A few points to think about 

By Khun Yee Fung Posted Sunday 22nd April 2007 17:25 GMT

A few points to think over about having Linux being the underlying OS on Palm:

1. Right now, Palm OS developers still develop mainly on 68k, even though it is possible to develop subroutines in ARM native code. So, using an emulator is a fact of life. I don't see how replacing the underlying OS emulating 68k by Linux will change much, barring Access or Palm botching the emulation on Linux.

2. It might actually allow the developer to develop whole applications in native ARM. Do we have to worry about memory segments in native ARM?

3. Maybe multi-threading will then be available? And a decent JVM can be written for Palm?

4. Memory protection comes for free with Linux. That surely is a good thing for Palm developers.

5. With Linux, maybe the applications can be written using Linux's libc?

6. A lot of developers seem to be have abandoned Palm after 2004, maybe this will lure them back?

7. Somebody can surely develop a mini-desktop for Linux. If that desktop allows current Palm applications to be launched, that would be a smooth migration path.

I can go on and on. If the emulator is being maintained at the same time, there are only up-sides with having Linux underneath.

There might be some potential disadvantages, of course. For one thing, it will be easy for programmers to produce bloatware. Let's port the whole Open Office to Palm, just because we can.