Linux on Treo 650 gets real

Last time we checked, it was possible to run Linux on a Treo 650 -- barely. Back in December, we caught sight of a 650 that could boot Linux, but running actual apps appeared to be a distant dream. Well, it looks like the dream has come true. The pics above are part of a series that purportedly shows a Treo 650 running GPE Linux -- and running it well, from the looks of things. Of course, we'd still like to see it running Doom, but we suspect that can't be too far off.

[Thanks, Sammy]

[Baxter Madu @ Feb 6th 2006 4:05PM]

Good way to catch the Treo fakers is to notice the white border around the image, which is a palmOS thing. The image on the right has it.

But who knows, looks like the link is slashdotted, i can't reach it.

[dreal @ Feb 6th 2006 4:21PM]

But can it make phone calls?

[SHoe @ Feb 6th 2006 4:29PM]

>>Of course, we'd still like to see it running Doom, but we suspect that can't be too far off.

The 650 can run Doom - has been able for months now.

[Dossy Shiobara @ Feb 6th 2006 4:31PM]

Um, there's just a bunch of pics. Where's the link to the HOWTO? :-)

Also, what would it take to get a phone app.? If I could run Linux on my Treo 650 and not have it hang/reboot all the time, it might actually make the Treo 650 usable!

[scottE @ Feb 6th 2006 4:35PM]

But Can it do anything OTHER than play Doom?

[Juice @ Feb 6th 2006 4:42PM]

But does it still freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze?

[Mike @ Feb 6th 2006 4:44PM]

Phone calls? On a Treo? I'm not understanding you ...

[Dan S. @ Feb 6th 2006 4:46PM]

I have a treo 650 where can i download this.

[Matthew Mastracci @ Feb 6th 2006 5:56PM]

If luke's site gets slow, I've mirrored his pics at my site with the original linux pics that were posted here. It's the same distribution as before, just much further along (thanks to luke, phazen and shadowmite!):

http://www.grack.com/programming/misc/TreoLinux.html

[Rullingen @ Feb 6th 2006 6:02PM]

ITs a palm yes? well if you want to rund doom on it then download zdoomz

[Daniel @ Feb 6th 2006 7:38PM]

its fake, the white line around the image proves it, just make the images and view them in the built-in media player! sorry, but GPE will probably never run on the Treo 650, linux w/ command line yes, but GPE? No. Serious memory problems will arise. Also, GPE and linux its self is usually made with fonts and such for VGA and QVGA, and such, Palm os has the wrong aspect ratio (1:1 on a 320 x 320) for these fonts and such.

[Scott R @ Feb 6th 2006 8:23PM]

Sorry smart-alecs, but the white border on most Palm OS devices is actually tied to the hardware. Hard to believe, but true. So even if you ported a whole 'nother OS to a Palm OS PDA, you'd be stuck with the white border. Fortunately, Palm has fixed that with some of their newer PDAs (the Lifedrive and TX), but the 650 is stuck with the always-on white border.

[Big Al @ Feb 6th 2006 8:27PM]

I don't know exactly what this means, if anything. WHat purpose is there to run Linux on a Treo? Aren't there enough Palm apps? Or is it just to be able to say that it could be done? I'm confused...

[David @ Feb 6th 2006 9:13PM]

Actually, the distribution is Familiar, GPE is a handheld version of GNOME. Linux runs quite well with TinyX on devices with as little as 16MB and even less. I've been running familiar (without X) on my ZipIt for a couple months now. Familiar is a linux distro for devices based on the ARM chipsets, mainly iPaqs. Some effort is being put into running familiar on other ARM devices such as routers, and the newer Palm devices.

[IsPoLiN @ Feb 6th 2006 9:50PM]

1(Baxter): The treo screen is actually 322x322 pixels wide. The last pixel on each side isn't hardware addressable however (no program can tell those pixels what color to be). This is why you get the white border on the treo screens. Most likely there are no physical connections to those border pixels either.

2(dreal): The phone interface of the treo is independent of the actual operating system. This has been mentioned in December (see link in article). Essentially, someone just needs to write a "phone" program that will talk to the phone part of the treo. It's not something trivial, mind you, but there are no major roadblocks to writing it. If anything, i'd be more concerned about the status of power management. From what i read about other conversion projects (and linux on laptops for that matter), getting devices to suspend-resume is a major issue.

11(Big Al): With Palm no longer developing colbat, less and less modern applications will be made for the palm os platform. What this project may give treo users (IF it continues going) is an os for which lots of new applications are being made, some of them specifically for handheld devices.
Also, it will give treo devices a true multitasking OS. While the benefits of multitasking are limited on a handheld device, it would still be convenient. You would be able to refer to your datebook, or to a spreadsheet, while composing an email for instance.

[luke @ Feb 6th 2006 11:04PM]

The pics are legit. The Treo is an ARM device and Linux has been running on ARMs (and Strongarm PDAs) for quite awhile now. We'll put up instructions on handhelds.org this week to at least boot to a console.

Multitasking and control are my main motivations for my involvement in this project. I would rather own a fixer-upper than be a guest in someone else's house.

[Steven Boger @ Feb 7th 2006 1:52AM]

Most importantly, linux has drivers for a few of the current SDIO wifi cards. Thereby giving you true WiFi capability where Palm has seem fit to cripple the 650 by not offering a simple driver for it.

[Khertan @ Feb 7th 2006 4:50AM]

The white pixel aren't hardware but software ... take a look a TCPMP the Palm Video Player ... if you see the options you have one to make this border line black, and it's works on a T5 so i supposed it works on a treo ...

so it s a fake ... a poor fake ... he could do this picture display with TCPMP and i wouldn't have white line ...

[ubersonic @ Feb 7th 2006 5:52AM]

I've got a Motorola A680+ with Linux on it and it just rocks. You can run Apache on it without problems :)

[Lindsey @ Feb 7th 2006 6:27AM]

I have a T3 and the option to remove the white border does not work, there is a note that says if it doesn't work to turn it off

[IsPoLiN @ Feb 7th 2006 7:09AM]

17(Khertan): Following your tip, i downloaded the most recent version of TCPMP, 0.71, to my Treo650 and tried the "no white border" option under tweaks. Unfortunately it doesn't work for the treos either. Like Lindsey pointed out, it says next to the option check box that it doesn't work for some devices.

Of course that doesn't prove that the pictures are real, but while i didn't try out the GPE port myself, i've read enough about it and about people trying it (via the developers' irc chanel) to convince me that it's real.

[William Kreim @ Feb 7th 2006 7:08PM]

ispolin obviously doesn't know what he's talking about when he says: "With Palm no longer developing colbat, less and less modern applications will be made for the palm os platform"

Haven't you haed about PalmSource (the independent company from Palm Inc. that makes the OS) getting bought by Access Inc. and that they're VERY BUSY porting PalmOS to run on top of a LINUX KERNEL?. This is similar to what apple did when they ported MacOS to run on top of the Mach Microkernel and BSD subsystem.

It will make it MUCH more easier to run PalmOS everywhere, and to get drivers for different hardware (ie the SD WiFi someone mentioned above).

In other words, it will make the PalmOS a programs-only API interface, while leaving the drivers and porting work a linux-job.

Believe me, they're working on it, and it's coming. Plus, there were rumors on this same site about a 700p

[clotter @ Feb 17th 2006 8:05AM]

I want linux (and a linux window manager) on a phone for many reasons. Mostly, I want a reasonably fast processor, an x-term, and gnuplot so I can write programs, log in to my real computers from my son's little league game and get some work done!

A palmtop is better since it is small etc.

Anyone do this regularly? What hardware?

[Ken @ Jun 29th 2008 1:33AM]

clotter: enjoy your son while you have him. trust me, don't waste the laughs and tears. There's plenty of time in the day for work, but only one chance with your son.

As to the rest, I actually use the 650 as a phone, As well as the other neat stuff it can do, but what I'd like to see is something to be able to write those moment of time of inspiration in something a little more compatible with OpenOffice. If having linux on my phone (and still being able to have the phone part) means better interoperability with my other programs, then let's do this!!!!

[Ken @ Jun 30th 2008 9:49PM]

Since I know this is an old thread, is there any updates to what's happening, all the searches seem to be dead in the water.

Thanks