this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025
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Privacy

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cross-posted from: https://mamot.fr/users/thibaultamartin/statuses/113879452911907737

Palms were offline devices that only synced with your computer when put on a docking station.

You could read and reply to emails offline, book or cancel meetings, and sync with your computer later. The latest versions allowed you to snap pictures and listen to your music.

No servers running constantly. No data spilled everywhere. Days worth of battery on a single charge.

The future stole our cables, and it took our attention span and our privacy with it.

#privacy #offline #data

all 47 comments
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[–] Unabart@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 hour ago

I had the Palm VII, which had a mobile data connection and an antenna you would flip up. I felt like a god. When i “upgraded” to the Compaq ipaq i felt that the world was my oyster!

Now i hate my phone.

[–] yuri@pawb.social 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

they (or at least the later palm pilot) had a surprisingly robust system for recognizing handwriting! individual characters had to be single strokes, and you needed to write each one a buncha times to calibrate initially so it has something to compare against, but i remember it being notably faster to type with than other contemporaneous tiny keyboards.

[–] noughtnaut@lemmy.world 2 points 29 minutes ago* (last edited 28 minutes ago)

I used to be an avid TealScript user, which allowed you to tweak recognition of individual characters and even create entirely new gestures. It was magnificent.

Went through a lot of Palm devices, from a Palm III to a V to a Tungsten T3 (the most elegantly designed device ever, perhaps save the Mac SE) and eventually a Treo 680. It was a sad day when the ecosystem shut down and I had to downgrade to an Android phone.

I still miss so many features of those older devices. In fact, I still keep a Palm V in my nightstand because of its comfortably backlog screen and flawless handwriting recognition for those midnight thoughts.

[–] Pretzilla@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Got to put a carefully cut strip of scotch magic translucent tape over the stylus square for both protection and friction enhancing

Always practice safe graffiti

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

This guy palms

[–] MiDaBa@lemmy.ml 6 points 9 hours ago

It really is too bad that commercial solutions for true privacy focused syncing and wireless backups will only get worse if they were ever good at all. I think of products like the Ring Doorbell where there's no reason the doorbell itself can't be it's own local server. The only reason to tie you to a cloud is to implement monthly fees while also harvesting your data. The idea of an open standard where multiple devices could connect to any cloud service (self hosted Next Cloud or commercial solution etc) will likely disappear with the direction we're going. It's a sad time for tech and an even more sad time for society worldwide.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Smartphones are nothing more than gentrified PDAs...

[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 hours ago

Literally the first phones labeled "smartphones" were things like the Handspring Treo that ran PalmOS.

[–] Libb@jlai.lu 5 points 8 hours ago

Smartphones are nothing more than gentrified PDAs…

Less any semblance of privacy? We can still have the impression we've some control over what it does but for how long?

My last PDA was a Palm Tungsten T5, liked it a lot ;)

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Holy crap, I have the exact same model still somewhere in the basement. It was so incredibly cool at the time. I felt like I was living in the future. Until I got my first mobile that is. Carrying two gadgets was just too much.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 8 hours ago

Carrying two gadgets was just too much

Which is why the Treo was such a game-changing big deal

[–] Oisteink@feddit.nl 6 points 16 hours ago

My t5 tungsten didnt have wifi, but there was bt and ir. and you could buy a wifi card.

[–] LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.world 24 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

They're shockingly useful today as a tool to manage ADHD, since they have a buncha organizational software baked into the OS, with plenty of other productivity apps still available for download off of PalmDB, without the connectivity nor distractions of a modern smartphone. I'm using a Sony PEG-UX50, which uses PalmOS 5, has a built in keyboard, and expandable memory (in the form of Sony Memory Sticks, cause Sony was addicted to format wars at the time.)

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 16 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, I remember those sexy boyos!

[–] LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

It's smaller than I was expecting, but in fairness modern smartphones are gigantic. It's perfectly sized for comfortable usage of the keyboard, and is genuinely worth grabbing one if the interest and budget are there for it.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 16 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Laptops were offline devices that only synced with any computer when put on a phone cable.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 5 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The good old days of screaming through the house not to pick the phone up, dialing in, downloading emails and usenet messages, cutting the connection and screaming the all clear through the house.

[–] veroxii@aussie.zone 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

And everything was "federated". You sent email to a local email server and it synced with other email servers. You connected to your chosen Usenet server and it synced with other Usenet servers. Same with IRC for chat. Very few things were centralised.

[–] swizzlestick@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 minutes ago

Same with IRC for chat.

Ah the chaos of netsplits, trivia bots and XDDC. Good fun.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 3 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

The boss already had wifi. But it was a large external antenna and the speeds were terrible.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 2 points 7 hours ago

Yep, I had a B wireless setup in 1999. Poor performance, but I wasn't tethered!

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 3 points 21 hours ago

Whoa, that sounds interesting!
(I should have clarified that I meant like the first laptops, at the dawn of computer intraconnectivity)

[–] mercano@lemmy.world 11 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

On a single charge? The Palm Pilot used 2xAAA batteries. You could use rechargeables, I suppose, but they would have been NiCads, not Lithiums, in the 90’s. More likely you were using disposables.

[–] Salvo@aussie.zone 3 points 19 hours ago

My Zire71 had a LiIon battery that did require charging.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 3 points 19 hours ago

I don't recall for sure with all of them. Mine was 2 AAA, my boss had a rechargeable in 1999. I still have this one.

About 2005 I picked up a Treo, almost positive that one was lithium (it was a cell phone). Though it may have been NiCd.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 13 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

The III had an IR sync as well, but you had to initiate it and it was line of sight with the IR port on your computer.

I had it working with my Rev. B iMac.

Man, I miss my Palm III. Left it in a jacket pocket too close to a wall heater. :(

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

My palm treo 650 was the most badass phone ever

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Yep. While Android can do far more, the Treo keyboard kicked ass.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Ooh, midi tones!

Though the Treo could use MP3 for tones too. It could also play video files, I remember watching Mars Attacks on a flight. Ate the hell out of battery, but I always carried multiples.

It was truly the first viable smart phone. With a wifi SD card, I could browse the web (albeit with terrible speed and a pitiful browser, but better than other mobile devices at the time) and sync to my laptop over wifi.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago

I had an sd card with a horribly compressed version of the first season of aqua teen hunger force on mine. People were so jealous, probably (they weren’t)

[–] SiblingNoah@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

I miss my Newton. :(

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago

Those were cool! I inherited my pop's old one when he upgraded.

[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 6 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Loved my Palm III. Simpler days.

[–] mipadaitu@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

I used to take notes on paper in graffiti cause it was kind of a pseudo shorthand.

[–] Salvo@aussie.zone 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

My handwriting went from perfect block lettering (engineer/draftsman) to unintelligible scrawl when I learnt graffiti.

I still try to use graffiti when I try to “type” on my AppleWatch.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

There was a Graffiti keyboard for android but I don't think it's maintained anymore.

[–] noughtnaut@lemmy.world 1 points 24 minutes ago

Yes, it was even perfectly official. Unfortunately, Android changed from under it and they never bother to update it so these days it will just fail to start.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 19 hours ago

Me too!

I tried using a Graffiti keyboard on Android, without a stylus it doesn't make sense.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

I think the Palm m125 is the best case scenario for running a PalmOS device nowadays because it was the last one that ran on AAAs. The m100 does as well but it has a quarter of the RAM and a slower processor, plus no SD card slot, though it's REALLY hard to find SD cards small enough to work in a Palm anymore.

Also, they made a USB sync cable for the m100 but I haven't been able to track one down, there's a guy on eBay who has a pallet of their RS-232 sync cables but virtually none for USB. The m125 came with a USB docking cradle so it's a lot easier to sync with a PC, though good luck finding 64-bit drivers.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

You should be able to get a generic RS-232 to USB cable that will work as an adapter. They're still used for microcontroller and old hardware.

As for drivers, run the software in a VM with a 32 bit OS. That may work.

[–] propter_hog@hexbear.net 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I had a handspring visor and I miss it. Fold out keyboard dock that fit in one shirt pocket, and the visor in another, I was set for the day

[–] confusedwiseman@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

This was college life for me. Took notes on it because I could type faster than I could write. Bitter sweet memories as I have a love hate relationship with my current always connected phone.

But for phones the BlackBerry keyboard is what I really miss. That and the sliding form factor of the palm pre. Then there was windows ce devices. This were cool, but were huge and guzzled battery power.

[–] propter_hog@hexbear.net 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Oh man I miss my BlackBerry Pearl, those were awesome devices. And the company BES server delivered email faster than anything. I always got notifications a couple of seconds before my iPhone colleagues who had made the switch.

[–] confusedwiseman@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 20 hours ago

Two letters per key and the auto correct was just so flipping good. I could fly on that keyboard.