Applications to convert palm programs to Windows CE are

[rapally]

Hello all!
I got a Jornada HP 568 recently. I am a physician. Lots of my friends had asked me to buy palm based PDA. But I like Jornada and some of its features, hence I went ahead to buy a Jornada. But now I am realising that I am unable to load a lot of applications which are palm based ( medical applications which are available free on the Internet at various sites). Needless to say that these applications are very essential for my day-to-day work. I will appreciate if you let me know are there any software/applications which can convert palm based applications to Windows CE so that I can use on jornada.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Rapally

[JanMan13]

I think you going to be out of luck with that one. I haven't heard of any program that will do that. Thats like trying to do the same with Windows PC programs and Mac programs. Its just doesn't work. Programs are written specifically for certain OS's and can't be magically converted unless you can find a Genie in bottle that will do it for you. Not trying to sound sarcastic. Good luck

[exscentric]

Would agree that there most likely isn't a conversion program, HOWEVER there are some palm emulators around. I have never used one nor do I know how well they work, but they do exist. They set up the ability to run palm programs.

[rapally]

Thanks a lot for your reply. I could find some emulators on the Web. But I do not know how to install them onto my jornada and run them. I also found an article on the same topic. Thought would share the same with the rest of the group.



Running Palm OS software
Until recently, the big draw for the medical world to Palm OS devices is that there is a much greater number of medical applications available for them.

This will soon be a moot point for a number of reasons - for those who have not yet committed to a platform, this makes the choice quite clear. We expect that increasing numbers of staunch Palm OS users will adopt PocketPCs because they will be able to have their cake and eat it.

Number of Applications
PocketPC versions of Palm Tools
Palm Emulators

Number of Applications
While there is a huge number of applications available for the Palm platform, the numbers have been greatly exaggerated. This is exacerbated by wild claims regarding the number of Palm developers out there. Just yesterday, I came across a news article claiming that there are 170,000 Palm developers - this number is based on Palm's misleading statistic from its download site for the Palm Emulator. There is a useful software tool called the Palm Operating System Emulator (POSE) which allows you to run Palm software on your desktop - very useful for design and testing purposes. In order to run this software, you must have a legal copy of a Palm ROM. If you cannot pull this off your Palm device, you can sign up with Palm as a 'developer' and they will send you a copy of the ROM for use with POSE. Since this tool is also useful for any kind of group presentation or any other emulator use, it is obvious that this is a popular download - but not everyone will have access to a Palm device so the next easiest solution is to sign up as a 'developer'. It would be interesting to know how many of these developers are actually creating new applications for Palm devices - there is fascinating new stuff every day - but 170,000 is vastly overblown. Ah, well, that's marketing!

Similar numbers are thrown around when quoting the number of Palm applications that are out there. I have seen estimates as high as 80,000 (which makes you wonder what the other 90,000 developers are doing ;-) but this depends on what you call an application. A quick scan of the Palm software sites, especially in the medical arena, shows that many of these applications should more properly considered active documents - how many lists do you want of the questions involved in a Mini-Mental Status Exam? There is lots of duplication. The choice is certainly wider but many of these documents and databases are now easily accessible using PocketPC tools.

PocketPC versions of Palm Tools
Several of the most significant developers for the Palm world have now ported their applications over to the PocketPC platform. The two main formats in which medical information is distributed are the Palm DOC format (not to be confused with Microsoft Word doc's) and the Palm database PDB format. There are now several choices for both.

DOC readers
PalmReader, formerly from PeanutPress, now owned by Palm, is probably the best of these readers. It comes in both Palm and PocketPC flavours.

Also Aportis, MobiPocket and a few others.

PDB databases
HanDBase, from DDHsoftware, now has a PocketPC version. This wonderfully simple application works equally well on both platforms. It also seamlessly beams its PDB files between devices, no matter what platform they are running. There is a huge range of simple medical databases out there. Try the following web sites:

www.memoware.com
www.ddhsoftware.com/gallery.html

Palm Emulators
Emulating a different software platform is not a new thing - it even predates the original PC. What an emulator tries to do is to run software designed for one operating system platform on a totally different one. eg running Apple/Mac software on Windows, running Palm software on a Windows desktop, running Palm software on a PocketPC. Ironically, it appears that the new Palm OS 5, when it becomes available, will also need to use an emulator to be able to run all the current Palm OS applications.

Palm Operating System Emulator (POSE)
Co-Pilot
PocketPalm

Palm Operating System Emulator (POSE)
Originally based on an Amiga emulator, this allows you to run palm apps on your desktop - this is very useful for demonstrating software to a group or on an LCD projector. You must have a copy of the Palm ROM to run it. You can download it from www.palm.com

Co-Pilot
From Conduits (not to be confused with the similarly named GPS navigation software), also based on the original Amiga emulator. Very kludgy adaptation of a weak emulator engine, therefore dreadfully slow. Only runs software designed for Palm OS 2.x or earlier.

PocketPalm
Brand new emulator by George Andre. Still in beta testing - should have been generally available by mid-October 2001 but appears to have been held up by a lawsuit from Palm. Much more efficiently coded than Co-Pilot, it runs Palm apps at normal speed. You must have a copy of the Palm ROM to run it. Because PocketPCs have CPUs running at 200MHz, whereas Palm applications are designed to run on simpler CPUs (typically 16-20MHz), it is quite reasonable to get full speed from this emulator, even though it has to do extra computing work to fool the application that it is running on a foreign platform. Very promising - this will allow PocketPC users full access to the wide range of Palm medical apps that are out there.



Note that the Palm screen appears shrunken - this is because Palm devices only have 160x160 pixels, compared to the PocketPC's 240x320 pixels so it only takes up two thirds of the screen. However, the resolution is exactly the same as on a Palm device.

Page last modified on October 02, 2001