Slashdot Mirror

AFAICT, the 2004 LinuxWorld demo just showed Linux booting on a Treo. Which some independent hackers managed to do on their own, and have continued to tweak since then. I really thought that the Treo 700W HW would be fairly easy to port Linux to, since it ran Mobile Windows, but I think the developers just lost interest as the Palm line faded with the 21st Century racing past it.

Over a year ago, some hackers figured out how to run Linux on a Treo smartphone. The Treo 7xx series for Windows Mobile looks even more hackable to Linux.

Can anyone install Android as the Linux running one of these Treos? That makes all the devices work, including touchscreen and (cell) radio?

I do believe you can do GPS syncing over bluetooth, IIRC there are a number of products out there that come with Palm software. As to pairing multiple devices simultaneously, I've honestly never tried - generally when I'm using the laptop, that's my mode of communication, and when I don't have my laptop I use my treo, and I've yet to find a bluetooth headset in my price range that I actually want. However, given Palm OS's less than great support for multitasking, it may not work flawlessly if it does at all.

Funny note about the DUN reactivation - apparently the way Verizon locked it out was by disabling the display of the DUN on/off toggle. Hilarious. So, reactivating it involves installing a Bluetooth.prc with that control enabled (see here for more details).

Did I mention I also got my phone to boot linux? :-P

To make a custom rom, you'll need Grack's Rom Tool. At one point you could simply download a custom rom, but PalmOne asked Shadowmite to take them down and he did. You'll have to use the tool to extract your rom, modify it, and reload it on the phone. Use this list (danger: pdf) to determine what you can and want to delete. I got rid of everything I don't use, from the tutorial to VersaMail. I added a small handful of programs I can't live without, like pFuel, CMDBar, CMDWay, DA Launcher, and SharkNav. Some apps won't work from the ROM, and cause a soft-reset loop; check against this list and above all, don't panic. I'm told it's next to impossible to brick a Treo 650 with this tool, although the old method was very dangerous, and I haven't had it happen with either. If you install an app that doesn't like running from ROM, you can warm-reset with up+reset pin and flash an updated rom. If you try apps that aren't on the list, this may take some considerable trial and error. Make careful lists of everything you change in case you need them.

You can add as much as you delete and a little more, but the smaller you keep the ROM, the more dbCache space you have. The dbCache is the memory where NVFS-based PalmOS copies the programs and runs them from; a lot of instability comes from dbCache issues. You should also check out dbCacheTool (page isn't english, but the app is) and Resco Locker; the former will automatically clear the dbCache when it runs low, and the latter will lock apps into the cache. Some instability is caused by background programs that do not properly lock themselves.

As far as app selection goes, whether ROM or RAM, that's trial and error. If you hit ##377# in the phone app on a Sprint phone it will show you what crashed the phone. Using RLock on the app may stabilize it, or just delete it. You can read this Shadowmite.com forum thread for more ## codes, but 377 is the only one I ever use. Also, this is for the 650 only! The 600 is not supported and probably never will be, at this point; the 700p is coming but it's not ready yet.

To make a custom rom, you'll need Grack's Rom Tool. At one point you could simply download a custom rom, but PalmOne asked Shadowmite to take them down and he did. You'll have to use the tool to extract your rom, modify it, and reload it on the phone. Use this list (danger: pdf) to determine what you can and want to delete. I got rid of everything I don't use, from the tutorial to VersaMail. I added a small handful of programs I can't live without, like pFuel, CMDBar, CMDWay, DA Launcher, and SharkNav. Some apps won't work from the ROM, and cause a soft-reset loop; check against this list and above all, don't panic. I'm told it's next to impossible to brick a Treo 650 with this tool, although the old method was very dangerous, and I haven't had it happen with either. If you install an app that doesn't like running from ROM, you can warm-reset with up+reset pin and flash an updated rom. If you try apps that aren't on the list, this may take some considerable trial and error. Make careful lists of everything you change in case you need them.

You can add as much as you delete and a little more, but the smaller you keep the ROM, the more dbCache space you have. The dbCache is the memory where NVFS-based PalmOS copies the programs and runs them from; a lot of instability comes from dbCache issues. You should also check out dbCacheTool (page isn't english, but the app is) and Resco Locker; the former will automatically clear the dbCache when it runs low, and the latter will lock apps into the cache. Some instability is caused by background programs that do not properly lock themselves.

As far as app selection goes, whether ROM or RAM, that's trial and error. If you hit ##377# in the phone app on a Sprint phone it will show you what crashed the phone. Using RLock on the app may stabilize it, or just delete it. You can read this Shadowmite.com forum thread for more ## codes, but 377 is the only one I ever use. Also, this is for the 650 only! The 600 is not supported and probably never will be, at this point; the 700p is coming but it's not ready yet.

I've got a Treo 650 on Verizon Wireless, and I implemented shadowmite's Bluetooth DUN hack on it. I don't do much gaming, and it kinda sucks for bittorrent, but I'll pull down between 300-400 MB of data some nights, and I usually connect at around 112kb. Plus, I can still get text messages and make phone calls. Not really fast, but it's certainly usable, and I pay for the unlimited data plan. Bundled with a voice plan on the Treo 650 it's 80 bucks a month.

My entire world funnels through my Treo. I'm not sure if I would be so brave as to try to install Linux on it, but it does appeal to me nonetheless. Hmm. I did pay for the extra insurance. I wonder if it covers death by Linux?

For those wondering if it's real, I've been working closely with Shadowmite (the Treo Hacker extraordinaire) and you can track our progress on his forum or the not-as-up-to-date Handhelds.org Palm Treo 650 Wiki Page.

We've also started documenting a lot of the hacking stuff we've discovered on the Shadowmite wiki.

For those wondering if it's real, I've been working closely with Shadowmite (the Treo Hacker extraordinaire) and you can track our progress on his forum or the not-as-up-to-date Handhelds.org Palm Treo 650 Wiki Page.

We've also started documenting a lot of the hacking stuff we've discovered on the Shadowmite wiki.

There are ways around it. There is a product that allows it, PDANet. Also, there is a hack to allow bluetooth to use DUN at http://www.shadowmite.com/.