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Connecting Palm Vx with Linux
 

by R.M. Schneider
Last Update: 15 Nov 2009

Background

My use of a Palm (starting with a III, now a Vx) has "stood the test of time".  I wanted to replace my Daytimer® , which was beginning to feel too big and bulky, with something smaller and more "electronic". 

Further, an increasing amount of my personal information was contained on numerous computers I found myself using, and integrating that usage with the Daytimer was proving to be a challenge. To minimise the bulk of the Daytimer notebook, unfortunately and inevitably much of my time ended up with trying to find a print-out "format" which would maximise the information and minimise the page count.

Up to that point I had tried many different "smaller" personal information management solutions.  None really worked.   One day a friend, whose opinions I greatly respect, showed me how he used his Palm and why he thought it was a terrific tool.  His view was that it was deliberately simple.

It was designed to do only specific things in simple ways. 

Until then, I was wary of the Palm because I thought I was seeking something more sophisticated.  He helped me understand (yet again) simplicity is best.

In 1997 I bought a Palm III.  It lasted a couple of years until it stopped working and I didn't bother to fix it.  I then bought a Palm Vx which is faster, more memory, and a crisper display.  With the software provided by 3Com, I synchronise the data with my home computer to to Palm's Desktop

I also am a keen user of AvantGo to download huge quantities of material from major publications (New York Times, The Times, The Economist, The Daily Telegraph, etc.) to read on the Palm while I travel or am in meetings where my full attention is neither required nor wanted.  A few years ago, I purchased a folding keyboard for the Palm which has turned the Palm into a tool for writing.

I'm happy with the Palm Vx, except for the fact that now as it ages the battery is becoming less performant and when it dies I will be forced to buy an entire new unit..

Interchange with Linux Needed

I've migrated my home computer use almost completely from Microsoft Windows and Windows applications to Linux (desktop and separate server for the home network), as described elsewhere on this web site. 

Because I was dependant on Windows to do this synchronisation, I had to close down Linux on the desktop, re-boot into Windows, re-connect to the Internet, and synchronise the data.  I continued to synchronise to Microsoft Outlook simply to provide the backup.  I needed Linux connectivity with the the Palm. Yes, I knew it could be done, but until then I had not explored how to do it--so I started to explore. The purpose of this document is to describe how I now connect the Palm with Linux.

One laggard was synchronising the Palm with the Linux machine.  Due to how I use my Palm, my synchronisation needs are limited to:

  • To put a backup of all Palm data onto the desktop computer for backup purposes.

  • To download articles from AvantGo onto the Palm

  • Move mail from Palm Outbox to Linux for onward sending

Future needs may include downloading all new mail into the Palm's Inbox.

Software to Connecting Palm with Linux

The following software is used to provide data connectivity between the Palm and the Linux box.

Pilot-Link

I use the suite of command line programs included in Pilot-Link which was included in my Red Hat distribution (7.1).  I understand is included in most Linux distributions. It is a set of separate, self-contained programs that interchange data between the Palm and the Linux box. The "man" page for the suite provides full information.

The key program is:

  • pilot-xfer. Backup, restore, install and delete Palm databases.

Other useful programs in the Pilot-Link suite include:

  • install-memo. Import Memo records from a text format into the Palm

  • install-todos. Import ToDo records from a text format into the Palm

  • read-expenses. Export Palm expense database into text format

  • read-todos. Export Palm ToDo database into generic text format

Pilot-mailsync

Pilot-mailsync transfers mail to and from the Palm's Mail application. It uses locally-installed sendmail (or equivalent) to send mail from the Palm. It uses c-client and so is capable of transferring mail to the Palm from a variety of sources, including local mailbox and mail handling mail files, including POP3 and IMAP servers. The project is available on Freshmeat, and is available for your free use under the Mozilla Public License. See References.

MalSync for AvantGo

Malsync is used to synchronise the Palm with AvantGo. See References.

Hardware and System Setup

This section describes how to connect the Palm to the Linux system at a hardware/system level:

  • Read and the "Palm OS Desktop How-to" (PalmOS-HOWTO)
     

  • Connect the Palm cradle's wire to the computer. Take note of which Windows port (COM1, COM2, etc.) it is connected to. In Linux these ports will translate to device names, e.g.

    COM1:     becomes /dev/ttyS0, COM2: becomes /dev/ttyS1, etc.
     

  • For your convenience, create a new device, /dev/pilot which will be an alternate name for the serial port to which your Palm OS device cradle is connected. As the root user, enter the following at the shell prompt (replace the ttyS0 with the actual name of the port to which you connected your Palm's cradle):

    ln /dev/ttyS0 /dev/pilot

    Note: if you have a USB connection, you'll need to point to the appropriate /dev device.
     

  • Check sure the rights on the new device /dev/pilot are RWX for User, Group, and All. As the root user, enter the following at the shell prompt:

    chmod 777 /dev/pilot

  • As described in the Pilot-Link "man" file, set an environment variable PILOTRATE at an appropriate speed. I use 115200 and it seems to work ok. You can throttle back as required. If you don't set this environment variable, the pilot-link software will use the slow speed of 9600 by default.
     

  • As a "normal" user, i.e. not root, check connectivity to the Palm device. Put the Palm into its cradle and execute one of the Pilot-Link programs to list all the files on the Palm

    pilot-xfer -l

If this is not successful, then re-check your work, and see the PalmOS Desktop How-to for troubleshooting advice.

Palm Data Backup

  1. Ensure that the Pilot-link software is installed on your machine. You can check this by using "locate" program: 

    locate pilot-xfer

    (one of the programs) from the command line. You will probably find it already located in /usr/bin directory. If it is not installed, see References to obtain and install a copy.

  2. As a "normal user", i.e. not root, you can now do a backup from the Palm to a folder (here in the example is a folder palm/backupdir subfolder under my home directory) on the Linux machine

    pilot-xfer -b palm/backupdir
     

  3. Subsequent backups can be "updates" (-u) or synchronisations (-s),

    pilot-xfer -u palm/backupdir
    or
    pilot-xfer -s palm/backupdir

Send Mail from Palm Outbox

The pilot-mailsync program transfers mail to and from the Palm mail application. It uses sendmail (or equivalent) on the Linux machine. The README file with pilot-mailsync describes the configuration alternatives. I use a configuration file .pilotmailrc in my home directory which contains the following:

device=/dev/pilot
from=[my email address]
verbose=on

Execute the command:

pilot-mailsync

You will be prompted to press the Palm's hot-synch key. Mail will then move from the Palm's outbox "sendmail" program on the Linux machine and then onward to it's destination.

AvantGo Synchronisation

The AvantGo client package includes "Mobile Link" which manages the communication between the Palm and the AvantGo server on the Internet. It is possible to configure the Palm to connect to the Linux box as a network client using the PPP daemon (PPPD), and use standard TCP/IP networking to make the connection onward to the AvantGo computer. To do this you need to know what you are doing.

This will not be discussed here. There is an easier way ...

Get the "malsync" program (see see References). Installation involves compiling the source code to create an executable program "malsync" which you can move to your /usr/local/bin directory. Malsync works with and requires Pilot-link.

To synchronise with AvantGo with malsync installed:

  1. Make a network connection (via dial-up or via LAN) to the internet from your Linux box.

  2. Execute the malsync program

  3. Press the HotSync button on your Palm (malsync will prompt you to press this button).

Script that Does it All

# synchronize with avant go
malsync
# synchronize with backup dir
pilot-xfer -s /mnt/atilla/home/rmschne/palm/backupdir
# send mail to Linux
pilot-mailsync

References

 

R.M. Schneider