PalmSource dumping Garnet for Linux, skips Cobalt

Feb 14 2006 - 02:45 PM ET | PDA Phone, Palm, Smartphone

Access PalmSource today announced their companies latest OS platform and a possible future of the Palm and Treo product lines. The Access Linux platform utilizes Palm OS for Linux with the NetFront browser and open source linux components. The new OS's abilities are formidable and include, multitasking apps, complex media, telephony, browsing, and messaging. The new Linux based OS will be able to run existing Palm OS Garnet applications as well as applications developed specifically for Access.

In addition, Access Linux has a new user interface designed to work with traditional PDA's and SmartPhones. The interface includes contextual menus accessed from soft-keys, and running applications are shown at the bottom of the screen.

Details from the Palm PR:

ACCESS Linux Platform:

  • Standard, commercial-grade Linux kernel - version 2.6.12 and above
  • Optimized implementation of GIMP ToolKit (GTK+) - popular open source libraries for the creation of graphical user interfaces
  • GStreamer - an open source, modular and multi-threaded streaming media framework
  • SQLite - a high-performance database engine commonly used in embedded devices
  • Where appropriate, open source components used in ALP are extended and certified by the Company. For example, ACCESS and PalmSource will enhance and certify the open source BlueZ libraries to provide ALP with a Bluetooth 2.0 technology compliant software stack.
A number of ACCESS and PalmSource technologies have been incorporated into ALP, including:
  • ACCESS NetFront browser - a proven success with over 200 million deployments in 721 commercial products for more than 30 handset and 90 Internet device manufacturers worldwide
  • PalmSource messaging and telephony middleware - a highly modular and scalable implementation
  • PalmSource mobile applications including PIMs, multimedia, messaging, PalmSource HotSync and Palm Desktop -includes the recognized ease-of-use that users expect

Note: Without a shipping Cobalt product in the U.S. (what happened to the GSPDA announcement in Paris last year, promising a Cobalt device by years end?), the assumption might be made that Palm will use the new Access OS in it's future renditions of the Palm and Treo product lines.

[more info at PalmInfocenter] [Palm Source PR]

Comments from readers


Eugenia Feb 14 2006

I think you have a few things messed up. Palm is NOT dumping anything neither is adopting Linux. Palmsource is.

Palm and Palmsource are two completely different companies now. Palm is a hardware manufacturer and it will continue using Garnet and Windows Mobile.

It is Access/Palmsource who are dumping Cobalt and go with Linux. Their relationship with Palm is sketchy at best, these days.


Jon Gales Feb 14 2006

Eugenia, good catch as always. I've fixed the headline and will point this out to the writer of the story. Still an interesting story though.


Brian Feb 16 2006

Eugenia: Palm uses Garnet, though, which is developed by PalmSource (they now also use Windows Mobile in the Treo, but that's something different...). If PalmSource stops developing the OS that palm uses, it is highly unlikely that Palm would continue using the "defunct" OS as they are a hardware company, not a software company. So, if the new "PalmOS" is Linux based, then there is a pretty good chance that Palm will use the Linux-based OS (from Palm/ACCESS). Of course this is all speculation, anyways....


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