What do IMAX movies and PalmPilot have in common? Almost nothing. In case you get a chance to watch Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in the IMAX format and that too from a full 70mm print (most IMAX experiences are digital now), there is something unique going on in terms of technology. IMAX had to do many complicated things to present the film in a unique format. And that has been revealed in a TikTok video, which can also be seen on some YouTube channels.

What you get is around 11 miles of film (weighing 600 pounds) on special reels. In the video, we see a huge platter on which the film is mounted. Next to it is a tablet but on the screen is a PalmPilot emulator running Palm OS software. The film has to be prepared for theatres and IMAX continues to take the help of ancient software.

PalmPilot emulator running on a tablet

Before the iPhone, many companies came up with handsized computers for business clients. Besides BlackBerry, there was the PalmPilot. The emulated hardware in the IMAX video is Palm m130 from 2002. There was a two-inch 160 x 160 display and was powered by Motorola’s 33MHz DragonBall VZ processor, running on Palm OS 4.1.

Why does an IMAX theatre need it? The task before the m130 is to control the quick turn reel unit or QTRU, which controls the platters on which the film reels are stitched together. It needs to spin out the film to and from the projector. And the IMAX 1570 projector moves the film at around six feet per second. The emulator is a crucial part of the deal.

The emulator itself is not an old technology. IMAX has told Vice it was created specifically for Oppenheimer. “IMAX Engineering designed and manufactured an emulator that mimics the look and feel of a PalmPilot to keep it simple and familiar for IMAX film projectionists,” the company said.

There are only 30 theatres worldwide that can show a full 70mm print like Oppenheimer.