XNotesPlus: Users Guide - Synchronizing with your PalmOS-based PDA
One of the newest features to be added to XNotesPlus is the Pilot Tool, a
set of tools for working with PalmOS personal digital assistants.
Originally inspired by the gift of a Palm Pilot Pro, and recently enhanced
by the gift of a Sony CLIE, I went searching for Linux compatible software.
This led me to find the pilot-link software, a set of command line tools
used to communicate between the Pilot and a Unix system. These tools are
quite simple to use and lend themselves well to being called from other
programs. Naturally I decided it was time to update XNotePlus so I could
sync memos, addresses, todos and calendars with my notes. Complete
support is now provided (Memos, Todos, Calendar and Addresses) for both
serial and USB connected devices.
The Pilot Tool dialog is broken into 5 main pieces: Pilot Memos, Pilot
Addresses, Pilot Todo List, Calendar Sync, and Pilot Sync. Pilot Memos
consists of a scrolled list, two toggle buttons and two push buttons. The
toggle buttons determine which direction you're going to go: Import means
you are importing Pilot Memos into XNotes, Export means you are exporting
XNotes out to the Pilot as Memos. The Fetch button will retrieve
either the list of XNotes (for exporting) or the list of memos from the
Pilot (if importing) and place them in the scrolled list. You can select
one or more of these from the list and then click on the Process button.
This will determine which XNotes to convert to Memos or which Memos to
convert to XNotes.
Note: All sync functions are uni-directional. That means that you
are uploading databases to the PDA or downloading it to XNotesPlus,
effectively overwriting the existing database on the target. This is not a
real sync operation, so don't expect it to behave that way. Just be
careful that you're ready to make the change to the target.
The Pilot Addresses feature allows downloading of the Pilot Address database
to XNotesPlus or uploading XNotesPlus addresses to the Pilot. The local
address data is stored in a file called xnaddresses, generally under the
$HOME/.xnotesplus/pilot directory, although this is configurable with
command line options, etc.
Pilot Todo List allows downloading Todos from the Pilot or uploading
XNotesPlus Todos to the Pilot. The local Todo List data is stored in a file
called xntodos, generally under the $HOME/.xnotesplus/pilot directory.
Calendar Sync will upload or download PalmOS calendar appointments between
the PDA and the XNotesPlus calendar database. Starting with version 3.6,
this process works exactly like all the other Pilot tools.
Pilot Sync will do backups of your Pilot to local directories. There are
actually 4 types of backups: Backup, Restore, Sync and Update. Check with
the pilot-link software for details to what each of these really does.
Generally, you can use the Backup type to make backups and Restore to
restore them should your Pilot crash for some reason. Sync will simply
update an existing backup so it matches the current Pilot data.
Four other options have been added to Pilot Sync with the 3.5 release:
Install, Delete, Fetch and List. Install will load a file from your
computer into the Palm Pilot as long as the file is a Pilot compatible
format (.e.g. a .prc or .pdb file). Delete removes a file from the Pilot
while Fetch retrieves a file to the computer. List will display a complete
listing of the files on the Pilot in a non-editable text window. You can
cut and paste the names to an XNote to save them.
Two text fields are available under the options menu for Pilot Sync. The
first is for specifying a directory name. The second for specifying a
filename. Some Pilot Sync features require only one of these, while others
require both or even none. The following details the use of these fields:
Backup...
Uses directory field only.
Restore...
Uses directory field only.
Sync...
Uses directory field only.
Update...
Uses directory field only.
Install...
Uses filename field only.
Fetch...
Uses directory and filename fields.
Delete...
Uses filename field only.
List...
Uses neither field.
The file button will open a File Selection window that allows you to
specify a directory to use for backups. The default directory (or any
directory you select from the File Selection window) is displayed in the
text field next to the file button. You can type in any directory you want
there as well. If the directory does not exist then it will be created, if
possible, before the backup process is started. The Today button will tack
on a date string to the directory, allowing you to create dated backups.
Additionally, you can remove or rename the directory specified using one of
the appropriate buttons (``Remove Dir'' or ``Rename Dir''). When you are
ready to start the backup or restore process, click on the Start Transfer
button.
Once any communication with the Pilot is about to begin you will be
prompted to press the Hot Sync button on the Pilot's cradle. Once the data
transfer has started you won't be able to do anything else with XNotesPlus
until the transfer completes.
Before you can even have access to the Pilot Tool you must set the
following environment variables. If these are not set you will not get the
Pilot Tool option in the Plaid Window's main menu.
PILOTPORT
Specifies the serial port to which the Pilot's cradle is connected. For
many PC-Unix users (eg Linux, Solairs x86) this will be something like
/dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS01. If you are using a USB connected device then
specify the USB device name, such as /dev/ttyUSB1.
PILOTRATE
You need to also specify the speed at which transfers should be done.
Although this isn't really required by the pilot-link software, it helps
speed things up. The value you should use is probably 57600, but that may
be dependent on your serial ports. It seems to work fine on PCs with 16550
UARTS on the serial ports at least. If you are using a USB device, this
value is not used.
|