PalmSource Ships Palm OS 6

grndslm notes: "PalmSource has indeed shipped Palm OS 6, the next major release of its operating system, to its licensees. The company has posted a press release this morning, PalmSource CEO David Nagel will also be presenting at the Needham Growth Conference today as well."

Comments

Speaking of the Palm....

[Ophidian P. Jones]

What really irks me with the Treo 300 device, and maybe the 600 has fixed this with it's 5-way toggle, is that you need to use the keypad AND a fingernail/stylus to run many apps that require some kind of tactile feedback. I get to the point where I keep the stylus between two fingers and shift my finger position so I can quickly use the stylus while texting. You have to text, because there is no grafitti. I would actually be quite happy with the graffiti area back and no keypad. Who needs a freaking keypad on a Palm? (Well, actually the Sony Clie's that fold out, with the keypads, are perfectly acceptable, since they have both keypad AND graffiti area).

I didn't spend 6 years using graffiti to just throw it all away now!

Re:Can you buy it?

[Kaimelar]

I'd like to put it on my handspring. Is there a way to upgrade the OS? I don't see a "Buy it now!" or "Upgrade here!" button anywhere. Will this just go to new devices being sold?

First, the reason you don't see a "Buy it now!" or similar button is because this is not a release to the general public, but instead just to licenced developers such as Sony, Handspring, PalmOne, and Kyocera. However, as far as I know the answer to your question is "maybe." Upgrading to Palm OS 6 depends on three factors:

1. Having an ARM processor in your handheld -- older PDAs don't have the capabilities to run the new OS.
2. Having the handheld be capable of flash upgrades of the OS. I know older Palms could do this, and I'm assuming the current ones can as well . . . don't know about HandSpring or Sony devices.
3. Whether or not the hardware vendor releases an upgrade. Since you're upgrading the entire OS by flashing it (including any customizations done by the vendor), you can't simply have a generic image that will upgrade any device running Palm OS.

Hope that helps some. I would hazard a guess and say that ARM-based devices from Palm (Tungsten|T, Tungsten|C, Zire 71, etc) will be upgradable, and that Palm will provide such an upgrade, simply because they've done so in the past. Couldn't say for other Handspring or other vendors.

heres to hopeing

[Vilim]

I hope my Tungsten T will be upgradable. Does anyone know the policy of Palm with regard to upgrading the OS?

Re:The Stylus, whole and nothing but

[JHromadka]

I agree, only more so. I won't buy any PDA device that has a keyboard. When the main input device is a stylus, I want to do everything with the stylus. I'm bad at Graffiti, but there's keyboards you can use with a stylus.

To each his own. My next PDA will have to have a keyboard. Using the older Treos has spoiled me. If the new 600 had a higher res screen, I would own one right now, but as it stands I will wait until Spring before deciding.

Re:Can you buy it?

[willfe]

At the very least, the Treo series have flash memory. Of course, Jack Flash and FlashPro appear not to work with it, but I have done the flash memory upgrades they've released (the Treo 300 runs PalmOS 3.x, I believe).

This is one of the few devices I don't want the latest and greatest OS for -- this thing works (well) and I don't wanna screw with it. The *only* thing I would like to see improved is getting rid of that damned "Please Wait" crap when you flip the beast open and launch the phone app -- sometimes takes almost 20 seconds to launch it to make a call.

Then again, if that's the biggest complaint I have about a device, I'd say it's doing pretty good :)

Re:The Stylus, whole and nothing but

[fm6]

To each his own.

A reasonable philosophy, though not popular at Slashdot.

Filesystem?

[cloudless.net]

"These requirements include modularity, multi-tasking, memory protection, robust security and state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities. "

After so many years Palm finally built a modern OS, with obvious assitance from Be OS. However I see no mention of the filesystem? Will Palm OS 6 finally get a true filesystem instead of the frustrating VFS?

here l am

[kwoff]

l'm actually reading and replying to th is message from my Tungsten C through a wireless network in the cafeteria at work.. :) (though it's Palm OS 5.2.1, so it's not on-topic)