# syncing with Sony Clie - this is driving me insane.

## mike2297

Somtimes I think linux seems more trouble than its worth.

Ok, so my Clie wont sync.  Well, actually, it did sync twice with gpilot, and that was after i pushed cancel and restarted the hotsync process a few times.

I'm almost positive I have everything I need in the kernel, but just to show you, here's what lsmod shows:

```

Module                  Size  Used by    Tainted: P  

NVdriver             1066912  10  (autoclean)

ntfs                   53792   1 

vfat                   10636   2 

visor                   9576   0 

keybdev                 2048   0  (unused)

mousedev                4244   1 

hid                    13960   0  (unused)

usbserial              18332   0  [visor]

usb-uhci               23052   0  (unused)

usbcore                68704   1  [visor hid usbserial usb-uhci]

tulip                  41280   1 

emu10k1                61640   2 

ac97_codec             11080   0  [emu10k1]

sound                  58580   0  [emu10k1]

```

Ive recompiled the kernel about 6 times, trying different module vs compiled-in combinations.  I was originally using the gentoo sources (2.4.19), but then I decided to give vanilla a go (2.4.20) in a desperate attempt to see if it would make any difference.  It didn't.

When I try to backup with coldsync, I hit the hotsync button, and then start up cold sync.  This is what i get:

```

[~]# coldsync -p /dev/pilot -mb Clie/

Please press the HotSync button.

```

It sits on that forever.

Yes, I tried emerging hotplug.  I started it up, and it made absolutly no difference.

Here's what the kernel log says:

```

Jan 23 10:49:37 [kernel] usb.c: kmalloc IF cc8ea380, numif 1

Jan 23 10:49:37 [kernel] usb.c: new device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0

Jan 23 10:49:37 [kernel] usb.c: USB device number 10 default language ID 0x409

Jan 23 10:49:37 [kernel] Manufacturer: Palm, Inc.

Jan 23 10:49:37 [kernel] Product: Palm Handheld

Jan 23 10:49:37 [kernel] visor.c: Handspring Visor / Palm 4.0 / Clié 4.x: Number of ports: 2

Jan 23 10:49:37 [kernel] usb-uhci.c: interrupt, status 2, frame# 1020

Jan 23 10:49:39 [kernel] usb-uhci.c: ENXIO 80000a80, flags 0, urb ce533b40, burb ce5333c0

Jan 23 10:49:40 [kernel] usb-uhci.c: ENXIO 80000a80, flags 0, urb ce533b40, burb ce5333c0

Jan 23 10:49:40 [kernel] usb-uhci.c: ENXIO 80000a80, flags 0, urb ce533b40, burb ce5333c0

Jan 23 10:49:40 [kernel] usb-uhci.c: ENXIO 80000a80, flags 0, urb ce533b40, burb ce5333c0

Jan 23 10:49:40 [kernel] usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout

Jan 23 10:49:40 [kernel] visor.c: visor_startup - error getting first unknown palm command

Jan 23 10:49:43 [kernel] usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout

Jan 23 10:49:43 [kernel] visor.c: visor_startup - error getting second unknown palm command

Jan 23 10:49:43 [kernel] usbserial.c: Handspring Visor / Palm 4.0 / Clié 4.x converter now attached to ttyUSB0 (or usb/tts/0 for devfs)

$Jan 23 10:49:43 [kernel] hub.c: port 2, portstatus 303, change 0, 1.5 Mb/s

Jan 23 10:50:38 [kernel] hub.c: port 1, portstatus 100, change 3, 12 Mb/s

```

So you can see that the Clie is found when I hotsync, it just wont connect!!  I don't know enough about this stuff to know if the errors about "getting first and second unknown palm command" makes any difference, or the timeout error.

I know that the /dev/usb/tty/0 and 1 files are created when I try to hotsync, and I have given them all the permissions I need.

Please, somebody help me out here.  I'm working hard to be MS independent   :Smile: 

-Mike

----------

## mike2297

Went back to Mandrake, because it works perfectly there (even with their stock kernel).  It must have been those errors in the log file, because I'm not getting them in Mandrake.  This must be some sort of bug in Gentoo?  I hope they fix it because I loved the portage system.  Its just that getting my Clie to sync is rather important to me.  Maybe I have some very weird problem nobody else is getting, judging from the number of responses I received from my first post.  Goodby, Gentooites, I hope to see you again one day.

-Mike

----------

## mallchin

After a day fiddling I have a Clie using the visor module working under 2.4.20 and have successfully connected using used coldsync, jpilot and gnome-pilot.

There are several good clie how-to's and, apart from devfs not giving user permissions to tts/0, it worked like a charm.  :Very Happy: 

----------

## mike2297

Well I put mandrake on and my Clie would sync right with the default kernel.  I then noticed that it had an older version of Evolution, so I decided to get the new one.  So, I downloaded the Evolution sources and began to read how to compile them.

And now, I am back in Gentoo    :Smile: 

I realized that emerge is a bit more important to me than my clie, heh.

The odd thing was, when I looked at lsmod under mandrake, there was absolutly no sign of visor or usbserial.  I would doubt something like that would be compiled directly into their default kernel, especially since it pretty much came with every possible thing it could as a module, so I wonder what mandrake had that Gentoo didn't.

Anyways, I still can't get it syncing in Gentoo.  I'm guessing that nobody has any idea what my problem is, because I have followed every single how-to i could find down to the very last line and nobody has responded to my post with any really good suggestions.  Thanks for responding though, mallchin.  What kind of Clie did you get to work, by the way?

-Mike

----------

## mallchin

Hi Mike, I have a Sony Clie T675.

I would have included the steps to get it going but I didn't note them down, just fiddled around installing some apps and added support into the kernel as modules. I got a very similar error regarding coldsync - it would echo a message to press the HotSync button (which I did) but nothing else. Once I had edited the permissions on tty/0 and tty/1 and altered my coldsync settings it all fell into place.

The is the config of my ~/.coldsyncrc:

```
listen serial {

protocol: net;

device: /dev/usb/tts/0;

}

 

pda "My Palm" {

#snum: xxxxxxx;

username: "xxxxxx xxxxxxx";

userid: xxxx;

default;

}
```

----------

## modal

I am having so many troubles with my NX70v.  I have seen a few forum threads that seem to give awesome info, but never help me get it right.

Where are these great guides, how-tos, etc for getting my palm working?

Some linkage would be great.

Thanks

----------

## mallchin

 *modal wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Where are these great guides, how-tos, etc for getting my palm working?
> 
> 

 

Excellent resources for coldsync'ing, mounting a memory stick as a drive, syncing via vmware and syncing with Evolution (gnome-pilot): http://milnber.gotadsl.co.uk/clie/cliehowto.html

List of working devices, general setup, networking, memory stick, gnome-pilot, AvantGo: http://nick.kreucher.net/clie/

And finally NX70V specific information can be found at: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/%7Emigod/techie/clieLinux.html

----------

## mike2297

I just dont get it.  All the proper modules are loaded.  It never fails, I can only sync ONCE.  The initial sync where it gets the ID from the palm, and then the next sync right after that are the only syncs that ever work.  When I do a CTRL-ALT-F1 during those syncs, I see messages comming up about it listening to the /dev/pilot link.  After that 2nd sync where it copies everything to evolution from the palm, I can never ever get another message to show up.  It doesnt even try to listen to the port apparently.  Im totally baffled.

-Mike

----------

## jkratz

The only way I was able to get my Clie (S-360) to sync up with KPilot and pilot-link was to chmod 777 /dev/usb/tts/1.  The chmod had to be done while the Clie was trying to sync up (ie: that is the only time that the 1 entry shows up in /dev/usb/tts).    Once I did that I had no problems.   Have you done that on your setup?  (I'm using the visor and usbserial stuff as modules in my kernel and have hotplug and pilot-link installed).

----------

## mike2297

yep.  ive done that..  still completely random when it decides to actually connect

----------

## blamothe

ok, i have a palm m125 that uses the m5** cradle, and i got it to sync flawlessly with jpilot.  First, under USB support, depending on your hardware architecture, you either need to enable OHCI or UHCI, if you have an intel chipset, its UHCI.  If you need UHCI, make sure you don't load the alternate/JE driver which is selected by default in Gentoo, unselect that and the other one will appear.  After that, you should go to serial converter support and enable the visor driver.  Then you should enable the primary USB device filesystem, and under general setup you should enable support for hot-pluggable devices.  Then you need to go to filesystems and enable the /dev filesystem and automatically mount it at boot, and unselect  the /dev/pts filesystem because you don't need that at all.  then reboot and emerge jpilot (in my opinion, the best syncing software) this will automatically give you pilot-link.  While jpilot is merging, make two symlinks and call them pilot and palm to the dev entry in your clie with, if you use devfs, which you should,

```
ln -s /dev/usb/tts/1 /dev/pilot

/ln -s /dev/usb/tts/1 /dev/palm
```

this is just so all the major syncing software will sync to the pilot by defaut without you having to change anything, the usually look for a /dev/pilot or a /dev/palm entry.  I just used all the defaults from the jpilot setup, and i was all set.  I can't understand why things arn't working for you, i can only think of the wrong driver, either OHCI when you need UHCI or vice versa, or you using the alternate/je driver.  I hope this works for you.  by the way, everything was compiled in my kernel, i think that works better, and i see no need whatsoever to compile things as modules, then turn around and put them in modules.autoload, but thats just me.

----------

## nealbirch

If you use devfs, you need to modify your /etc/devfsd.conf file so the permissions are setup automatically.

add something like this to the /etc/devfsd.conf:

# Manage Palm pilot stuff

LOOKUP          ^pilot$         CFUNCTION GLOBAL mksymlink usb/tts/1 pilot

REGISTER        ^usb/tts/1$     CFUNCTION GLOBAL mksymlink $devname pilot PERMISSIONS root.users

REGISTER        ^usb/tts/1$     PERMISSIONS root.users 666

UNREGISTER      ^usb/tts/1$     CFUNCTION GLOBAL unlink pilot

#

this lets members of the users group access /dev/usb/tts/1 though I suppose you could setup another group for palm access. 

Not sure what you do for udev, but it's along the same lines.

----------

