# What PDAs do people here have syncing with gentoo?

## phunni

At some point fairly soon I'm going to have to replace my Ipaq h3630 as it is getting really old.

I've got linux running on it at the moment - but I have had synce working perfectly with Pocket PC and I'm confident I can do it again.

I was wondering about Palms though - I'm not a big fan of the Palm OS but my brother in law has a Clie and it's a very smart piece of kit.  Is there much freeware available for Palm?  This was one of the things that annoyed me about Pocket Pc - you have to pay for your silly little toy software.

Has anyone got a Clie working with Linux?

Does anyone have any tales of success with any PDAs and gentoo?

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## asph

i used to sync my ipaq3870, using familiar and usb-eth

i don't use it anymore.. i just prefer my laptop  :Very Happy: 

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## fimblo

I've got a palm 515, and I use USB to sync it with my laptop and my stationary puter.

me, being a cli person use pilot-xfer to sync my palm. But if you want all the bells and whistles you can try kpilot, or hmm I think theres a gnome-pilot as well. Kpilot syncs the pilot and also merges the data with its calendar program reminding you when you were supposed to get something done.  

You can also try jpilot, a standalone pilot sync/presentation program.

I've only tried jpilot and pilot-xfer.

hope that helped!

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## Nermal

I use a Palm m500 with gentoo.

USB cradle with kernel usb <-> serial driver, and jpilot to actually sync the info.

Also fiddled with the gnome-pilot 2 stuff to try to get it working with evolution 1.4 but it seems a little dodgy atm.

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## scriptkiddie

HP Jornada 540 & Zaurus SL-5600

Both USB Cradle   :Very Happy: 

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## phunni

In general - how easy are USB cradles to get working?

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## scriptkiddie

as long as you have the usb modules compiled correctly in the kernel and you have a program like jpilot, then you are good to go.. it took me ten minutes to set mine up   :Very Happy: 

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## phunni

I'm particularly keen ot hear stories of success with syncing to evolution - if there are any!

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## mkenk

I have a clie, sj30. Syncs through usb with jpilot and pilot-xfer, very easy to set up and use. 

Evolution and those damn conduits never worked well for me. Also, if you want to see freeware for palm os, www.freewarepalm.com can give you a rough idea of the free stuff that is out there.

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## Minos

My Palm Vx was a piece of cake to get syncing over serial to KPilot and KOrganizer.

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## wimac

I have a palm 515 syncing great here through usb I use jpilot but I usually sink with pilot-xfer but I sink into the .jpilot directory. don't ask me why but I rarely use jpilot to look at data I just use my computer to backup my data.

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## fimblo

thats precisely what I do as well.

hmm did you ever manage to get jpilot to actually get the data by itself? Like you, I use pilot-xfer to sync, and when I dont use the palm itself to look at data (unusual) I look at it using jpilot.

jpilot just doesnt seem to understand usb connnections, since the device doesnt exist until I push the sync button on the palm (that is, /dev/usb/tts/0 exists only after I push the button).

/fimblo

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## matkel

I've got a Zaurus and syncing with linux works great.

it uses usbdnet to sync with the cradlle.

Here is some doc to configure usbdnet and communication with the pda: http://docs.zaurus.com/

I use QtopiaDesktop for syncing. It has no ebuild (none that I found) but with the rpms provided by trolltech and rpm2targz, it's easy to install.

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## The Mountain Man

I'm trying to get a Tungsten|T to work.  My USB ports are detected at kernel start-up, but there's no USB devices listed in /dev.  Exactly what settings do I need to get this to work?

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## rsk

Hey Mountain. A lot of people have had this problem, it seems what you are interested in is finding the device created at /dev/usb/tty/0 when you press the hotsync button. If you don't press the hotsync button, you will have an empty /dev/usb directory.

Then you want to create two sym links to this device:

/dev/palm

and

/dev/pilot

keep in mind that that device will disappear after a few seconds from pressing the hotsync button on the cradle, so it might take you a few tries before you can make the sym link in time.

After that, the only thing to make sure is that you are using the visor.c and visor.h files from a kernel newer or equal to 2.4.21. The 2.4.20 kernel didn't have defs or support for the Tungsten, so even if the device pops up, you can't sync with it.

I'm using gentoo-sources which is 2.4.20 based, so I'm just going to copy out the visor.c and visor.h files from the vanilla-sources after I emerge them, then rebuild my kernel (someone mentioned that either here or another thread that it works).

Then you should be able to fire up kpilot or whatever you use, and see your device and sync with it.

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## krunk

Evolution worked first time every time with my palm IIIxe. I've never been able to get Kpilot to work completely since I tried two years ago till today. Atm I'm having serious problems getting evolution to even start without seg faulting after a reinstall........

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## The Mountain Man

O.K., I downloaded the 2.4.22 source and copied visor.c and visor.h to my gentoo-2.4.20 directory then recompiled my kernel.  My T|T is being properly detected when I push the hotsync button, and I have all appropriate links in /dev.  However, I can't seem to sync with J-Pilot.  I get an error message that says:

```
pi_bind Invalid argument

Check your serial port and settings

Exiting with status SYNC_ERROR_BIND
```

Any suggestions? 

(And yes, I have confirmed that all appropriate modules are installed and working and that my T|T is being detected).

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## The Mountain Man

Still no joy.  Linux is definitely detecting my Tungsten|T.  After pushing the HotSync button:

```
# cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

...

S:  Manufacturer=Palm, Inc.

S:  Product=Palm Handheld

S:  SerialNumber=303054365039503231324148

...
```

However, neither J-Pilot nor KPilot seem to want to sync.  I've tried configuring them both to /dev/usb/tts/0 and /dev/usb/tts/1, but neither one works.  Any suggestions?

Update: Well, I've been moderately successful.  I've finally gotten my T|T to sync.  I followed the instructions in this thread (second post down) but was unable to get the device to work even after adding myself to the "palm" group.  I finally chmod 666 .../tts/0, and that woke my Palm up.  So now I can sync and install software, but neither KPilot nor J-Pilot are syncing everything.  KPilot syncs my address book but not Memos, ToDo, or Date Book.  J-Pilot syncs Memos and Date Book but not ToDo or addresses.  Furthermore, KPilot spits out a bunch of cryptic messages about conduits not working or something or other.

Update 2: After successfully syncing with my system a number of times, it suddenly quit on me for no apparent reason.  Now my T|T is not even being detected let alone syncing. 

Looks like I've got more troubleshooting to do.   :Confused: Last edited by The Mountain Man on Fri Sep 12, 2003 2:20 am; edited 1 time in total

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## Gandalf_Grey_

I have had a Tungsten T working with linux, I won it in a programming contest but I don't use it much, I have formatted since I last configured it with linux

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## The Mountain Man

Finally, success!  The reason KPilot wasn't syncing my address book and ToDo is because I hadn't configured the conduits to point to a file (I kinda figured they'd create their own.  I guess I forgot for a moment that Linux is a hands-on OS!).  I opened KOrganizer and saved an empty calendar database at which point I was asked if I wanted to make it the active calendar to which I answered yes.  After saving the file and closing KOrganizer, I configured the address conduit and the todo conduit to point to the file, hotsynced my Tungsten|T, and Bingo!  There was my datebook and todo list in KOrganizer!  Now all I need is a good expense tracking program to sync with my built-in Palm Expense program and I'll be one happy camper!

So I guess you can add "Palm Tungsten|T" to the list of PDA's that work with Linux!    :Very Happy: 

P.S. I'm not sure why it just stopped working last night.  It might have had something to do with removing it from the cradle then redocking it a few minutes later.  That may have tripped something up, but I've not tried to duplicate the anomoly.

Update: I repeated the anomoly.  After syncing with the computer, if you remove the Palm from the cradle and then put it back, for some reason it can't be detected.  I don't know why and I have not a clue how to fix it.

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## phunni

OK - thanks for everyone's comments.  I'm now at the point where I'm trying to decide between a palm and a Pocket PC - my main concern is the syncing thing.

I'm pretty confident I can sync the Pocket Pc with evolution as I've done it before with my current ipaq h3630 using synce and multisync

I think I kind of prefer the idea of a palm (maybe a clie NX80V or a clie PEHUX50 - or another palm   :Wink:  ) - but I'm less confident about the syncing.  I guess I will probably be able to get it syncing with JPilot - but I'd far rather have it syncing with evolution and I haven't heardmany success stories with gnome-pilot and evolution and the conduits.

Any opinions or advice on any of the above would be greatly appreciated...

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## The Mountain Man

As they say about Pocket PC's, "Windows in your pocket" is not a marketing slogan, it's a warning!Last edited by The Mountain Man on Mon Sep 15, 2003 12:58 am; edited 1 time in total

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## Joebel

Well.. Don't know if it'll help you decide, but...

I use a palm m505 (which suites my needs just fine), and I have synced it in the past with evolution (although there have been rough times with gnome-polit before). However, as you can read in serveral threads in the forum, gnome-pilot seems severely f***ed up right now. 

Now I can't sync the palm and evolution in anyway (and believe me: I've tried).  So your guess is as good as mine as to whether gnome-pilot will become very stable and usable. To me the big question in syncing lies there.

I moved to the kde-pim stuff: Works like a charm, and syncs perfectly with the palm!

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## Joebel

Well.. Don't know if it'll help you decide, but...

I use a palm m505 (which suites my needs just fine), and I have synced it in the past with evolution (although there have been rough times with gnome-polit before). However, as you can read in serveral threads in the forum, gnome-pilot seems severely f***ed up right now. 

Now I can't sync the palm and evolution in anyway (and believe me: I've tried).  So your guess is as good as mine as to whether gnome-pilot will become very stable and usable. To me the big question in syncing lies there.

I moved to the kde-pim stuff: Works like a charm, and syncs perfectly with the palm!

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## undrwater

Another opinion to the mix...

It seems you are familiar with the PocketPC and how syncing is done to linux.  This is good as one of your hurdles is already overcome.   :Smile: 

I suppose the important question to ask is: What is the PDA going to be used for?  Palm devices are a great choice for ppl who do not want a full featured computer in their hands.  They're easy to understand, and are quick.  PocketPC devices have more bells and whistles and run a Microsoft OS.

If you are of the mindset that "i want a full featured PC in my hand" then you might consider the Zaurus.  Like the PocketPC, it is full featured, but unlike the PocketPC, it runs Linux.  Which means you get a shell prompt if you want it!   :Surprised: 

matkel mentioned that syncing works with it's desktop software.  maktel, have you tried syncing with evolution or any other pim's?

Regarding evolution:  I have successfully sync'ed my visor with evo using the USB<->Serial, hotplug, gnome-pilot, and pilot-link.  It worked great...just put the visor in the cradle, press the button, and sync away!  Then came evolution 2.4....now i have to kill gpilotd, press the hot-sync button, and start gpilotd.  Oh well...i'm going to get a Zaurus!    :Cool: 

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## phunni

I've tried linuxand opie on my ipaq before and decided that opie is better than any PDA platform I've tried, but syncing is problematic at best and I've had stability issues.  It is better than the default GUI for the zaurus.

I'm leaning away from the zaurus at present becuase of the stability/syncing issues - altough I might consider it again.  Oh - another reason why I'm leaning away from the zaurus is that Sharp no longer support it in the UK and you can't buy (except on ebay and the like) the SL-5600 and I didn't really like the SL-500.

I'm not going to not buy a Pocket PC purely because it runs MS... although at the moment I'm leaning most strongly towards a Clie (NX80V)

nothing is as yet decided for certain though...

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## jhr0771

Sony Clie PEG-T615C. working fine with USB and using JPilot ( Excellent software  !) and before that the Palm III 

Extra software:

Avant Go = working great.

CSpotRun= to read my linux notes or some articles.

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## SIR

An ancient Palm m100, with both jpilot and kpilot.

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## phunni

OK - I had a chance to play with a Sony Clie NX80V last night and I was impressed - very nice...

One question I have - does anyone know if Jpilot et al, will sync with Plam OS 5?

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## phunni

I have now succeeded in borrowing a Clie NX80V and syncing it with Jpilot on my gentoo PC.  I had to use an incomplete (in terms of it didn't do much stuff I need it to) kernel (2.4.22) and do it as root, but...

So now all I need to do is:

1) get a 2.4.22 functioning exactly as I need it to

2) figure out how to sync as a normal user...

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## The Mountain Man

It's particularly ironic that the Linux based PDA's would have the most difficulty syncing with a Linux PC.

Anyway, yes, Linux works fine with Palm OS5 PDA's (the Tungsten|T runs OS5) as long as you have the latest visor modules compiled and installed.

As for syncing with a normal user, check this thread (second post down) for instructions.  You should create a new group, change the ownership of a couple files, then add yourself to the group.  You could always open up the files to everybody, but this is not an option if you like running a secure system.  If you're running KDE and you're working from a Konsole then you may need to restart x in order to get the group permissions to "take" (I've had instances where commands invoked in the Konsole wouldn't be recognized until I restarted KDE; for instance, a normal console would show the proper permissions and whatnot, but the Konsole wouldn't).

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## phunni

I have created a group called clie and recursively made /dev/pilot /dev/usb/tts/0 and /dev/usb/tts/1 belong to it.  I then changed permissions so that all of those files also give rw access to their group.

I still could only sync as root.  I restarted X, no change.  I rebooted, no change - except that the error has changed when trying to access the clie (I'm testing using install-user) I am now told that /dev/pilot is a directory, although it's just a link to /dev/usb/tts/1

Anyone able to help me with this? Please?  I can currently only sync as root, which is clearly not the way I want to go...

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## Mace68

You've probably solved this by now. I might be completely wrong here but maybe you need to add the device to /etc/hotplug/usb.usermap. I have had to do that with every usb device I wanted to use as a regular user (as opposed to root) so far. However, (please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm still learning here) I think this only applies if you're using devfs.

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## grant.mcdorman

The permissions on /dev/usb/tts/* disappear because the devices themselves disappear (they're handled by devfs).

The best way to handle this is to set up devfs for it. Unfortunately I don't have access to my Gentoo system right now but later I can post both the setup for that (you add a file to /etc/devfs.d) and the hotplug script that will automagically sync when you press your hotsync button (for a Palm).

For use with jpilot, you press the hotsync button first (on your cradle/cable) and then on the jpilot UI. Kpilot, on the other hand, can handle the disappearing USB device just fine.

I have a Sony Clie SJ-20 and sync with no problem except for one little problem: the first time I try to hotsync it doesn't work (I have to cancel); after that it's fine. I haven't spent a lot of tiime diagnosing this problem, though.

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## grant.mcdorman

Put this in /etc/init.d/devfs.d; you can put it as any filename, although for consistency with the names used elsewhere I called it 'visor':

```
REGISTER        ^usb/tts/[13579]   CFUNCTION GLOBAL mksymlink $devname pilot

REGISTER        ^usb/tts/[13579]   PERMISSIONS root.visor 660

UNREGISTER      ^usb/tts/[13579]   CFUNCTION GLOBAL unlink pilot
```

and in /etc/hotplug/usb in the file visor:

```
#!/bin/sh

if [ -f /var/run/console.lock ];then

  user="`cat /var/run/console.lock`"

  logger -t usbvisor "Backing up as $user"

  su - "$user" -c 'jpilot-sync -b'|logger

else

  logger -t usbvisor "No logged on user - ignoring hotsync"

fi
```

This file must be executable by root:

```
chmod u+x visor
```

Note that this will fail if /var/run/console.lock doesn't exist (i.e. no one is logged on). /etc/hotplug/usb.distmap and usb.rc should be already set up to support this script.

If you always want to hotsync as a particular user, change

```
  user="`cat /var/run/console.lock`"
```

to a fixed string, such as

```
 user="hgwells"
```

EDIT: You must create the 'visor' group and add users to that group for them to be able to hotsync.

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## scout

I have a HP Ipaq 2210, and I am starting to try to sync it. By now everything works fine, but I haven't syncronized with evolution yet. But be crafeul, linux isn't availbalbe yet for this pda, I have to get used to PocketPC 2003

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## echo6

 *phunni wrote:*   

> Oh - another reason why I'm leaning away from the zaurus is that Sharp no longer support it in the UK and you can't buy (except on ebay and the like) the SL-5600 and I didn't really like the SL-500.

 

http://www.shirtpocket.co.uk  :Smile: 

I've just taken delivery of the SL-C860...wow! what a machine.

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## nonotme

handspring treo 90. mainly i CLI with pilot-link, although i have tried jpilot. i had a hell off a time getting it to sync at first. it took nearly 2 weeks to stumble on a patch to make it work. fortunately it's since been incorporated into the standard kernel.

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## buckminst

Thanks to multiple threads I've found here and in other posts, I now have a syncing Palm Zire 21 PDA.

Used software:

J-Pilot (and it's dependencies)

Necessary Kernel modules:

```

usbserial

visor

```

I have hotplug installed but I haven't done any configuration as some of the posts in other threads recommended and it seems to be working ok. 

The biggest thing that I had to do to get everything working, was:

```

chmod 666 /dev/tts/usb/0

chmod 666 /dev/tts/usb/1

```

J-Pilot was configured to use /dev/tts/usb/1 (/0 wouldn't work) and it synced up just fine.

Now, as I don't use Windows at all on this machine, there was one extra step I had to do, at J-Pilot's suggestion, and that was:

```

install-user -p /dev/tts/usb/1 -u <my user name> -i <made up 5-digit ID>

```

J-Pilot won't sync unless you do this. I imagine it's a step that's handled by the Palm-provided Windows and Mac software, but none of the sync threads for Linux in Gentoo Forums mentioned it. 

Anyway... Happily syncing my Zire 21 ^_^ Thanks all!

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## arkane

I know this thread is kinda dead by now, but I just wanted to note that I got a second-hand iPAQ 3670, and I sync it with Gentoo regularly using multisync with synce.

The one thing I'm really wanting to do is replace WinCE on it with Familiar.  I have a USB cradle, though... from my understanding of the docs, it can't be installed on a USB cradle.  Is that correct?

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## Markrian

I've got a Tungsten T3 syncing with KPilot   :Cool:  Man, I was pleased when I got that working. (On a side note, udev rocks.)

I must say though, I've never really understood the purpose of syncing the calendar/todo etc to your PC, other than for backup purposes. If your PDA is sitting right there next to you in it's cradle, why would you edit, say, calendar events on your PC?

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## arkane

 *Markrian wrote:*   

> 
> 
> I must say though, I've never really understood the purpose of syncing the calendar/todo etc to your PC, other than for backup purposes. If your PDA is sitting right there next to you in it's cradle, why would you edit, say, calendar events on your PC?

 

Alot of people find it easy to capture meetings and stuff from email, and toss them into the scheduler/calendar, along with contacts that you gather through email, and such.  Then, you sync it up to your PDA and you can carry that information with you.

Basically, a "the computer is central" type attitude.  It's just a matter of how you look at it.  There's alot of that mentality here at work, although with the blackberry it seems to make people less computer-centralized.

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## martinm1000

Palm Tungsten E via USB with JPilot. Next step, infrared  :Wink: 

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## Henk

Zaurus C860 on Sash/Cacko ROM with evolution over USB .... In my dreams.

At least I have them pinging in both directions, got the zaurus mounted as a folder and internet connection sharing is even working  :Smile: 

The syncing issue is one major pit of confusion however  :Confused:  The sync keyword on QTopia desktop is greyed out. The evolution-sync.pl script bails out with an error and synce doesn't emerge because of dependency packages that it says are not present (but emerged).

So no joy for the Zaurus C860 yet  :Crying or Very sad: 

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## Hypnos

 *phunni wrote:*   

> I'm particularly keen ot hear stories of success with syncing to evolution - if there are any!

 

Palm m130 <-> Evolution ... flawless

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## arkane

It'll be really nice once Opie (on Familiar Linux) can sync with Evolution or something.

I put Familiar linux with Opie on my 3670 this weekend.  Though it's vastly more usable now, the syncing is not there yet so the docs say.

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## echo6

 *Henk wrote:*   

> evolution-sync.pl script

 Henk can you tell me where you got the script from?   When I have time I will try getting my C860 working with Evolution.   I got USB working ssh etc,  I've also got a Compact Flash WLAN card working well with the Zaurus but not for syncing  :Sad: 

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## Henk

I got the script from killefiz.de at http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/showdetail.php?app=7

We seem to be at the same stage. I hope you'll be able to get the script adapted. More people with C7X and C860 are looking for a solution.

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## hednod

I have a Handspring Treo 90 (color, no phone) and a 180 (graphite, with phone) syncing in both 2.4.22 gentoo-sources and 2.6.3 gentoo-dev-sources.

I sync with J-Pilot as I can't stand Evilution and Gnome-Pilot never worked right anyways   :Wink: 

I have yet to find a better solution than jpilot for syncing with

my device. No other quality software out there.

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## echo6

 *Henk wrote:*   

> I got the script from killefiz.de at http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/showdetail.php?app=7

 

Thanks,  I've grabbed the script and will have a play later.   Wish me well !

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## nealbirch

zire 72 here, had to add:

visor vendor=0x830 product=0x61

to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 for it to be recognized by the visor module. I guess it would be a good thing to figure how to patch the module, huh?

Next step is to get a bluetooth adapter for the pc so I don't have to screw with the usb cable anymore!

I found that adding the following to /etc/devfsd.conf took care of permission problems:

# 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

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## senectus

I'm going to try and sync my XDA2 with gentoo this arvo...

The real trick is that I also want it to sync with another account (outlook on XP)...

Should be "fun"  :Wink: 

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