So, you have this nifty little Palm OS device, and you want to write your own programs for it. At first glance, it may appear that what you need to do is go out and buy the commercial development kit. However, that kit requires a MacOS or Windows system. Thanks to the hard work of various people (see the appendix ``Credits'') we have freeware tools for building Palm OS programs. This document will explain how to install and use these tools and then provide a tutorial on writing Palm OS programs. Initially, the prc-tools collection, which provides a `C' language cross-compiler built upon the GNU gcc compiler and includes pilrc to compile resources will be featured in my directions and examples.
In the tutorial sections, I am presuming that you are familiar with programming in general, the ``C'' programming language, and unix commands, such as ``make''.
You should now backup up the data on your Palm OS device, especially if you intend to install the programs presented in the tutorial sections of this document.
You may want to read the API documentation described under ``See Also''.
The latest version of this document can be read at http://www.orbits.com/Palm/PalmDevelopment-HOWTO.html. Errata, future plans, miscellaneous notes and Palm links may be found at http://www.orbits.com/Palm/. This document is part of the Linux Documentation Project (LDP). See http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/ for further information about the LDP and other HOWTO documents.
If you find anything in this document which needs to be corrected or better explained, please send email to the address above and specify which version of this document you are referring to.
If you wish to translate this document, please check http://www.orbits.com/Palm/ first to avoid duplication of effort. When you have completed the translation, send me the SGML source, and I will make it available in parallel with the american english original.
This document is Copyright © 1997 - 1998 by David H. Silber. It is released under the copyright terms in the LDP HOWTO-INDEX document.
The Palm OS Linux Desktop HOWTO http://www.orbits.com/Palm/PalmOS-HOWTO.html document describes more basic information, including how to install the HotSync cradle and the pilot-link software.
Programmers unfamiliar with C might want to work their way through
The C Programming Language, by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie
Reading the API documents from Palm Computing will get you detail beyond the scope of this document.
The Palm OS Conduit Development HOWTO http://www.orbits.com/Palm/PalmConduit-HOWTO.html document describes how to use the pilot-link libraries to write Linux-resident conduits for use with Palm OS devices.
The pilot-unix mailing list is maintained by Matthew Cravit. Its mandate is:
The pilot-unix mailing list is for discussion and idea-sharing for those
interested in using the US Robotics Pilot PDAs with UNIX systems. This
includes people who are interested in helping to develop tools to allow the
Pilot to operate with UNIX, and possibly to develop an SDK for the Pilot
for Unix.
For more information, including how to subscribe to the list, send
mail containing the word ``INFO''
to
pilot-unix-request@lists.best.com.
The subject line does not matter.
An archive of the pilot-unix mailing list can be found at http://www.acm.rpi.edu/~albert/pilot/. http://www.acm.rpi.edu/~albert/pilot/. It is maintained by Chris Stevens.
An FTP site containing an archive of Pilot tools for use on unix systems is located at ftp://ryeham.ee.ryerson.ca/pub/PalmOS/. It is maintained by Jeff Dionne.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) provides many free development tools (including gcc, gdb and the binutils tools collection) at ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/.