rePalm: Towards the first unauthorized PalmOS port | Hacker News Reader

rePalm: Towards the first unauthorized PalmOS port

dmitry.gr

81 pointsBluestein30 comments

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Glad to see this amazing project getting resurfaced, presumably as a result of the author's article on the new RP chip.

Previous discussion:

Apr. 2019: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19761952

Nov. 2021: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29197125

Apr. 2023: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35511106

The amount of work that went into this is absolutely insane. Congrats!

I just discovered my cherished Palm Pilot Pro has a dead screen. Might as well upgrade the internals.

Can it be repaired? Sure hope so!

I’ll order a new screen. I’ve read it’s relatively easy to replace.

But turning it into a totally different modern PalmOS beast is tempting.

Someone could make a screen/digitiser replacement with a built in camera.

That would rock.-

Someone downsthread mentioned e-Ink even.-

I think I have a couple newer models who’d be modifiable.

I can try to answer questions.

Would you accept sincere congrats for such achievements? Honestly, kudos.-

Thank you...there is still work being done on this project. i expect some announcements from ... myself...on this front soon, now that RP2350 is public. i have SDIO, MSIO, and palmcard projects that when inserted into old palms upgrade them to PalmOS at high cpu speeds :D

> have SDIO, MSIO, and palmcard projects that when inserted into old palms upgrade them to PalmOS at high cpu speeds :D

Insane.-

PS. Is that Palm OS running on a Dell Pocket PC? - as seen in one of the vídeos on the site ...

Yes. I have a port for aximx3 :). I posted sources and binaries

That was just great, seeing PalmOS on that particular device. A PocketPC, out of all places. Just great ...

PS. I mean like in ...

- https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNO1WO00dVl6XzNbLmhpmb5...

Looking forward to it. I've long wondered about porting palmos to a new device of some kind and giving it an eink screen, at least while acting as a monochrome palm like i had when growing up. I think it'd be a magical combo given the old slow lcds that they used to have back then in the first play.

That would be a great combo.-

Wow. Kudos for this. The dedication must be extreme. Respect.

And so much learned during this project <3

I wonder if someone would do the same for Psion. I always thought they were the better organiser by far. Both the 3-series and 5 (which had much worse screens but much better OS with multitasking).

I don't have the energy to do this myself :) Though I did mod my old 5mx with a bluetooth adapter.

> wonder if someone would do the same for Psion

Another groundbreaking platform, that often pops up nostalgically.-

Both, Palm and Psion were the result of careful development, craftsmanship, care, and an almost-obsessive attention to detail. No wonder we are - and, often - still talking about them. Perhaps, also, yearning for something similar.-

Phones, though, seem to have fagocitated entire categories of hardware ...

fagocitated?

Eaten up ...

It's spelled phagocytosed. If you're going to be pedantic you might as well use the right word...

You are wrong in assuming any pedantic intent.-

PS. According to the author there's a Palm Discord with more updated information:

- https://discord.gg/qs8wQ4Bf

see #repalm-project channel

I still got my original US robotics palm pilot. It was awesome when it came out.

There's still a lot my Palm 3xe can do that an iPhone can't. Smartphones feel like a regression in most ways except improvements in a handful of hardware peripherals.

> Smartphones feel like a regression in most ways

... and a severe regression in many ways.-

PS. Hint: Would we see targeted, multimedia, attention-sequestering advertising on devices so well crafted? (And, operating under such constraints)

Wow. An US Robotics one. That is truly vintage material. Still boots?

Jupp still boots. Luckily i had removed the batteries before putting it away so they did not leak. Syncing it though lol was interesting. Had to find an old pc that still had a serial port.

> removed the batteries before putting it away so they did not leak.

Smart. This is in great part what has kept it in such condition.-

PS. I am sure you have tried an USB to Serial port converter of some sort. I am sure they exist.-

Wow!

This also seemed to be first site to show up on HN to show the new Pico 2 / RP2350...

... and it has twice the RAM - so rePalm might run better on it!

The entire site is great. The amount of smart reverse engineering done by the author, the thoughtfulness and craftsmanship displayed in his efforts are just astounding ...

... and of course, what's not to like about bringing back Palm devices, in whatever shape or form.-

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