Palm Applications on the iLiad

A post on Mobileread got me thinking, having the Access Palm platform on the iLiad would be probably the greatest killer app. Not only would you have full PIM support with sync capability, but you would immediately have access to the vast world of Palm applications.

It's already been setup for the Nokia tablets. (http://www.access-company.com/products/gvm/).



Since both products are Arm/GTK based, I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch to port it to the iLiad. The problem is that I've been unable to find the source for the Garnet VM used on the Nokia's.

I've also tried to compile the older PalmOS emulator used for developers. However, I've run into some issues as it uses the FLTK toolkit.

I may try to contact the Access company to see if they are willing to share their sources...

Minimo Installer

I realize that I've neglected my blog for a while. I thought I would update it with some posts I've made. I get a bit of traffic from Google and places other than MobileRead, so it may help the people who stumble here.

If you want to surf the web on your iLiad, I think the best way to do it is with Minimo. It's a Mozilla based web browser that uses a rendering engine similar to Firefox. It comes pre-installed on your iLiad, but is locked down in such a way that you can't surf the web with it by default. I've made some changes to the chrome files (the user interface), added a launcher, a modified libX11 to perform screen refreshes, and some connection manager scripts. It works well enough so you can view full web pages on your iLiad. Javascript is a little slow, and you may sometimes run into a "script not responding" error. But if I tell it to continue, it'll usually load just fine.

You can download the installation package and see some screenshots here: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15448

Things you can do with your iLiad

This is a post I made over at MobileRead. Some people may read my blog, and not visit there.

The following is a list of everything you can do on your iLiad. This includes stock functions, and things made possible by third party apps from the community. Hopefully this list will continue to grow as we get more developers interested in this platform.

1. Reading
   1. Formats you can read
      • PDF
        1. Zoom in and out of PDF's. Allows you to view documents not formatted for the iLiad's screen
           
        2. View PDF's in Portrait and Landscape mode. Also helps viewing documents
           
        3. Follow Hyperlinks and move back and forward
        4. Scribble on any PDF document. You can later merge the scribbles on your desktop.
        5. Bookmark specific pages inside a PDF.
        6. Automatically zoom and browse PDF's that are in column format. Helpful for technical articles.
        7. Use gestures to perform various functions inside a PDF.
        8. Read in full screen, without the bottom tool bar.
      • Mobipocket
        1. Read DRM protected and non DRM'ed Mobipocket books.
        2. Increase the font size of text within a mobipocket book.
        3. Look up words in a dictionary while you're reading.
        4. Browse a book by the table of contents
      • HTML
      • TXT
      • Unencrypted LIT files.
      • Microsoft Word documents, RTF documents
      • Microsoft Excel Files
   2. Supported by FBReader (Registry Installer)

      1. Increase and decrease font size
      2. Read in Full Screen mode
      3. Have a clock displayed on the screen while reading
      4. Search within a document
      5. Browse table of contents
      6. Organize a Book library

      • RTF
      • CHM
      • OEB
      • OPF
      • FB2
      • TCR
2. Other Media
   • JPG
   • PNG
   • BMP
   • 2 Audio Playing Applictions Support: Content Lister Based & Graphical Application
     • MP3
     • OGG
     • WAV
     • MOD
3. Internet Connectivity
   • Surf the Web using Dillo or Minimo
   • Download new comics daily.
4. Play Games
   • Chess
   • Mahjongg
   • Interactive Fiction
   • Sudoku. Also available at Feedbooks.com
   • GnuGo (in text mode)
5. For Developers and Linux geeks
   • Open a terminal on the iLiad
   • Install an SSH server and have it automatically started at boot
   • Browse the file system on the iLiad and move files around.
   • Use the iLiad as a Wacom tablet on your Linux computer.
6. Security store your passwords and keep them updated with your PC, Mac, or other mobile devices.
7. Keep a Calender, Contacts, and Todo List on the iLiad.
8. Edit simple text files and programming source code.
9. Connect a USB Keyboard to your iLiad
10. Use as a Compact Flash and MMC/SD card reader for your PC.
11. Automatically download and upload files to and from your networked Windows computer with the companion software. (On Mac's and Linux PC's with Samba too).
12. Take screenshots of running programs on the iLiad.