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Enthusiast Hacks WiFi Into Treo 650
Sammy at PalmAddict writes "Shadowmite, a Palm enthusiast has managed to hack his Palm One Treo 650 smartphone, enabling it to work with the Palm One WiFi card, despite Palm admitting the Treo was never designed to use WiFi technology. Shadowmite managed to get his hands on the Pa1m One WiFi card and modify it so that his Treo 650 could use it. The experiment was a success, and is causing quite a stir -- putting pressure on Palm One to provide support and fully support the new drivers."
So, if I somehow shoved a Gamecube network adapter onto my N64, Nintendo would need to provide full support for it?
I don't think so.
It is not you, http://treocentral.com/ is a much better website and has way more information.
See this thread for more information about WiFi drivers on the 650.
Also this thread has some useful information on a patch that was obtained by someone that fixes problems with the sound quality of the Treo 650 microphone.
I'm still waiting for my non-cellular Wifi walkie-talkie. Just imagine the possiblities... Like IM for voice...
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Somewhat OT...
This brings up a question I want to ask T-Mobile.
My BlackBerry 7100i can be used as a wireless GPRS modem connected to my notebook via the USB cable. It works; I *know* it works, because:
(1) I've read the forums where people tell how they got it to work (after getting T-Mobile to unblock some ports); and
(2) I've done it to send/receive e-mail via Outlook when I enable their t-zones service.
Now for the question:
When the products the carriers promote have these capabilities, why do they not support them? I would be willing to pay for the service if T-Mobile would admit that it works and support it. If a Treo 650 can handle WiFi, that's a selling point and likely to result in more sales.
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
It would be nice, now, if somebody wrote some SIP software that could take advantage of this hack. A Treo would make a sexy as hell cordless phone, which presumably would then be able to roam onto GPRS/GSM if and when the wifi network is unavailable.
You're doing it wrong.
putting pressure on Palm One to provide support and fully support the new drivers.
I have a fully functional Handspring/VisorPhone unit. At the point where the new treos offer something more (802.11) then I will consider paying $500+ for new hardware.
It is palm's loss. At the point where I have VOIP and 802.11 working everwhere else will I look to make a change. If Palm does not have a solution, I WILL jump to Windows CE or Sybian.
I left the Newton to Palm....I can leave Palm.
Pressed to your ear, this would be the most innocent looking wireless sniffer yet (if someone can get it to run as one).
Indy Media Watch-Proctologist of the Internet
Sure, Gamecube isn't doing nearly as well as Playstation, but they've got their niche. Palm, on the other hand, is losing marketshare rapidly to Windows Palm PCs, which means Palm is vulnerable, and will latch onto good PR and do more to avoid bad PR.
I've got a few pieces of hardware that still work, but doesn't have support in Windows XP. No practical reason for it, but the hardware was inexpensive and purchased maybe a year before XP came out. The cost was based on the level of support the companies anticipated providing, so good equipment becomes paperweights with a system upgrade.
Don't buy cheap and expect more than you pay for. This was a clever hack but I'm sure Palm sells stuff with WiFi for a little more than the Treo 650 goes for. As with printers, you need to spend more on handheld equipment if you expect reasonable performance and reliability.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
I wonder the Treo 650 has software access to the mic and earpiece? If it does, you could use a WiFi card to connect it to a VoIP service, bypassing the normal wireless rate structure...
the pocket pc is the most unstable POS I've ever seen in a handheld.
;(
feh.
I have an ipaq that I use for wireless web control of devices. it works - but if you look at it the wrong way, you must soft reset.
its not a 3finger salute, but it needs to be done just as often
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
http://www.uneasysilence.com/index.php?p=1719 Skip the digging and get it now...
It seems to me that the common thread in mobile device deficiencies is not the hardware or software companies, but rather the cell phone carriers. They are the perennial pessimists when it comes to new technologies, myopic in their fears that a handful of geeks will bring their business crashing down. Instead of embracing and developing them into new and exciting money-making, experience-enriching features, they castrate their own products solely in order to frustrate users. Swap castrate and frustrate freely in the previous sentence.
Imagine 10 years ago if a cell phone carrier told Motorola that their new cell phones were "way too small, anyone could just carry this around in their pocket. What will happen to our public telephone branch?! We have too much invested in the current infrastructure!"
"Ask me about Loom"
Or, you could buy a supported card, put your wep keys in /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts, and plug it in. It will beep twice and work.
Bitchin about manufacturers who don't support linux doesn't solve any problems, but boycotting their products just might.
GETPKG - Package Management for Slackware
Some type of sound tone...either volume, or speed of tones...like a metal detector? Or maybe a system of them...one variation for quantity of signals...another variation on the sounds for quality of the signals?
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
This was a clever hack but I'm sure Palm sells stuff with WiFi for a little more than the Treo 650 goes for.
OK, so you don't know what you're talking about. palmOne (there is no such company as "Palm" anymore, hasn't been for a year) sells exactly ONE model with integrated Wi-Fi, the Tungsten C. They also support Wi-Fi on 3 other models via their Wi-Fi SD card, which is an imperfect solution. (It takes up the card slot.) The Treo 650 price varies with the carrier, but is typically in the $500-$600 rage or up. It's NOT a cheap product.
Meanwhile, most new Dell PPCs and HP PPCs come with Wi-Fi now, and the PPC world is now being inundated with variants on the BlueAngel/Harrier design: Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS, AND Wi-Fi. All three wireless types in one fairly nice handheld. (Still uses Windows Mobile, which bites, and it's not against-the-face-friendly, but it's still a good device.)
Your point about "don't buy cheap and then complain" is valid, but has nothing to do with this issue. The Treo 650 is NOT cheap, it's a top-shelf product. Other products in similar price ranges all have Wi-Fi. You're NOT getting what you paid for here, that's what people are upset about.
(That said, I still want to get a GSM/EDGE Treo 650 when it comes out. The lack of Wi-Fi is just annoyingly stupid.)
--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?
Here's the link to the original discussion posting on TreoCentral.com.
"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." -- John Ashcroft
I have been following this site the last few months and they seem to be on top of all the cool little do it yourself hacks/tweaks coming out these days for electronics. http://www.hackaday.com/
Palm is VERY quickly losing my respect with the way they treat their customers.
I started out with a Handspring Visor, my girlfriend has a Palm 3 series PDA. Almost all my friends and family uses Palm PDAs. That said, my Palm T3 will most likely be the last Palm PDA that I'll buy.
Started out with me purchasing my Nokia 6820 video phone in Asia - naively thinking that, "Hey, it's bluetooth, it'll be supported". It took almost half year after that phone's release before Palm would release drivers for it in their phone update - but, the drive only works as a modem driver. SMS and remote dialer apps for the phone isn't support. It *is* supported fully for the Palm T5 though.
Side by side comparison the T5 really isn't that much different from the T3 - minor tweaks in OS, faster processor and more memory. But what if I were to upgrade to the T5?
Forget it. I'd be ditching the "Collapsing PDA" feature that makes the T3 small and compact to carry, the silent, vibrating alarm for when you don't want to be obnoxious, the voice recorder functionality. I gain the ability to use the PDA as a flash drive, which I already own a few, and can add into the PDA via 3rd party software. They tossed out the Palm Universal Port which up till now most accessories use, as a standardized interface to the PDA - and for a top of the line product, the damn thing doesn't even come with a cradle.
What the hell are they thinking?
With the improvement of Pocket PC handhelds - and more vendors resulting in more selections - I'd have a hard time justifying purchasing another Palm PDA.
-=- Terence
Sprint doesn't want the Treo 650 to have the WiFi features since they want you to subscribe to the $15/mo Vision (CDMA 1xRTT) service. It might cost more per month for PDA phones.
Sprint especially doesn't want people to connect their phones to a PC or laptop through a USB cable or Bluetooth, because they want you to pay $80/mo for the unlimited wireless internet (Vision) through a PCMCIA card.
Verizon is even worse since they cripple their phones a lot more. But I still switched to Verizon from Sprint since it gets better reception for me (GSM is horrible over here). But at least Verizon's wireless internet is much more stable than Sprint's was for me. I use USB cables to connect my phone to my laptop to get free wireless internet using my minutes on off-peak hours.
We've been discussing this hack over at treocentral for quite a while now. Shadowmite's most impressive accomplishments are the custom roms he developed, stripping much of the crap out and adding a few critical apps (like notepad and DUN support- so you can use the treo as a modem). It's no secret the 650 has some major memory issues and by flashing his bare bones roms you can get rid of buggy apps like versamail and realplayer and instead run 3rd party apps like snapper mail on your sd card. Shadowmite deserves alot of credit for helping make the treo650 a decent product. -BT
The ONLY reason why it's not supported is the Telcos don't want you using it- partly because of VoIP capabilities and partly due to the fact that they want you using their expensive data service instead of a potentially cheaper/faster WiFi hotspot.
In this context, they should own up the lie and, at the minimum, come clean on it. This is the same sort of crap about crippled Bluetooth on some Moto models except worse, they came up with a lame-ass lie to cover for the real reasons. In all honesty, they should eat the pain from the Telcos and the Telcos should be revealed for what they are over all of this.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
What do you expect when the carriers subsidize the cost of your phone?
Perhaps if we had the option to pay less just for the services we want, without giving up our ability to choose any carrier we want, it would balance the slight increases to the cost of the handsets? We'd have more choice, more competition, and more innovation.
There is no gravity...the earth just sucks.
I only knew one from Fujitsu, but it seem it has been removed for end users.
Due to tremendous number of inquiries from our System Module Products prospects, Fujitsu will be basically selling the System Module Products to OEM customers only, unfortunately, it will not be available for end-user. Sorry for the inconvenience. Fujitsu appreciates your understanding in advance.
SD cards
...?
While I won't go there, I'm sure someone did/will.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
You're failing to process this. One of the largest PDA companies in the business has made it so that the only phone-enabled model running their OS will not support a certain feature in order to restrict VOIP trade. The models without phone hardware, simpler models, have the feature enabled. The more expensive model has been deliberately crippled to please another company.
That's illegal restriction of trade. It's a per se violation of the Sherman anti-trust act. You can't collude to prevent the development of a market. Not all anti-trust violations are monopoly based.
Wait, the box says its got WiFi and when its opened and turned on it doesn't?
Then there's a good damn reason to be pissed off. You didn't get what you paid for.
But I suspect you're saying that the fact that you didn't get a feature that wasn't claimed to be in the product means you didn't get what you paid for just because other products in the price range have it?
Well shit, I'm going to sue Dodge because my $30k truck didn't come with navigation, traction control, front ABS, side curtain airbags, an MP3 player or any other feature available on vehicles of the same cost. I mean seriously, I don't even have a trunk! WTF does Dodge think they're doing? They can't get away with that!
Maybe I'll sue Dunkin Donuts, too. My ham egg and cheese didn't come with sausage this morning, and another comparably priced sandwich they sell does come with it! The nerve of those FF's.