Tcl and PalmOS on the desktop

Purpose: to cover some of the software available in Tcl for interacting with Palm Pilot/PalmOS devices.

A mailing list was started to discuss something called Palmscript; the creator appears to have moved on to other things. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palmscript/ for info on the list.

Ron Patterson has created a TealInfo-based Palm Pilot Quick Reference guide for Tcl and Tk. See http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=2532 (which requires the shareware TealInfo application from http://www.tealpoint.com/ ).

If someone would prepare a nice, clean, plain ASCII version of reference information, I (LV) could create a free PalmOS DOC format and make it available. I don't know of a free alternative to TealInfo. Vince adds that Alphatk comes with an ascii version of all of Tcl's man pages in one large file (Alphatk/Alpha/Help/Tcl 8.4 Commands.txt in the distribution)

LV Okay, take a look at http://www.purl.org/net/lvirden/Misc/TclTk84Commands.doc and see how that looks. It is a doc-ification of the AlphaTk file mentioned by Vince.


LV: I surely would love to discuss the topic of PalmOS and Tcl with people. Stop by Palmsupport-tcl, an effort to build applications and extensions for desktop tools in support of the Palm devices. To subscribe, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palmsupport-tcl and see http://www.purl.org/NET/Tcl-FAQ/palmsupport-tcl/ for miscellaneous details.


J.H.: I see two main issues regarding tcl and the palm. Number one is writing programs for the palm in Tcl/Tk. There it looks as if Palm Tcl and Toucan are the right answer. It's really fun.

The second issue is the handling of palm databases on the desktop, converting / filtering data from palm databases and other sources (addressbooks etc.) to palm databases which can later on be synced with the palm device. Are there any solutions around ? I guess a Tcl only solution could be a candidate for tcllib.


The PiTcl extension below attempts to do some manipulation of the palm databases.


What: PtCon
Where: http://ptcon.sourceforge.net/
Description: PtCon (pronounced P-T-Con) stands for Palm Tcl Console. Palm Tcl, is a port of Tcl 7.6p2 to PDA's that run the Palm OS. PtCon enables the creation and execution of Palm Tcl scripts interactively within a Palm-enabled PDA.
Currently at version 0.1
Updated: 12/2002
Contact: mailto:[email protected] Mac Cody

What: Abacus
Where: http://www-cad.eecs.berkeley.edu/HomePages/aml/abacus/abacus.html
http://tahoe.inesc.pt/%7Eaml/abacus/abacus.html
Description: Tcl/Tk/C++/C spreadsheet developed for Linux. Supports graphics, printing, saving and loading different formats, cell editing, sorting, column and row manipulation, cell formats, undo/redo, formulas, and more.
Team also references a tool called Abacus for the Palm Pilot, however I don't believe it has any Tcl/Tk code in it.
Updated: 02/2000
Contact: [email protected]

What: ArgonED
Where: http://bodotill.suburbia.com.au/argonv/argonv.html
Description: Argon V is a Palm Pilot video game. ArgonED is a level editor to create new levels. It is portable to Windows, MacOS, and Linux (and more).
Updated: 09/2001
Contact: [email protected]

What: CVW
Where: http://cvw.mitre.org/
Description: Collaborative Virtual Workspace (CVW) is a virtual environment that supports geographically disparate groups, enabling persisten rooms of discussion by providing synchronous tools. Users receive automatic session management, audio video conferencing, document storage and retrieval, and shared whiteboards. Latest version is 3.1.x, which are fully Open Source. Tk, Java and Palm Pilot clients are available.
Updated: 04/1999
Contact: [email protected]

What: FreeBSD ports of Tcl-based software
Where: http://www.freebsd.org/ports/
Description: This site is the accumulation point for a number of packages ported to FreeBSD. Right now, I don't have individual package info for some of the packages here, but when that info is found, I will see about getting the individual descriptions here. But I see things like a PalmPilot backup/restore/install and debug set of utility programs that uses Tcl/Tk 8.0 (pilot-link), a network traffic monitoring tool called Tele Traffic Tapper (ttt) which requires Tcl v7.5.1/Tk v4.1.1.
Updated: 04/1998
Contact: [email protected] (Wolfram Schneider)

What: ical - a calendar manager
Where: ftp://ftp.lcs.mit.edu/pub/sanjay/
ftp://ftp.procplace.com/pub/tcl/sorted/packages-7.6/x11/ical-2.0p2/ical-2.0p2.tar.gz
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/deskutils.html
http://hopf.math.nwu.edu/syncal/
Description: A calendar application - previously required InterViews libraries but now uses only tk. Designed for Tcl 7/Tk 3.3. This is implemented as a set of date management extensions and a Tcl/Tk interpreter. The Postscript file documents the Tcl interface to date/time. Also contains a class system with methods for Tcl. V2.0 requires a C++ compiler, Tcl 7.4 and Tk 4.0 or later. See the freebsd site for v2.2 of ical.
See the nwu.edu site for a program to synchronize your ical with a Palm Pilot date book.
A patched version of ical 2.2.1a that should build on Tcl 8.3 and newer versions was made available several times in the past for people to mirror; I unfortunately am unaware of any specific location for ical-2.2.1a.tar.gz.
Updated: 09/2004
Contact: [email protected] (Sanjay Ghemawat)

What: iGecko
Where: http://www.igecko.com/
Description: iGecko is a financial media player written in a combination of Tcl and C++. Provides a PalmPilot Portfolio link, dynamic spreadsheet link, news profiling, stock limit alerts, and more.
Updated: 06/1999
Contact: [email protected]

What: JetSync
Where: http://www.kiwi.pt.eu.org/jetsync/
Description: Tcl/Tk interface to PilotLink providing ability to synchronize a number of Palm Pilot III/IIIx databases to a desktop system.
Currently at version 1.0.
Updated: 10/1999
Contact: [email protected]

What: pilot-link
Where: http://www.pilot-link.org/
Description: C/Java/Perl/Python/Tcl interfaces that provide tools to get data from and put data onto Palm Pilot PDAs. Tcl work is in a very alpha state. Works on Unix and OS/2 at least. The pilot-debug part of the package requires Tcl / Tk. The web site hosts a couple of mailing lists.
Currently at version 0.11.1.
Updated: 07/2002
Contact: See the web site

What: pperson
Where: From the contact
Decsription: Tcl script which searches the output of pilot-addresses (a program in pilot-link which generates text output for the AddressBookDB of a Palm Pilot) and formats the address records. Contact also has an AddressBookDB to MH alias cnoversion program available.
Updated: 12/1999
Contact: [email protected] (Jay Sekora)

What: pui
Where: From the contact
Description: PalmPilot UNIX interface, using Unix gdbm database to store and manipulate record information instead of the standard Pilot database format. Contains a Tcl binding so that folk can use simple scripts or Tk to do updates. Used with pilot-link, pui files can be read and written to the pilot.
Updated: 08/1998
Contact: [email protected]

What: PiTcl
Where: http://www.purl.org/NET/akupries/soft/pitcl/
http://www.purl.org/NET/akupries/soft/piTcl/download/piTcl0.5.tar.gz
ftp://ryeham.ee.ryerson.ca/pub/PalmOS/
http://linux.fh-heilbronn.de/%7Echrist/pilot-xfer/
http://www.purl.org/NET/Tcl-FAQ/palmsupport-tcl/
Description: Provides a Tcl binding to the "pilot-link" library for communication with Palm Pilot PDAs. Allows the Tcl programmer to communicate with the Pilot as well as convert its databases into and out of tcl lists. Supports the Stubs interface.
piTcl is Tcl 8.x code which is in alpha-stage. It is currently at version 0.5.
You will find pilot-link source at the ryerson.ca ftp site. A version of pilot-link for windows is at the heilbronn site. The palmsupport-tcl page is the web page for the [email protected] mailing list.
Updated: 11/1999
Contact: [email protected] (Andreas Kupries)
[email protected] (Kenneth Albanoswki)

What: EditAB
Where: http://www.ping.de/sites/garfield/pilotmgr.html
Description: Perl/Tk tool to view and edit the data stored by pilotmgr's SyncAB (synchronizes Palm Pilot Addressbook database).
Updated: 12/1998
Contact: [email protected] (Bodo Bellut)

What: pi-todo
Where: http://www.slothmud.org/%7Ehayward/pi-todo
Description: Application to interact with 3com Palm Pilot ToDo List databases on a desktop. Requires pilot-link. Currently at v0.3.
Updated: 08/1999
Contact: [email protected]

What: PilotManager
Where: http://www.moshpit.org/pilotmgr/
Description: Perl/Tk (pTk) tool to sync your Palm Pilot with Solaris applications. Requires pilot-link.
Updated: 07/1998
Contact: [email protected]
[email protected]

See also the wiki page for Ideogramic, which produces a commercial product for PalmOS.