Palm OS 6 Goes Native

Steve · 05-21-2003, 09:30 AM

The next release of the Palm operating system, Palm OS 6, promises to give developers the ability to code "close to the hardware" with its support for native ARM code. But is it really that important now that we've got 400MHz processors?

Read about it at http://www.brighthand.com/article/PalmOS6_Goes_Native

gfunkmagic · 05-21-2003, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Still, he wondered whether IBM's decision a couple of years back to go with the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC for a mobile version of its ViaVoice application might have been different had Palm Powered devices with adequate memory and faster processors, and native code support, been around.

I hope this doesn't mean ibm has no plans on releasing a palmOS version of ViaVoice?

rsc1000 · 05-21-2003, 12:40 PM

The point behind OS 6 is more than just speed. We've been led to expect multi-tasking and other goodies here. Its an entirely new API. It doesn't seem like its completely analgious to yr password example you give int the article where you were forced to chose between the API or a direct hardware 'peek' method of obtaining the password. With OS 6, it is a case of choosing betweeen the old API or the new OS 6 API. Hopefully their will be many other good reason to delve into the new API (real fonts anybody?). Im betting that within 2yrs 95% of palm development will be with OS6+ API.

Steve · 05-21-2003, 12:47 PM

You're absolutely correct, and I certainly didn't mean to imply that the ability to code natively was the only reason for Palm OS 6. It was just the one I wrote about in this article. Yes, there are many other aspects to Palm OS 6 that make going to the new APIs worthwhile.

Thanks for pointing that out.

frauen1 · 05-21-2003, 01:14 PM

The IBM WebSphere person is correct, but it's more than just performance. The key is in the programming model that is available to developers. The current PalmOS programming model is not conducive to churning out good, robust enterprise applications - it's basically a bare-bones real time OS with some good (but PalmOS-specific) libraries on top. OS 6 promises a threading/multi-process model, memory management, and other niceties that make it easier to build modern applications.

It's also harder to port code from other environments to PalmOS (and vice-versa), given the current code base. Some of the changes for OS 6 seem to be designed to address this issue.

Since it's IBM, I assume that they want a Java environment on the device. You need a good native environment to host the Java runtime. OS 6 will make it easier to get one up and running. That's where the native support + new programming model will help.

(I do have to applaud PalmSource for keeping the current PACE emulation environment available for existing PalmOS applications (including armlets). This is a tough engineering feat and (IMHO) they've done a fantastic job here.)

Looking forward to more of the OS 6 details here...

honus · 05-22-2003, 01:00 PM

People keep saying "who needs native when you've now got these fast processors?" Well if your program needs the fast processor to run it won't run on old machines and there won't be much of a win for maintaining compatability.

The trade off being faced here is the opposite one from the example at the begining of the article. Your question was "Do I lock myself into the current version and know that it won't work in future versions?" The question facing palm developers is "Do I lock myself into the new version, with all its advantages, or do I write something that works on old versions, too?"

It isn't a new question. Mac developers have gone through this sort of thing before, twice really. The first time was more of a native-code issue, but currenlty with OS X they face the same kind of OS/API change choices.

hypachris · 05-22-2003, 02:48 PM

Bye bye Pocket PC!!!

ktdan1 · 05-23-2003, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hypachris
Bye bye Pocket PC!!!

and Palm

A Hello To "XP"

Sorry just had through that in there. I will be really interesting to see what the complete package looking and test its true fuctionality.

In a few years it will prabably mean mute since the full function systems keep getting smaller and faster. I suspect that Palm and PPC will both go by the way side. It will come down to the form factor, battery life, processing speed.

Operating system?

XP or OSX?

SeanH · 05-23-2003, 06:14 PM

The ability to directly control hardware makes me think of Win 3.11 and Win 95. Lots of crash and systems errors because apps directly wrote to hardware and caused other apps that wrote to the same hardware to crash the system. Windows NT/ 2K and XP fixed the problem with a Hardware Abstract Layer. It does not allow direct control of the hardware, everything has to go through an API.

The other huge problem is every app will have to have special software for all the CPU?s you will find in Palm devices in the next year.

Intel PXA255
MOT MX1
TI OMAP

They are all ARM based device but have very different peripherals. Palm is going to screw this up. Just like there simple device marketing over the years. If people wanted simple device they would not upgrade there cell phone every 6 months because of new feature and form factors. People upgrade there pda for new cool wiz bang features. Features that PPC had three years ago are just appearing in new Palms released in the last month or so.

imported_CSimpson · 05-23-2003, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SeanH
The ability to directly control hardware makes me think of Win 3.11 and Win 95. Lots of crash and systems errors because apps directly wrote to hardware and caused other apps that wrote to the same hardware to crash the system. Windows NT/ 2K and XP fixed the problem with a Hardware Abstract Layer.

...and Palm fixed the problem with the introduction of the Device Abstraction Layer. BTW, which part of the article did you interpret as referring to direct hardware calls?

Quote:

Palm is going to screw this up.

Keep telling yourself that-- whatever it takes to get you through the day ;-)