Palm OS 5 By William | Reporter Date: 09/14/2003 The operating system delivers an enhanced user interface with improved personalization, security, multimedia, and wireless networking. PalmSource, the Palm subsidiary that provides operating systems for handhelds and smart phones, is offering Palm OS 5 to licensees and developers. Palm says OS 5-compatible software will see a performance benefit, and that developers can enrich their software to take advantage of new multimedia, wireless and security features. New support for ARM high-speed CPUs gives licensees more processor options, and help developers in expanding software capabilities. The following are new features in Palm OS 5: Enhanced user interface: Icons and fonts have been improved to support high-resolution displays and provide greater readability. Users can now personalize the interface with color themes. Tighter security: Palm OS 5 offers strong data-encryption services and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) services for more secure e-mail, Web browsing, and online transactions. Multimedia: Higher-fidelity sound and support for high-density screens improve multimedia experiences. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth: In addition to current support for WAN and Bluetooth, Palm OS 5 supports 802.11b for connections to wireless LANs.

Developers can continue to use the tools they like from previous versions of the operating system. Using the PalmSource Compatibility Program, they can also qualify their software for Palm OS 5 and receive permission to use the Palm Powered Compatible logo. This logo assures customers that the software runs well on current 68K products and future ARM-compliant products. Licensees can choose from a range of processors, starting with ARM 7 CPU and scaling to high-performance ARM chips from Intel, Motorola, and Texas Instruments.

Palm OS 4 and OS 5 side-by-side

Features	Palm OS 4	Palm OS 5
Processor support	As a 16-bit OS, it supports the Motorola 68000 series chips. Currently, all Palm devices are powered by a Dragonball processor.	Will support ARM-based processors from companies like Motorola, Intel, and Texas Instruments. This means that processing power of 32-bit OS 5 handhelds can run 2 to 20 times faster than current devices.
Backward compatibility	Software for older versions, if written properly, will be able to run on OS 4 devices.	To protect investment in older software, OS 5 supports the Application Programming Interface (API) of OS 4. So the new OS will be able to run software that is fully compliant with OS 4.
Hacks	Hacks are software designed by third-party developers to add new features to the operating system. Hacks work on OS 4 but rely on unsupported programming interfaces.	Current hacks, in general, will not be supported in OS 5. However, there may be other ways to create hacks for the new OS.
Security	Basic security available include locking the device and hiding records. However, there's no support for stronger 128-bit encryption except through third-party solutions.	OS 5 will have robust security options and offer a system-wide 128-bit encryption, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) services for secure Internet transactions, as a standard feature. Previously, Palm mentioned that a new authorization and authentication manager will allow various methods of restricting access and identification via biometric verfication (voice, fingerprints or handwriting) and smart cards. Apparently, none of these are built into OS 5 but Palm says that third-party developers will be able to build these solutions.
Wireless support	OS 4 has drivers and APIs that support wireless connectivity via Bluetooth, GSM, CDMA, and 2.5G/3G networks.	OS 5 extends the native support to include 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless networks.
Graphics user interface (GUI)	Screen resolution of 160 x 160 pixels is standard for OS 4. Sony, however, was able to tweak the OS such that it supports 320 x 320 pixels on the CLIEs. User interface is consistant with previous versions of the Palm OS.	Screen resolution in multiples of 160 x 160-pixels, such as 320 x 320 and 480 x 480, are supported. There is no native support for other screen aspect rations, such as the QVGA 320x240 offered on the HandEra 330. Enhancements to fonts, icons, graphics and other user interface elements will be made to take advantage of this feature. The OS is also now "theme-able" and different color themes are included.
Multimedia	Weak support for audio and video files.	Video and audio capabilities improved with a new set of APIs that developers can harness to deliver multimedia apps and solutions. While there is no built-in video subsystem, the new processors should allow third-party developers to create better video playback software.
Web browsing	No built-in Web browser. However, third-party solutions are available.	PalmSource will provide a new, standards-compliant browser for OS 5. Palm's current Web browser requires a proxy server to adapt Web pages for the Palm's small screen. By the time OS 5 ships, Palm expects to have a Web browser that doesn't need a proxy server to transcode Web content.

Where do I get the Simulator? Download: Palm OS 5 -- Debug Version with Documentation (7.1 MB) | Release Version (4.5 MB)   Palm OS 5.2 -- Debug (7.1 MB) | Release (4.9 MB) Palm OS 5.3 -- Debug/Release ( 20.4 MB) **Information on each version of the OS can be found on the OS Overview pages. **Check licensee developer sites for versions of the simulator simulating specific licensee devices. What is the Simulator? The Palm OS(R) Simulator is the Palm OS(R) 5.0 system compiled native for Intel. It is not hardware emulation like Palm OS Emulator, but rather the real OS running on top of the DAL (see diagram below). The Palm OS core is made up of the various system DLLs you will see when you open up the Simulator folder on your PC. Because the system is in the DLLs, the ROM file differs from a ROM file that would run on Palm OS Emulator. It contains the Palm Application Compatibility Environment (PACE, which emulates your 68k PRCs) and the various default PRCs such as Datebook and Memopad. The 68k environment provided in PACE is effectively identical to the functionality supported by Palm OS 4.1.

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