The museum thread
Why this brand matters
Palm's achievement was not raw specification. It was reducing the friction of everyday pocket computing: instant-on behaviour, a stylus interface, fast PIM applications, simple synchronisation and an operating system tuned to small memory and battery budgets.
The Palm III and IIIc show the 68000-era platform near its mature form; later Palm OS 5 devices moved to ARM while preserving much of the interaction model, paralleling HP's ability to carry a specialist environment across CPU generations.
Major machines and families
This is a historical map of the machines relevant to this museum's story, not merely a list of the models currently emulated.
| Period | Machine / family | Why it belongs in the story | Museum status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Pilot 1000 / 5000 | Original Palm handhelds establishing the Graffiti/PIM/synchronisation model | Not yet emulated |
| 1997 | PalmPilot Personal / Professional | Expanded early platform with broader software and connectivity | Not yet emulated |
| 1998 | Palm III | Refined monochrome Palm OS handheld with infrared and expansion of the established platform | Playable |
| 1999 | Palm V / Vx | Thin premium industrial design that made the PDA a mainstream executive object | Not yet emulated |
| 2000 | Palm IIIc | Colour evolution of the Palm III form factor | Playable |
| 2001 | Palm m500 / m505 | SD/MMC expansion and thinner next-generation Palm designs | Not yet emulated |
| 2002 | Tungsten T | Palm OS 5 moves the platform to ARM hardware | Not yet emulated |
| 2003– | Treo smartphone line | PDA and mobile phone converge into the smartphone era | Not yet emulated |
Continue the story
Palm in context
Brand histories overlap: CPUs, operating systems, standards, classroom adoption and software ecosystems routinely crossed manufacturer boundaries.
Technical specifications and chronology on this manufacturer page are intended to remain traceable to original documentation and established archives. See the source path for this family →