06-18-2004, 09:00 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Why Is It Difficult To Write SDIO Drivers For Palm OS Devices?
Palm users have been patiently waiting for SDIO Bluetooth and WiFi support. I've got some good news and some bad news for those users: reports are starting to filter out that SanDisk is nearing a driver release for their SDIO WiFi cards for PalmOS devices, but with a few caveats: first, Palm users will have to use a new SDIO card (not the one already on the market)... and second, Palm users will have to use an old Palm. 8O Strange as it may sound, the Zire 71 will be the only initial Palm device supported. The linked article has a very disturbing quote:
"The discontinued Zire 71 is the only model that SanDisk has managed to get to work�no thanks to the folks at PalmOne. According to SanDisk, Zire 72's have a driver problem that prevents them from working with pretty much any card requiring true SDIO capability�although memory cards work fine. SanDisk says it would like to support more PalmOS devices, but to date, PalmOne has not released a patch to correct this problem either publically or to SanDisk."
The Zire 71!? What bothers me is that PalmOne even has to get involved. Windows Mobile has a very standardized driver API, and even further, most Pocket PC devices have centralized around bSquare's SDIO Now standard, which seems to be working pretty well. Why isn't the same thing happening in the Palm camp? Diversity is great, but if you don't have standardized APIs, it'll eventually lead to trouble -- and this is what a number of us have been saying for a long time.
In the meantime, a few users have gotten fed up with the slow driver releases for Bluetooth SDIO cards, in particular for the Treo 600, and have started a bounty and is hoping to raise $5,000 to create an incentive for a third-party developer to make a driver. (What I don't get is how this would work, even if a driver were to exist -- could the Treo 600 even route audio over the SDIO slot?)
I can't help but think this is crazy. If anyone has more details or clarifications on the technical and business underpinnings of this, please post -- it just sounds needlessly complex, and I feel bad for Palm users who have been waiting forever for support.
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06-18-2004, 09:54 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,055
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Yup, this is why I switched to Windows Mobile. I was waiting for the Sandisk WiFi card to be introduced for my m505, which was supposed to come out May 2003! Needless to say, I gave up waiting and switched..
I wonder how many people have been in a similar situation.... :roll:
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06-18-2004, 10:32 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 217
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Cobalt will help in the future with things like this.
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06-18-2004, 10:39 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 593
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Don't forget Pocket PC's may not be equipped with a 4-bit SD port. So even if you have SDIO, you might get bottlenecked at the connection anyways.
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06-18-2004, 11:13 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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This is the key difference between building great devices, and building a great platform. Palm is quite good at building devices, but they have no clue how to build a platform. :roll:
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06-19-2004, 12:03 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,479
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by c38b2
Cobalt will help in the future with things like this.
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Yeah thats a big help for people who were counting on this for their current machines.
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06-19-2004, 12:23 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 50
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unfortunately since the rules for hw under palm os platform are _very_ relaxed (so every licensee can tweak it as he wants) there are only a few standard APIs :-/
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06-19-2004, 02:02 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 172
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I dunno about the 'Patiently waiting' part...its more of a forced confinement.
The bluetooth headset bit is a very late addition...I'd expect that to really complicate matters.
My T3 is great, but I'm looking forward to the day my new Audiovox 4100 arrives...before Audiovox/UTStarcomm kills it!
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06-19-2004, 02:53 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,608
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First it was a hardware issue. Apparently the SD slots on Palm units were underpowered. That's why it requires a "new" card. BT based cards seem to work ok for OS 5.x based units.
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06-19-2004, 03:22 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Fishie
Quote:
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Originally Posted by c38b2
Cobalt will help in the future with things like this.
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Yeah thats a big help for people who were counting on this for their current machines. |
And with PalmOS, it is always the next version that gives them something the world has asked for at least 2 years earlier. :roll:
Why is Palm even bothering? Who needs WiFi for WebClipping? They told us browsers were for desktops and webclipping was optimized for the PDA.
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