[SWLUG] Closed source systems an example

[Daniel Morris]

On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 11:14:05AM +0100, Neil Jones wrote:
> I recently got a cheepish Pam Z22 on Ebay. I am learning some foreign 
> languages and I was looking to use it to help me learn vocabulary and 
> grammar.
> 
> There is some software available called Jmemorize which will run under 
> windows and Linux on a PC and is very useful you supply it with some 
> simple files which I can create quite easily with perl scripts and 
> easily available information.
> 
> It is a flash card program that gives you a word or a piece of grammar 
> and you can tell it if you know it or not and it remembers which ones 
> you got right and wrong and retests you. I don't need all of its 
> functions but it is superb for my uses. I can learn a hundred new words 
> in half an hour with it. They do need revision afterwards but it is just 
> a matter of reimporting the file  and running the program again. I have 
> about 85% retention a day later which then improves.
> 
> However I needed something I could carry around. I spent six hours on a 
> train recently and a palmtop version of the program was useful.
> I can use it waiting for a train or standing in a supermarket queue and 
> time when I have some spare moments.
> 
> This is where closed source gives problems. Palm provided ( used to 
> provide) a Software Development Kit. but a search and a question on 
> their forum seems to show that it isn't available. Without it I could 
> not program the machine. My palm was just an organiser, a glorified 
> diary and phone book, but not a computer that I could program.
> 
> Fortunately someone else has produced PocketC a programming language 
> with some examples and looking at the examples I was able to produce a 
> limited flash card program that would read all my existing data files. 
> The missing SDK was still a problem because it contains an emulator for 
> a Windows machine which you can use for development. Without it you have 
> to type on the palm itself and I found that I was forced to program the 
> palmtop lying on my side in bed because siting up doing it for a few 
> hours gave me a bad neck.
> 
> It occurs to me that this is exactly the problem with closed source 
> stuff. If a manufacturer withdraws something or disappears older 
> equipment becomes unusable,
> 
> Incidentally if anyone does know where to find a copy of the SDK  I 
> would be grateful.

Have you looked at sourceforge.net/projects/pose? I used to use
pose to run my Palm V under Linux, until I accidentally cracked the
screen.

 Daniel