Help me get my Visor to sync in RH 8.0
 

I just can't get the thing to work...I read some tutorials on the web on how to do it, my USB ports are definitely enabled and I am loading the modules (I can see them with lsmod).

I am using the Palm/Handspring tool from RH 8.0 and it just won't set up, when I try and set it up it says put the PDA in cradle and press the hotsync button and then it just hangs there forever.

Has anyone managed to get this to work?

have u loaded the visor module?

yes...yes I am.

Any other suggestions?

I can't help you with the Reh Hat tool but I've got my visor to sync with jpilot without a problem as long as you have USB enabled and the visor module loaded it works, you should have something like this in lsmod

visor 10048 0
uhci 23336 0
usbcore 48000 0 [visor usbserial usb-storage uhci]

And also you need pilot-xfer installed

Hope this helps

I am sorry to bring up a stale thread, but I just don't htink that this warrants a new one.

Here's the problem - I got the Visor to sync (with JPilot) and it wirks perfectly, when it works that is. it just works too haphazardly for my taste, and I can't determine what it depends on. I have tried everything, like pressing the cradle button first, then the sync in Jpilot, vice versa, and still the results are the same - sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

Does this happen to anyone? And what steps have you taken to correct it?

BTW this is RH 8.0, JPilot 0.99.2 and Visor usb. All the appropriate modules are loaded.

No problem,

It work like a bell here but I'm using jpilot 0.99.4 and I can press either button first, it works.
But I remember that when I had mandy 8.1 and an earlier version of jpilot, it was sometimes a bit erratic, I HAD to press the craddle switch first.
Have a try with the latest jpilot or try straight from the console with pilot-xfer see if that works better.
Hope this helps

No problem,

It work like a bell here but I'm using jpilot 0.99.4 and I can press either button first, it works.
But I remember that when I had mandy 8.1 and an earlier version of jpilot, it was sometimes a bit erratic, I HAD to press the craddle switch first.
Have a try with the latest jpilot or try straight from the console with pilot-xfer see if that works better.
Hope this helps

Sorry, pressed twice on the button:D

Ok, i figured out what the problem is, but still don't know why this is happening, nor how to solve it.

I am loading the modules (all of them, usb and visor) by using modprobe lines in my rc.local script. They all get loaded at startup, and I can see that they are all loaded when I do lsmod.

The problem is that they seem to 'go to sleep' after a while. I discovered this purely by chance - but if I modproble all the relevant modules before I want to hotsync, it works perfectly, even if I first click sync in Jpilot and then only I press the button on the cradle.

The modules will 'go to sleep' again if I don't sync for a while (>30 minutes) and then if I modprobe them again, it will work like a charm again.

Now what the deuce is happening with these modules? Why are they going to sleep/whatever they are doing? I have a guilty feeling that it is because I am loading these modules using modprobe lines in my rc.local, insteal of doing it through modules.conf. The things is I was lazy to read how to setup modules.conf to do this, and thought that rc.local was the easy way of doing it.

Do you think that this is the problem? If not, what do you think it is?

Cheers!!!

There we are!
Loading modules in your rc.local is not a problem (I do the same!). But now you have to go and check your kernel config and see in the USB section if the option "long timeout for slow responding devices" is loaded or not (I'm sure it is!) This will stop the module if there is no activity for a certain amount of time.
Just recompile your kernel without the timeout and you should be sorted!

Hope it works!

aaaah, that makes so much sense, why did I overlook that? will try it this weekend, and let you know if it works!

Thanks a mil!

Hello there....

reading through this thread, sounds like an issue I am having...could you elaborate on the kernel config fix and such...I'm somewhat new to linux and interested in getting my palm zire working in it (then I can dump windows completely...LOL)

Thanks!

ok, tell us what have you tried (Jpilot, evolution) and what happens?

I have a Palm Zire, aka the M150. I have a 2.4.20 linux kernel, so the zire IDs are built into the kernel.

I've ruled out the cable and the usb port since I can synch in windows just fine.

I've made the ln link from /dev/pilot to /dev/ttyS0 and chmodded it 666 for access

In kpliot, jpilot, and even evolution I cannot synch at all....although when set to /dev/pilot it does tell me device is ready

I've ensured that the baud rate is the same in both the software and on the palm

So I stepped back a bit and at the command line and did a 'pilot-xfer -l' and get the following:
No $PILOTPORT specified and no -p <port> given.
Defaulting to '/dev/pilot'


Listening to port: /dev/pilot

Please press the HotSync button now...


and then the darn thing hangs!

I think that the problem is that you made a link to ttyS0, while you have the usb cradle. With a new kernel, USB devices should be linked to /dev/ttyUSB1 (or /dev/ttyUSB0, but mine is on 1). Try that and see what you get. Make sure that you also load all the modules, something like

modprobe usb*
modprobe usb-ohci OR modprobe usb-uhci (dep. on your mobo)
modprobe visor

and load them IMMEDIATELY before you start Jpilot (see reason why above).

Ok, let us know what happens.

Follow-up: after a few months with failed attempts ( I just know that each try I was forgetting something or doing something out of order ) but with all of your help I finally got my Palm Zire (m150) running within linux, Red Hat 9 at kernel 2.4.20-19.9

Thanks all!!