Palm V Inside Look - Specs

The specification of the Palm V is very similar to the Palm Vx. The V has a physically smaller flash ROM IC package. The PCB layout of the main components is slightly different though. The battery and LCD panel appear to be similar, and the serial communication IC to the bottom right corner is also the same. The main difference on the "V" is the memory size and the speed of the processor.

Motorola DragonBall Processor

DragonBall XCEZ328ZC16 V 1J83G CRHCY9926 is the full model number of this famous ARM processor. The design of this processor was based around the famous 68000 core implemented in a new smaller package as a chip for handheld portable computers. It is a 16-bit processor from the interfacing perspective but with a more powerful 32-bit architecture for processing. This provides greater processing power without the overhead of a 32-bit bus, which would require more PCB space.

This was one of the most powerful processors of its time and early signs in the evolution of the "System on Chip" type architecture. The IC has a built-in LCD driver and interfacing circuitry. It also has a UART for serial communications, touch screen decoding capability, speaker driver, and infrared IrDA support. It can interface directly with the commonly available flash ROM and DRAM memory chips.

KM416V1204CT-L6

• 1 M × 16-bit (2 MB) CMOS Dynamic RAM with EDO
• 3.3 V
• 50-pin TSOP.

The Palm V has a rich assortment of chipsets, which is one of the reasons why it works so well.

L160BB12VC

• CMOS Boot Sector Flash Memory
• 16 Mbit (2 MB)
• 1.8 V
• TFBGA Package

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