[TriLUG] Maybe OT: PDAs

[John Franklin]

On Tuesday, September 3, 2002, at 09:04  PM, Ben Pitzer wrote:
> My thought is this:  Handspring Visors and Treos used the Palm OS.
> While Palm may be the oldest that's still on the block, I disagree =
with
> my old friend Mark's assessment that it's 'showing it's age'.

No, it is showing it's age.  The 33MHz processor (66MHz if you shell out=20=

for it) is having problems with some larger apps.  By all means, there=20=

are lots of things that it can do, and does very well.  I compare the=20
Palm Pilot to Sean Connery.   He's no spring chicken, but still quite=20
capable of making you believe he can break you in half with his left=20
thumb, mount you on a pole as a battle standard which he rides into=20
battle to kill the villain, save the girl, and leave you -- or what's=20
left after being used as a battering ram -- to the dingos.  Ok.  So=20
maybe the Palm Pilot can't do that.

Then again, Palm OS is about to get a major upgrade.  Support for ARM=20
processors.  http://www.palmsource.com/palmos/intro_os5.html  You know,=20=

like the ones in the old Newtons, the iPAQ and Journada.  These are much=20=

faster processors, which should breath new life into the Palm platform. =20=

What old hardware will you be able to cram it into?  Dunno.  Will Apple=20=

bring back the Newton concept, merged with the iPod and Palm OS 5? =20
Would be neat, but not likely.  Apple doesn't like to sell hardware with=20=

software platforms it doesn't control, or vise-versa.

> OS.  Windows CE is......well, it's Windows.  Don't expect any better

Which is (supposedly) a benefit in that you don't have to learn a new=20
API, and in fact should be able to share code with Win32 apps.  I=20
haven't tried this, so I don't know how successful it is.  My guess is=20=

that it technically works, but not quite as you expected.

> As for graffiti vs. a keyboard, it's going to be your comfort level =
that

The problem I've had with graffiti -- and this comes back to the age=20
thing -- is that I can easily outpace my ex-Palm Pilot[1].  The=20
keyboards/thumboards I haven't had much experience with, but I would=20
hope it is more able to keep up.  'Course half of that maybe that you're=20=

restricted to your thumbs for typing, and like QWERTY before it, it's=20
designed to slow you down.

> Well, there's my take.  YMMV, of course.

I'm waiting for Christmas to see what Palm releases with the Palm OS 5=20=

upgrade.  IIRC, Palm has a conference every year near the beginning of=20=

the year, so it may not be until 1Q03 that we see these new toys.

jf
[1]  'E's a stiff!  Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace!  If I hadn't=20
nailed 'im to the cradle 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!
--
John Franklin
franklin@elfie.org
ICBM: 35=B043'56"N 78=B053'27"W