Sunday, February 17, 2008

Installing gnome pilot for palm Z22

So, I was getting an error similar to this one, while installing palm on Fedora 8 (FC8), through the gpilot applet


Failed to connect using device 'cradle', on port 'usb:'.
Check your configuration, as you requested a new-style libusb 'usb:'
syncing, but have the old-style 'visor' kernel module loaded.
You may need to select a ttyUSB...' device."


Well, the kernel object module for palm must firstly be added.
The visor(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handspring_Visor) module seems to be readily available and works with palm devices.
In order to add the module, simply type:

su
modprobe visor


You can type dmesg and see a message similar to this one:

visor 6-1:1.0: Handspring Visor / Palm OS converter detected
usb 6-1: Handspring Visor / Palm OS converter now attached to ttyUSB0
usb 6-1: Handspring Visor / Palm OS converter now attached to ttyUSB1


It tells that /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyUSB1 now links to palm. (In my case it was ttyUSB1).

Unfortunately this link is only available to the super user. In order to add it to ordinary users, one can do the following

su
updatedb
locate pilot.rules


The location of the pilot rules will be shown.
Then, just copy it to /etc/udev/rules.d/
In my case it was:

cp /usr/share/pilot-link/udev/60-pilot.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/


Now, edit the file /usr/share/pilot-link/udev/60-pilot.rules

Change
BUS=="usb", SYSFS{product}=="Palm Handheld*|Handspring*",KERNEL=="ttyUSB[13579]", SYMLINK="pilot", GROUP="uucp", MODE="0660"
to
BUS=="usb", SYSFS{product}=="Palm Handheld*|Handspring*",KERNEL=="ttyUSB[13579]", SYMLINK="pilot", GROUP="uucp", MODE="0777"

Non root users have access to palm, now :)

Configure using gnome's pilot applet:

Go to panel-> right click, then "Add to panel", then Pilot Applet...
Now you should configure (note that a symlink will be created from /dev/pilot to ttyUSB1

ls -all /dev/pilot
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 2008-02-17 14:06 /dev/pilot -> ttyUSB1
)

Configs should be like this:

type: USB
device: /dev/pilot
Speed (default): 57600
forward forward... click hotsync

Now install Evolution or some other software that will be able to display your palm data.
In order to synchronize contacts, memos, etc, just open the gpilot applet and choose 'Conduits'. There you can choose the calendar, contacts and some other options. As soon as you have Evolution installed, and press the HotSync button in the palm, everything will be synchronized.

Installing applications ( .prc files)

(first step is to pause gpilot Daemon - simply right click, "Pause Daemon", so that gpilot and install instructions don't get mixed)

In order to install applications, simply use pilot-xfer. For instance, to install Foo.prc, from the current directory, one shall use:


pilot-xfer -p /dev/pilot -i Foo.prc


And to remove it, use the same name as you get when you type

pilot-xfer -p /dev/pilot -l


Now remove it like:

pilot-xfer -p /dev/pilot --delete Foo


(in case Foo is the name you obtain with the -l command).


I hope that helps :)


*************
(this works only for one session... in order to add this command to every boot, one can do the following:

su
emacs /etc/rc.d/rc.local

Add this line to the file:

/sbin/modprobe visor

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, it works fine for me.

Anonymous said...

Your site is great and informative too.