palm to go linux

[kudra]

This report on slashdot says that palm os will be based on linux in the future.

I haven't written anything for the palm, and I'm not much of a c++ programmer, but I wonder what will be the implications for pleco? I haven't looked at the license, but will this make possible the idea of writing to a pleco api in palm linux?

[mikelove]

Supposedly the new Linux-based system will still be able to run old Palm OS software (indeed, that's probably the main reason why Palm paid over $40MM for a perpetual license to the old Palm OS Garnet code), so in all likelihood Pleco will run on it with little or no effort on our end.

Beginning in Pleco 2.0 the core engine (which does dictionary searches/retrievals, flashcard database manipulation, etc) is all written in cross-platform-friendly C and would be very easy to port to embedded Linux, so if Palm rolls out a new native-application API which offers more features / better performance we could certainly consider porting our software to it.

[gato]

Take a look at this article about the release the Access version of Linux-based Palm. Access is the Japanese company that bought PalmSource (the OS part of Palm that was spun off years ago).

http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4018299974.html

Access Linux Platform for mobile devices goes gold

Feb. 12, 2007

Screenshots of the Access PalmOS-compatible Linux System

It looks like all of a sudden we will have two PalmOS-compatible Linux systems on the market. Palm has the advantage of controlling its own hardware. Access will still have to find licensees for its OS.

I think the more critical thing for Palm is form factor. Theyneed to build something closer to the size of a phone, though the Treo 680's getting pretty close .