| Palm OS is a compact operating system | | | | devices than on previous generation |
| developed and licensed by PalmSource, | | | | hardware. New software can take |
| Inc. for personal digital assistants | | | | advantage of the ARM processors with PNO |
| (PDAs) manufactured by various | | | | (PACE Native objects), small units of |
| licensees. It is designed to be | | | | ARM code, these are also sometimes |
| easy-to-use and similar to desktop | | | | referred to as 'ARMlets'. It was also |
| operating systems such as Microsoft | | | | around this time when Palm began to |
| Windows. Palm OS is combined with a | | | | separate its hardware and OS efforts, |
| suite of basic applications including an | | | | eventually becoming two companies, |
| address book, clock, note pad, sync, | | | | PalmSource, Inc. (OS) and palmOne |
| memo viewer and security software. Palm | | | | (hardware, now named Palm, Inc.). |
| OS was originally released in 1996. | | | | Further releases of Palm OS 5 have seen |
| Versions history | | | | a standardised API for hi-res and |
| Palm OS was originally developed by Jeff | | | | dynamic input areas, along with a number |
| Hawkins for use on the original Motorola | | | | of more minor improvements. |
| DragonBall-based Pilot PDA by U.S. | | | | Palm OS 5.2 and 4.1.2 (and later) also |
| Robotics. Palm OS 1.0 was present on the | | | | feature Graffiti 2. This is based on Jot |
| original Pilot 1000 and 5000. | | | | by CIC. |
| Palm OS 2.0 was introduced with the | | | | Palm OS 5.4 added the Non-Volatile File |
| PalmPilot Personal and Professional. | | | | System, and used Flash for storage |
| Palm OS 3.0 was introduced, ith the | | | | instead of DRAM, preventing data-loss in |
| launch of the Palm III series. | | | | the event of battery drain. However, |
| Incremental upgrades occurred with the | | | | this fundamentally changed the way |
| release of versions 3.1, 3.3, and 3.5, | | | | programs were executed from the |
| adding support for color, multiple | | | | Execute-in-Place system that PalmOS |
| expansion ports, new processors, and | | | | traditionally used, and has been the |
| other various additions. | | | | source of many compatibility problems, |
| Palm OS 4.0 was released with the m500 | | | | requiring many applications to have |
| series, and later made available as an | | | | explicit NVFS support added for them to |
| upgrade for older devices. This added a | | | | be stable. |
| standard interface for external | | | | In December 2006, Palm (Hardware) paid |
| filesystem access (such as SD cards) and | | | | $44 million to ACCESS for the rights to |
| improved telephony libraries, security, | | | | the source code for Palm OS (6.0) |
| and the UI. Version 4.1 included a | | | | Garnet. With this arrangement, a single |
| series of bug fixes. | | | | company is again developing palm |
| Palm OS 5.0 was introduced in November | | | | hardware and software. Palm can modify |
| 2002 with the Tungsten T and was the | | | | the licensed software as needed and it |
| first version released to support ARM | | | | need not pay royalties to ACCESS over |
| devices. Described as a stepping stone | | | | future years. |
| to full ARM support, DragonBall Palm | | | | Palm OS 1.0 to 4.1 were based on top of |
| apps are run in an emulated environment | | | | a small kernel licensed from KADAK |
| called the Palm Application | | | | Products Ltd. While these versions are |
| Compatibility Environment (PACE), making | | | | technically capable of multitasking, the |
| the device capable of running software | | | | "terms and conditions of that license |
| written for older versions. Even with | | | | specifically state that Palm may not |
| the additional overhead of PACE, Palm | | | | expose the API for creating/manipulating |
| applications usually run faster on ARM | | | | tasks within the OS." |