What is PocketMark ? PocketMark is a speed test utility -that is, a benchmark- for Palm devices. PocketMark was developed to compare the performances of various devices running PalmOS: in fact, there are different companies building PalmOS devices, such as Palm Inc., HandSpring, TRG, Sony and so; and you can find various product lines from a single vendor, too. When you hit the "Go!" button, PocketMark runs some tests on your Palm device, and evaluates various indexes: they are your "speed scores".

How to get PocketMark ?
The latest release is PocketMark v0.2.1. It features a DB speed test (DBMark), a graphic fill test (GraphMark) and the ability to save results in a Memo; PocketMark is released under GPL with full C source code.
You can retrieve it from here.
Please read the README file included in the .zip .

What is required to run PocketMark ?
You need a Palm device with PalmOS v2.0 or later (so a Palm Pilot Personal or newer); and you need MathLib, a freeware math shared library. If you don't have MathLib installed on your device (many apps require it, such as scientific calculators and so), grab it here.

Is there a result summary, to compare the scores from various devices ? Is there a "reference" score ?
PocketMark is designed to give all results of "100" for a 3Com Palm IIIx: this is sort of a "reference index".
Please note that, in order to have consistent results, you should disable all the "hacks" you could have installed on your device, because they can hurt the performances by a few percent. Also consider (temporarily) deinstalling HackMaster, if you have it.
A summary table of PocketMark indexes from various devices is provided below:

	IntMarks	MemMarks	FloatMarks	PalmMarks	DBMarks	GraphMarks
Standard devices
Pilot Pro	88	70	86	85
Palm III	88	70	86	85
Palm IIIe	94	83	93	92
Palm IIIe S.E., OS3.1.1	100	91	100	99	59	100
Palm IIIx OS3.1	94	83	93	92
Palm V OS3.1	94	83	93	92
Palm m100 OS3.5.2	94	93	93	94	192	64
Palm IIIx OS3.3	100	100	100	100	100	100
Palm V OS3.3	100	100	100	100	100	100
Palm V w/20MHz-8MB upgrade, OS3.3	115	113	114	115	54	113
Palm Vx	116	113	113	115
Palm Vx OS3.5	115	115	113	115	213	78
Sony Clie (first model)	115	115	113	115	219	78
Handspring Visor DeLuxe	129	101	132	125	57	112
Palm IIIc	126	130	126	127	227	31
TRG Pro	130	129	134	130
Palm VIIx OS3.5	156	139	158	154	196	95
Handspring Visor Prism	203	124	200	191	224	43
Sony Clie N710C	195	172	192	191	326	323
Palm m505	176	202	198	183	338	42
Handspring Visor Platinum	202	179	201	198	342	107
Handspring Visor Edge	231	186	233	225	351	112
Tuned-up devices
Palm IIIe w/CruiseControl	124	94	125	120
Palm IIIe S.E. OS3.1.1 w/CruiseControl	130	102	133	126	65	113
Palm IIIx OS3.3 w/CruiseControl	131	114	134	129	112	112
Palm IIIx OS3.3 w/CruiseControl&QuickBits	130	275	133	152	114	116
Palm Vx w/TornadoV	166	141	167	162
Palm IIIc w/CruiseControl	163	148	169	162	265	33
Visor w/TornadoV, NoStreak, NoWaitZ	172	154	177	170
TRG Pro w/TornadoV	173	171	179	174
Palm IIIc w/TornadoV	176	160	184	175	281	35
Palm Vx w/TornadoV and NoStreak	177	174	182	177
Palm IIIxe w/Afterburner@28MHz	222	199	226	219	334	135
Handspring Visor Deluxe w/Afterburner@30MHz	242	189	248	235	104	210
Palm V w/20MHz-8MB upg., w/Afterburner@30MHz	240	211	248	237	94	208
Handspring Visor Deluxe w/Afterburner@32MHz	255	202	264	248	115	222
IBM WorkPad C3 w/Afterburner@32MHz	253	224	258	249	449	153
Palm Vx OS3.5.2 w/Afterburner@32MHz	258	232	264	255	418	157
Visor Prism w/FastCPU@46MHz	289	178	284	272	330	61
Visor Platinum w/Afterburner@45MHz	316	256	316	307	437	176
Palm V OS3.5 w/Afterburner@45MHz	358	321	366	354	660	219

We have a new winner: the Handspring Visor Edge clearly outperforms even the supposedly fastest Visor, the Platinum.
Once again, Palm Computing devices fail to reach the performance level of their competitors; but not by too much.

As you can see, the Palm Pilot Professional and the Palm III share the same scores; this is because they share the same hardware. The same applies to Palm IIIx and Palm V, and to many others.
Palm Vx shows better performances, due to its higher-clocked CPU (20 MHz vs. 16.6 MHz).
The m505 has the best performances for the Palm Inc. devices, except for the GraphMark score: it seems that the routine PocketMark uses for it (an old 2.0 graph routine) defaults to 8 bpp or maybe even 16 bpp for the m505 (instead of 1 bpp), resulting in much more bandwidth usage. The PalmOS 4 itself could be responsible for lower GraphMark results.
On the other side, DBMarks are astonishing for OS 3.5 and 4.0: a huge improvement over previous versions !
Very interesting scores come from the Sony Clie 710: in particular, GraphMark is incredible, and we must take into account that the default screen resolution for the Clie 710 is 320x320, not 160x160 !
For a summary of the hardware differences between the various devices, please have a look at the Hardware Page.
Note that installing PalmOS 3.3 (at least on EZ-equipped devices) gives interesting performance benefits.

Do hacks and other "background" software affect performances ?
It depends from the software we are considering, but in general the answer should be "yes".
Anyway, many hacks seem not to slow down PocketMark at all, and NoStreak seems capable to even speed up the system, at least on OS 3.1 (for it leads to lower bus utilization and consequent more available memory bandwidth).
But, remember, PocketMark is only a synthetic benchmark: in real-world applications, any hack will probably hurt your system's performances.

How faster can an overclocked Palm run ?
Using CruiseControl, a free utility by BackupBuddy Software, you could see an increment around +30% of the final PalmMarks score, and a +12% on both DBMarks and GraphMarks.
You can squeeze even more performances, especially from the memory and graphic subsystems, using QuickBits by 2bit Software.
Note that those two are not overclocking utilities: your CPU clock speed remains the same.
As for "true" overclocking utilities, we can obviously see good improvements as the clock goes up (just look at those impressive Palm V scores !); but remember, overclocking not only leads to more battery consumption: it can affect your ability to use the infrared port and the serial hotsync, and can also lead to overheating your CPU.
For submissions regarding overclocked devices, please remember that I need to know:
- which overclocking utility was used
- which settings were used (clock speed, special settings, etc.)
- all the six indexes given by PocketMark

Is it possible to send results ? How ?
User reports are greatly appreciated: in fact, they allow me to build a performance database, that is what really get this application useful !
Just drop an email to fcarello@tiscalinet.it , with subject like "pocketmark" or so, and tell me your device model, PalmOS version, configuration (hacks or so) and all PocketMark indexes.
Please note that, since version 0.2, you can save your results (with the "Save to Memopad" button on the last screen) in a Memopad entry.
Many thanks !

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