Hi - I've been trying to set up my PalmVx - an old but reliable tool - as part of my goal to become M$ free - but I'm completely stumped.

What I have is pretty much a stock SW 9.1 install - I've been trying via KPilot -
I get exactly nowhere -

I think that my serial port is set up correctly by default

root@larry:/dev# ls -l pilot
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 5 May 18 2003 pilot -> ttyS0

but when I try ( as root )

root@larry:/dev# pilot-xfer -p /dev/pilot
Time elapsed: 0:00:00
root@larry:/dev# pilot-xfer -p /dev/pilot -L


Listening to port: /dev/pilot

Please press the HotSync button now...
Error accepting data on /dev/pilot
root@larry:/dev#

Any ideas as to what to try next - would be appreciated
Thx

magicm --

Are you looking only to do a command line sync? You mentioned KPilot, so I assume you are eventually looking at a GUI front-end to do the sync. If so, you might check out J-Pilot. I have never consistently been able to use GPilot or KPilot. However, J-Pilot worked the first time and every time since then. It isn't integrated in the K series of apps or Evolution, so you may have to dup some information (for me, it's mostly just e-mail addresses), but I can at least sync with my Palm. Plus, J-Pilot is similar to the Palm Desktop for Windows. You can get the latest version (as a .tgz file, no less ) at www.linuxpackages.net (I believe the latest one is 0.99.6).

Hope that helps.

Thx Tino27 -

I'll give that a try - And although a GUI front end would be nice, what I'm after is usability.
That's why I posted the results of the pilot-xfer command line - I'm concerned that there's some low-level setup/configuration that I need to do that I'm unaware of.

I spend most of my dual boot time in Slack now - I'm just trying to make it more.

Well - it's an attractive GUI - but I think my problems are much lower -
---> from running

(magic):/home/magic-> jpilot
Couldn't find empty DB file.
jpilot may not be installed.

---> from attempting a sync

pi_bind: Permission denied
pi_bind Illegal seek
Check your serial port and settings
Exiting with status SYNC_ERROR_BIND
Finished

---> I'm convinced there's something very fundamental that I don't have configured
---> I just don't know what it is

Couple things for you to check on...

1) Make sure that gpilotd is not running while trying to sync using JPilot. It can cause the syncronization to fail (or simply hang there). I made this mistake when I first trying to get this to work.

2) Check the permissions on /dev/ttyS0. If you are getting a "permission denied" error, it might mean that the user you are logged in as doesn't have read/write permission to the port.

Also, just so I am clear, when you started jpilot (e.g., (magic):/home/magic-> jpilot), it gave you the error message about the empty DB file but the GUI still appeared?

I'm Ok on this one ...

But not on this one - my permissions were 660 - I changed them to 666 - (I was sure I'd done that, but I was wrong) and it's now acting -

Now - both KPilot and jpilot (separate tests) are timing out

from Kpilot
Version: KPilot 4.3.10 (BRANCH)
Version: pilot-link 0.11.8
Version: KDE 3.1.4
Version: Qt 3.2.1

HotSync Log

19:25:29 Trying to open device...
19:25:29 Device link ready.
19:26:16 Can't accept Pilot (Connection timed out)

from jpilot

(magic):/home/magic-> jpilot
Couldn't find empty DB file.
jpilot may not be installed.
pi_accept: Connection timed out
pi_accept Illegal seek
Exiting with status SYNC_ERROR_PI_ACCEPT
Finished

Yes - I wondered about that -- How was I supposed to prepare an empty DB file for it ?

But this is progress - thx for your help so far -- I'm thinking the timing out may be a port rate issue

I am able to sync my PalmVx with Evolution if i first run gnome-pilot as root and create the database info for the palm. I also had to create a symlink of /root/evolution to /home/iametarq/evolution where my real stuff is stored.

now though, i can't get things i add to the palm to sync up to evolution...doh.

any ideas?

i'm running into similar problems w/ jpilot as listed above...