Wireless Archive

Speculation is in the air again that Palm, Inc (not just PalmSource) is working on their own operating system for future mobile devices. David Beers is reporting on his blog that a analyst "in the know" privately confirmed that Palm is experimenting with developing its own Linux based operating system.

Seems like NVFS (non volatile filesystem) is currently the #1 source of problems for Palm users and this Palm user thought it would be nice to give users some background information why it's causing all those problems and why Palm still decided to use it.

"The 770 is not for everybody. If you want something for practical day-to-day use, you're better off buying a PDA or smart phone. And a word to Nokia: make nice with Microsoft. I would love to be able to run Windows Mobile 2005 on this device in place of your version of Linux. It's both fast and complete. Trying to impress the Linux geek crowd is not a good business plan, nor is trying to shoe-horn Linux onto this type of platform. Using Windows Mobile 2005 would make this a far better, and far more successful, mobile device." And part II, one month later: "Right now, I feel like I've pretty much wasted $380 on the 770. I continue to work with it the hope I'll find some hidden feature or application I've missed so far."

The fourth OpenZaurus release based on the BitBake build system and the OpenEmbedded metadata repository is out. It includes OPIE 1.2.1, GPE 2.7, cross-SDK is now provided, native SDK provided, WPA support, Linux Kernel 2.6.14-rc1 for C7×0 models and nearly 3000 source packages which result in 12000 packages to try out.

"Hey, have you been thinking about developing for Microsoft's new form factor PC called the Ultra Mobile PC aka Origami, but don't know where to go? As I mentioned in the meeting last night, the folks over at MSDN have got some great information here and they even have an emulator to get you started on your way to tailor your apps to the 7" UMPC interface."

"Anyone who has been following the tech headlines lately has had no choice but to find themselves immersed in news and speculation about the ultramobile PCs. After weeks of rampant speculation about the Origami Project and news streaming in from an unusually exciting Cebit expo, consumers have been introduced to this new form factor and have finally received some definite answers about what to expect."

In a preview of Tuesday afternoon's demonstration, Intel Marketing Director Brad Graff showed CNET News.com several of the Ultra Mobile PC devices, including an example of the kind of hardware that will ship in the next few weeks as part of the Microsoft effort. As earlier reported, the first devices have a 7-inch touch screen, standard x86 processors, and can run full versions of desktop operating systems including the Windows XP variant being used for Origami.

LonghornBlogs thinks that it has found out what the Origami project really is about: and we've all seen it before. They have photo's of what might be the device: a mini-tablet PC running XP Tablet Edition. "I have an extremely reliable source that told me the device pictured above exists for real now, will cost $500, and will be available before the end of the year." Speculate at will, boys and girls!

Microsoft's so-called Origami Project, due to be launched on Thursday, appears to be its early version of the ultra-mobile PC concept Intel has been touting of late, if an allegedly leaked Flash version of a promo video of the product is anything to go by. Quite apart from being a potential iPod competitor, the device could well prompt some interesting techology ownership questions.

Quanta/O2 loaned us a unit of their brand new GSM communicator, the O2 XDA Atom. The phone is a GSM 900/1800/1900, GPRS class B, multi-slot class 10, EDGE phone running Windows Mobile 5.1 (the unit arrived loaded with the latest ROM). Dig in for more info about this interesting smartphone, mostly aimed at the Australia/Asian and European markets.

Access subsidiary PalmSource revealed details of its Linux-based mobile phone operating system, Tuesday at 3GSM in Barcelona. Codenamed ALP (Access Linux Platform), the OS aims to provide an integrated, flexible software environment that can run legacy Palm OS application binaries, Java applications, and native Linux applications. The company hopes to begin licensing the ALP SDK to mobile phone hardware and software developers by the end of 2006, and expects to see devices based on it reach consumers in 2007. Content providers, operators, and third-party developers will be able to write native Linux multimedia applications, using included GStreamer and 'optimized' GTK+ libraries.

Motorola first announced its intention to migrate its mobile "smart" phones to embedded Linux in 2003. The first such phone to reach the market was the A760 in the fourth quarter of that year. Today there are a dozen or so models (differing product numbers in different markets and minor hardware variations lead to different counts), but there are still no significant ecosystems for third-party applications or developers. Is Motorola's switch to Linux a hit for the company but a miss for end users?

Geeks.com sent us a special edition of the Toshiba e800 Pocket PC PDA. What's special about this new revision we review today is that it comes by default with a very high capacity battery and the ability to use USB devices through its "presentation pack" accessory, making it a product best suited for professionals, but also for geeks.

A new version of the GPE PDA environment was released, version 2.7. It now includes a new web browser, a sync module, a Gaim and GkDial port and more. Screenshots here.