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Comment by TedDoesntTalk | Hacker News Reader

I worked on the original PalmOS. This is TREAT to see. thank you thank you for making my month!

I still use my Palm T3 every day (well, every working day at least). There's a TimeSheet application for PalmOS which I've never been able to replace with anything for Android or anything else. It's still going strong, original battery from 2004. I actually have two T3, the one I use now is one I bought new in 2004, the other one I bought used around the same time (that one has the Sanyo (I think) LCD, this one the Sony LCD).

For the second hand T3 I bought a Lithium Poly battery with slightly higher capacity and replaced the original one (there was a huge thread about the procedure on BrightHand at the time), and used that T3 most of the time for many years, until the battery gave out. So now the other one is the one I use - and the battery is still fine.

In the past I used the T3 for many things, with a wifi adapter it was my wireless email/network gadget, I used TomTom software for navigation, etc. But now it's just that TimeSheet application, and I'll probably continue using that for years to come.

Very interesting, Is there any particular feature in that TimeSheet application which you do not find in Android/iOS apps?

Palm had a set of "rules" for programmers as to how the UI should work - and one was that nothing should take more than 3 clicks, IIRC. The needs I have for a time sheet app is to simply keep track whenever I change what I work on during the day. I may be working on project 1234, then someone wants me in a meeting on project 6566 work package 312, and my time app must keep track of that. The TimeSheet app does that in the simplest way possible - I do exactly one click, and it tracks the other project.

During the day I may have to work on a number of projects, for shorter or longer periods. I have a list of those projects and work packages in TimeSheet. When the time comes to input all of that into the corporate time system TimeSheet presents me with the total sum of all work packages for each day (and other ways, if I need them).

It's extremely simple. I just can't find anything with the same easy functionality on Android or elsewhere. They seem to have a different focus, and way too many clicks to go through.

Thanks for the detailed explanation, I have to see some PalmOS videos to understand it better.

There are PalmOS android emulators so conceivably you can run the TimeSheet app on it on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.perpendox.... https://www.styletap.com/

Do note that neither of them works very well on recent Android devices.... the first one has many bugs including wrong timing (e.g. everything is accelerated), and is also 68k only (so PalmOS < 5.0), while the second one is "HLE", incredibly expensive, doesn't look at all like PalmOS, the UI is annoying, Alarms work flaky, etc.

Ah man, the T3. I wanted to love it. Between the buzzy screen, astonishingly hot Wi-Fi card, and poor battery life I just couldn't do it. I swapped to a Tungsten C.

Reading Brighthand reviews was my introduction to tech lust. Terrible shame the only archived versions are text-only.

Wonderful that you use the time sheet still. Something about their software design was so simple and efficient I use the contacts software daily. It's Installed on Windows7 and 10, and Mac, and Unix. It is still the best most logical. Anna adaptive contacts manager. Also converted to Android, where it's useable, but not so flexible.

PalmOS was a HUGE part of my childhood (I begged my parents to buy me the first edition Handspring Visor). Thanks for your work!

I spent a lot of time playing with Kyle’s Quest on my Visor

I used to love making custom games for Kyle's Quest! I wish games like that existed today.

I used my palm for book reading waaaaaaaay before ebook readers or even cheap tablets were a thing. I don't know how many hundreds or thousands of hours I spent on it but its a significant number. It's still around here somewhere, and worked when I last tried it.

Oh yeah, especially with the eReader app and desktop software. Drop whatever ebook you want into it and get it converted to PDB. The default palmos font was incredibly easy on the eyes too.

And no problem using it under strong sunlight (models with transflective TFT LCD).

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