Palm m515 PDA: Crossing the Rubicon

Рет қаралды 10,149

2 жыл бұрын

The sleek and stylish Palm m515 Personal Digital Assistant. This Palm PDA represents the end of an era, being the last model to run PalmOS 4 and a Motorola DragaonBall CPU.
After the beautiful Palm Vx, this model was not nearly as inspiring. I'm glad I made it through and gained this experience. I can now move on to newer Palm/CLIÉ models with ARM CPUs and PalmOS 5 in the future.
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Пікірлер: 50

@keyboard_g Жыл бұрын

I do wish there was more of a retro / hacking scene around old Palms.

@nevarDeathEHW Жыл бұрын

I LOVED this video! I prefer your videos because you don't just show a Palm device. The excitement isn't just "oooo old computers!" your cinematography (videography?) makes me want to watch your videos, even if it's a device I know about and don't care for. The m515 is one of those devices I know about and don't care for. So I assumed you would hate it for the same reason most people do....the terrible color screen. Within the first 3 minutes you exceeded my expectations by not only pointing out a reason to dislike this thing that I never encountered or thought of, but also showing a rare outburst. Very well done! 🙇🏻‍♂

@JanusCycle Жыл бұрын

I really appreciate your comment. You point out two things that I've been working hard at doing in order to tell a good story. One is how to authentically convey the feelings I get from exploring technology. This is difficult to capture sometimes. But hearing this from you helps me to become more confident with doing this. The other is 'cinematic' style presentation. Technically, cinematography is the art of storytelling with a focus on using the visuals and music and presented on a large screen. While I'm not going to claim I'm making cinematic videos, I want to keep learning how to use cinematic style techniques to tell a great story. I've learned over time while making this channel just how important music and creating beautiful visuals are to me. I don't get many comments about these things, so thank you very very much.

@randt0l123 6 ай бұрын

you're doing a great job at presenting. looks like any pro youtuber with 1 million subs and a patreon. just gotta upgrade to a 4k camera @@JanusCycle

@jseden Жыл бұрын

Great vids! I grew up with these pdas and remember Most games and apps you showed fondly. I also had a couple of the folding keyboards, and yes I was the kid using the setup to take notes in middle and high school, lol. Modern smartphones are great! TBH, they’re the device that I always dreamed of back when I was messing with these.. but there’s something I miss about the pixilated early days. Back when Wi-Fi was the big feature I longed for!

@jstonehouse 7 ай бұрын

"Where we're going we *do* need roads" - ha!

@CoverMechanic 2 жыл бұрын

love the intro, great stuff!

@edwardfletcher7790 2 жыл бұрын

The benefit of the colour screen is to my mind negated by the battery life compared to the m500's monochrome screen. Those demos do look amazing though 👍 Palm, the first company to change the power plug for EVERY single generation of device !! I despised them for that. "Oh you bought a $250 folding keyboard for your Vx ? Guess what, the m500 has a incompatible connector !" Arrggghh...

@TuNnL Жыл бұрын

Trying to circle back and purchase a Palm device, this nightmare is foremost on my mind. I am happy there are quite a few people selling Palm PDAs new-in-box. But of course, no one has a brand new Tungsten C, one of only two non-mobile phone Palms with a physical keyboard. So, purchasing that separate accessory will be needed, and compatible with the specific model interface, to boot. It is quite astounding how many times the interface changed, but then again, the entire company itself changed from U.S. Robotics to 3com and finally, Palm Inc. Then you have internal lithium battery replacement, which is a lengthy chore unless the device uses user replaceable AAA batteries (m125 or earlier). Did I mention you need Windows XP or earlier to synchronize this thing? 🤦

@williama29 2 жыл бұрын

I always like watching your videos you produce so much I wanted to ask would you do a Q&A with people that ask you questions I wished to see longer extended videos

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

These are great ideas. I would like to do a Q&A in the future. I'm currently working on ways to make more videos and release them more often. I have so many devices and topics I'm keen to cover. The only way to do that is more videos and hopefully some longer videos on detailed subjects. I really appreciate your comments. Please feel free to ask me more questions. This helps me think about things from a viewers perspective, which helps this channel to grow. Your questions really help, thank you.

@williama29 2 жыл бұрын

@@JanusCycle you are welcome I ask would you ever look at more mobile devices that did fail in the tech world that didn't last long

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

@@williama29 Yes, in a few weeks I'm getting a really interesting device from ten years ago that deserves to be much more known about.

@williama29 2 жыл бұрын

@@JanusCycle I can't wait to see that video and I have found your channel somehow I also like retro tech I wanted to communicate with you over Twitter about technology

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

@@williama29 I only use Twitter for occasional announcements. I do use Reddit to talk. What do you think of this picture? www.reddit.com/user/JanusCycle/comments/ovct23/overview/

@NikiDorian 2 жыл бұрын

The music seems to be louder than the narration in your videos. I keep reaching for the volume. Otherwise, awesome content. Big thumbs up!

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

I'll keep a closer ear on the next video. Thank you.

@edwardfletcher7790 2 жыл бұрын

It's perception, because the speaking voice is so calm, the music seems quite discordant.

@DmitryUsovM 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the very interesting review! Palm M515 was my first Palm OS device which I bought in 2001. Do you know more Palm OS demo scenes? I try to find them but finding just a couple.

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

Have a look at pouet .net. There is a PalmOS section with over 20 scene demos.

@____.__._.._ 2 жыл бұрын

@@JanusCycle I thank you for the great video too. Your videos are always informative and interesting. What about modding or coding for this thing, palmOS?

@magfal Жыл бұрын

Did you try the transflective screen out in daylight? Most of my transflective screens work really well in direct sunlight.

@Sb129 2 жыл бұрын

Back when this first came out it was insane though, the m505 that predated this gave us what we all wanted, a color screen in the Vx form factor. The m515 was one of the first models with Palm OS 4.1. It seems kind of bleh today but this was the culmination of what most Palm users wanted out of a normal Palm PDA. Yeah Sony was way ahead of Palm in the multimedia department but Palm itself wasn't all that interested in that. They still catered to business and so we have the m515. Truth be told I still like this color screen to the STN screens that came on a couple later Palm OS 5 units, namely the Zire 31 and Z22. And this still seemed more useful to me than the Zire PDA as well. (I know the Zire m150 was a budget thing but it wasn't all that much cheaper to a much more capable m500 or even the V/Vx with the Palm OS 4.1 upgrade) Also I think Sony continued using Palm OS 4.1 in some devices after Palm and those Sony Clies had a Dragonball VZ CPU that was clocked at 66MHz natively.

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

The Sony CLIEs are an interesting pivot for Palm OS that I would like to try one day.

@Sb129 2 жыл бұрын

@@JanusCycle Definitely interesting, especially the hi-res B/W Clies

@TuNnL Жыл бұрын

The Zire series of Palm was definitely meant to be the "budget" line of the company's product. The Zire both looks cheap and has minimal components compared to either the Tungsten series or the flagship 'Life Drive.' Even the M-series started as "budget option," when the m100 debuted. By the time they ended the series with the m515, it had some key features (like an SD card reader) which extended the viability of Palm's PDA devices a bit longer. 💁🏻‍♂️

@Sb129 Жыл бұрын

@@TuNnL The Zire line sure was meant to be budget, it is just interesting that at the start of the Zire it was still more useful to just have the previous device. Even a IIIc would have been a bit more useful than the original Zire.

@TuNnL Жыл бұрын

@@Sb129 and that's why every device you named was more expensive than any Zire, both at the time and the present day. A couple weeks ago, I literally saw a brand new-in-package Zire for $19.99, with free shipping on eBay. The older m500 new-in-box goes for a minimum $80, not including shipping. 💁🏻‍♂️

@artblanchard9555 2 жыл бұрын

I really enjoyed the review. You said you will make future reviews with more powerful PDA’s. I wonder if you could make a review and games that can be played on Palm TX or if you have any iPAQ devices like the 110 series or even the 210 series, I would like to see a review of those. Thanks again for this video.

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

Palm is one of my favourite operating systems. I intend on exploring many more Palm OS devices over time. I'm keen to get into Palm OS 5 to see first hand just how capable it is compared to these earlier models. I do have a few iPAQs, unsure which models. I must admit I haven't tried powering them up and I don't know much about them. I'm interested in trying them out sometime. I'm also very interested in hearing your ideas and perspectives on them. Thank you for your great comments. I hope you continue to enjoy these videos.

@XMguy Жыл бұрын

I have the m505.

@estalinayala7 7 ай бұрын

Excellent video, Is there any chance you would share the links to the apps and games, thanks a lot.

@JanusCycle 7 ай бұрын

Yep, this is the best place. palmdb.net/ If there is anything specific you can't find let me know, I'm happy to share more.

@JanusCycle 7 ай бұрын

I don't keep the links or a list of the apps I used.

@kakegarcia8056 Жыл бұрын

Hi! I am on the fence to get a Palm, I am 44 years old so you can tell I was in the age when they were very popular and after many years I realize I do not need as much speed and connectivity as it is right now. Which model would you recommend that is the fastest from the monochromatic screens and the one for colored screens. I rather AAA batteries but I saw on your channel that replacing the internal batteries is not that hard (please let me know what it would be the lifespan of those batteries as well). Bests regards from a Venezuelan follower in Panama!

@JanusCycle Жыл бұрын

The best monochrome screen is on the m500, it also has an SD card reader. I'm looking to get an m500 myself one day. For colour screens I'm not sure. I've heard the TX is has the best screen. But I also want to compare the other brands. Such as the Sony CLIE models.

@kakegarcia8056 Жыл бұрын

@@JanusCycle in my experience Sony made the bests Palm OS powered PDAs and their transflective screens were the best I used, any suggestions for a Clie?

@AuntyM66 Жыл бұрын

I have never seen this palm.Where can get those games. I have palm Tungsten T5 still after all these years.

@JanusCycle Жыл бұрын

The T5 is a great model, have a look at palmdb.net for lots of palm software.

@AuntyM66 Жыл бұрын

@@JanusCycle oh many thanks

@smazumdar33 2 жыл бұрын

Wait, so this thing has a Motorola DragonBall VZ processor.

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, the last Palm model I am aware of that used the DragonBall before they switched to ARM.

@smazumdar33 2 жыл бұрын

@@JanusCycle So they had an obvious inspiration for that name. Those gosh darn weebs did it again. BTW, great videos, came here from a recent reddit post about the win7 phone and I must say, not disappointed.

@JanusCycle 2 жыл бұрын

@@smazumdar33 Yes, Motorola's Hong Kong engineers were huge DragonBall fans when they designed this CPU. thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/history/dragonball-chip-super-history/ I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. Thanks for watching.

@vinylcabasse Жыл бұрын

i sold my m505 (then quite outdated) in 2007. kinda wish i'd held onto it, but i kinda hated it - the screen was awful (160x160?!) and i don't even think it had an SD card slot like this one did.