Problems Synchronizing a Zire 72 on SuSE 9.1
 

Edit: I believe I have a rather full diagnosis of this problem in this post: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...21#post1409321

I've been running SuSE 9.1 for all of two days. I've had a rough time trying to compile anything. I'd type "./configure" at the shell and come up with a slew of errors. "whereis gcc" returns nothing. I go to YaST to add ftp.suse.com to my Installation Sources and download gcc. Unfortunately, I have not progressed far enough to install anything yet. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

The kpilot that comes with the OS will not recognize my pda. I have no idea where it mounts to in any case. The FAQ's I've found haven't helped me much. They tell me to edit some files I cannot even locate, let alone understand. So I decide to move onto JPilot, which I read some Zire 72 users have had success with.

I am told upon "./configure" to get pilot-link-dev, which I find from YaST. A second "./configure" tells me that gtk and glib are not found. Which is strange because I managed to install Gaim, which depends on gtk, just yesterday after hours of hassle. I'm starting to despair, because I don't know what error message "./configure" will give me, or if it doesn't, what further steps lie beyond.

Is there a simple way (like rpms) to install JPilot or the necessary library files for KPilot to synchronize with the Palm Zire 72? Or can someone give me a foolproof way guiding me through any necessary compilation process? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

JPilot and Kpilot should both be available on the install disks for SuSE 9.1 (at least the Pro version).

Use Yast2 to install them. It should resolve your dependency problem (if any). Then when you go to use either of them, direct them to the USB port where the cradle/cable is connected (they are located in a sub-directory of the /dev partition/directory), rather than using /dev/pilot. /dev/pilot is not always configured correctly.

You really shouldn't need to do a lot of fussing at the command line to get a palm to sync properly with either jPilot or Kpilot. I use Kpilot with Kontact, but some prefer jPilot. I used to,... but setup of jPilot in SuSE 9.1 was a pain...

Thanks. SuSE comes with KPilot installed, and I'll assume it's not out of date.
How do I find the directory that points to my USB drive? If I stuck in a USB key drive into the same physical port, would I be able to locate it more easily?

As far as the device location, try:

/dev/usb/ttyUSB0

If that is no good, change the number on the end from 0 to 1, 2, 3 etc.

The same messages result when I change the digits. I went all the way up to 8. Are my library files out of date?

I haven't heard of such a thing being a library related problem. As long as your USB chipset is supported, you should be able to have the device be detected on the cable...

Is the Palm on when you try to start synching it???

Also, please see if the /dev/usb/ directory even exists on your system. Yast might have configured the USB device in a different place...

Sometimes you have to try it twice before is works...

I have SuSE 9.1 Personal and left to its own devices my Palm cradle is on /dev/usb/ttyUSB1.

The problem he's having might be the Zire series...

The Zires don't have the same synch cable/cradle that the m130, m505, and other models share. In fact, I think that there is no available cradle for them, just the included cable that even lacks a synch button.

The Zire 72, I seem to recall, was the exception, as it was the higher end model,... with a camera, 16 or 32MB of RAM, a higher resolution screen, etc. ...

You are correct about the Zire 72, Jasp. While I appreciate all the help you've given so far, it hasn't been working, so if you know anything, keep 'em coming!

I keep returning to this site: http://www.slac.com/pilone/kpilot_home/hardware.html
Apparently, I have to change the ID of my device for Linux to recognize my Zire 72. But where would I go to do that? I don't have the visor.c file the page refers to, and furthermore, I don't think I'd be able to compile it.

On my PC the directory is /dev/usb/lp0, however, when I sync my Treo 90, it doesn't see it. My usb ports work with flash drives, but not with this. I even tried making lp0 read write to my use, but to no avail. Any ideas?

-Peter

Still unsuccessful
 

I had a lot of work recently, so I stopped focusing on Linux. I'd like to be able to use it proficiently now, and after some more searching on this Zire 72 issue, I haven't found many people who have beene able to sync.
Some people claim to have sync-ed the Zire 72 successfully (http://www.slac.com/pilone/kpilot_home/hardware.html), but their procedures make no sense to me. Do I have to recompile the kernel or something?

Yeah, I switche to Windows about 3 weeks ago. I think linux is great, but it's not there yet. I definately think that Microsoft shouldn't last the century either. The one thing you might try is wine and Hotsync manager. Have you tried that? In any case, good luck.

-Peter

Where do you get the visor module? I've spent 12 hours trying to find out how to sync a palm.
It refered me first to a usb module. My usb keyboard/mouse works, as do my usb pen drives and usb card readers, so I assume I have the usb module. However, modprobe usb and its variants found nothing.
I do not have any visor.* files, so I assume I don't have a visor module. I've googled for "visor driver" and "visor module" but I haven't found anything I can download. It seems like all the HOWTO literature is out of date or something (or that SuSE just failed to bundle that module). Can someone point me in the right direction?

For those who have the visor module, what's the file called? apachedude, if someone responds, try just typing in the filename into a search on www.rpmseek.com (in russian, but if has an english translation and the files aren't written in any funky characters) or even in a plain Google search. If that doesn't work, I'd try searching ibiblio.org, rpmfind.net, things like that, and if I were you, I'd take a break, take a nap, get some caffine, and try again in 2 days or so, that always gave me ideas, just try not to thing about it too much.

-Peter