Old Hardware Emulated :POSE Emulating The Palm Pilot (Part 6)

May 31, 2021

The Watershed Moment For Internet On Handhelds

The Palm m500

On March 6, 2001, Palm Computing released the latest incarnation of the Palm Pilots, the m500 series. While sharing the same design as the Palm V, the m500 device, which was the entry level model in the series, continued the march of progress by incorporating the latest release of PalmOS, version 4.0. It came with a 33MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ processor. Dropping the V would make the Motorola chip sound like the name of a popular Japanese anime. The device also came with 8MB's of RAM and a 160x160 pixel monochrome LCD display with 16 shades of gray on the screen. The m500 came with a built-in lithium rechargeable battery that took approximately 2 hours to recharge. It could support a SD card for additional storage.

The m500 also came with the Palm Internet Kit. While the m500 wasn't the first Palm device that had Internet capabilities (that honor went to the Palm VII, which was released in 1999), the Internet on handhelds was becoming much more significant by the m500's release.

As noted early, the Palm executable was distributed as a PRC file. The new internet enabled applications came as PRQ files, which was essentially a PRC executable with embedded HTML code. A PRQ program allowed internet services to be launched by clicking the icon. These services was essentially the home page of that particular app. In most ways, this is the precursor to the original intent of the iPhone applications before the App Store took over where the "app" was essentially a launcher for the website or web service.

The PalmPilot The Ultimate Guide book released by O'Reilly goes into great detail about both the Palm m500 and the PRQ files. The book went into detail about how a independent developer could write their own PRQ launcher. In fact, the CD that came with the book not only came with a massive library of programs, but also the development tools on how to create your own PRQ files. The source code for the BBC PRQ launcher was included as a example.

The PRQ files wouldn't launch on any other emulated Palm on the POSE emulator. This is the primary reason why I decided to emulate the m500 for the following screenshots.The PRQ launchers installed and ran on the m500. The Tucows shareware site included a lot of PRQ programs that the user could download and then install onto their Palm as well. Installing these PRQ files using POSE was very straightforward and is the same as installing a PRC application. The website launcher immediately showed up on the PalmOS screen after installation.

At this point, it should be noted that even though the embedded homepage launched, none of the links on that page worked. This really shouldn't be a surprise for multiple reasons. Using the web service required membership to a Palm-oriented ISP, which no longer exist. Also, POSE doesn't emulate the wireless modem. Lastly, the proxy servers that were used to render these links have long since been retired.

It's at this point that we need to describe how the internet on the Palm Pilot worked. This has already been covered in previous articles, but it's relevant here, so it will be covered again. First, the Palm needed to have a wireless modem. The user would also need to be subscribed to a Palm ISP that allowed access to the internet thought the device.

The PRQ application launched what is essentially a scaled-down version of the desktop website with a lot of HTML code stripped out. The early Palm devices didn't have the resources to render all of the HTML code that a desktop browser could process. As a result, when a link was opened from the PRQ, the request for the link was sent to a proxy server which would take the desktop webpage, strip down the page and remove massive chunks of the HTML code, and then deliver that page to the Palm in a format that the device could understand. This is also beneficial from a bandwidth perspective as the page was optimized for the Palm pilot. These devices could only hold so much data before all the available storage in the handheld had been used up. Their was a monthly subscription to the Palm ISP.

The m500 shipped with a $399 dollar price tag, making the m500 one of the much more expensive Palm devices. As a result, most of those who would have brought these devices would have been the traveling businessman on the go. The type that would be able to afford the device along with the web services that came with it. At this point, it should be noted that the color m505 was released alongside the m500 with a going price of $499. 256 colors on a handheld didn't come cheat in 2001!

With a $399 price tag, most using this device would have been business users that had subscriptions to the major financial services. One could almost liken the m500 as the spiritual successor of the Psion in this regard. The PRQ launchers would have made it easy to access the web services of major corporations and financial institutions. One could check their stock portfolio on Ameritrade or E*trade, or check the markets using CBS MarketWatch, CNBC, or Bloomberg.

Some more PRQ financial apps. The web designer should have put in more effort to make the Investments Icon for the Prudential Financial site look a little less "Swatiska"-ish.

For these user, instant on-demand news would have been a must, and the PRQ news portals could deliver that news on the go. It should be noted that the vast majority of the PRQ launchers released for the Palm were generally business or information oriented, which tells a lot about the users base for these Palms. This is a far cry of today where many apps today cater to the social and/or multimedia experience. Granted, many applications of the financial nature still exist on today's modern platforms, but in the early days, this was basically it.

However, the search engines permitted more recreational use of the Palm web services as well. Not shown, but released, the ESPN app allowed sports fans to get the latest scores on the go. Information is key. As such, for that businessman on the road or in the plane, the Palm became the traveling companion of sorts. For the first time, one could get a weather forecast instantly, along with maps and directions to a certain destination, or check out the latest books on Amazon; all without the need of the PC.

Granted, while the ability to surf the web on a handheld device was a revolutionary development, the thrill disappeared once the novelty wore off. The user had to wait for the link to download onto their device as the proxy service was working overtime crunching that page down to a format that the Palm could understand. The wireless connectivity wasn't the strongest of connections. Their was a lot to be desired. Even now, when one can surf the full web on a smartphone, it's still a massive annoyance shrinking the web onto a small screen.

However, one can take such power for granted today. We've moved from 3G to 4G, and as I'm typing this, 5G wireless internet is proliferating the marketplace at a rapid rate. One can watch that YouTube video on a long flight now. One can check their Facebook status while being the backseat driver. All that amazing power had to start somewhere, right?

Articles of Interest

Palm V - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_V

Palm OS Emulator - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_OS_Emulator

Palm, Inc. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm,_Inc.

Freescale DragonBall - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freescale_DragonBall

Palm (PDA) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_(PDA)

3Com - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Com

Palm m500 series - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_m500_series

Palm V - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_V

Palm VII - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_VII

Palm’s progress: The rise, fall—and rebirth—of a legendary brand - https://www.fastcompany.com/90246716/palms-progress-the-rise-fall-and-rebirth-of-a-legendary-brand

Palm: The Rise and Fall of a Legend - https://www.technobuffalo.com/palm-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-legend