Comments on: Palm 3.5 Upgrade Now Available

The much discussed 3.5 OS Upgrade is finally available on Palm's Web site. It's a free download for Palm Vx's but all others will have to buy it. An electronic download costs $15 while a CD copy costs $20 plus shipping and handling.

This is the first time Palm has charged for an upgrade. "Typically what you have seen in a Palm upgrade has been very incremental," said John Cook, senior director for consumer product marketing. "We think we have added a lot more value."

Why Palm took so long to make this upgrade available is still a mystery. It has been shipping on new Palms since February and the much talked about memory leak was cleared up in August.

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Developer version?

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2000 11:25:47 AM #

Anyone know if this is the same as the "dr4" release?

RE: Developer version?

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2000 9:53:56 AM #

It is identical to the version with DR4 release.

Upgrading

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2000 11:39:09 AM #

Finally!!! But I dont understand why only PalmVx people get the free upgrade while others has to pay for it??? $15 to download... someone call the police!!!

I have the PalmV, but was upgraded to 8mb. I was wondering if I can use the upgrade from their download site thats is stating its for PalmVx???? has anyone try it yet????!?!?!?!

johnlo

RE: Upgrading

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2000 11:54:06 AM #

How did you upgrade your Palm V to 8MB?

RE: Upgrading

ardiri @ 11/14/2000 12:12:08 PM #

although my Palms have been running palmos 3.5 since february, i tried the "free" version of the upgrade utility and it failed with my Palm V :(( - i had to try it though :P hehe

as for the difference between dr4? i doubt there is any.. they include the update352.prc when the install is done - so i suspect its just the same :)

cheers

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

RE: Upgrading

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2000 1:43:07 PM #

1) just check out this site about the upgrading to 8mb. http://www.palmpilotupgrade.com/

2) So if it fail on you.. i guess the only solution is to buy the CD for the upgrade. is it worth the $15????

RE: Upgrading

Rusty @ 11/14/2000 6:56:41 PM #

A few points:

1. I am saddened by the great delay in the release of the Upgrade, but glad that it is finally here and, more importantly, available as a seperate product unto itself from the Internet Connectivity Kit.

2. The Palm Vx owners get the upgrade free because Palm switched OSes in the middle of the sale of Vx's. I myself am one who was stuck with a Vx with OS 3.3. I paid the same as the next guy (actually more!), but didn't get everything that was advertised. The other models had been discontinued at this point and were never shipping with 3.5. Supporting older hardware with newer software does create support issues with costs money, hence the charge to the older Palm users.

3. I think the cost is a little high at $20 for the CD, but if you realize that they are not limiting the number of devices an individual can upgrade with the CD, the "profit" to Palm goes down dramatically. 1 person buys it, and 5 of his friends will wind up using it also (not ethically, of course). You will probably have the same number of people "copy" the upgrade as you would have had at a $5 a CD price. It just factors in a perceived piracy level, unfortunately. They may also be taking into consideration the number of people that they figure will NOT COMPLETELY READ THE INSTRUCTIONS and require calls to Palm to fix things after they have removed they Palm from the cradle in the middle of the flash or other such easily avoidable mistakes.

4. Visors cannot be upgraded in this fashion because they do not have Flash memory. This is a downside to the Visor, but the lack of Flash memory also helps keep the cost down and makes a consistent user base in all Visors of one type. How many Palm III's out there will be running OS 3.0, 3.1, 3.3 or 3.5 and how incompatible is some of the software with each OS? Handspring creates a forced consistency.

These are my 4 cents, you are free to disagree or agree among yourself.

Rusty

Visor

David3.14 @ 11/14/2000 1:49:24 PM #

What about a patch for the visor? I would pay for that if it had a visor patch

RE: Visor

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2000 1:56:34 PM #

I thought you cant upgrade on the visor??? than again I only use the Palm..

3.52 hangs up

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2000 7:50:34 PM #

I've installed the 3.52 upgrade in my Vx and some apps hangs up. Somebody knows how to remove this upgrade? (quick please, AvantGo also hangs-up)

lafor@arrakis.es

RE: 3.52 hangs up

Ed @ 11/15/2000 7:57:58 AM #

I believe you can get a copy of the OS 3.3 upgrade from this page: http://www.palm.com/support/upgrade/ and just run the upgrade app. This should downgrade your Palm to 3.3.

---
Plenipotentiary
Palm Infocenter

Why should we pay?!

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2000 8:39:50 PM #

I don't understand why must we pay for this upgrade after we paid so much for our palms.If Palm could provide OS 3.3 for free to us, why not now?It is almost like they are giving us two ways to go,don't spend money and become obselied(sorry for bad english)and have to buy a new palm soon.Or we pay for the upgrade.Either way we are going to give palm more dough.

Upgrade doesn't work with Belkin USB serial adapter for MAC

winston @ 11/14/2000 10:03:16 PM #

I have Powerbook 2000 running OS 9.04. I tried installing the new upgrade via my Belkin USB adapter and the upgrade fails. The attempt doesn't destroy my data, however, it just doesn't allow the upgrade to complete--I get an error specifying a problem with the serial port.

If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to email me at ibulldog36@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Flash the 3.5 rom on PalmV ?

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2000 2:54:22 AM #

Since the PalmV and Vx both use the EZ processor, why can't I download the Vx ROM file 3.5 and use the old 3.3 upgrade utillity to flash it to me Palm V ?

Anyone tried this ?

Will OS 3.5 be compatible with installed S/w on IIIX?

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2000 8:55:26 AM #

Anyone know?

...pay for OS upgrade ????

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/16/2000 3:52:04 AM #

it seems like Palm tries to work with Mircosoft-like methods to earn some more money. Before I even start to think about paying them money for a upgrade, I will think about buying a Handspring Visor or propably a Psion Revo the next time !

I've had OS 3.5 on my Palm IIIx for months and months!

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/16/2000 5:39:53 AM #

It was on a warez site ages ago - I've had it on my IIIx months and months! It's a nice upgrade - a good few nice extras. Look around on the web for the ROM file - and install it - don't bother paying for it!

RE: I've had OS 3.5 on my Palm IIIx for months and months!

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2001 1:05:54 PM #

Where did you find the upgrade for free? please e-mail me.

Thx

[ No Subject ]

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/16/2000 8:25:08 PM #

The Palm 3.5 upgrade has at long last been made available to us @ a charge of $15 & $ 20. I have installed it & don't see any major differences to my unit. I fail to see the advantage in upgrading. I spent the money for an upgrade that has no noticable improvements. If someone can point them out to me I would be greatful.
JM

OS 3.5 "Upgrade"

K Knudson @ 11/16/2000 9:58:45 PM #

Have IIIxe with Application OS3.5. Is there any reason to "upgrade" to the new 3.5? Any harm in upgrading?

IR Hotsync, Euro

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/20/2000 11:25:06 AM #

Such shameless hype. IR hotsync and Euro character support has been around since 3.3!!

I've been doing IR hotsync for months! I only went back to the cradle when i couldn't grok Linux's IR drivers.

The handspring visor is looking better every day.

RE: IR Hotsync, Euro

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/18/2001 6:17:42 PM #

hiya
i am trying to get IR Hotsync to work with my palm V OS3.3
Yoiu say, that you have done this?
HOW ???
Please email me on bilgrav@image.dk

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