406 lines
8.5 KiB
HTML
406 lines
8.5 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Connecting to the PC</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.76b+
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"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Palm OS Desktop HOWTO"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="Introduction"
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HREF="introduction.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="The pilot-link suite"
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HREF="pilotlink.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="SECT1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Palm OS Desktop HOWTO</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="introduction.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="pilotlink.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="PC-CONNECT">2. Connecting to the PC</H1
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><P
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>The first step to getting your PDA running under Linux is to connect it
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to your PC. Until recently, all PalmOS devices connected via a serial
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cable. The latest devices use USB, and some can also connect via infrared.</P
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><P
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>Another development allows the PDA to physically connect to one
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machine on the network and synchronise remotely with another machine.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="PC-CONNECT-SERIAL">2.1. Serial Connection</H2
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><P
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>The serial connection is currently the easiest way to connect
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your PDA to your PC. Simply connect the cradle to a serial port,
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then refer to that port when using coldsync or the pilot-link
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suite. The serial connection is slow, but has the advantage of
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being tried and tested. It should work with any Palm OS device for
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which a serial cable is available. Serial cradles and cables are
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available as accessories for the Palm PDAs, including those which
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come with USB cradles as standard.</P
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><P
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>For convenience, you may wish
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to create a device called <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/pilot</TT
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>
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as a link to the serial port. The pilot-link suite uses this device
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by default, so if the link exists it will save you having to specify
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it each time you call one of the programs. </P
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><P
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>To create the link, log on as root and enter the following command: </P
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><P
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><TABLE
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BORDER="0"
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BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
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WIDTH="100%"
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><TR
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><TD
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><FONT
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COLOR="#000000"
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><PRE
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CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
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>ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/pilot</PRE
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></FONT
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></P
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><P
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>Replace <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/ttyS0</TT
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> with
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the serial port to which you have connected the your PDA. The device
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name <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/ttyS0</TT
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> corresponds to COM1 in
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DOS/Windows terminology, <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/ttyS1</TT
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> is
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COM2, and so on. </P
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><P
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>You also need to ensure that you have
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permission to write to the serial port. On a standalone workstation you
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can change the permissions to allow global access to the port. As root,
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enter the following command: </P
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><P
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><TABLE
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BORDER="0"
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BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
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WIDTH="100%"
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><TR
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><TD
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><FONT
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COLOR="#000000"
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><PRE
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CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
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>chmod a+rw /dev/ttyS0</PRE
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></FONT
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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> </P
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><P
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>Greater security can be achieved using the group permissions. Set
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the permissions to read/write for the group and add the required
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users to the user list for the group (see <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>man
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group</TT
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>). (TODO: More detail). </P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="DEVFS">2.2. Devfs device naming</H2
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><P
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>Recent Linux distributions may use devfs for device naming. In
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this case <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/ttyS0</TT
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> may not exist, or may
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be a symbolic link to <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/tts/0</TT
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>. This is
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a new naming scheme brought in with the 2.4 kernel. Simply replace all
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references to <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/ttyS0</TT
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> with <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>/dev/tts/0</TT
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>. </P
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><P
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>If you use symbolic links with devfs, you may find that the links do not persist
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correctly after you reboot. The <TT
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CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
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>/etc/devfsd.conf</TT
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>
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file controls the creation of symbolic links to dynamically created devices.</P
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><P
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>As always, the operation seems to be set up differently under different
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distributions.</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>Manrake 8.1 creates a link from /dev/usb/tts/1 to /dev/pilot when the hotsync
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button is pressed on the cradle.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>RedHat 7.2 requires the link to be created manually. The link is then persistent
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across boots (thanks to Jim Mueller for this information).</P
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></LI
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></UL
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="PC-CONNECT-USB">2.3. USB Connection</H2
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><P
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>USB access to Palm devices is relatively new. The Handspring
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Visor seems to be well supported, and works with the pilot-link
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suite. Currently, the Palm m500 series only works with coldsync, although
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pilot-link support is in active development. <EM
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>Update:</EM
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>
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the current development version of pilot-link, 0.10.x, has support for
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USB devices. See the pilot-link section for more about this release. </P
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><P
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>To use any
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USB device under Linux, you need to have USB support in your kernel. You
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will also need the relevant modules available. Most (TODO: Check which
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distros work out of the box) recent Linux distributions have USB support
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enabled by default. To check your system, try the following command as
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root: </P
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><P
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><TABLE
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BORDER="0"
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BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
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WIDTH="100%"
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><TR
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><TD
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><FONT
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COLOR="#000000"
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><PRE
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CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
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>modprobe visor</PRE
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></FONT
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></P
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><P
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>If you get no output from this command, then the module is available and
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you do not need to recompile your kernel. If this does not work, try the
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alternative usbserial module: </P
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><TABLE
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BORDER="0"
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BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
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WIDTH="100%"
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><TR
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><TD
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><FONT
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COLOR="#000000"
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><PRE
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CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
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>modprobe usbserial</PRE
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></FONT
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><P
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>This is used by some distributions, such as
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Redhat 7.0.</P
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><P
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>If you need to set up USB support in your kernel, the
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<A
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HREF="http://www.linuxpda.com/visor/howto/current/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Handspring
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Visor with Linux mini-HOWTO</A
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> provides instructions. (TODO:
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Incorporate into this HOWTO?) </P
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><P
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>Once USB support is set
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up, you should use device <TT
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CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
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>/dev/ttyUSB1</TT
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>
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to communicate with your PDA. Note that this device name only exists
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<EM
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>after</EM
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> you have pressed the hotsync button on the
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cradle. You must press the button before running the connection software.</P
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><P
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>If you have problems synchronising via USB, try an updated kernel. There
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may be some timing issues with the USB driver. For example, I found that
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stock Mandrake 8.1 did not work on one PC, but worked first time on a faster
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PC. Upgrading to a stock 2.4.17 kernel solved the problem and worked fine on
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both PCs.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="PC-CONNECT-INFRARED">2.4. IR Connection</H2
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><P
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>The latest Palm devices have infrared (IrDA) ports. If
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you have one of these, and a PC with an infrared port, you can
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synchronise over IrDA and do away with the cables altogether. </P
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><P
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>David A. Desrosiers has written a comprehensive <A
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HREF="http://www.pilot-link.org/howto/irhsync/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>HOWTO</A
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> on the
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subject. (TODO: Include this inline?) </P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="PC-CONNECT-NETWORK">2.5. Network Connection</H2
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><P
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>It is possible to physically connect your PDA to one PC,
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and synchronise it with another PC elsewhere on the network. This
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might be a useful feature if you need to synchronise with a PC to
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which you cannot physically connect your PDA. </P
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><P
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>Once again David A. Desrosiers has written a (less comprehensive) <A
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HREF="http://www.pilot-link.org/howto/nhsync"
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TARGET="_top"
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>HOWTO</A
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> on the
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subject. (TODO: Include this inline? Not convinced of the value of this
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method - anyone care to comment?) </P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="introduction.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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ACCESSKEY="H"
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>Home</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="pilotlink.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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>Introduction</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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> </TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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>The pilot-link suite</TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></DIV
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