The Palmtop Application Library

Reviewed by Rob Tillotson

The Palmtop Application Library gives DOS programs running on the 100LX or 200LX the look and feel of the built-in applications, without the need for the development kit or any other software (other than PAL and a C compiler, of course).

PAL is an ongoing project, so it likely to have improved quite a bit since I wrote this - and that's saying quite a lot, since PAL already has everything you need to write LX-friendly programs. (The major omission at this point is access to databases, but I'm sure that won't be long in coming.) In some areas, e.g. graphical menus and multiple font handling, PAL even surpasses System Manager's user interface capabilities. Since the source code is available and contributions are encouraged, it won't be surprising if that trend continues.

PAL applications use the HP's graphics BIOS. As long as a PAL program doesn't use the System Manager (most of which isn't callable from DOS, and thus from a PAL program, anyway), it can be run in a "naked" LX or on the desktop, using an autoloading TSR provided with the package.

The only real drawback to PAL is that programs created with it are DOS applications, and thus lack all of the niceties of System Manager compatibility even though they look like the built-ins. This also means that a copy of PAL is linked into every EXE, resulting in somewhat larger file sizes and memory footprints. On the other hand, if you need System Manager compatibility, you probably have the developer's kit with all the tools and documentation to make use of it.

PAL has been embraced by a number of palmtop software authors, and is even included with a version of the developer's kit being sold by a third party. There are already at least two excellent examples of the capabilities of PAL available on-line: HV, an HTML viewer that is included in the PAL package, and PalDraw, a CAD application.

PAL is said to work with any popular C compiler for the PC; I have tested it with Borland C++ 3.1. If you want to write software for the HP palmtops, do not go another minute without a copy of PAL.

PAL Home Page