where are the Rom images?

Hi,

I am new to palm programing but the books I'm reading and the websites I'm refering to all say I can download rom images from the Palm website if I join their developer program. I did...I can't find any Roms. Where are they?

Anyone please? I've spent half a day just looking for them!

Thank you

That was written before all the different Palm/PalmOne/PalmSource/Access splits and mergers. Currently if you register as a developer with Access, you can download from them the generic 4.1.2 ROM image for the palm OS Emulator. All the other ROM images have been removed. At this point, I assume, most developers use the Palm OS Simulators instead. Specific device simulators can be found in Palm's developer area. The Generic Garnet Simulator (v5.4) can be found from Access.

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

Let me get this clear in my head. The Rom images are not distributed for free anymore except fot the generic 4.1.2. I downloaded that and It's an image for only three types of Palm: V, Vx and III . right?

The Palm OS Simulator is the alternative to the Palm OS Emulator and its images but it's not for free?

Can I download an image from my Palm device using a USB cradle?

Thank you,

The Palm OS Emulator emulates the hardware of the older Dragonball processor Palm OS devices. However to work, it needs a ROM image from a device. Palm use to distribute to registered developers the ROM images for all of there older devices. One could also extract your own ROM image from your actual device. Currently, Access only distributes a generic 4.1.2 ROM image. As far as I know, this ROM image is not for any real device. The Palm OS Emulator only does DragonBall processor devices, it thus can only do Palm OS 1.0 through 4.X.

The Palm OS Simulators simulates the run time environment of a newer ARM processor Palm OS device. Each simulator simulates a specific Palm OS device. They are distributed with ROM images. These ROM images are specially tooled for the simulator, they are not identical to the actual device's ROM image. The simulators can run standard Palm OS dragonball code unchanged. To simulate ARM code however, a developer has to compile their application is a special way to generate a stub PRC file and a windows DLL. Access distributes some generic simulators which simulates no specific device. Palm distributes some specific simulators for many of their past and current Palm OS 5.X devices. Each simulator does one device.

All of the above Palm OS Emulators and Simulators from Palm or from Access are free, so long as you are a registered developer with them.

There are some other Palm OS Emulators and Simulators, both old and new, but the above are the main ones.

Long ago, Codewarrior for Palm OS, running on a Mac had what was called a Palm OS simulator. This actually was different link library that would be used when building your application. The results was an Mac application, which could then be run and debugged on the desktop.

Palm Source had, and I assume Access now has, a hardware board that can be used to prototype new devices. NOT Cheap. Typically for use by Palm OS hardware manufacturers.

Palm Source had, and I assume Access now has in the Developer's Pay area, a Palm OS 5.X Emulator that runs on the desktop and uses the ROM images from the above hardware prototype board. The last time I checked the pay area was about $150 per year.


My understanding is that older ROM images are not distributed any more, period. My assumption is that this is because of the Xerox/Palm Unastroke/Graffiti patten law suit. All the older ROMs would infringe on Xerox's pattens, for they contained Graffiti 1.
Those device could run 4.1, I do not think they ever ran 4.1.2. However, originally the III ran 3.0, the V ran 3.1, and the early Vx's ran 3.3 but the majority ran 3.5. Version 4.0 first appeared in the m500, and 4.1 in the m505.

The Palm OS Simulators are also free.

If it is a 4.X or earlier device.

So what does all of this mean? If I want to develop Palm applications on my Mac, what do I need to get? I checked out Access's site and didn't find anything that wasn't PC only (what a surprise). The only Mac related stuff was just individual files and not a development environment or SDK plus, they were all >3 years old.

Actually I have a semi-related query. I'm looking for a copy of Palm OS 3.30 for use with a IIIx which I partially bricked a few months ago. (Tried to do a defrag of flash (TRG XTRA XTRA PRO) and rechargeable batteries that weren't fresh enough. Ended up with a Palm that hangs at the logo, so I could likely reflash it.) Anyways, the upshot it I got a copy of an installer from the existing Palm site (IIRC), however it comes as a stand-alone installer that wants to backup your Palm BEFORE flashing, which just isn't going to work as my Palm cannot boot that far and I have NOT been able to find a way to force it to skip that step.


So, does anyone know if any of the official Palm sites still have any of the older ROM images available as raw binaries as they used to do so? (I haven't been able to find them myself, and I have no idea at all on which CD-ROM my old images from years ago are.)

A way of forcing their all-in-one OS 3.30 plus flasher to skip the backup?

A way of extracting the ROM image from the all-in-one package?

(I'm not really interested in the newer versions of Palm OS as they offer nothing for a IIIx other than maybe a few more apps or newer version of apps might work on it, while sucking up more flash ram.)

[EDIT]
UPDATE:
I found a workaround. I decided to check Palm.com again and for some reason decided to try downloading the revert to Palm OS 3.10 application.

Loading that gives, initially, a similar screen to the Palm OS 3.30 upgrade where it wants you to sync your Palm FIRST and THEN do the upgrade, but I decided to try clicking the ADVANCED button with this one. In this app, the advance button lets you SKIP the sync and tells you to go straight to debug mode, which I did, and successfully \"reverted\" my IIIx to 3.10. (The 3.30 ADVANCED button does NOT let you SKIP the backup! VERY annoying of them!)

I've got it doing a restore ATM on some random profile that I had, and plan to run the 3.30 \"upgrade\" once I get something established on it.

Now, all I've got to do is track down where I have all of the copies of my old apps, and a copy of TRG's FlashPro so that I can use the extra flash RAM again.

(I never recalled how different 3.10's menus and behavior was from 3.30 until I did this then went through the setup routine and tried to figure out/recall where all the sync/etc. info was under 3.10. Even if the 3.30 changes were mainly cosmetic, it certainly was a HUGE improvement.)
[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]
Got most of the software back on, simply by the expedient of downloading fresh copies from the various home pages of the apps, e.g. iSilo, CSPOTRUN, pluckr, etc. Also tracked down a copy of TRG's flashpro long buried on one of my drives. Only ended up losing some books from the Palm bookstore, but I have them on CD somewhere IF I can remember the cc # needed to open them...

In case you were wondering, I also own a Handspring Prism, Sony Slie, and a couple of other Palms, but I ALWAYS preferred the old IIIx mostly, as it had incredibly long battery life(even on rechargeables) and was great to use out on sunny days v. even the best color units tended to become just about unuseable.

Also had a few other non-Palm OS devices, e.g. wince(and I do!), linux, eBookman, but I still preferred Palm OS devices for handhelds.

So it was all worth the effort and experimentation. Just have to keep the 3.1 reverter and 3.3 updater apps handy now in case it happens again.
[/EDIT2]