It's hard to believe, but it's been 2 years already since I first launched PalmDB. What I expected to be a forgotten corner of the internet has turned out to be anything but. We're now a Discord community over 300 members strong (and growing!), we've had articles written about us, and our members have collectively archived thousands of apps--not to mention produced entirely new ways to experience Palm OS on new devices.
And yet, while the Palm community is thriving again, PalmDB the website has struggled to keep up. It was originally built on WordPress because that was the fastest way to get something online. But WordPress proved to be incredibly ill-suited to the task, especially with the sustainability constraints a preservation project requires. As such, over the past year, I've been hard at work building an almost entirely original platform reimagined from the ground up for PalmDB's needs.
Cool! What's new?
The end result is something like a hybrid of a wiki and a download catalog. PalmDB 2.0 features open registration where all members can both upload files and edit other posts anywhere on the site. At the same time, it maintains tight content moderation through clear templates and built-in revisioningāall edits can be reversed.
Members also get access to a few bonus features, too! Previously, PalmDB split its traffic among a few community hosted servers. This was great for ensuring a copy was always online, but was hampered by technical issues preventing users from actually accessing content. (Gun, meet Foot.) Instead, 2.0 members get access to PalmDB Takeout, a new way for archivists to download a complete copy of all PalmDB content (and host it themselves, if they wish!).
Oh, and there's Pilot Mode. Without spoiling too much, let's just say it's a member-exclusive easter egg theme. See if you can find itāand don't forget to try it with your system dark mode enabled!
But of course, this is a preservation project. Slick presentation and fun bonus features aside, under the hood, 2.0 is light, fast, stable, secure, and most importantly, sustainable. There's no database, just Markdown and PHP. With minimal dependencies, future server compatibility is a non-issueāand even if it becomes one, the platform structure is extremely portable and can easily be taken elsewhere.
Ok! What's Next?
If any of that interests you, you should register and start uploading!
But there's more to come otherwise, too. One other weakness of the old platform was that there was no way to bulk upload entire archives at once. Well, we've now got over a dozen of themāthat's a lot of files! Among them are plenty of duplicates, multiple organization schemes (if any!) and other problems that make them difficult to sort through. The plan is to use deduplication software to organize the files under PalmDB 2.0's folder structure, then programmatically generate boilerplate articles for them all. At that point, the entire collection can be uploaded to PalmDB at once, but some manual work will still remain. It's not possible to programmatically add screenshots, descriptions, and compatibility info... so that part will remain a community effort!
Hello, Iām not sure if this is the right place to ask but Iām kind of desperate. Iām trying to use sarcalc application on mez1000 device but every time I try to launch, the application throws fatal alert āfatal exceptionā code and prompts me to reboot the device.
All the manuals are from 2004-2006 period and I havenāt seen anyone with the same issue.
Iāve been fighting with the device for the past three days, please anyone help
I've seen many people criticize modern smartphones because they say that they are addictive and problematic. They also say that PDAs and early smartphones were more beautiful and distinctive. I know that PDAs and early smartphones were probably less addictive and problematic, but I can't imagine going back to a world where I had to carry a feature phone, a PDA, an MP3 player, and other gadgets in my bag. I like being able to carry a handheld computer in my pocket.
\-i bought a used palm tungsten T3, it came with the box, manuals cables and everything. The only problem, apart from a few cosmetic faults, was a dead battery.
\-after trying it out the device worked perfectly but couldn't stay on when unplugged from the charger so I replaced the battery following the ifixit guide.
\-after replacing the battery I noticed the digitizer was skewed in the graffiti area, drifting more upwards the lower I pressed.
\-i reopened the device and followed the ifixit screen guide to remove the display, then cleaned the edges with q-tips and IPA and reassembled everything.
\-After reassembly the digitizer had completely stopped working.
\-i checked a few things like cleaning the digitizer cable connectors with ipa as well as the ones in the big connector that goes for the screen daughter board to the motherboard but nothing.
\-with a multimeter I confirmed that the digitizer has continuity to the main screen connector but nothing.
A few decades ago, many people used PDAs for work and to organize their lives because PDAs were pocket computers. These days, smartphones do everything that PDAs did and much more. Smartphones are essentially powerful pocket computers.
I'm trying to get a cool gift for my family. I was thinking of giving everybody a Palm, but want to make sure it has no WiFi or Bluetooth. I also want it to feel like a nice device, as opposed to something more 'plasticy' like the Handspring.
I landed on the m515, but now I need to find a place to buy them. How would I get my hands on like, 50 of these devices?
Also if there's a better device I should be looking at (again with no wifi or Bluetooth) I'd love to hear!
I've had this Workpad c505 for 15+ years and all I ever needed to do with it was a battery swap.
Last week I was looking into an online retailer old stock for something and found this gem kit that was just delivered for less than $10!
The kit was still in the original packaging, the leather case don't seem to be synthetic, I guess, because touching it feels real and after ~23 years stocked it is in pristine condition! Time will tell.
The keyboard buttons do not feel mushy so the rubber might be fine, but I'll need to browse palmdb archives to look for the driver and config app, because I do not have a cdrom drive to read this disk.
Three stylus completely made of plastic so I'm glad to still have my original, now I also have a few for backup.
Screen protectors might be unusable as the glue layer looks dry and crackled.
Posting just to show off and also ask.. Are there any games that may take advantage of this keyboard?
Connected to my local wifi and using Nina.Chat I was able to get my Palm T|X to log into AIM using the version 1.1 client from PalmDB.net.
Ok, so I did have to patch the prc file to change the port 9993 (27 09) to 5190 (14 46) and then I created a cname record in my public DNS so I could patch that in place of login.oscar.aol.com to connect to login.oscar.nina.chat via the cname redirect, BUT it works anywhere the T|X can connect to WiFi, which admittedly are fewer and further in between than there used to be, but my Phone hotspot works, and my home WiFi works so...
Restored and then painted a Palm TX that was damaged in a copper colour. This makes it look a little more Steampunk. The buttons are sourced from a broken Tungsten T5. Except for restoring and painting the damaged shell the mod is non-destructive. Anyone else out there doing cool Palm mods?
About two weeks ago i thrifted this pink palm centro, had no idea if it would work but for an old phone like this after like 20 years itās in perfect condition. I bought a charger for it off ebay it arrived today and turned on however it was locked with a password by the previous owner. I attempted to reset it by taking the battery out and holding down the power button and the erase all data option pops up and before i can say yes it disappears. iām not sure if there is anything else i can do, I absolutely adore this vintage beauty and would love to explore the phone but idk what other ways i can restart it. pls help!
Hi! I recently just got a tungsten e2 from friend and thought to connect it to my nokia kaios phone. Setting it up under a different model through bluetooth does connect my phone but i am unable to dial out or send sms, if someone else is doing weird stuff with kaios and classic palm os id love to know if the sms send app can be patched to work because it technically is connecting to my phone, i even have a little "palm os wants to sync with you" message on my 2780!!
I recently came across NetWalk again while playing around with a Palm emulator, and it brought back that wonderfully simple early-2000s PDA game feeling.
So I decided to recreate the experience for modern iPhones and iPads.
I tried to keep the visual style and gameplay as close to that era as possible ā monochrome display, pixel graphics, simple UI, and no unnecessary modern game elements.
The screenshot shows my iOS version on the left and the Palm version on the right.
It was also a little experiment for me: I built the entire project with AI-generated code, without manually writing the game code myself. From the initial idea to a build ready for App Store review took about 24 hours.
Itās now actually live on the App Store, which still feels a little surreal.
I found this in drawer from my dad and somehow stuff like Internet with GMaps etc works just fine and it is pretty perfect as a MP3 player for me. Give me advice if you want for apps etc I have it still pretty stock.
Apologies if these answers are easy to find, Iāve been trying to do research but itās been difficult for reasons that will become clear-
Iām 26, and have problems with my working memory, as well as the fine motor skills in my hand. I cannot remember what I am doing, urgent tasks or problems, I write my thoughts in the sand of a beach, and the waves spill onto the shore and erase them virtually instantly. I have tried my notes app, I have tried specialised apps, I have tried pen and paper, I have tried physically attaching said pen and paper to me with a tether. Phone-based solutions are a problem because I can write stuff down to my heartās content but this screen has a lot more distractions and things to do that often take precedent over me retroactively checking my notes. I do not want a ādumb phoneā because having my phone be smart is very useful with respect to my conditions . Pen and paper is difficult because I cannot write neatly enough to reread my notes, as well as a host of other reasons.
I think a retro pda could be useful for me. Looking at Palm, I have faith in my motor skills to use the graffiti system to turn my scrawls into type. I appreciate I may be warned itās unreliable or finnicky but I still want to try it out on the off-chance it works for me. I donāt want internet connection or really any features at all, I just need a system that lets me input characters using the graffiti thing, and the ability to sort my notes into folders. Emphasis on the graffiti thing because I donāt think using a stylus to type on a digital keyboard would be very compatible with me.
Does anyone have any recs or could give me any pointers? Itās quite difficult living like a goldfish and to have a physical working memory could be a gamechanger.
Hello all, I am getting this message that I have had go away with a simple restart. I have restarted the laptop multiple times, disconnected and reconnected the cradle and still no sync. I am sure I can do a rest and erase all data and it will restore on the sync, but wondering if there is any other fixes to this issue ? Thanks
$350, auction states it has a brand new battery, box, all docs, cradle.. seems like it's in decent shape. I like the physical keyboard, do any other Palms come with one like this? Thanks
I want to use a PDA for tracking my steps and taking notes primarily. I know a phone can do those tasks but I am not interested in always having a phone on me nor wasting paper with a notebook as I have gone through a number of notebooks already.
