Dial back into pre-iPhone era with Internet Archive's PalmPilot Emulation

(Image Courtesy: Internet Archive)

Technology is changing at a breath-taking pace and nowhere is it more evident than in the palm of our hands. For the longest time, texting meant using buttons but then came touchscreens and it changed the game.

But if you want a touch of nostalgia and re-live the pre-iPhone era, Internet Archive has uploaded more than 500 Palm Pilot apps that you can play around with.

Hey, so, don't tell anyone, but I'm announcing PalmPilot emulation at Internet Archive for the holidays, probably next week. All the currently-working items need descriptions, so it's not quite ready. Don't tell anybody, OK? https://t.co/ye9z4iTPsxpic.twitter.com/0SNRVJw0Kp

— Jason Scott (@textfiles) November 24, 2022

Internet Archive is a digital library that provides free public access to collections of old digitized materials, websites, software, books and more.

The emulation also loads up the entire Palm OS, filling your screen with crunchy pixels and that grey and black colour scheme that we were so used to back in the day.

Even if nostalgia isn't your scene, Palm Pilot still makes for an interesting experience—the evolution of the top-of-the-line smartphone from 1996 to the ones we have today is awe-inspiring.

In an interview to The Verge, archivist Jason Scott said he spent six months to port the existing CloudPilot emulator to the Internet Archive.

It isn't all done yet, there are still some problems to iron out but its more than functional enough to give it a go and see what you missed out on.