Xenos - Hi, long time no see. Could you suggest some programs that
would be useful on my Palm III regarding Linux System Administration.
Thanks
-Arjyl
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], eric pareja <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Now that I'm home, I can easily dish out more rants and raves about
on
> the road computing and why I think the Palm model will win over the
> alternative (WindowsCE).
>
> In a few words, the Palm was never intended to replace your
desktop.
> Hence, the spartan design and functionality provides a good balance
of
> useability at an affordable price. Of course, hardware and
production
> costs will go lower, but from the way I read our markets, the price
of
> entry level anything hardly goes lower than it already is now. If it
does,
> suppliers quickly discard the old stock of cheaper equipment and up
the
> bar with a new generation of new technology hardware at the same
prices
> the old stuff sold for when they were first introduced to the
market.
>
> Now, back to Linux lest I be found guilty of writing overly
off-topic
> posts to our beloved list.
>
> The Palm devices are indeed supported by our operating system of
choice by
> more than a handful of programs, ready to provide integration with
your
> Linux setup when you want it. To date, I have not found the need to
run
> Bill's bloatware to get my Visor Deluxe to talk with my 'puter.
>
> The Visor is a device much like the Palm, in fact, Handspring's
founders
> were responsible for the original Palm Pilots and progeny. The Visor
also
> uses a USB cradle to hotsync with the desktop, as opposed to the
Palm
> line, which hotsyncs via the serial port. More info on the Visor
here
> (http://www.handspring.com).
>
> To get the Visor and my box talking, all I needed to do was enable
USB
> serial support and Visor support in the kernel. If you've got kernel
> 2.2.18 or 2.4.x, then most likely, you have this option available in
your
> kernel. If these options are not available, a quick visit to
> http://usbvisor.sourceforge.net will get you the needed patch files.
I had
> prepared my box to talk to the Visor ahead and my kernel had been
> reconfigured, recompiled and installed with the appropriate modules
ready
> when I finally got the Visor. Note that you will need to know
whether or
> not your motherboard uses UHCI or OHCI for USB.
>
> After making the appropriate entries in /dev using mknod and ln, I
was
> ready to rock. I connected the Visor's cradle to my box's USB port
and
> continued to check that it would work.
>
> Pilot-Link
>
> The most mature tools for getting your Palm/Visor talking to your
Linux
> box would be Pilot-Link. Command line based with a rich plethora of
> options, I've found this set of tools to be indispensible still.
>
> Gnome Pilot
>
> I am currently running Ximian Gnome on my Debian system, so all I
needed
> to do was "apt-get install gnome-pilot gnome-pilot-conduits" to
install
> Gnome Pilot and it was a breeze setting up. Some of the conduits are
> broekn and are still being developed so I still had to resort to
other
> utilities. Still, gnome-pilot makes it quite easy to integrate your
> Palm/Visor use with your desktop. The nice thing about gnome-pilot
is that
> you need not run a separate "Desktop" application to manage your
> Palm/Visor. gnome-pilot provides you with the following conduits:
backup
> conduit (allows you to backup and restore your PDA completely or
> incrementally, with a definable number of backups to retain),
expense
> conduit (not yet completely working, but it takes your ExpenseDB and
dumps
> it into CSV files that may or may not be understandable by GnuCash),
file
> conduit (allows you to install files onto your Palm), GnomeCalendar
> conduit (synchronizes your Palm's calendar with your GnomeCalendar),
> GnomeCard (synchronizes your AddressDB with GnomeCard), MAL (allows
you to
> use AvantGo, at the moment, it's Installing new files
> onto your Palm/Visor is as easy as launching Gnome's File Manager
(gmc)
> and right-clicking on the files you want installed. If you've
downloaded
> the files in .zip or tar.gz, the file manager recognizes the
compressed
> archive files and you can just click on them to browse their
contents. If
> you're the command-line commando like I am, you can accomplish the
same
> task using "gpilot-install-file", with the option to put the file in
an
> install queue for later hotsyncing using the --later switch, or have
> gnome-pilot prompt you to hotsync your PDA for immediate install.
You have
> the same options available when you right-click on the files using
gmc.
>
> malsync
>
> AvantGo on your Palm/Visor, malsync on your box. I tried using the
MAL
> conduit in gnome-pilot but it kept crashing. I didn't want to go
through
> the trouble of getting the sources for the conduits and compiling
because
> I would have ended up getting more source code just to compile one
tiny
> bit of code that I had an alternative tool for. malsync is also
useful for
> those who don't use gnome-pilot (assuming the MAL conduit in it
worked)
> but still want to get their AvantGo fix without rebooting into that
other
> OS.
>
> Plucker and sitescooper
>
> Not satisfied with the selection of channels available on AvantGo?
Fear
> not. This set of tools provide you with the ability to process
websites on
> demand, or via cron and preprocess them for offline viewing on your
> Palm/Visor after hotsync. Plucker, and sitescooper are a good
combination
> of tools to do just that. Check out their websites at
> http://plucker.gnu-designs.com and http://www.sitescooper.org. The
latter
> program is useful for offline browsing too even if you don't have a
Palm.
>
> pilot-mailsync
>
> This version of pilot-mail (included in pilot-link) has more options
and
> was more suitable for my present set up at home.
>
> JPilot, Pilot-Manager
>
> I have not used these extensively, but they function just like
Palm's
> Desktop from my brief peek at them. I prefer gnome-pilot's
integration
> into my desktop though.
>
> All in all, these are the tools that I've used thus far in
integrating the
> use of my PDA with my box. I hope that this article has served to
quell
> fears of getting a PDA because it might not work with our beloved
OS.
>
> In a future post, my experiences in getting started developing apps
for my
> new toy as well as reviews of neat software.
>
> -xen
> --
> eric pareja ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ~-=[O]=-~ Here, have a clue. Get the
picture.
> PGP key at http://gra.ph/~xenos/xenos.pusa.pgp -|PLUG|-
http://gra.ph
> "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently
advanced."
> - Emperor Cleon in "Foundation's Fear" by Gregory Benford
>
>
>
>
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