Palm OS Development for macOS

A complete Palm OS development environment for macOS ARM (Apple Silicon) with pre-built toolchain, SDK, and hello world template. Supports both Palm OS 4 (68K) and Palm OS 5 (native ARM via PEAL).

This is a fork of savaughn/palmdev-macos. It adds Palm OS 5 (ARM) support via PEAL, the Palm OS SDK 5r3, a dual-target Makefile and a portable ZIP build. Background and a walkthrough: palm2000.com

Quick Start

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/User7142/palmdev-macos.git palmdev-macos
cd palmdev-macos

# Run setup (downloads toolchain and SDK)
./setup-toolchain.sh

# Build hello world
cd helloworld
make build

# Output: build/HelloWorld.prc ready to install on Palm device!

What's Included

• Pre-built prc-tools - m68k-palmos-gcc (68K) and arm-palmos-gcc (ARM) compilers for macOS ARM
• Palm OS SDK - Headers and libraries for Palm OS 4 and 5r3
• PEAL - Palm Executive ARM Loader for native ARM apps on Palm OS 5
• Build tools - pilrc, build-prc, peal-postlink, pilot-link
• Dual-target Makefile template - Build for Palm OS 4 or 5 with one command
• Hello World template - Ready-to-build sample application
• Automated setup - One-command installation

Requirements

• macOS 11+ (Big Sur or later)
• Apple Silicon
• Homebrew installed
• ~100MB disk space

What Gets Installed

The setup script will:

1. Download prc-tools from GitHub releases

   • Installs to local toolchain/ directory
   • Includes m68k-palmos-gcc 2.95.3
   • Installs target directories to /usr/local/{arm,m68k}-palmos/

2. Install support tools via Homebrew

   • pilrc (resource compiler)
   • pilot-link (device communication)

3. Download Palm OS SDK from jichu4n/palm-os-sdk

   • Installs to /usr/local/palmdev/
   • Includes SDKs for Palm OS 1.0 through 5r4

4. Configure toolchain with palmdev-prep

   • Writes GCC specs files to /usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/
   • Writes trap numbers to /usr/local/share/prc-tools/
   • Configures SDK paths for compilation

Building Applications

The Makefile automatically finds the toolchain - no need to source any config files!

# Build the hello world app (Palm OS 4, 68K)
cd helloworld
make build

All build output goes to the build/ directory.

Palm OS 5 ARM Development

For native ARM performance on Palm OS 5 devices (e.g. Tungsten T3), use the dual-target Makefile template:

# Create a new project from templates
mkdir myapp && cd myapp
cp ../templates/Makefile .
cp ../templates/app.rcp .
cp ../templates/palmos5/main_arm.c .
cp ../templates/palmos5/stub_m68k.c .
cp ../templates/palmos5/pace.h .

# Edit Makefile: set APP_NAME, CREATOR_ID, ARM_SOURCES

# Build for Palm OS 5 (ARM native with 68K stub)
make build TARGET=palmos5

# Or build for Palm OS 4 (pure 68K) with the same Makefile
cp ../templates/palmos4/main.c .
make build TARGET=palmos4

How ARM Apps Work

A Palm OS 5 ARM app consists of:

1. 68K stub - loaded by Palm OS, detects ARM CPU, loads ARM code via PEAL
2. ARM binary - native ARM code packed as armc resources by peal-postlink
3. PACE wrappers (pace.h) - call Palm OS APIs from ARM via 68K emulator callbacks

PEAL (Palm Executive ARM Loader)

PEAL loads and executes ARM code on Palm OS 5. Components:

• peal/postlink/ - Host tool that converts ARM ELF to Palm OS resources
• peal/m68k/ - 68K loader compiled into the stub
• peal/arm/ - ARM entry point (pealstub.c, must be linked first)

Installing on Palm Device

Via HotSync

# Install to Palm via USB
pilot-xfer -i build/HelloWorld.prc

Via POSE (Palm OS Emulator)

Drag and drop the build/HelloWorld.prc file onto the POSE window.

Via Palm Desktop

Copy the build/HelloWorld.prc file to your HotSync install folder.

Troubleshooting

"curl: command not found"

Install Xcode Command Line Tools:

xcode-select --install

"brew: command not found"

Install Homebrew:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

"palmdev-prep: Permission denied"

The SDK installation requires sudo. You'll be prompted for your password.

Compilation errors with system headers

Make sure you're using the flags in the Makefile:

m68k-palmos-gcc -palmos3.5 -nostdinc ...

The -nostdinc flag prevents macOS system headers from conflicting with Palm OS headers.

"No genuine PalmOS.h found"

Run palmdev-prep to configure the SDK:

export PATH="$PWD/toolchain/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
sudo -E env "PATH=$PATH" palmdev-prep

Documentation

• Palm OS Programming Tutorial
• prc-tools Documentation
• Palm OS Reference

Next Steps

After building hello world:

1. Read the source - helloworld/HelloWorld.c is fully commented
2. Modify the UI - Edit helloworld/HelloWorld.rcp for resources
3. Study Palm OS APIs - Check SDK headers in sdk/sdk-4/include/ or sdk/sdk-5r3/include/
4. Try ARM development - Use templates/ for a Palm OS 5 ARM project
5. Build something cool - Games, utilities, audio apps, MIDI synths!

🔄 Updating

To update the toolchain:

# Re-run setup to get latest versions
./setup-toolchain.sh

Contributing

Found a bug? Have a feature request? Want to share your Palm OS app?

• Open an issue
• Submit a pull request
• Share your creations!

License

This template and setup scripts are provided as-is for Palm OS development.

• prc-tools: GPL
• Palm OS SDK: Palm OS License (educational/non-commercial use)
• Support tools: Various open source licenses

Credits

• jichu4n - Palm OS SDK and Homebrew tap
• savaughn - prc-tools macOS ARM builds
• Palm, Inc. - Original Palm OS SDK and documentation
• prc-tools community - Maintaining the GCC toolchain

Architecture Note

These pre-built binaries are for macOS ARM (Apple Silicon) only.

For Intel Macs, you're already covered by existing homebrew packages.