HOWTO: Pocket PC Syncing with Evolution

[mintcoffee]

Hi all,

I have a Palm Treo 700wx and the 'ipaq' driver is not loading when I plug in the USB cable. Does anyone know if this device is supported?

[gadgetgirl]

I installed enough of synce in edgy with my WM5 PDA (T-Mobile MDA) that I can use pls to see files and pcp to copy. Now I was wondering how I can disable synce temporarily.

The problem is that sometimes I just want to charge the phone and not sync anything. After installing synce, when I plug in the USB cable, it disconnects my wlan connection in NetworkManager in favor of the "wired connection" to the PDA. Ideally, I'd prefer to never lose my WLAN connection, but I would settle for being able to control when the connection occurs to the PDA.

Any ideas other than uninstalling synce?

Edit: It looks like running "sudo ./clean.sh" in my usb-rndis-lite directory will remove the modules and prevent my computer connecting to my PDA. If someone has a better procedure, please do tell.

[Sjoerd Mulder]

After wading through this and other forums, I still did not manage to get my synchronization working. So, I decided to find another way. I now sync my evolution with a server, and sync my pda with that server. 1) it works and 2) I can now sync whenever and wherever i want to, which I like. So even with multisync working correctly, I can say that this really is a better way!

I wrote a howto on my new weblog: http://www.sjoerdmulder.nl/wordpress/?p=4

[stephensheppard]

Your weblog entry cuts off at the beginning of discussion of configuration. Any chance you could post the entire howto? Thanks!

[Sjoerd Mulder]

Ouch you are right, must have done something wrong while editing the text. Glad I made a backup... Thanks for pointing to it.

It's back on now, however:
www.sjoerdmulder.nl

[IntuitiveNipple]

Like a few others I've had issues with firestarter's default ruleset blocking connections between Multisync and my PDA, via synce.

Other firewall rulesets will likely cause the same problem.

I've added 3 rules via iptables to the netfilters. Firestarter provides a way for you to give it rules when it starts up by adding them to the /etc/firestarter/user-pre file, which is included by /etc/firestarter/firewall using a 'source' statement.

Here's the contents of my /etc/firestarter/user-pre

$IPT -I FORWARD 1 -s 192.168.131.0/24 -d 192.168.131.0/24 -j ACCEPT
$IPT -I OUTPUT 1 -s 192.168.131.0/24 -d 192.168.131.0/24 -j ACCEPT
$IPT -I INPUT 1 -s 192.168.131.0/24 -d 192.168.131.0/24 -j ACCEPT

$IPT is translated by firestarter into the appropriate command to execute iptables.

synce issues IPs in the range 192.168.131.0/24 range unless you've changed the defaults. If you have, then adapt the rules above to reflect your IP settings.

[IntuitiveNipple]

Instead of having to manually execute scripts when I want to synchronise, I've added a simple command to Edgy's

System > Preferences > Removable Drives and Media

"PDA" tab.

PocketPC - "Sync PocketPC devices when connected" is enabled with the command:

sudo synce-serial-start && sleep 4 && multisync

This starts synce, gives it 4 seconds to establish the connection, and then starts multisync.

The && separator concatenates the commands but won't execute the 2nd command until the previous has completed.

To prevent the sudo command requiring the password i've edited the sudoers file:

$ sudo visudo

And added the following entry:

tj ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/synce-serial-start

Replace my username (tj) with your own, of course.

Now, whenever I drop the PDA into the cradle it will connect and then start multisync and do its thing without intervention.

Note: this assumes you've also set things up so that dccm (or vdccm) starts when you login via

System > Preferences > Sessions "Startup Programs" - Command=/usr/bin/dccm

[kseise]

Instead of having to manually execute scripts when I want to synchronise, I've added a simple command to...

Your last two posts are priceless. They worked perfectly for me. I plan on nuking my system either tonight or tomorrow and starting from scratch. I will try and re-confirm all the steps needed, and then present a single HOW-TO.

[IntuitiveNipple]

Some minor improvements based on experience.

• When connecting the PDA, just in case there are problems with sudo (wanting a password), use gksudo so at least you get a prompt rather than the command silently failing.
• Specify the exact path to synce-serial-start otherwise sudo seems to get confused and not match it with the entry in sudoers
• The entry in sudoers may need to be slightly amended

Pocket PC hot-plug command

gksudo /usr/bin/synce-serial-start && sleep 4 && multisync

/etc/sudoers

tj      ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/synce-serial-start

Tip: If you don't seem to be getting a response when plugging the PDA in, but Device Manager shows it connecting/disconnecting, replace the hot-plug command with something simple like gedit which doesn't need super-user privileges and is a visual indication that the command is being executed.

[snovak]

Hey folks,
Having troubles with this I have a UTstarcom PPC6700 Sprint smartphone/WindowsCE pocketpc.

OS: ubuntu dapper

Here's my reply from dmesg:
[17354985.452000] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
[17354997.056000] usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 4

I'll plug in the device and read the first line,
after about 5 seconds the second will be added.

Am I without hope here? Does Edgy have extended support Or, am I missing a package somewheres?