Palm OS Developer Suite v1.0 Final Available

PalmSource has officially released the final 1.0 version of the Palm OS Developer Suite (PODS). This is a new collection of tools supporting software development from Palm OS 4 to Palm OS Cobalt and Garnet.

Developers can download this release here. It is available as a single ZIP file (196MB) or as a split ZIP file (ten 20MB chunks). There are separate source code downloads for components distributed under open source licenses. This release is only intended to run on systems with Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows XP; other host operating systems, including older versions of Windows, are not supported yet at this time.

Key Features of PODS v1.0:

  • support for development for Palm OS Protein APIs (x86 and ARM), 68K, and PACE Native Objects
  • based on the open-source Eclipse IDE, version 2.1.2 and Eclipse C/C++ Developer Tools, version 1.2.1.
  • Managed Make support eliminates need to manually edit makefiles
  • integrated debugging support for Palm OS Simulators, Palm OS Emulator (POSE), and most devices with serial or USB connectivity
  • standalone Palm OS Resource Editor with support for XRD resource format
  • integrated build environment and command-line build tools
  • bundled SDKs and simulators for Palm OS Garnet (5.4 and earlier) and Palm OS Cobalt (6.0.1)

This IDE, based on the open-source Eclipse IDE originally developed by IBM, enables developers to create ARM-Native Palm OS Protein Powered applications for Palm OS Cobalt 6.0, as well as 68K applications for all shipping versions of Palm OS. The IDE combines compilers, debuggers, simulators, device emulators, and related tools into a comprehensive, integrated development suite known as Palm OS Developer Platform.

This release should not be installed over an existing PODS setup. It is strongly recommended users uninstall previous versions before installing this release.

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great timing

chinchorrero @ 8/10/2004 3:09:26 PM #
Great timing.


"Life is Too Short"
Tungsten T3-Sony ericsson T610,HBH-60,SanDisk 256Mb Sd Card

RE: great timing
tfftruoa @ 8/10/2004 5:06:25 PM #
I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not.

What about the timing is signifigant?

Sharp Wizard-->Handspring Visor "Deluxe"-->Sony Clie SJ30-->Palm Tungsten T3 w/ SE T68i

RE: great timing
skygazer @ 8/10/2004 11:29:50 PM #
I don't mind the timing. I just wish it supported Eclipse 3.0, or were a plugin. =) Eclipse is great dev environment. I think it was a good choice for Palm.
RE: great timing
bcombee @ 8/11/2004 2:10:10 AM #
The current top priority for the Palm OS Developer Suite team here at PalmSource is getting our own plugins updated to work with Eclipse 3.0 and CDT 2.0. We couldn't really move to these versions until they were stable, which is why the 1.0 release was based on the older tools.

--
Ben Combee
http://palmos.combee.net - PDA programmer weblog
RE: great timing
haslo @ 8/11/2004 11:36:01 AM #
I'm looking forward very much to the Eclipse 3.0 release then :)

RE: great timing
Toysoft @ 8/11/2004 11:47:00 AM #
Does this spell the end of code warrior?
I've been a die hard user since the MAC days and used it exclusively on the Palm. Is the developer suite comparable to CW ease of use?

RE: great timing
bcombee @ 8/11/2004 2:31:37 PM #
This is the toolset that PalmSource is producing to target our new operating system, Palm OS Cobalt. While it also supports 68K development, that's not our focus, and if you're currently using tools like CodeWarrior, there's not much reason to switch.

As for Metrowerks' plans, they have not stated anything about the future of their Palm OS tools at this time. They are still selling CW for Palm OS V9.3, and it works very well for developing applications that use the 68K API or PACE Native Objects.

--
Ben Combee
http://palmos.combee.net - PDA programmer weblog

Mac/Linux

Calroth @ 8/11/2004 6:44:10 AM #
Right, when do the Mac OS X and Linux developers get their version?

RE: Mac/Linux
Calroth @ 8/11/2004 6:48:37 AM #
Hmm, didn't mean to come across as demanding.

I know it's not just a case of "compile it for Mac OS X", and there's a whole lot of stuff that needs to be sorted out. But does anyone know if there's a serious effort on to support non-Windows platforms, or if I should just go and set up a Windows box now?

RE: Mac/Linux
bcombee @ 8/11/2004 2:33:48 PM #
PalmSource has said that it will be working to support developers using non-Windows platforms. I don't have anything to announce right now, however.

--
Ben Combee
http://palmos.combee.net - PDA programmer weblog
RE: Mac/Linux
grg @ 8/12/2004 12:48:10 AM #
Given that Eclipse is cross-platform I find unacceptable the fact that there are no Linux and MacOSX versions. PalmSource has been dissapointing since its separation from Palm. I expect much better effort in the future.

RE: Mac/Linux
bcombee @ 8/12/2004 2:47:28 AM #
1) Eclipse CDT doesn't directly support Mac OS X yet. While the base IDE has been on Mac OS X for a while, there are no Mac OS X builts of the C/C++ Development Tools that PODS is based upon. One of the goals of CDT 2.0 is support of Mac OS X, but it still has issues, and we need to finish our update to it as part of our work to support other OSes. Since so much of Eclipse is interaction with other tools, it does take effort to get it working on a new OS.

2) PODS isn't just Eclipse and CDT. It's also the Palm OS Resource Editor, the Palm OS Debugger, the Palm OS Protein C/C++ Compilers, and a lot of related tools. Those all have to be ported and tested on the other OSes. We viewed it important to release something for the OS where the grand majority of our developers are now (Win32).

3) Our development team for tools is fairly small and we have a lot of ground to cover. Support for non-Win32 OSes is on our roadmap, but we have to juggle that priority with adding new features, fixing bugs, and supporting future releases of Palm OS.

--
Ben Combee
http://palmos.combee.net - PDA programmer weblog

RE: Mac/Linux
MountainLogic @ 8/12/2004 11:52:34 AM #
Ben,

Have you heard of any efforts to port existing frameworks such as the Palm Object Library (POL) to Cobolt or efforts on new Frameworks? I know that these libraries are outside of the ownership of PalmSource, but they really help the application programmer work on the proper level to be productive. I hope PalmSource will make avery effort to aid in the growth of these resources. Thanks for a great tool set.

-scott

Frameworks
bcombee @ 8/13/2004 12:56:43 AM #
I think PalmSource recognizes that development for the Palm OS Protein API is a bit difficult right now. There's a lot of new APIs to understand, and things like the form rendering model and graphics API are complicated than in 68K development. However, the presence of a standard C library and the lack of 16-bit limits makes it easier to port code to Protein than the 68K API.

POL is something many of the people here at PalmSource know about, and I do feel it would be very useful to have it or something like it for Palm OS Cobalt development. I can't commit to anything, but your feedback has been noted.

--
Ben Combee
http://palmos.combee.net - PDA programmer weblog

RE: Mac/Linux
DevPOV @ 8/13/2004 7:04:04 PM #
I just wanted to say "Thanks for the hard work" to the PODS team. It's looking good.

RE: POL
SSchmitz99 @ 10/4/2004 12:20:11 PM #
I want to also pipe up and say that POL is a fantastic framework. I have used it for the past year and a half and have written two very signifigant applications with it. I recommend it as a great way to abstract away lots of the funky stuff about Palm development and allow the developer to work on their application.

I don't know what's going on with POL, but think its a real shame that such a solid framework would dissapear, especially when there is really nothing equilivent for Palm. I hate to be cynical, but do wonder if the people at Palm really "get" the benefit of OOP. This has been a longstandig weakness of palm development ad POL is such a complimentary product. Speaking for our company, we would not have attempted the sftware development on the scale we did without it and would have certainly developed for PPC instead had it not been for POL.

PalmSource should really license this software from Metrowerks. If I were involved with the decision I would lobby that the version that exists today be made open source under LGPL so that the community at large can support it. Then I would have the developer work on a new native Cobalt version, which would be sold. Sadly, POL was priced wrong from the start - it was $49 for one license. It really should have been something like $200-400 in order to generate revenue for the developer and make it more enticing to continue development. As it stands now, no one benefits from this situation. I do hope PalmSource takes some leadership here.


Scott Schmitz
RealOrganized, Inc.
Organizational Software for Real Estate

Impressive but not really ready

mint @ 8/16/2004 4:05:49 AM #
It's buggy and require a good installation. I have tried it. I liked it. But I would not used it for the serious things like my jobs.

___________________________________
if it's not practical, it's a cult.
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