https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/25/23478396/internet-archive-palm-pilot-emulation-games-apps-dope-wars Skip to main content The Verge logo.The Verge homepage * The Verge homepageThe Verge logo./ * Tech/ * Reviews/ * Science/ * Entertainment/ * MoreMenu The Verge logo.Menu The Internet Archive just put 565 Palm Pilot apps in your web browser The Internet Archive just put 565 Palm Pilot apps in your web browser / Dope Wars, Space Trader, Graffiti, memos, calculators and more: the Internet Archive's instant Palm Pilot emulator is an app store before the App Store. By Sean Hollister / @StarFire2258 Nov 25, 2022, 11:44 PM UTC| Share this story * * * [IMG_1015] Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Yes, I am playing Dope Wars on a Palm Pilot inside my iPhone. It's thanks to The Internet Archive, which is once again launching a giant collection of software you can instantly play on any web browser, up to and including your touchscreen-equipped phone. There are currently 565 classic Palm apps in all, including games, widgets, and even free trials from both the greyscale and color eras. Reach out and touch a 1996 pocket computer with your 2022 pocket computer And it's more than just the individual apps, too: the entire Palm OS is loaded with each launch, including its full selection of default apps (like the calculator and memo pad) and a working Graffiti touchscreen writing system. I cannot emphasize this enough: you can reach out and touch a 1996 pocket computer with your 2022 pocket computer and it works like a charm. It's a tiny interactive window into the pre-iPhone era, and what lived in the proto-App Store. For me personally, it's like taking a trip back in time to high school, when I read cached copies of Slashdot, played Space Trader and Flappy Bird predecessor SFCave during passing periods, showed off my tricorder to anyone who'd bite, and occasionally even took valuable class notes with a stylus. Other generations can now see what those were like with a single tap. Archivist and historian Jason Scott tells The Verge that it only took six months for the existing CloudPilot emulator to be ready to embed, and credits both its developer Christian Speckner and the POSE emulator that came before. (I'm reading that even POSE was based on an earlier project, Copilot, so quite a few people deserve thanks for the result.) Scott says his own favorite Palm software was a GPS app he used on his Palm III -- but I don't want to spoil why. You'll understand immediately when you try it for yourself. An early productivity app around fuel economy.An early productivity app around fuel economy. An early productivity app around fuel economy. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge You may also find some comedy gold in his dedicated collection of Palm Pilot trialware, back when developers were trying to figure out what would make people pay for an app. A calculator where "you can't do any math calculations with the number 7" seems like it belongs in a certain circle of hell. Related * The Internet Archive puts Atari games and obsolete software directly in your browser * The Internet Archive is now preserving Flash games and animations * The Internet Archive put your favorite LCD handheld games online * You can play nearly 2,400 classic MS-DOS games for free right now * The Internet Archive's collection of Macintosh programs from the 1980s Scott says he's soft-launching the Palm Pilot emulator collection because he's "kind of tired of people finding that I missed a spot," and it genuinely still needs some work -- mostly pulling out metadata like the names of each app's creator. He also hopes to add the instructions for each app. If there's a particular game or app that got you through school or work and it's mysteriously missing, reply to me in the comments or shoot me an email? Scott says he's still adding a few, and I'll happily pass along requests. Join the conversation Most Popular 1. The best Black Friday streaming deals on Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and more ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Elon Musk just decided to bring the worst people on the internet back to Twitter ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The best Black Friday 2022 phone deals ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Elon Musk says Twitter will begin manually authenticating Blue, Grey, and Gold accounts as soon as next week ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. 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