Here is a full strace of pilot-xfer .... dave@dave-comp:~$ strace pilot-xfer -p /dev/ttyUSB1 -l execve("/usr/bin/pilot-xfer", ["pilot-xfer", "-p", "/dev/ttyUSB1", "-l"], [/* 34 vars */]) = 0 uname({sys="Linux", node="dave-comp", ...}) = 0 brk(0) = 0x804e000 old_mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f02000 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) old_mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f00000 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=96362, ...}) = 0 old_mmap(NULL, 96362, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7ee8000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/libpisock.so.8", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\0J\0\000"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=139648, ...}) = 0 old_mmap(NULL, 142712, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7ec5000 old_mmap(0xb7ee4000, 16384, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1e000) = 0xb7ee4000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/libncurses.so.5", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0 \343\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=262860, ...}) = 0 old_mmap(NULL, 264108, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7e84000 old_mmap(0xb7ebc000, 32768, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x38000) = 0xb7ebc000 old_mmap(0xb7ec4000, 1964, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7ec4000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/libreadline.so.5", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\220\272"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=466058, ...}) = 0 old_mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7e83000 old_mmap(NULL, 187108, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7e55000 old_mmap(0xb7e7e000, 16384, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x29000) = 0xb7e7e000 old_mmap(0xb7e82000, 2788, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7e82000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\220O\1"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1232784, ...}) = 0 old_mmap(NULL, 1238972, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7d26000 old_mmap(0xb7e4b000, 28672, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x125000) = 0xb7e4b000 old_mmap(0xb7e52000, 10172, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7e52000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl.so.2", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\260\v\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=8204, ...}) = 0 old_mmap(NULL, 11016, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7d23000 old_mmap(0xb7d25000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1000) = 0xb7d25000 close(3) = 0 old_mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7d22000 set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb7d226c0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0 munmap(0xb7ee8000, 96362) = 0 time(NULL) = 1150022825 write(2, "\n", 1 ) = 1 brk(0) = 0x804e000 brk(0x806f000) = 0x806f000 open("/dev/null", O_RDWR) = 3 open("/dev/ttyUSB1", O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 4 ioctl(4, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 ioctl(4, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 ioctl(4, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 ioctl(4, SNDCTL_TMR_START or TCSETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 ioctl(4, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 fcntl64(4, F_GETFL) = 0x802 (flags O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) fcntl64(4, F_SETFL, O_RDWR) = 0 dup2(4, 3) = 3 close(4) = 0 write(2, "\n Listening to port: /dev/ttyU"..., 79 Listening to port: /dev/ttyUSB1 Please press the HotSync button now... ) = 79 ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_STOP or TCSETSW, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B9600 -opost -isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 select(4, [3], NULL, NULL, NULL **************************** At this point my Zire 31 says 'connecting with desktop using cradle' ... it eventually times out and then I get ... **************************** = 1 (in [3]) dup(3) = 4 select(5, [4], NULL, NULL, NULL) = 1 (in [4]) read(4, "", 1) = 0 write(2, "Connected\n\n", 11Connected ) = 11 select(5, NULL, [4], NULL, NULL) = 1 (out [4]) write(4, "\22\1 \4\0\1\0\3", 8) = -1 EIO (Input/output error) write(2, "\n Error read system info on /d"..., 43 Error read system info on /dev/ttyUSB1 ) = 43 close(3) = 0 select(5, NULL, [4], NULL, NULL) = 1 (out [4]) write(4, "/\1 \2\0\0", 6) = -1 EIO (Input/output error) close(4) = 0 exit_group(1) = ? dave@dave-comp:~$ Hope this helps Dave