Can't sync Treo 650 with Jpilot / Ubuntu

[Florin Andrei]

Ubuntu 7.04 32 bit. AMD64 system. Treo 650 connected via USB
Fire up Jpilot, press the Sync button on the USB cable, click on Backup in Jpilot, wait. Nothing happens. Click on Jpilot first and then on the Sync button, wait, nothing happens.

In Jpilot, in File / Preferences / Settings / Serial Port I tried several things, such as:

/dev/pilot
/dev/ttyUSB0
/dev/ttyUSB1
usb:

Nothing works.

USB works fine otherwise, I am able to use my USB Flash drive just fine with Ubuntu.

When I get back home I will try again and attach the output from dmesg (and perhaps some logs, if relevant) to this bug report.

The Treo used to sync just fine with Jpilot on Fedora 6 and older. I vaguely remember that, on Fedora, if it didn't work properly, there was a change to be made somewhere in /etc/udev that fixed the problem, but I forgot what it was.
Looks like it's a bug either in the kernel, or in udev, or (unlikely) in Jpilot.

[Florin Andrei (florin-andrei)]

There are people reporting various degrees of success (or lack thereof) - see the thread called "Feisty Fawn and Palm"

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2007-May/thread.html#115056

It works for some if the "visor" kernel module is inserted manually.
It works with Jpilot and Tungsten E2 if "usb:" is used in "Serial Port" in Jpilot.

I'll keep poking around.

[Florin Andrei (florin-andrei)]

I've found a solution:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2007-June/thread.html#117436

I did exactly as Cameron Hutchinson explained, and now it's working.

1. created /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules with the following content:

BUS=="usb", SYSFS{serial}=="PalmSN12345678", KERNEL=="ttyUSB[13579]*", SYMLINK="treo"

2. Did a "modprobe visor"

3. Pushed the sync button on Treo's USB cable

4. Clicked on the Backup button in JPilot

So it looks like it's a bug with USB. Also the "visor" kernel module is not loading automatically.

[Gerv (gerv)]

This worked for me too, exactly following those steps.

Treo syncing was broken in Dapper, fixed in Edgy and now it's broken again in Feisty :-( Not too impressive.

Is creating this "10-local.rules" file going to affect upgrades?

[Gerv (gerv)]

Oh - I have a Treo 600, for anyone who has one of those and was wondering if the same thing helps.

[Florin Andrei (florin-andrei)]

The visor module is actually blacklisted:

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/libpisock9
blacklist visor

Perhaps that's why it doesn't load automatically.
I think that blacklist should be removed.

[Gerv (gerv)]

Bug 162997 says:

"In JPilot, File / Preferences / Settings, use "usb:" for Serial Port. It should just work, no patching of /etc/udev files, no forced "modprobe visor" required."

This worked for me :-)

Gerv

[Tommy Trussell (tommy-trussell)]

I will confirm the usb: setting works very well with jpilot and I just tried it and it works with gnome-pilot too.

[Alex Mayorga (alex-mayorga)]

Just to report that this is still problematic on Hardy. I have find it impossible to sync a Treo 600 via USB cable and I'm commenting so the bug won't expire.

[Felipe Figueiredo (philsf)]

@Alex,

are you trying to use the visor module? If so, try unloading it manually (it is blacklisted by default, so it's not necessary unless you specifically changed it) and using "usb:" as the port in Jpilot, as the others said.

I've been using it forever on other Palm devices (Tungsten E, E2 and T|X) and it always worked for me with no fuss. It's been reported to work for others all over the web, and that should include the Treo 650.

---
@Florin,

The visor module was blacklisted for a reason. Note that messing with udev rules is an ugly workaround that doesn't work in every case (each device creates ttyUSB's in a different way, and it's very hard to create general rules to cover all possibilities, especially when it's no longer necessary to do so). AFAICT, this method is no longer supported or recommended.

Please see my comment to Alex above, and try the suggested solution.

---

I think this bug should be marked as Invalid, unless there is an exceptional issue with this particular device when using libusb, in which case information should be posted here.

[Felipe Figueiredo (philsf)]

I just noted that the reporter reported this same issue another time (bug #162997) , and found it all out by himself. Setting the other one as dup, and invalidating this one.

I agree the documentation should be clearer on this, though.

[Alex Mayorga (alex-mayorga)]

Felipe,

I figured it out eventually too. If you agree that the documentation is lacking and there's a number of people reporting on this problem the bug is there. Did you create one to follow up? Otherwise I think this one should remain open.

What worked for me in the end with the Treo 600 was to use KPilot and set "usb:" as Pilot device under General Setup -> Device.