Re: Sony Clie with USB sync

["David A. Desrosiers" <hacker gnu-designs com>]

> I had problems there to, I have to open the /var/log/messages and wait
> until the first few lines of the connect-message appear. then I hit enter
> to confirm the pre-entered pilot-xfer command in another term and then it
> connects. I had some help on this list regarding this problem and I can
> live with it now, but it's not totally okay yet.

	This is how USB works. The hardware has to see a physical
(electrical) connection between Palm and cradle (plugging your Palm into the
cradle is not enough to connect it to the desktop, just like putting a light
bulb in a socket isn't enough to complete the circuit and provide light), by
hitting HotSync. Once you make that electrical connection, the device sends
data across the bus, the kernel sees the data, and binds to the device,
through the visor driver (visor.o). There is no way to hit Sync on the
desktop, and have a Palm-in-the-cradle "wake up" and begin syncronizing.

	There is a workaround in place in pilot-link to sleep() until the
port becomes available, for a maximum of 5 seconds. You can hit sync on the
Palm first, or launch pilot-xfer first, and it will just hook up. It works
with J-Pilot and gnome-pilot in my tests here.

	Also, you can't run pilot-xfer at the same time as gnome-pilot
(gpilotd) is running. You have to kill off gpilotd before pilot-xfer
communicate with the Palm handheld. They can't both bind to the device and
listen for incoming connections at the same time.

> 6. satisfy all deps on libs * install various packages: * long list,
>    complete it next time libpanel-applet-dev

	pilot-link doesn't require any of these dev packages.

	More detail here:
	http://howto.pilot-link.org/evosync/d.html

> 7. remove pilot-link folder after each failed configure / build, unpack it
>    again and do a new configure as above until it is compiled.

	This isn't necessary, just fix the dependancy and re-run configure
again, and it will detect the new dependancy (if installed correctly) and
continue onward.

> 8. #> make install as root to install new pilot-link tools

	Test first, make sure it works locally (in ./src) BEFORE installing
it into a production location. Once you verify that it does indeed work,
install it as per your normal method of installing source-built software
into the proper $prefix.

> 9. check (locate) all pilot-xfer and check versions; remove old versions
>    and set links to new version

	Or don't, and leave both versions installed. One in /usr (typically
from your distribution) and one in /usr/local, and adjust your $PATH to
$prefix/bin accordingly, to call the appropriate one first.

> 10. make sure usb is complete and working kernel should have: usb, uhci,
>     usbserial, usbmouse, hid, usbcore, usbdevfs, visor at least

	usbmouse? hid? Those aren't needed. README.usb goes over this
(linked below). usbmouse and hid are both input mechanisms for peripherals,
and not needed to verify that your USB-connected Palm handheld is working.

> 11. modprobing visor and check with lsmod for at least: uhci, usbcore,
>     usbserial, visor

	usb-uhci, not uhci. uhci on its own has had some reported issues,
and switching to usb-uhci (or usb-ohci, depending on your hardware) seems to
be a bit more forgiving with Palm handheld devices using USB connections.

> 14. set permissions to 777 on /dev/ttyUSB1

	You only need 0666, 0777 is a bit too permissive.

> 15. use pilot-xfer -p /dev/ttyUSB1 -l to check for connection at all.
>     Won't work if uhci is not loaded though visor loads without it. Check
>     for uhci!!!!

	Or usb-uhci. Make sure visor is a _module_, not monolithic.

> 17. configure gnome-pilot as above (delete and reconfigure after each
>     failed try) use this:  ./configure -prefix=/usr
>     -with-pisock=/usr/local

	http://howto.pilot-link.org/evosync/e.html

> 40. launch evolution and run a hotsync. should work.

	Except the Address and Memo conduits, those have issues right now..

> Puh. This was what I noted when I brought my SJ30 to talk to Evo. Maybe it
> helps.

	http://pilot-link.org/README.usb


d.