Palm 5 OS!

[GadgetLover]

Read this interesting article about Palm's future:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2965

I wonder if a Palm could run on a PowerPC chip with an emulator of a mini-Mac OS X layer ...

dreamin'

[AdmiralAK]

huh ?
the new OS will run on the StrongARM architecture, what does that have to do with PowerPC ?

[ksuther]

Absolutely nothing

[GadgetLover]

Exactly, nothing.

I never said it did.

I said I wonder *IF* a Palm could run on a PowerPC chip"; I never said that the article had anything to do with my optimistic thought -- it just SPARKED it. If Palm is considering alternative chips (non-Dragonball) then why not a PowerPC solution. ... in fact, I even postscripted that I was just "dreamin'".

Make sure you read properly before you retort.

[AdmiralAK]

Well true, but you cant just pick any chip and put it in a PDA :-) --- some chips are designed for a PDA just like chips are optimized for laptops.

The ARM architecture is a nice and powerful architecture (and not as power consuming) for a PDA (the newton ran on it ) , in retrospect you cant really put a pentium, SPARC or PowerPC chip in a PDA by today's standards because of power consumption and cooling issues :-)

[GadgetLover]

I don't disagree, but I will say that the PowerPC G3 chip in laptops is not too power hungry or heat intensive and, engineering permitting, could be--within the next two years--put into a PDA in the right configuration to work. As for power consumption, hog-wash.... they are constantly improving battery technology and fuel cells are just around the corner. It really won't be too long before computers as we think of them are transformed into cell phones and PDA's.

Care to place a wager?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Fuel cells aren't right around the corner. They're around two or three corners. Yes, they're here, but that's like saying that atom-sized transistors are here -- yeah, in IBM's labs, and that's it. Just because something is invnted doesn't mean you'll see it in any consumer products for a long time. And the Admiral is right -- you can't just slap a G3 into a PDA and expect it to run off of two AA or AAA batteries like Palm devices do... or even their rechargeable models.

The G3 is considered "low power consumption" by DESKTOP and maybe LAPTOP standards. It would be considered "insanely high power consumption" by PDA standards.

I'd be willing to make a bet of $100 that we don't see a PowerPC-based PDA in the next year. After that year, we'll review and I'll consider betting another $100 on another year after that.

At any rate, the processor they've got now is good-to-go for a while. It does what it needs to do, and fast, too.

I think this topic belongs more in the "Rumors" or "Palm PDA" sections rather in "Hot Topics and General Discussion."

[AdmiralAK]

Just to add to the points made above, Server standards are different from dekstop standards, which are different from laptop standards which are different from sublaptop standards which are different from PDA standards (wow that was a mouthfull).

No matter how much you improve battery technology you need to keep in mind the costs. One reason you dont see desktop chips in laptops as soon as those particular chips hit the marker is power consumption and cooling ability. Imagine how much starker the image for a PDA looks.

Just like the desktop OS model doesnt work for a PDA based OS, so does a desktop chip architecture is unfiting for a PDA device. The ARM chips have been made (I believe) to accomondate such devices, and keep getting better and better at it. Its just something they do.


Even IF a G3 was optimized sufficiently enough for a PDA it would take a looong time, it would be like waiting for copland and by the time it arrives (if ever) its prime has passed. That is preciselly the reason why we need specialized chip and a "start from scratch" mentality for these devices, because they are not desktops. They are smaller machines which are not aimed at replacing our desktop.


I dont think we will be seeing a G3 PDA ever.

Admiral