From: peter bohac
Date: Tue Dec 12, 2000 10:48am
Subject: PalmSource Update

Here's a quick update from the floor at PalmSource. During this morning's keynote address. Palm reinforced its committment to the ARM processor and to BlueTooth. They demoed a working ARM device running PalmOS 3.5 that is fully compatible with existing apps. They also demoed a player-to-player game over BlueTooth.

Stay tuned. More to come.
-peter (=

From: peter bohac
Date: Tue Dec 12, 2000 9:02pm
Subject: Re: [SeaPUG] PalmSource Update

Okay. i am now back in my hotel room and i have a little more time to type and to explain. (It is a little difficult to write more than i did when in the middle of a presentation or wandering the floor of the display booths.)

First, please keep in mind that i will be giving a presentation on PalmSource at next Tuesday's meeting (19 Dec). So, any questions you have that don't get answered on this list you should save for the meeting. Also, i don't want to spend too much typing out everything i have seen here, as i don't have a lot of time to type, and besides, i need to save something to present at the meeting!

The big news of the day is that Palm has been very generous in giving out details of the impending 4.0 release of the Palm Operating System. They did not give any dates for the release of this, or even if it will be available as an update to existing devices or only on new devices. (Since this will vary from Palm to Handspring to Sony to TRG, etc.) However, they hinted at it being available in the first half of next year on both new devices (hint: colour Palm V-sized device with integrated SD/MMC slot) and as an update for *some* existing devices. They also gave a few sparse details about the next major OS release after 4.0 (tentatively called 5.0).

So, PalmOS 4.0: Some UI changes, but mostly a bunch of new services and more integration of existing device services. The big thing is that 4.0 will be "BlueTooth-ready." BlueTooth is an industry standard for linking all sorts of devices together in a small area (about 10 metres) via radio-frequency. Think of it as a replacement for IrDA, cables, etc. Another big thing in 4.0 is OS support for expansion cards (like Compact Flash, Memory Stick, and SD/MMC). While TRG has gone down the CF path, and Sony is supporting Memory Stick, Palm has announced that it is standardizing on Secure Digital/MulitMedia Card. The nice thing is that it appears as though PalmOS 4.0 will pretty much be card agnostic. This means that the new PalmOS support for expansion cards will work just fine with CF, Memory Stick, and SD/MMC. There are many other things, but those are the highlights.

PalmOS 5.0: Not much said, but it was pretty much said that PalmOS 5.0 will *definitely* include a switch from the DragonBall processor to the ARM processor. This should be mostly transparent to the end user (expect that the ARM is *much* more powerful) as Palm has already demo'd a working ARM-based device that runs existing apps with *no* changes at all to the app. For those asking/wondering, ARM is a different processor (like the Intel Pentium or IBM PowerPC) that has a lot of broad support in the industry, and appears like it may very well be the "Intel Pentium" of the handheld/mobile phone world.

There was a lot more, but i am getting tired of typing. If you have specific questions, or you'd like me to find out about something i particular please let me know. i am checking my email through-out the day and evening.

As before: stay tuned, more to come.
-peter (=

From: peter bohac
Date: Wed Dec 13, 2000 10:25pm
Subject: Re: [SeaPUG] PalmSource Update

Greetings one and all.

Here's another quick update from PalmSource. Also, i apologize if i may be repeating anything that may be appearing on websites such as PalmStation or PalmInfoCenter. i don't have much time to keep up on these sites, so i don't know what they are reporting.

Today's focus seemed to be on the Enterprise and Education markets. As i don't have a lot of interest in these areas (sorry), i don't have a lot to report on. i did attend some more sessions on details of the 4.0 OS release, especially BlueTooth. i even got to play with some prototype BlueTooth equipment in the lab tonight... very cool. In the exhibit hall i saw some cool stuff, like the new Kyocera phone, a Palm V GSM sled, and Memory Stick & SD modules like GPS, cameras, etc.

Also, (Greg) i took a bunch o' pictures. Hopefully they will turn out okay for a presentation to y'all. Oh, and there were *really* *cool* presentations by Jeff Hawkins, and a few others. i think they should be available as webcasts at www.palmsource.com... somebody should check them out and let me know if they turned out at all.

So, i haven't heard any requests from any of you to focus on anything specific... so i'll just keep doing what i've been doing (=

More to come tomorrow (hopefully).
-peter (=

From: peter bohac
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 21:29:59 -0800
Subject: Re: [SeaPUG] PalmSource Update

One last report from PalmSource before coming home.

Today's theme seemed to be "Wireless". There were a lot of sessions on the improvements to web clipping applications, the Kyocera smartphone, and Palm's overall attention and focus on wireless in the future.

Unfortunately, i did not actually attend any of the sessions on WCA, so i don't know what the specific improvements are, but i'll find out (or die trying ;)

There was also a really cool session on PalmOS 5.0. i took lots o' notes, so i can share the details that they told us. And then they finished the day off a nice party, complete with a live band.

All-in-all, this has been a great week and i haev to say that i am more convinced than ever of the superiority of the Palm Platform. Great things are gonna happen (=

i hope to see y'all at the meeting on Tuesday!
-peter (=

From: peter bohac
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2001 21:06:44 -0800
Subject: [SeaPUG] Final PalmSource 2000 report

Greetings SeaPUG.

Here is my final installment on my PalmSource 2000 reports.

Please feel free to send me your questions, comments, and corrections (as i have been known to make a few mistakes now and again). Or, even better, bring your questions to the next SeaPUG meeting(s) and we can talk about them when i actually have time to be more verbose.

So, on with my report. As i said at December's SeaPUG meeting, this installment is about "PalmOS 5.0" (as Palm is currently calling it). Palm did a fabulous job this year in giving out information about its future plans that directly affect the Palm development and user communities. In fact, they had an entire session devoted to discussing the details of a future version of the PalmOS that isn't even due out until 2002. This OS version is tentatively being called PalmOS 5.0, but that name is subject to change (as is much of the OS and details about it) and it may not be called PalmOS 5.0 when it is finally released. Here is what Palm told us.

This will be the next major OS version after 4.0 (due out this spring). There may be minor releases (like 4.1, etc) between now and when it arrives, but 5.0 is considered a big milestone in the OS development. Everything Palm has said about this is subject to change, but Palm has committed to letting developers know about important changes in a timely manner.

The biggest change in 5.0 is a planned switch from the current Motorola Dragonball processor (which currently powers all PalmOS devices) to a processor based upon the ARM instruction set. There will be some overlap with the current Dragonball processors as the switch is made, but eventually all Dragonballs expected to be phased out. Palm indicated that at this time the future of Dragonball support is unclear.

For users, this change in processors should be nearly transparent. In fact, users really shouldn't even need to know what processor is powering their device. (Just like most don't even know how fast their current processor is.) Palm demonstrated the current OS running on an ARM processor (reportedly with nothing new in the OS, just a straight port to the new processor) that was able to receive an app beamed to it from a standard, off-the-shelf device. (This app was PocketChess, for those who are curious.) What does this mean? It means that for all apps that are written "properly" (meaning they don't stray outside of the established Palm APIs and guidelines), they will run _unmodified_ (not even needing to be recompiled!) on the future ARM devices. Interoperability with existing Palms is intended and expected. This means that you'll be able to beam things between devices, run all your existing software, etc. Of course, there _will_ be things that won't work, like poorly written apps, hacks, running ARM-specific apps on older devices, etc. But, that is to be expected, and developers are being given enough advance notice to prepare for these cases.

So why is Palm switching processors? They listed several reasons for the switch to ARM:

• better support for multimedia (like graphics and sound)
• decreased power requirements with increased processing power (WOW!)
• smaller and cheaper processor * more robust security (for user/system level processor instructions)
• compatibility with dominant processor in the wireless industry and other industries

For developers, PalmOS 5.0 will have the same basic API as it does today. Apps compiled for the Dragonball processor will run on the ARM device in a 68K emulator. This emulator, unlike POSE, will not have 100% feature parity with a real 68K device. This is because POSE emulates nearly all of the hardware on a real device, including the processor, but the ARM 68K emulator will not emulate the entire hardware. Things like OS routines will be translated into native routines, resulting in a faster emulation than if the whole device were simply emulated. This means, of course, that apps that directly access hardware or bypass the OS APIs (like hacks) will not run in this special emulator. The moral, of course, is use the APIs and avoid writing directly to hardware. Palm especially stressed using the 4.0 APIs, as these will have calls that hide the internals of structures. This is important because the ARM processors are a different endian than the Dragonball processors.

For those hardcore deveoplers reading this, Palm has said that they intend to use the 4T architecture, but not the Thumb instruction set (for maximum compatibility). Also, most (all?) devices should be using either ARM9 or XScale. Palm will also be providing new compliers and linkers for the CodeWarrior, Visdual Studio, and GCC environments. These tools may even be able to create "fat" binaries that have both 68K and ARM binaries inside them. And of course, the other development tools, like POSE and debuggers, will be updated to support the ARM devices.

Other things that will be new in PalmOS 5.0:
The shared-library model will be changed to be more efficient, support global variables, and possibly to include auto-loading and linking. The runtime model will be changing (for all you compiler writers ;). There is a possibility that multithreading will be be made available to all apps (that need it). The 64K limit on records and resources will be removed. The number of categories supported by the OS may increase beyond the current 16. A "wire format" (similar to the TCP/IP wire format) will likely be introduced, to facilitate beaming, hotsyncing, etc, devices of different endianness. More sizes, shapes, and resolutions for screens will be supported. This could also mean that the grafitti area would become soft/active, instead of silk-screened onto the device. The format of the PIM database records will likely be changed to be more extinsible. Security enhancments (unspecified) will be added.

Whew! What does all this mean to the average user? Well, mostly it should simply be seen as a sign that Palm is _not_ sitting still, but they are not leaving their installed user-base behind, either. i think that it is safe to expect that more powerful devices with better battery life are on the way. These devices will have better graphics and sound support, but they won't discard their history of being simple to use and being good at what they are designed for: being the best connected organizers available.