HOWTO: Sync Nokia E-series Phone with Evolution via Bluetooth

[otto67]

Strange to see so many problems:
In my case it is well working in Gutsy with my Nokia E70 (3rd edition)

NB!
In my following exemple/history I presume that you can make bluetooth connection between your laptop and Nokia-phone. Your laptop must be in the phone's BT devices list and connections from there are allowed.
On the phone in "Sync profile settings" the protocol is "Bluetooth", server version is "1.1" no username, no password, Sync calls is "Yes", Authorization is "Yes"
In the following I describe only computer-side syncing configuration (not BT pairing, not phone sync settings, for this look other howtos)

To make it work on my laptop i followed many howtos and advises of my friend but shortly it works like this:

1. Remove all previous .multisync and .opensync folders in your Home-directory

2. Install needed packages for multisync and openync. I didnt mess with special repos because packages in standard repos are working well (0.19-family)
First I messed a little bit with packages because in some howtos they were different than in others or some cases not present in repositories.
At the moment I have following "sync" packages installed (all from standard gutsy repositories)
------------
libmultisync-plugin-irmc
libmultisync-plugin-irmc-bluetooth
libopensync0
libpisync0
libsyncml0
multisync
multisync0.90
multisync-tools
opensync-plugin-evolution
opensync-plugin-file
opensync-plugin-google-calendar
opensync-plugin-irmc
opensync-plugin-syncml
opensyncutils
python-opensync
rsync
----------
I dont know exactly what is doing every package but as whole the solution is working
The crucial package is "multisync0.90" which in other distros/ubuntus was "multisync-qad". This is the necessary graphical frontend. It was confusing because all howtos indicated "multisync-qad" which not exist anymore in gutsy repos.

3) Now when packages installed you have to open "Applications - Accessories - Multisync-qad"
It will open graphical small nice program to do all the rest.

4) Click on "Add"
5) Enter a group name: nokia
Then click Apply
6) Click on the button "Edit"
7) Then "Add Member"
a) choose "Evolution 2.x"
b) choose "SyncML over OBEX Client"
Then OK
Click on "evo2-sync"
Check that Addressbook, Calendar, Todos are marked "Personal"
9) Click on "syncml-obex-client"
delete the existing content and paste the following text:
---------------
<config>
<bluetooth_address>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</bluetooth_address>
<bluetooth_channel>10</bluetooth_channel>
<interface>0</interface>
<identifier>PC Suite</identifier>
<version>1</version>
<wbxml>1</wbxml>
<username></username>
<password></password>
<type>2</type>
<usestringtable>1</usestringtable>
<onlyreplace>0</onlyreplace>
<recvLimit>10000</recvLimit>
<maxObjSize>0</maxObjSize>
<contact_db>Contacts</contact_db>
<calendar_db>Calendar</calendar_db>
<note_db>Notes</note_db>
</config>
------------------
replace xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with the bluetooth address of your phone (hcitool scan)

Then close and you are 99% done.

9) Remarque NB!: First sync I had hangup but after discovered that "Notes" on the phone are causing this. So I deleted all notes from my phone (I dont use them very much)

10) Now click "Refresh" and this start syncing.

NB! Confusing but important part:
Very first syncing is extremely long and you can have even timeout message from phone. But dont be afraid. Actually the thing is working. If you look your "gnome-system-monitor" then you see that multisync is not working but a plugin is taking up to 50% of your CPU. It means that syncing is going on and plugin compares and analyses all huge data from phone and evolution. If you get timeout or other error message from he phone then simply restart syncing from Multisync-qad.
The main goal now is to get first "Healthy sync" ie. your phone says "Sync complete" and computer says: "Sync OK. All clients have written. The sync was successful."
If multisync asks which conflicting entry in database you prefer, I always answer evo2-sync

Now it can happen that phone says: "Sync complete" but on your laptop you get message "Cannot write one or more objects". And this can happen many times.
My solution to this is that you open "Multisync-qad" and edit the "syncml-obex-client" conf. In last 4 rows i just removed some entries (Calendar and Notes) like this:
-------
...
<contact_db>Contacts</contact_db>
<calendar_db></calendar_db>
<note_db></note_db>
</config>
...
----------
and then start Sync again. You can combine which entry to remove in "syncml-obex-client" conf- for ex. remove Contacts and let the Calendar. The goal is to get "Healthy sync" ie. your phone says "Sync complete" and computer says: "Sync OK. All clients have written.The sync was successful." If it happens you simply add now again Calendar- entry and Notes- entry in "syncml-obex-client" conf and sync again.
And finally you get your 1st "Healthy Sync". Afterwards the syncing is very fast - only changes are compared and written vice-versa.
I hope this can help someone and avoid messing with this commandline text editors for "syncml-obex-client" editing.

Double entries.
If you have a occasional syncing error (f.ex. you forgot to swhitch on your laptop bluetooth or similar) then multisync always does "slow sync". With "slow sync" it can happen that you will have double / triple similar entries in your phones calendar.
My solution: I open phones calendar - then "Select all" and "Delete" i.e. I erase all events in phone calendar and then sync and all events come correctly from Evolution to phone again.
Thats because I try to keep Evolution Contacts-Calendar always in good shape.

[jmesquita]

On my nokia E61 I only get "System Error" on the phone with this opensync version. If upgraded to version .22 using custom repos, I get a better picture but still no Notes or Calendar syncing.


Mesquita

[rimoth]

Thanks Otto67 - great explanation. I now have n73 synchronizing with Evolution on Gutsy Gibbon.

[Capix]

Hi,

I have an N73 and Gutsy and i'm not able to sync with Evolution.

I've tried to sync them on my home PC and on my office Pc too without success. I've tried Otto's configuration changing the blueetooth channels to:

09 (OBEX Object Push)
10(Sync MLClient)
11 (OBEX File Transfer)
12 (OBEX PC Suite Services)
and 13 (SyncML Server)

I think that in N73 it should work with the last one but no way. I always get the same error on the command line (with msynctool --sync N73):

Synchronizing group "N73" 
The previous synchronization was unclean. Slow-syncing
Member 1 of type evo2-sync just connected
received contact dsession
Member 2 of type syncml-obex-client just connected
All clients connected or error
Received an entry pas-id-4732E3A300000003 with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
Received an entry pas-id-4732E8CA00000000 with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
Received an entry pas-id-4733195E00000002 with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
Received an entry pas-id-47387D9600000001 with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
Received an entry pas-id-473953F000000002 with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
(a lot of these lines....)
Received an reply to our Alert
Received an entry pas-id-4732EA8600000001 with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
Received an entry pas-id-4733195E00000004 with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
(more and more lines like these)
Received an entry pas-id-473953F00000004C with data of size 4 from member 1. Changetype ADDED
Member 1 of type evo2-sync just sent all changes
Member 2 of type syncml-obex-client just sent all changes
All clients sent changes or error
All conflicts have been reported
Member 1 of type evo2-sync committed all changes.

N73 throws a "System Error" message and msynctool it just hangs until I press CTRL+C and

Blueetooth is working because i can send files to my N73 with gnome-obex-server but i'm still unable to sync with Evolution.

Any ideas?

Many thanks!

[otto67]

As i explained in my howto, the first sync is extremely slow and can take up so 10 minutes. Usually you will have timeout from phone. But then simply sync again and again. I recommend to delete all Notes from phone and Evolution.
Dont be afraid if the sync is long - look at gnome-system-monitor and look if some plugin is working. If yes , then the sync is going on. Dont interrupt it with Ctrl+C.
The channel 10 is correct because it has been working always.

As far as i understand your terminal message your sync is going on and some plugin is working (look gnome-system-monitor) because you have been informed that conflicts reported
To compare i simply add my /usr/bin/multisync0.90 messages on terminal after a successful sync:
mina@Ott-ML:~$ /usr/bin/multisync0.90
Member 1 of type evo2-sync just connected
received event dsession
received contact dsession
received note dsession
Member 2 of type syncml-obex-client just connected
All clients connected or error
Member 1 of type evo2-sync just sent all changes
Received an reply to our Alert
Received an reply to our Alert
Received an reply to our Alert
Going to receive 0 changes
Going to receive 0 changes
Going to receive 0 changes
Member 2 of type syncml-obex-client just sent all changes
All clients sent changes or error
Member 1 of type evo2-sync committed all changes.
Member 1 of type evo2-sync just disconnected
Received an reply to our sync
Received an reply to our sync
Received an reply to our sync
Member 2 of type syncml-obex-client committed all changes.
All clients have written
Member 2 of type syncml-obex-client just disconnected
All clients have disconnected
The sync was successful

As you see your clients sent changes but are not writing (yet) the differences.
Pls try again my howto - i am almost sure that the BT channel is 10 it should not be different from one Nokia to another (my phone is E70).
Pls simplify also your Evolutions calendar or phonebook or Notes. F.ex. i discovered that in my phone i had lot of Notes created occasionally, /simply if keys are unlocked and your phone is in your pocket/ with text like "W" or "arddfs" or "sdfgert" etc, etc, Check once more and delete all these unclean entries in your phone. In my case i had always timeouts because entries like this take huge ressource from the syncing software and it is not able to "digest" these. When i deleted Notes from my phone the things went better immediately. It didnt "hang" anymore and started display messages. Actually hanging means (in my opinion) that some plugin is trying to sync the data received from clients and put it into a logical form for both clients to write it back.
You can try to play also with syncml-obex-client conf as described in my howto i.e. delete Calendar, Notes and try to get first "clean sync" and then add Calendar and Notes step-by-step back in the conf file.
I hope you can understand what i am trying to say.

[Capix]

Many thanks for your reply Otto but I forgotted to say that I got an "System error" message on my phone.

Althought I will retry with a "clean sync" and i will wait more for the sync to stop.

PS: Having tried for a while and process msynctool, osplugin... in gnome-system-monitor as shown as "Sleeping"

[otto67]

me too - if i remember correctly i got the same message "System error" (i called it "timeout" in my posts). The osplugin says like it would be "Sleeping" but look at the CPU % , in my case it has shown 40-50 % when first syncing ie. it was actually working (hardly).
As i remember i got these messages from phone until i deleted all Notes from phone (and also from Evolution)
Pls try once more and keep us in touch...

[Capix]

CPU is at 0% on each process

I've been waiting for 10 minutes, do you think that I've to wait much more?

BTW what do you think about the "pairing process" that i found in this website:

http://www.ugov.be/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_with_Nokia_E65

It's necessary for the sync?

[rimoth]

For the first sync I just sync'd contacts and then added calendar in for the next sync.

[rimoth]

Also I think the Bluetooth channel for the N73 is 13 which I picked up from page 4 of this thread.