EnterpriseMobileToday Other PDAs

Home | News | Reviews | Features | Tips | Mobile Product Watch | Forums



Internet.com's premiere site for mobile managers and IT professionals is where wireless meets business. Our expert analysis and tips will guide you in buying, deploying, securing and managing mobile technology in the enterprise. You'll find strategic analysis, best practices, news, buyer.s guides and practical advice on how to evaluate and support a wide range of devices in the workforce.


  Other PDAs > News > Run Palm OS Software on Nokia Devices

Run Palm OS Software on Nokia Devices

By James Alan Miller
November 13, 2007

Click to View
ACCESS today introduced a beta of a Garnet VM (virtual machine) for Nokia's series of Internet Tablets. Once known as Palm OS Garnet, the Garnet mobile platform was developed by former Palm subsidiary PalmSource, which was acquired and absorbed by ACCESS a couple of years ago.

This is significant because Garnet VM makes it possible for these Linux-run tablets - the N770, N800 and N810 - to run the over 30,000 applications developed for the Palm OS over the years, greatly increasing the amount of software available to users of these Wi-Fi (not cellular) wireless devices.

Some of the most popular applications (i.e. Google Maps, Snappermail, DateBk5 as well as games like Bejeweled, PacMan, and Sudoku) on the market aren't available for Nokia's tablets. With Garnet VM installed, they now are, according to ACCESS.

For the last couple of years, ACCESS has been developing and fine-tuning its follow up to the Palm OS, the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP). Today's announcement grew out of that work.

That’s because ALP includes three runtime environments, Garnet VM, Java and native Linux. Like with the Nokia tablets, the Garnet VM will allow ALP users to run Palm OS software. (Palm’s got its own Linux-based Palm OS II in the works too. It promises its platform, which we may not see until 2009, will support Palm OS Garnet applications as well.)

In addition to benefiting Nokia tablet users by giving them access to a wider swath of software, Garnet VM is also a win for Palm OS developers; a group ACCESS would like to keep happy, in addition to developing for ALP when the time comes.


Bejeweled Running on N810

ACCESS senior VP Didier Diaz says Garnet VM will give developers a larger installed base of devices; and it will enable “Access to fine-tune Garnet VM based on customer feedback.”

You can download the beta of Garnet VM now from the ACCESS Web site. There's a different version of the beta software for each of the three Nokia Internet Tablets.

ACCES also has a Compatibility Survey (feedback form) up on its site for those participating in the beta program to fill out.

The final edition of Garnet VM should become available as a free download before the close of 2007, ACCESS says.

See the links below for more on the N770, N800 and N810 as well as ALP and Garnet VM.



Related Links:

  • ACCESS Linux Platform For Smartphones & More
  • Palm's First Linux Smartphone Delayed Until Late 2008, Possibly 2009
  • Review: Nokia N800 Internet Tablet
  • Review: Nokia 770 Wi-Fi Tablet
  • Nokia’s Third-Gen Linux Tablet Sports GPS, Slider Keyboard

     
     Printable Version
     Email this Story to a Friend




  • The Network for Technology Professionals

    Search:

    About Internet.com

    Legal Notices, Licensing, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
    Advertise | Newsletters | E-mail Offers