ARM-Native Proxy-less Web Browser Ships to Licensees , PalmSource Press Release, Sept. 17, 2002.
Version 5.2 and 4.1.2 (and later) also feature
Graffiti 2 . This is based on Jot by CIC.
Version 5.3 is targeted especially for the Chinese market with fully resolutions, and features a standard API for virtual Graffiti called Dynamic Input Area. This version was first introduced with
Lenovo 's P100 and P300 handhelds[http://www.access-company.com/news/press/PalmSource/2003/120803_lenovo.html PalmSource Welcomes First Palm OS 5 Simplified Chinese Edition Handhelds from Lenovo.
Version 5.4 is a minor product update which features only small enhancements. This version had the ''Garnet'' moniker to distinguish it from the also available Palm OS Cobalt 6.0.
Version 6.0 and later 6.1 have been designed as a modernized successor to the Garnet series. However, this version has been canceled (see next section).
Several licensees have made custom modifications to the operating system. These are not part of the official licensed version.
- Palm developed a Bluetooth API for external Bluetooth SDIO Cards for Palm OS 4.0 devices. The Bluetooth stack was later included in Palm OS 5 Palm Delivers SIG-Compliant Bluetooth Software to Massive Palm OS Developer Base , Palm Press Release, January 14, 2001
- Palm added a virtual graffiti input area API especially for their Tungsten T3 device. This API was later superseded by the official Dynamic Input Area API in Palm OS 5.3.
- Palm added to Palm OS 5.4 the Non-Volatile File System , and used Flash for storage instead of DRAM , preventing data-loss in the event of battery drain. However, this fundamentally changed the way programs were executed from the Execute-in-Place system that PalmOS traditionally used, and has been the source of many compatibility problems, requiring many applications to have explicit NVFS support added for them to be stable.
- For their camera-equipped devices Palm added the CameraLib API.
- Sony added a library to support JogDial input available on their CLIÉ organizers.
For several years native applications along with improved multimedia support. However, despite another update to Palm OS 6.1 no licensees used the system in any release devices, and it is now generally accepted as dead. The successor is
ALP (Access Linux Platform) being developed by Access.
In February 2004, PalmSource introduced names for the Palm OS families in an attempt to make it clear that 5.x development would not stop while 6.x development continued
PalmSource Introduces Palm OS Cobalt PalmSource Develops New Handheld Strategy . Palm OS 5 became ''Palm OS Garnet'', and Palm OS 6 became ''Palm OS Cobalt''.
In September 2004 PalmSource announced Palm OS Cobalt 6.1[http://www.access-company.com/news/press/PalmSource/2004/092804_cobalt.html PalmSource Introduces Palm OS Cobalt 6.1. The new OS features extended support for a variety of LCD panel resolutions, redesigned telephony components, one-handed navigation, multiple threading and extensive use of scalable fonts throughout applications. No device with Palm OS 6.1 has surfaced. Since purchasing Palm Source, Access has pushed back the release of ALP (which is said to be based on Cobalt). Currently ALP is expected to be released in June 2007.
In late 2004, PalmSource announced that future versions of the Palm OS will support running on top of a
Linux Kernel . PalmSource said this would be in addition to the custom kernel
PalmSource to Extend Leadership in Phone Software with Acquisition of China MobileSoft .
Backtracking on their late 2004 announcement that the PalmOS version to run on the
Linux Kernel would be in addition to existing platforms, in June 2005 PalmSource announced it was halting all development efforts on any product not directly related to its future Linux based platform.
PalmSource halts development on Garnet and Cobalt Any future work done on PalmOS 5, or Garnet, would have to be done by the OEM's using the operating system, such as Palm, Inc., which continues to tweak the platform released in 2002 well into 2006. No one had picked up a license to use PalmOS 6, or Cobalt, so it would appear that platform will never be released.
In February 2006, PalmSource announced ACCESS Linux Platform, "the latest evolution of Palm OS® for Linux."
ACCESS and PalmSource Announce the ACCESS Linux Platform This announcement provided more details on the Palm OS for Linux effort, and a new name.
As Of 2006 it is not known if this name is intended as a complete replacement for the Palm OS name.
As Of 2006 , only unreleased smartphones have been seen running Cobalt.
In February 2007, ACCESS announced a release date of Q2 07 for the long awaited ACCESS Linux Platform.
In April 2007, Palm Inc. announced a Garnet OS on Linux platform separate from ACCESS Linux. This will be used by new Palm hardware products exclusively and be available in H2 2007. Palm Inc. will not license ACCESS Linux platform for use in their hardware. This new OS will likely be called Palm OS.
Palm OS licensees decide which applications are included on their Palm OS devices. Licensees can also customize the applications. Below are some of the most common PalmSource applications included with the Palm OS:
The Palm's Address program stores contact information, keyed by any of several user-definable categories. Entries are displayed and sorted in last name, first name order (this can be changed only to Company, Last Name order). There are five slots for phone or e-mail, each of which may be designated Work, Home, Fax, Other, E-mail, Main, Pager or Mobile (the slot designations cannot be changed).
Starting with the OS version 5.2.1 on
Tungsten T3 and
Tungsten E a customized version of this application was released, not developed by PalmSource, but by PalmOne, called Contacts.
See Also: Blazer (web browser)
Blazer is a
Web Browser for
Palm handhelds. The versions 1.0 and 2.0 run on Palm OS 3.1 or higher handhelds, but they needed a
Proxy Server which has been shut down, so they can no longer be used. Version 3.0 is used on the
Treo 600
Smartphone . The current version of Blazer is Blazer 4.5, which is compliant with most major standards. It is generally bundled with newer
Smartphones and newer Palm devices capable of accessing the
Internet .
Calc turns the Palm into a standard 4-function pocket
Calculator with three shades of purple and blue buttons contrasting with the two red clear buttons. It supports square root and percent keys and has one memory.
It also has an option to display a running history of the calculations, much like the paper-tape calculators that were once common.
Starting in Palm OS v. 5.4 Garnet, the calculator has a menu option to switch to an advanced mode, which features several button layouts that pertain to specific jobs. These modes include: Math, Trig, Finance, Logic, Statistics, Weight/Tmp, Length, Area, and Volume.
Date Book shows a daily or weekly schedule, or a simple monthly view. The daily schedule has one line per hour, between user-selected begin and end times. Clicking on an empty line creates a new appointment. Empty lines are crowded out by actual appointments, whose start and stop times are shown by default bracketed in the left margin.
An appointment can be heralded by an alarm, any number of minutes, hours or days before it begins. These alarms sound even when the unit is switched off.
Appointments can recur in a specified number of days, weeks, months or years -- and can contain notes.
Starting with the OS version 5.2.1 on Tungsten T3, Tungsten E,
Palm Inc. released their own version of this application, called Calendar. It allows categorisation of events, as well as coloured categories and featuring a summary screen similar to that found on Windows Mobile devices.
It is possible to export the Palm datebook to the
ICalendar format thanks to the
KDE program named KPilot, under
Linux .
The Expense application allows a user to track common business expenses. No totals are calculated on the Palm. The user must sync with a host computer and view the expense data in a worksheet (templates for Microsoft Excel are supplied).
NOTE: Not included on all Palm OS devices.
The HotSync application provides integration with the user's PC. Usually activated by a press of the physical HotSync button on the Palm's cradle (a dock station), this application communicates with various conduits on the desktop PC to install software, backup databases, or merge changes made on the PC or the handheld to both devices.
In addition to the conduits provided by the licensee, developers can create their own conduits for integration with other Palm OS applications and desktop products. For example, a time tracking package could provide a conduit to communicate information between Palm OS and Windows executables.
A Backup conduit included with the HotSync software backs up (and restores, if necessary) most of the data on a Palm OS device. This allows users to hard reset their Palm -- thus, clearing all of the data -- with few noticeable consequences. This also allows users to migrate to new Palm devices of the same Palm OS version, a feature that is helpful to those who lose or damage their device.
Some models of Palm keep their data storage in
Volatile Memory and require constant power to maintain their memory. Although these handhelds attempt to save the contents of memory in low battery situations by not "turning on," leaving a "dead" handheld for an extended period of time can cause this reserve power to be used up and the contents of storage memory to be lost. Some later Palms use
NVRAM or
Microdrive for storage.
The Memo Pad can hold notes of up to 4,000 characters, keyed to user-configurable categories. Memos are ordered in two ways: alphabetically, and manually (which allows the user to choose the order of the memos). Memo Pad is for text, not for drawings. For this reason, text in Memo Pad must be entered using the
Graffiti alphabet.
Starting with the OS version 5.2.1 on Tungsten T3 and Tungsten E,
PalmOne, Inc. released their own version of this application, called Memos, and the limit has been increased to 32Kb.
Drawings go in Note Pad. With neat handwriting, about 10 words will fit on one page; for more text, Memo Pad is the better choice. There are three sizes of pen width, plus an eraser and a background color change feature in some models. It is possible to draw a very simple map.
Note Pad appeared on most Palm PDAs starting with Palm OS 4.0; certain PDAs with previous versions of Palm OS did not include this application, except Palm m100 with OS 3.51.
Also referred to as
Task List .
This is a convenient place to create personal reminders and prioritize the things you have to do.
Each To Do List item may also have: a priority, categories (to organize and view items in logical groups), attached Note (to add more description and clarification of the task).
To Do List item can be sorted by: due date, priority or category.
Starting with the OS version 5.2.1 on Tungsten T3 and Tungsten E
PalmOne, Inc. released their own version of this application, called Tasks, in which alarms may be assigned to tasks, and can be made to repeat.
The original PalmPilots did not include a photo viewer. To fill this gap, in 1997 Art Dahm created
Image Viewer III , one of the first and most popular independent consumer applications for Palm. Since then, at least a dozen photo programs have been released for Palm.
As of 2006, most new Palm handhelds include Palm Photos, which creates a digital photo album used to view pictures on a Palm OS device. As with all the other photo programs, photos can be beamed to other mobile devices. Each photo can be labeled and organized into separate photo albums. A slideshow can also be shown for a specific album, and each photo in the album will be shown full screen.
Photos can be edited with the Palm Photos PC software (Windows only), and when the photos are transferred to the handheld they will contain all changes made to the photo.
The Palm Photos software is available in the Zire 71, Tungsten C, Tungsten E, Tungsten T2, Tungsten T3 and several others. Palm Z22 uses a lite version of
SplashPhoto .
With Palm OS 5.28 (Zire 72), Palm Photos has been replaced by the ''Media'' application, which also manages and displays video files and edits photos.
Some models feature the ability to make voice recordings which are synced using the Voice conduit and can be viewed under Mac OS with the Voice Memo application which is part of the Palm Desktop Suite.
At present, most models do not have Voice Memo capability. This
list of Palm products shows which current models have Voice Memo: The
Treo 700p, LifeDrive, Tungsten "T"(T2, T3, but not the T5, etc.), and Zire 72 models. Palm's
Treo 700w also includes voice recording, but this device runs
Windows Mobile .
Also referred to as Prefs. Preferences works as a second launcher allowing the user to launch program files with the 'panl' type. Programs can be changed by switching the 'appl' type to 'panl' and vice versa. Palm OS contains approximately 15 preference panels by default and new preference panels can be added just like any other application.
Preference panels allow users to manage a number of setting including
Graffiti settings, sound settings, text shortcuts, network settings and the system time.
The Security application (which is a panel on newer Palm OS devices) allows users to specify a password needed to display hidden records and unlock the device when locked, as well as setup an automatic lock down time or inactivity threshold. On the PC, only Palm Desktop honors this password but other PC programs can view everything--in other words, all the data protected by this password can be seen by anyone opening the .dat files using a text editor or word processor. While it may be tempting to use this as an excuse to switch to Microsoft Outlook, some people say "password recovery" programs can analzye Outlook .PST files to reveal the password instantly; this is unproven however, and not in everyone's experience.
When using Palm devices in secure environments there is a primary concern:
There are many successful applications that can be installed on a Palm OS device. As of August 2005, there are more than 20,000 third-party applications available for the Palm OS platform , which have various licensing types, including
Open-source ,
Freeware ,
Shareware , and traditional commercial applications.
Palm OS Garnet applications are primarily coded in Development Studio for Palm OS, and an open source tool chain called
Prc-tools , based on an old version of
Gcc . CodeWarrior is criticized for being expensive and is no longer being developed, whereas PRC-Tools lacks several of CodeWarrior's features. A version of PRC-Tools is included in a free Palm OS Developer Suite (PODS).
OnBoardC is a C compiler that runs on the Palm itself.
Palm OS Cobalt applications are also coded in a variation of gcc, but the Cobalt compilers have fewer limitations.
There are development tools available for Palm programming that do not require low-level programming in C/C++, such as
PocketC /
PocketC Architect , handhelds, and has to be obtained separately, as a result it is less popular with developers in general. A version of the
Lua language, called
Plua , is also available for Palm; however, due to the fact that it requires an additional runtime to be installed along with the application, it is only used for mainstream applications by a minority of software companies.
Multiple resolutions are also supported. The original Pilot 1000 used 160x160 pixels. The first color device was the Palm IIIc introduced by Palm, Inc in 2000, supporting 256 colors. HandEra followed up in 2001 with the HandEra 330 which displayed 240x320 in black and white featuring a virtual graffiti area. Samsung introduced in the same year the first screen supporting 160x240 pixels in color with its i300 smartphone. Sony also in the same year introduced the N710C which pushed resolution to 320x320 (Hi-res) in full color and in the following year introduced the NR70V which supported 320x480 (Hires+).
As of 2005, Palm hi-res is usually 320x320 (with a silkscreen Graffiti area) or 320x480 pixels (with a collapsible virtual Graffiti area). 320x320 devices include Sony's OS4-based
Clie series. 320x480 devices include the
Tapwave Zodiac , OS5-based
Sony Clies , Palm
Tungsten T3 ,
Tungsten T5 ,
LifeDrive and
TX . Presently Palm OS supports 160x160, 160x240, 240x240, 240x320, 320x320, 320x480 and nearly any combination in between in both monochrome and color on existing devices, while 640x480, 640x640, 640x960 are supported by Palm OS Cobalt (6.1) but not yet available on any devices being sold.
Palm OS has been involved in various lawsuits over the years.
In 1997, Xerox was granted a patent (5,596,656) on "unistroke." It filed suit against Palm (then
U.S. Robotics ), alleging that Graffiti infringed on this patent. The Palm OS switch from Graffiti 1 to Graffiti 2 was triggered by Palm losing this suit to Xerox. The patent was overturned in May 2004 due to
Prior Art Xerox loses patent claim against PalmOne .
The original name for Palm OS handhelds was Pilot. However, a lawsuit from Pilot Pen Corporation forced a name change to PalmPilot, then eventually to Palm.
In 1998, Microsoft planned to name the next version of their handheld computing platform Palm PC. Palm filed suit against Microsoft, forcing the name change to, first,
Palm-sized PC , and later,
Pocket PC .
In 2000, E-Pass Technologies filed suit against Palm, alleging that its handhelds infringed on an E-Pass's patent (#5,276,311) for a multi-function, credit card-sized computer that allows users to securely store account numbers, PIN codes, etc. This lawsuit continues.
In 1987, NCR was granted a patent for a portable e-commerce terminal. In 2001, NCR sued Handspring and Palm. This case was ruled without merit in 2002, a decision that was upheld on appeal.
In 2002, Research In Motion (makers of the
BlackBerry ), sued Handspring. By year end, both Handspring and Palm licensed the patents and the suit was dropped.
Also in 2002, Peer-to-Peer systems filed lawsuit against Palm that alleges Palm infringed on its patent for wireless gaming. This lawsuit has been settled as of Feb 9th 2005.
Starting in 2002,
Forgent Networks began offering licenses for a patent that encumbers JPEG. In 2004, it filed suit against various companies, including palmOne. The JPEG or 672 patent has been reviewed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office which has rejected 19 of the 47 claims based on
Prior Art Forgent JPEG Related Patent .
