Access has announced a public beta of virtual machine software that allows Nokia Internet Tablets to run Palm OS applications. Thoughtfix (aka Daniel Gentleman) at Tabletblog was the first* to report on this and has a video showing the software running as well as some photos.
The Garnet VM runs on the about-to-be-released N810, the N800 and the no-longer-being sold 770.
If, as expected, the software runs in landscape mode on the Internet Tablet, readers of this blog may find more e-books now available to them (and more readable on the NIT’s 225-pixels-per-inch screen). With 770’s going for as little as $100 on eBay, an inexpensive high-quality e-reader on a widely used platform is a reality. For those unsatisfied with the stock on non-DRMed books readable in FBReader, this is good news.
As Internet Tablet Talk headlines it, “Run 30,000 Palm OS apps on your Nokia Internet Tablet.”
Brighthand reports that “Garnet VM is expected to be available by the end of the year free of charge as a download from Access.” (Other reports at intomobile and engadget.)
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* Oops. Dan writes that he got the news from intomobile.
Awesome, Roger; thanks for sharing the happy news! Now I have to decide whether I should sell my Palm, instead of the Nokia, to help raise cash for the OLPC machine! Or should I keep both? Decisions, decisions. Complications like this, however, I welcome. David
As Omar Khayyam wrote, Take the cash and let the credit go, nor heed the rumble of a distant drum!
By that I take it he means sell the Palm.
LOL. The Palm would get almost twice as much as the Nokia. Life’s unfair. – D
Roger: Any hidden costs to users for software, etc., and if so, can you break them down? Thanks. David (aware that the VM download itself costs nothing)
God, do NOT buy the 770!
http://mikecane.wordpress.com/2007/01/09/nokia-770-the-endgame/
And the Garnet VM is no reason to buy the 770, either:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/comments/9526/#139237
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/8987/nokia-tablet-garnet-vm-video-demo/
And I *love* PalmOS (but not with its current flash memory scheme).