Palm OS, an operating system for a range mobile devices that predated mobile phones, is largely forgotten today. Or at least, that’s what [Aaron Ardiri] thought.

That all changed when he was contacted by a developer about some Palm OS software he had written decades ago. He soon realized there was a whole community of enthusiasts enthusiastically exploring a platform he had assumed was a forgotten layer in the strata of early mobile computing history.

This led [Aaron] to dust off and publish his substantial personal archive of development tools, source code, documentation, and more all related to his years of working with Palm OS in the early days of mobile computing.

When it comes to the importance of preserving computing history, we can’t put it better than [Aaron] himself so we’ll just quote him here:

Preservation is not simply about keeping old files. Source code, tools and documentation provide a record of how engineers solved problems under the constraints of their time. They also preserve knowledge that is easily lost when companies disappear and platforms are discontinued.

In many ways, Palm OS devices like the PalmPilot have very little in common with modern mobile computing platforms. They had to do more with less, and development reflected that. If you’re curious what these devices were like, here’s a great tour that includes a browser-based emulator.