HOWTO: Make that palmOne Treo 650 Even Better!
PalmInfocenter member Derek Kessler (aka PIC's Captain Hair) submitted a interesting article that delves into the recent hacks and modifications created to fix or circumvent some of Treo 650's current limitations. A great amount of help, graphics and editing was further provided by Kent at PocketFactory.com.
Standard Disclaimer: Warning! "techie" supervision required, PIC is not responsible for any possible loss of data or warranty issues resulting from this article or anything here on in...
HOWTO: Make that Treo 650 Even Better!
By: Derek Kessler & PocketFactory.com
When the Treo community felt left out in the cold by Sprint disabling the Treo 650’s DUN (Dial-up Networking) via Bluetooth connection, one user took matters into his own hands by writing a hack to foil Sprint’s measures. A person nicknamed Shadowmite on the TreoCentral message boards discovered a seemingly simple way to workaround the problem by removing a few lines of code that prevented the option from appearing onscreen. Very clever. So clever in fact that PalmOne apparently copied it as their own creation and released it to the public for download, according to one web site. Whether this really is true or not I can’t confirm.
But wait, there’s more! Shadowmite was only to eager to apply his skill towards other Treo 650 limitations, such as PalmOne’s missing drivers for its WiFi SDIO Card (which was apparently a move to appease the carriers). After realizing that the Treo 650 and Tungsten T5 are practically siblings internally, and the T5 already works with the WiFi SDIO card, he developed a new set of drivers that enable the 650 to work with it. I’m sure the folks at PalmOne, and the wireless carriers will love him for that. VoiP, here we come! No more wireless internet access charges.
-Kent, PocketFactory
Treo 650 Hacked to Bits!
By Captain Hair aka Derek Kessler
Over at Treocentral.com, things have really been jumpin’. Enough people were already hyped over the recent release of the Treo 650, but several were quite disappointed that the NAND flash used for the main memory had resulted in the device having a lower effective memory, especially for those with gobs of small records, such as contacts. But there has been much rejoicing in the past few weeks for three simples reasons: Bluetooth DUN, Wi-fi capability, and patches/custom ROMs.
Bluetooth DUN
For those who are not familiar with the Treo, it has always had the capability to Dial-Up Networking (DUN), where one could use their Treo as a wireless modem for their computer, allowing them to use their ISP anywhere they could get a phone signal. When pa1mOne announced that the Treo 650 was going to included Bluetooth, the Treo community threw a big ‘ole party, “Bluetooth DUN, yeah!”
Unfortunately, the first provider to get rights to the Treo 650 was Sprint, and due to their sales of PCMIA cellular cards and the associated data plans, it appears that they did not want the Treo 650 to be capable of Bluetooth DUN. While wired DUN was still an easily achieved option, the Treo community still had Bluetooth and wanted to use it. pa1mOne tells us that Bluetooth DUN was not ready for primetime on the Treo 650 and that a patch may be released in the future.
Enter Shadowmite. One day, just out of the blue, this fellow by the forum name of ‘shadowmite’ comes out and announces that he has hacked Bluetooth DUN! When asked how, he simply says that the DUN profile was already in the Treo 650 and fully functional. He searched through the software, found the few lines of code blocking the option from appearing on the screen, and viola, the Treo 650 is fully capable of Bluetooth DUN with any Bluetooth enabled computer or PDA. And all of this was done with a simple 2 byte patch. Yes, 2 bytes.
Wi-fi capability
pa1mOne has an 802.11b Wi-Fi SDIO card. pa1mOne has a Treo 650 with an SDIO slot. Do the math: Wi-fi card + Treo 650 = Treo with Wi-Fi. Right?
Wrong. Going along the same line as the Bluetooth DUN, pa1mOne had not released any wi-fi drivers for the Treo 650, even though they had for the Tungsten T5. Cellular radio and screens aside, both devices are practically identical, so shouldn’t the Treo be more than capable of using pa1mOne’s Wi-Fi card? Nope, as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoiP) threatened the amount that providers (currently the only one being Sprint) could charge for wireless minutes. If you use VoiP instead of your cellular phone, the provider can’t charge you for using their network.
Thus, seemingly caving to pressure from the cellular providers, did not release a wi-fi driver, claiming that the wi-fi and cellular signals would interact in bad ways. The users of TreoCentral were boggled, "Why can the PDA2K have cellular, Bluetooth, and wi-fi built in?" Reenter shadowmite.
Shadowmite gets his hands on a pa1mOne wi-fi card and is actually able to modify it so that his Treo 650 can actually use it. It’s not perfect, as it will overwrite a database needed for Vision access on the Sprint Treo 650 (and the equivalent when GSM phones come out), and the only way to get things right is with a hard reset, but it completely blew pa1mOne’s garbage press release out of the water.
Patches/Custom ROMs
It’s and exciting time to be a Treo-er. Or Treo-ie. Or Treo-naut. Whatever, those with the Treo 650 got a special treat. One of the board users had contacted pa1mOne, inquiring about a problem with the sound quality on his Treo 650. The way the story goes is that the tech support lady he spoke with sent him a beta version of a ROM patch to fix the sound quality of the Treo 650. Realizing that this had to be released to the Treo public, said forum member posted the patch on TreoCentral. Re-reenter shadowmite.
So, our friend shadowmite downloads the patch and begins to deconstruct it, examining how pa1mOne did what they did. He finds a thing called the ROM loader, a powerful tool that lets the user simply modify any data to be in the Treo 650’s ROM, throw it onto an SD card, and patch his/her Treo. Just like that recent neat-o iPod graphics hack.
The ROM loader was a very simple creation, consisting of a Zip file and a few other doodads. The Zip contained all of the files to be loaded into the Treo’s ROM. Shadowmite successfully (and very easily, might I add) removed VersaMail, RealPlayer, and other programs from the Zip, put others in their place, and reflashed the ROM of his Treo, eliminating and adding the above stated programs. Violá, custom ROMs! And that included the sound quality patch.
Indeed, it is an exciting time to by a Treo-whatever.
---
Stay tuned for PIC's upcoming in-depth palmOne Treo 650 Review. Buy your own palmOne Treo 650 here
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RE: So he has a real name?
"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."
RE: So he has a real name?
"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."
RE: So he has a real name?
-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T637
RE: So he has a real name?
At least I'm not just any old Kent, I'm the Kent. The one and only. All others are cheap facsimiles. Copyright infringers.
-------------------------------
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
RE: So he has a real name?
RE: So he has a real name?
"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."
RE: Pig
"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."
RE: Pig
Time is not a luxury that Palm has. The MSFT waves are getting bigger and the big tsunami is coming - and Nagel and Company are frolicking on the beach - oblivious to it all.
RE: Pig
Anyway, there's just one thing that I think pa1mOne could do to help save themselves, offer a <$300 Treo. And make it cool. Can you imagine what that would do to bolster their sales/marketshare?
I suppose I could make broad statements as well: They must innovate again. The TT was a landmark device for Palm, practically their rennaisance, but since Sony withdrew from the USA PDA market, pa1mOne was left with no competition (Palm OS), so thus no need to innovate. Unfortuantely, now the WM2003 crowd has encroached into Palm territory, ie being emminently more cool hardware-wise, and I hope that pa1mOne is going to wake back up.
"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."
Pigs may fly someday
PS - Gekko is your PDA memory half empty or half full :P
-Ryan
RE: Pig
This is another typical post by him.
RE: Pig
Sounds like a pretty fulfilling career when ones life is over. :-(
Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
RE: Pig
RE: Pig
Yeah, this stuff drives me nuts. There are several ways I deal with this kind of crap.
1) Research elsewhere
2) Take it in stride
3) Make snide comments (a favorite of mine)
4) Read the slant, process it, reguritate, and push the back button.
Don't let the fanatics get in your way! I'm a fan, not a fanatic, so you can let me get in the way. ;) Seriously, though, each handheld OS has its benefits (Palm, WM2003, BB, Symbian), and I'll admit that. But I'll still beat you until you're bleeding Palm. I'm simple that way...
"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."
RE: Pig
Manic Street Preachers - Tsunami (song)
Please think of those that are suffering, and will continue to do so. It is not a matter to joke about.
-Ryan
RE: Pig
How much time do we have to give Palm to mature? Just curious. I mean when did the first Palm Pilot come out? Wasn't it something like 1996?
We keep talking about them like they need some growing time to get it right. No. They've been in business long enough and have been consistently loosing their market share. Giving them time is obviously not the answer.
I love my Treo 650, but you gotta wonder where this company is headed. I feel like they're heading to get bumped out of the main stream and into the realm of an eccentric few. Like the group who still likes toying with my old TI 99/4a. Fun, but not a viable business. And all by Palm's own hand.
I hope I'm wrong.
RE: Pig
One Palm to rule them all!
RE: RE: Pig
Apparently some people take stupid things like "posts on a blog" too siriously.
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day.
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
PalmOne's dishonesty
We should make a race. See how many people can successfully hack PDA's to make them better than the OEM can. I believe this fellow and his T650 are already in the lead, but "Deez" from Brighthand also has a few points to his name for the Toshiba VGA stuff. I'm sure there are a few hardcore Japanese coders that have done things only imaginable in dreams with their Clies. Control that robotic dog with the UX50's Wifi? What the hell? These men are braver than I, and all deserve some appreciation.
-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T637
RE: PalmOne's dishonesty
"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."
treo 650 / shadowmite
the fact that it is only a two byte patch doesn't surprise me.
the treo 650 also has the exact same kernel as the tungsten|t5, so, it also doesn't surprise me that the wifi drivers work by changing the device id/hal id checks in the application.
palmone could have released such drivers; but, are reluctant to due to limited quality assurance testing that has been done on all the products. of course, you do this at your own risk :)
i remember earlier versions of the ROWDY (rest of the world) rom image for the treo 650 had DUN support - however, the latest versions do not. this could also be disabled because of bugs. if you run into problems using the DUN patch, maybe it was disabled for a reason?
all in all - it should be clearly noted that these modifications should be used at your own risk. the plugged in program has had support for reflashing rom images way before the device was released (EVT and DVT units) - however, redistribution of these tools will be in violation of the plugged in program NDA; users make mistakes - and, palmone probably doesn't want to be responsible for them :)
---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php
RE: treo 650 / shadowmite
-------------------------------
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
RE: treo 650 / shadowmite
- What? A GSM 650? DO TELL! Which carrier is your model based on? I'm desperately awaiting Cingular.
no carrier :) ROWDY unit (rest of the world unit) - no simlocking.
---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php
RE: treo 650 / shadowmite
pls let us know the way how to get treo 650 gsm version ! I am desperately waiting 4 it !
V
That is so cool.
It's even making me look at the 650 in a new light.
(It is kinda cool looking...)
If the handheld manufacturers are going to not enable stuff with no other reason than so they can make more money, weeeelll they are just begging for folks to do this kind of stuff to 'em!
It's an interesting topic on it's own, but my main interest is the mods!
I know some foks are going to mess things up and ruin their units by trying these, but great results often happen from great risks taken.
You could also think of it as evolution in action.
Wheres the Sandisk WIFI card driver hack
However, there is one thing that gioes on my nerves a little bit. The Tapwave Zodiac accesses both PalmOne and Sandisk WLAN SDIO cards with the SAME driver. There's only a hard-coded device ID string in the driver that makes all the difference. Can't one good hacker/cracker change that and get the SanDisk cards working? This would increase the platform's hardware support, and also make users and companies more adept to buy Palm powered stuff!
Just my 2 cents..
Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.blogspot.com
RE: Wheres the Sandisk WIFI card driver hack
ps - great work on your blog Tamog
RE: Wheres the Sandisk WIFI card driver hack
thank you for the compliment!
I would definitely throw more than just my change into the fountain. I would sacrifice my time, body and my Tungsten T3 for it. Anyone provide me with the card, and I shall try my best! Will just be a 50byte-Patch if I am correct(device ID) I am even willing to return the card afterwards....
Tam Hanna
Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.blogspot.com
RE: What palmOne *MUST* do to survive
The proper question is: If you're so rich, why aren't you SMARTER?
Microsoft products.
p1's 32K Memos and 1K Clipboard.
TV.
Q.E.D.
RE: What palmOne *MUST* do to survive
Two mindless comments in less than 24 hours, real slick.
"The Anglo-Saxon-Scots-Irish people are the most warlike people in history, and their enemies forget it at their peril. "
RE: What palmOne *MUST* do to survive
RE: What palmOne *MUST* do to survive
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So he has a real name?