Palm IIIxe
Encyclopedia
The Palm IIIxe is a discontinued Palm
personal digital assistant
that was designed and manufactured by Palm, Inc.
PIM
software that originally shipped with the Palm IIIxe. For a more up to date version of the software, please see the Palm IIIxe download page.
OS Required: Apple Mac OS
7.5.3 or later, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows
NT 4.0 or later.
The Palm IIIxe was introduced into the marketplace in February 2000 as one of the two remaining models (the other being the Palm IIIc
) in the III series line of Palm's Personal Digital Assistants.
The Palm IIIxe unit came in a black flip lid with an infrared port at top which lets users beam memos, addresses, etc. to another Palm handheld or personal computer. With the right software, the IIIxe can also be used as a universal remote control.
At the bottom of the unit is a serial port
for hotsyncing to the user's desktop computer
by way of a cradle. The serial port can also support various peripherals including the PalmPix camera, and The Stowaway foldable and Gotype keyboards.
Like other Palms in the series, the bottom portion of the screen features a silkscreen used by the Graffiti input system
, and to provide shortcuts to the calculator, application list, application menu and search. The unit comes with seven physical buttons: power/backlight, Date Book
, Address Book
, up and down scroll buttons, To Do list, and Memo Pad
. All the buttons except for the scroll buttons can be used to turn on the unit.
The IIIxe features a 16 MHz Motorola 68328 EZ Dragonball CPU, and is powered by two AAA batteries which can last up to a month or two depending on use. It also features the same enhanced 4-bit 160x160 pixel
grayscale
super-twisted nematic display
area as the Palm IIIe
and Palm IIIx
, but has 8 MB of RAM and 2 MB of internal flash memory for system upgrades and third party applications. The unit shipped with Palm OS
3.5, but can be patched
to later versions. Palm OS
3.5.2 fixed a memory leak
in version 3.5 of the Palm OS, and Palm OS 3.5.3 fixed a flow control problem and a dynamic UI pointer issue that caused incompatibilities with some 3rd party applications. The latest version of Palm OS that runs on the IIIxe is version 4.1, released in November 2001. Unlike the free version 3.5 updates, Palm OS 4.1 was available only as a paid upgrade on CD-ROM
.
A peculiar note about the Palm III series was that the top battery inserts 'backwards', as the positive terminal on the battery contacts the battery compartment spring; however, the bottom battery inserts the usual way with the negative terminal on the battery touching the spring in the battery compartment.
Some Palm IIIc, IIIxe, and Vx units manufactured between October 1999 through May 2000 had a DRAM defect that could overwrite user data randomly. Palm has released diagnostics and a patch to correct this problem.
Palm (PDA)
Palm handhelds were Personal Digital Assistants which ran the Palm OS. Palm devices have evolved from handhelds to smartphones which run Palm OS, WebOS, and Windows Mobile...
personal digital assistant
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
that was designed and manufactured by Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
Dimensions
- Width: 8.1 cm (3.19 in)
- Depth: 1.8 cm (0.71 in)
- HeightHeightHeight is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how "tall" something is, or how "high up" it is. For example "The height of the building is 50 m" or "The height of the airplane is 10,000 m"...
: 12 cm (4.72 in) - WeightWeightIn science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity. Its magnitude , often denoted by an italic letter W, is the product of the mass m of the object and the magnitude of the local gravitational acceleration g; thus:...
: 170 gGramThe gram is a metric system unit of mass....
(0.37 lbPound (mass)The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
)
Operating system requirements
Note: these requirements are for the Palm DesktopPalm Desktop
Palm Desktop is a personal information manager computer program for Microsoft Windows or Mac OS/Mac OS X and can be used alone or in combination with a Palm OS personal digital assistant.-Features:...
PIM
PIM
- Computing :* Parallel inference machine, an intended fifth generation computer* Personal information management, the study and practice of information management by individuals* Personal information manager, a portable appliance...
software that originally shipped with the Palm IIIxe. For a more up to date version of the software, please see the Palm IIIxe download page.
OS Required: Apple Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
7.5.3 or later, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
NT 4.0 or later.
About the Palm IIIxe
Palm IIIc
The Palm IIIc was the first colour PDA made by Palm, Inc. It ran Palm OS 3.5, the first Palm OS version to have native colour support and supported paletted 8-bit colour modes. The machine has a TFT LCD that is bright indoors, but almost unusable outdoors. The Palm IIIc features the classic...
) in the III series line of Palm's Personal Digital Assistants.
The Palm IIIxe unit came in a black flip lid with an infrared port at top which lets users beam memos, addresses, etc. to another Palm handheld or personal computer. With the right software, the IIIxe can also be used as a universal remote control.
At the bottom of the unit is a serial port
Serial port
In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
for hotsyncing to the user's desktop computer
Desktop computer
A desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Early desktop computers are designed to lay flat on the desk, while modern towers stand upright...
by way of a cradle. The serial port can also support various peripherals including the PalmPix camera, and The Stowaway foldable and Gotype keyboards.
Like other Palms in the series, the bottom portion of the screen features a silkscreen used by the Graffiti input system
Graffiti (Palm OS)
Graffiti is an essentially single-stroke shorthand handwriting recognition system used in PDAs based on the Palm OS. Graffiti was originally written by Palm, Inc...
, and to provide shortcuts to the calculator, application list, application menu and search. The unit comes with seven physical buttons: power/backlight, Date Book
Appointment scheduling software
Customer Appointment Management scheduling software allows businesses and professionals to manage scheduling appointments and bookings. This type of software is also known as appointment booking software and online booking software.- Types of Software :...
, Address Book
Address book
An address book or a name and address book is a book or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields...
, up and down scroll buttons, To Do list, and Memo Pad
Notebook
A notebook is a book or binder composed of pages of notes, often ruled, made out of paper, used for purposes including recording notes or memoranda, writing, drawing, and scrapbooking....
. All the buttons except for the scroll buttons can be used to turn on the unit.
The IIIxe features a 16 MHz Motorola 68328 EZ Dragonball CPU, and is powered by two AAA batteries which can last up to a month or two depending on use. It also features the same enhanced 4-bit 160x160 pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
grayscale
Grayscale
In photography and computing, a grayscale or greyscale digital image is an image in which the value of each pixel is a single sample, that is, it carries only intensity information...
super-twisted nematic display
Super-twisted nematic display
A super-twisted nematic display is a type of monochrome passive matrix liquid crystal display . STN displays provide more contrast than twisted nematic displays by twisting the molecules from 180 to 270 degrees...
area as the Palm IIIe
Palm IIIe
The Palm IIIe is a PDA from Palm Computing released in 1999 briefly after the more expensive and more advanced Palm IIIx.It shared the same screen as the Palm IIIx, which improved upon the Palm III's screen by featuring a new enhanced and easier to read LCD. The Palm IIIe had 2MB of RAM, which is...
and Palm IIIx
Palm IIIx
The Palm IIIx is a PDA from Palm Computing released in 1999, briefly before the scaled down Palm IIIe was introduced into the marketplace.The Palm IIIx improved upon the Palm III by featuring a new enhanced and easier to read LCD and 4 MB RAM and opposed to the 2 MB in the Palm III...
, but has 8 MB of RAM and 2 MB of internal flash memory for system upgrades and third party applications. The unit shipped with Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
3.5, but can be patched
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
to later versions. Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
3.5.2 fixed a memory leak
Memory leak
A memory leak, in computer science , occurs when a computer program consumes memory but is unable to release it back to the operating system. In object-oriented programming, a memory leak happens when an object is stored in memory but cannot be accessed by the running code...
in version 3.5 of the Palm OS, and Palm OS 3.5.3 fixed a flow control problem and a dynamic UI pointer issue that caused incompatibilities with some 3rd party applications. The latest version of Palm OS that runs on the IIIxe is version 4.1, released in November 2001. Unlike the free version 3.5 updates, Palm OS 4.1 was available only as a paid upgrade on CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
.
A peculiar note about the Palm III series was that the top battery inserts 'backwards', as the positive terminal on the battery contacts the battery compartment spring; however, the bottom battery inserts the usual way with the negative terminal on the battery touching the spring in the battery compartment.
Some Palm IIIc, IIIxe, and Vx units manufactured between October 1999 through May 2000 had a DRAM defect that could overwrite user data randomly. Palm has released diagnostics and a patch to correct this problem.
External links
- Palm Inc. Introduces Palm IIIxe Product For Versatile Handheld Computing, Palm Press Release, February 22, 2000