Contrary to recent rumors, it's not Palm's first Linux smartphone, and no, it's not a competitor to Nokia's Linux-based N800 Internet Tablet. Rather, Palm today unveiled the Foleo, which it's calling a 'new class' of mobile device.

Independent programmers in the community recently achieved Palm's goal of running Linux on Palm devices. Linux is an alternative interface to Palm and Windows Mobile operating systems, which allows you to control and navigate basic Palm device functions.

Independent programmers in the community recently achieved Palm’s goal of running Linux on Palm devices. Linux is an alternative interface to Palm and Windows Mobile operating systems, which allows you to control and navigate basic Palm device functions. The thrust of their efforts have been with Lifedrive and TX.

To comply with the GPL, Palm has released the source code packages for its Linux-based WebOS used by the new Palm Pre, which has been on sale in the US since the beginning of June.

My Palm Tungsten E had gone totally dead. I had to restore everything with a sync, and by some kind of magic, my Palm infrared keyboard suddenly started working again. So it was time to get the Palm and Linux talking to each other.

"Jon Rubinstein just made it official during their financial results conference call, folks: Palm is only going to develop webOS devices from now on. Say goodbye to Palm-branded Windows Mobile Devices..."

Verizon Wireless announced Jan. 25 availability of two modified versions of Palm's WebOS-based smartphones, the Palm Pre Plus and the newly WiFi-enabled Palm Pixi Plus. Meanwhile, Palm announced that its WebOS developer program is now open to all developers, and plans to launch a WebOS plugin development kit, says eWEEK.

Sprint and Verizon Wireless have released Palm's upgraded 1.4 version of the Linux-based WebOS for Palm Pre and Palm Pixi smartphones. Ofering much-anticipated video capture and editing functionality plus improved messaging features, WebOS 1.4 arrives shortly after Palm announced lowered investment guidance due to disappointing smartphone sales.

Artifex Software is suing Palm over the PDF (Portable Document Format) viewer in Palm's Pre smartphone, it said on Thursday.