PalmOrb : Introduction
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PalmOrb is software that allows you to use your PalmOS device as a LCD status display for your computer! You can display system stats (such as: CPU load graphs, CPU temperatures, free disk space), news alerts, stock indexes, WinAmp graphs, etc.
PalmOrb works by pretending to be (or emulating) a real LCD; a Matrix Orbital LK204-25 LCD. So you can use existing software that expects a Matrix Orbital display! Here are a few LCD driving programs:
- Linux: LCDproc - free. [LCDproc v0.4.5 has a number of minor bugs; see FAQ. ]
- Linux: LCD4Linux - free.
- Windows: LCD smartie - free. v5.2 is buggy; v5.1 seems ok. [v5.3* is great].
- Windows: LCDC - shareware but it's very good.
- [others are listed on the links page]
- [Or write your own it's really easy to send commands, and as a bonus your software will also be able to drive most Matrix Orbital displays!].
So, if you've got a PalmOS PDA laying around gathering dust, then make
good use of it!
If you haven't, then these devices can be obtained very cheaply (often
for less than a
real LCD display - ok it's not as sexy as the real thing but maybe a good stepping stone towards the real thing)
- try ebay or look for reconditioned palms in electrical stores.
[I got mine reconditioned for £20 from
ebuyer!]
PalmOrb is FREE and published under the GNU General Public License (GPL), so the source code is also available.
[Any device running palmOS 2.0 or above should work, such as: Handspring Visor, IBM WorkPad, Sony CLIE, some Symbol devices. Tell me if it doesn't!]
Features:
- Free - published under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
- Supports PalmOS 2.0 and above.
- Fairly complete emulation of a Matrix Orbital LK204-25 LCD (with a 4x20 display).
- 25 Keys (sent to host). Graffiti also supported.
- Color support.
- Serial (RS232) support - fully configurable.
- (experimental) USB support. A LCD Smartie 5.3+ build is required for USB support on Windows.
- BlueTooth (Serial Port Profile), and InfraRed (IrCOMM) support.
- Visual display of 6 General Propose Outputs (GPOs).
- Visual display of 8 Custom defined characters.
- Full built-in help.
- Very configurable.
- Backlight support.
- Palm's Auto switch-off disabled as long as data is received, and battery level isn't too low.
- Great for debugging software that drives Matrix Orbital displays!
