Old PDA and software is there another way?

[FrazzleDazzle00]

So I use an old HP palm PDA for my work on site a few times a year. I don’t use it often but when I do it’s invaluable, i use it for a very niche piece of software that comes on an SD card. I think it runs on windows xp and as far as I know will only work on a palm using this operating system. Now the palm PDA has pretty much died a death and I’m considering my options.

The software is now available on app stores however it costs approx £1500, and I really don’t want to spend that right now. So these are my options:

1. Go on eBay and buy another PDA and eek a few more years out of it.
2. Find a way to get the software onto another more modern device.
3. Take the plunge and buy the app.

Can anyone help with option two? Spending a couple hundred on a basic smart phone or tablet to run the software would be my preferred option, however the software is only compatible with xp. Is there anything I can done any device I can use? Any help or advice is appreciated.

[randlemarcus]

Exact model of the HP device might help. PH is quite heavy in IT folk, and we all have The Drawer, which may or may not contain relics that may be helpful.

[sgrimshaw]

Might also help to let us know what the software is.

[beko1987]

Can Windows Mobile (guessing it'll be proper windows mobile, before they window' 8'd it?) run from a VM? Then you could get a nice modern surface and have the VM run in that, then keep your app as it is and was and save £1500

[FrazzleDazzle00]

Haven’t got it to hand, but will post the model when I get home tonight. It’s some acoustic software that I need to run, again not sure of the name right off the top of my head.

Is a VM a virtual machine? If so can you download say windows xp for free or do I have to purchase it (not that I imagine it’s expensive being so old).

[droopsnoot]

Could be Pocket PC or actually PalmOS as per the original post - the model will tell us. Didn't HP buy the Palm name towards the end, and use it on one or two devices?

I have a HP Jornada somewhere, and a much more modern Windows Mobile 5 iPaq. And a host of other Pocket PC and Palm OS devices.

It used to be possible to get "Virtual PC" for Windows XP, but I don't think it would emulate an ARM processor. There is the Palm OS emulator if it turns out to be Palm OS, and the Microsoft embedded visual tools used to run an emulation mode as well.

[droopsnoot]

Actually now I think about it, I seem to recall that to run on the Pocket PC emulator, the software had to be compiled specifically to target the emulator, whereas on Palm the emulator would take the standard files. Way more likely to be Pocket PC / Windows CE than Palm OS, I think.

Oh, maybe I'll stop guessing now as I'm starting to remember other devices that might not be Pocket PC, the stuff that was a little larger than Pocket PC but not as large as a laptop, the talk of it running on XP is a little confusing.

[sunbeam alpine]

Here in Belgium there's a company which can supply new HP PDA's. We use them for several custom applications in agriculture. I don't know whether they can still get them or whether they bought up a lot of stock a few years back, but they were available last time I asked (sometime last year).

If you like I can enquire as to availability and price. I'm sure they'd post to the UK.

Please not - I don't represent or have any interest in the company - I'm just a customer.