[intrepid] impossible to sync palm pilot device

[Nizar Kerkeni]

Binary package hint: gnome-pilot

I noticed that in intrepid amd 64 I cant sync my palm pilot device ( a sony clié). The device is detected by the system (lsub shows the palm) but when syncing with gpilot and choosing usb: as device it's not recognized.

[Darik Horn (dajhorn)]

I can confirm this bug with a Treo 650 and the first Intrepid 64-bit beta on amd64.

Rebooting into a 32-bit i386 environment on the same computer results in proper behavior.

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=915508

[jbg7474 (jbg7474)]

Also not able to sync using gpilotd in Intrepid 32bit with a Palm Treo 755p. This worked in Hardy. Very frustrated. I'd be happy to provide more information if necessary.

[MedO (smaxein)]

I'm having the same problem with my Palm m150 connected via USB (using Intrepid on an eee pc 901). I had no problem getting it to work in Hardy on my old notebook, and it's definitely not a hardware/usb problem (retrieving my notes via pilot-link using port "usb:" works)

[glkpspam (glkpspam)]

It's an 8.10 issue; you can confirm this easily by trying the LiveCD for 8.04 and then for 8.10 on the same computer (just use sudo mountpoint visor to get device detected); 8.04 works fine, 8.10 doesn't.

For more details (and possible dupes) see:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-pilot/+bug/280876
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-pilot/+bug/282506

[Joelp (joelp)]

I have this problem as well. I have been poking around and some have been saying it's a HAL problem (as I think they are trying to use HAL to detect the palm. I was able to sort of connect to the device when I shut down HAL and prompted it to get device ID...

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

shutting down hal (sudo /etc/init.d/hal stop) not working for me :/ the palm can't sync

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Martin - some people are indicating that turning off hal resolves this issue for them. Do you have an idea as to what might be causing the problem?

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Bug 274936 is probably the same bug as this one also.

[jbg7474 (jbg7474)]

To the powers that be: please, please mark this as very important! For those of us for whom turning off hal doesn't work, we're completely unable to sync with no workaround!

I'm monitoring this bug and I would fall all over myself to provide the developers more information if necessary.

[bluebook (sharpchick)]

I'm having a similar problem. My Palm Treo 755p synced just fine in 8.04, and now is broken in 8.10. I've tried all the old tricks (sudo modprobe visor, changing the /dev/pilot to the /dev/ttyUSB0/1/2) to no avail. It just hangs in Hotsync. It looks like lots of people are having similar issues:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=966024
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=969164&highlight=palm+intrepid

Please please mark this as important! My bluetooth is also broken with Intrepid and there's not much I can do in terms of my calendar and addressbook (i.e., phone!) functions.

[jbg7474 (jbg7474)]

Bug 282506 also is similar.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Can anybody please find out which kind of device is used for syncing those palms? Is it /dev/ttyUSB0 (or 1, or so)?

If you do

  head /dev/ttyUSB0

in a Terminal, do you get an error message like "Permission denied"? Please try this:

  sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB*

and check if your palm syncs after that (this change does not persist across reboots, it's just a test).

[sQuonk (squonk-anarchic-teapot)]

"If you do

  head /dev/ttyUSB0

in a Terminal, do you get an error message like "Permission denied"?"

'No such file or directory'

Sony Clié, again no problems with 8.04. Hitting the Hotsync button just brings up the PalmOS Devices preferences pane - which admittedly I had to call up with 8.04 to activate synching, but now nothing happens after that.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

sQuonk,

well, or some other tty. There must be a device for this Pilot. If you can't find it, please plug in the device, and do (in a Terminal)

  lshal > /tmp/hal.txt

and attach /tmp/hal.txt here.

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

here is 4 atteched files, 2 for lshal and 2 for lsusb, before and after connecting the palm.

[leoperbo (leoperbo)]

Same problem here with a Palm Treo 680 in i386.

No sync after a clean install of 8.10
Synced just fine with 8.04

[jbg7474 (jbg7474)]

Here is my text output from lshal.

Also, I tried head /dev/ttyUSB0, head /dev/ttyUSB1, head /dev/pilot...all three do nothing: the cursor sits in the terminal and looks like it thinks it's doing something, but nothing happens. Finally, it returns to a prompt after about 1 minute.

I tried sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB*, and that returned to a prompt immediately with no error messages, but syncing yielded the same results (or lack thereof) after that.

Still can't sync. Please let me know if you need more information.

[Shane Rice (shane2peru)]

They need to make a way to attach more than one file. :) I'm having the same issue trying to connect my Palm Tungsten E, which I have always connected in the past. If I can be of another soure of info, please let me know how I can help.

Shane

[Luther (lutheroto)]

Here's my lshal output with the palm connected.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Nizar,

ah, thanks. So the device is actually the raw USB one ("/dev/bus/usb/007/002"), not a ttyUSB. From that it looks just fine, it should have gotten an ACL so that you can access it as an user. Can somebody please do the same lshal output on a hardy live CD, so that we can compare?

[Joan Tur (joantur)]

Hi.

I've moved from Kubuntu 8.04 32bits to Ubuntu 8.10 64bits.

I'm experiencing the same problem with gnome-pilot; I name the device, set it to use usb (usb:), press the sync button and... nothing happens, no beep nor sync.

Visor is not loaded.

Important: it must be a gnome-pilot problem, as I can sync using, f.i., "pilot-xfer --port=usb: -b Directory" !!

Hope you guys solve it. It's a great problem for me 8-(

TIA ;)

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

In 32 bit Feisty my Kyocera 6135 synced fine.
In 64 bit Feisty likewise.
8.04, 8.10 Alphas 32 bit, hasn't synced.
8.10 Beta, 8.10 64 bit, won't sync.
Machine detects a Kyocera device connected to the USB, but in Gnome Pilot, or with pilot xfer, with or without visor loaded, the thing just locks up the handheld when the hotsync button is pushed, and nothing happens.
This has now covered several operating systems, several versions of the kernel, still no cure. All the other problems (except for Kompozer crashing big time) that 8.04 created (and there were a few!) I have overcome. Not this one. If I let the battery go flat on my phone I still have to use WinDoze to restore my data.
I would really, really like this to work for me.
Regards,
Bruce

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Nizar, thanks. I compared them, and hal-wise they look pretty much identical. For being completely sure that it isn't a permission problem, please plug in your PDA in intrepid and do

  hal-get-property --udi `hal-find-by-capability --capability pda` --key pda.palm.hotsync_interface

This should output something like "/dev/bus/usb/001/002". Do

  head /dev/bus/usb/001/002

(use the actual output from the first command), and verify that you do not get an error message like "permission error". I don't suspect that this is the case, since Joan Tur said that it works with the command line client, but someone mentioned a hal problem.

Anyway, if pilot-xfer works, then it isn't a device permission or hal problem, but a problem in gnome-pilot proper. Maybe other reporters can try pilot-xfer, too?

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

Hi Martin,
Here is what i get :
nizarus@vaio:~$ hal-get-property --udi `hal-find-by-capability --capability pda` --key pda.palm.hotsync_interface
/dev/bus/usb/001/003
nizarus@vaio:~$ head /dev/bus/usb/001/003

Li



5

�
�
@�@ � 

all is ok no error messages :)

[jbg7474 (jbg7474)]

I get this:
jgregga@jgregga-PC:~$ hal-get-property --udi `hal-find-by-capability --capability pda` --key pda.palm.hotsync_interface
/dev/bus/usb/005/011
jgregga@jgregga-PC:~$ head /dev/bus/usb/005/011
head: cannot open `/dev/bus/usb/005/011' for reading: No such file or directory

Am I doing something wrong?

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Thanks, Nizar. That's sufficient proof now that the problem is in
gnome-pilot itself, not in the /dev permission handling or hal bits.

[jbg7474 (jbg7474)]

Tried again after updates and a reboot, and got junk like Nizar, no error messages:

jgregga@jgregga-PC:~$ hal-get-property --udi `hal-find-by-capability --capability pda` --key pda.palm.hotsync_interface
/dev/bus/usb/005/009
jgregga@jgregga-PC:~$ head /dev/bus/usb/005/009


a


.

�2 ��@
@�@@jgregga@jgregga-PC:~$

[Matt Davey (mcdavey)]

This is a known bug!
From a recent post to the gnome-pilot-list:
-------------------------------------------
This is almost certainly due to changes in hal that occurred after the
release of gnome-pilot 2.0.15. This is discussed in gnome bug 484509:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=484509

I'm attaching a patch for gpilotd.c that fixes this issue.
--------------------------------------------

[Matt Davey (mcdavey)]

I should have added: a workaround is to stop hald, restart gnome-pilot, and then restart hald:

In a terminal window:
---------------------
sudo /etc/init.d/hal stop
killall gpilotd
/usr/bin/gpilotd &
sudo /etc/init.d/hal start

If gpilotd doesn't find hal running when gpilotd starts, it falls back to polling usbfs.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Ah, thanks muchly, Matt. That makes sense, info.bus was deprecated a while ago. I'll apply the patch.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Accepted into intrepid-proposed, please test and give feedback here. Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

no gnome-pilot package on -proposed yet :/

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

yeaaaaaaaah nice to hear the syncing bip on my clié again :p
gnome-pilot package installed from -proposed and sync is working again :)
goog job Martin

[mawds (david-mawds)]

It works for me too; with a Treo 650. Thanks for fixing it.

[DaysInn (dougmouat)]

Works here too.. THANKS.

[leoperbo (leoperbo)]

Thanks!

Works just fine here:

Treo 680
Ubuntu 8.10 (i386)

I'm happy! :-D

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Copied intrepid-proposed package to jaunty.

I declined the hardy task, reportedly it works fine in Hardy.

[jbg7474 (jbg7474)]

For completeness, the fix works on my 755p too! Thanks all--what an excellent demonstration of the power of open source software!

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

@jbg7474 : what an excellent demonstration of the power of open source software!
and ubuntu community reactivity :)

[herve34fr (hgotty)]

Are you sure that the fix is OK for Intreprid AMD64.
I've loaded the new "gnome-pilot" package :
 sudo aptitude -t intrepid-proposed gnome-pilot,

But nothing new . . .

[herve34fr (hgotty)]

Excuse for my last post.
I've just rebooted my PC and now everything is working fine (initial synchro and synchro with évolution).
Thanks to all the people who fixed that bug so quickly.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

herve34fr [2008-11-06 15:54 -0000]:
> Are you sure that the fix is OK for Intreprid AMD64.
> I've loaded the new "gnome-pilot" package :
> sudo aptitude -t intrepid-proposed gnome-pilot,

You need version 2.0.15-2ubuntu4. Please check "apt-cache policy
gnome-pilot". If that version isn't there yet, your mirror is just
lagging a bit.

The master archive (archive.ubuntu.com) definitively has it.

[Warner White (warnercwhite)]

I have just started using Ubuntu and am trying to convert all my Windows stuff to it. I found the above work-around very helpful. Now I can connect and use J-Pilot with my PDA. But there's a problem. It only works one-way. I can put stuff on my J-Pilot and sync and find it on my Centro, but not the other way round. In addition, what I put on J-Pilot disappears in the process.

The read out from J-Pilot says

Doing a slow sync.
Syncing DatebookDB
Syncing AddressDB
Syncing MemosDB-PMem
synctime: Palm OS version 5.49
synctime: Setting the time on the pilot... Done
MemosDB-PMem.pdb (Creator ID 'PMem') is up to date, fetch skipped.
Fetching 'AddressDB' (Creator ID 'addr')... OK
Fetching 'DatebookDB' (Creator ID 'date')... Failed, unable to back up database DatebookDB
ReadDBList returned = -1
palmos_error = 0
dlp_strerror is No error
Finished.

It's just not doing the Datebook, and I wonder if I were to make changes to the Memos whether that would get done either.

This may be a different problem from the one this thread started on, but I hope someone can help me. I really would like to switch completely from Windows to Ubuntu, but I can't if I can't sync my Centro.

[Ed Comer (celem)]

I added the proposed repository and I believe that I have loaded the new version (gnome-pilot 2.0.12-2ubuntu4) but I cannot get it to work, I use a Clie SJ-22.

[Nizar Kerkeni (nizarus)]

you have to kill and restart gpilotd
killall gpilotd
gpilotd &

[Ed Comer (celem)]

No Joy
I have loaded the proposed version of gnome-pilot 2.0.15-2ubuntu4. I set the gnome-pilot Device Settings to Type USB and Device usb: When I hotsync nothing happens. The system does see the PDA - see pasted lsusb output below.

FOLLLOWING: output of lsusb when HotSync is pressed on Clie PEG SJ-22/U
ecomer@squirrel:~$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 18e3:9101 Fitipower Integrated Technology Inc
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 054c:0066 Sony Corp. Clie PEG-N7x0C/PEG-T425 PalmOS PDA Serial
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

[Ed Comer (celem)]

killing and restarting gpilotd had no effect other than that it now enabled me to see the output of gpilotd on that terminal session.

When I HotSync it appears that pilotd detects the PDA as it outputs the following. However, gnome-pilot continues to have no reaction at all:

ecomer@squirrel:~$ gpilotd-Message: Found 4766, 0001
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0502, 0736
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 091e, 0004
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 115e, f100
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 082d, 0100
gpilotd-Message: Using net FALSE
gpilotd-Message: Found 082d, 0200
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 082d, 0300
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0c88, 0021
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0001
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0002
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0003
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0020
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0031
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0040
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0050
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0060
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0061
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0070
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 0830, 0080
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 04e8, 8001
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 04e8, 6601
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 0038
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 0066
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 0095
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 009a
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 00c9
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 00da
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 00e9
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 0144
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 054c, 0169
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE
gpilotd-Message: Found 12ef, 0100
gpilotd-Message: Using net TRUE

[Ed Comer (celem)]

Additional info. Although gnome-pilot will not work, I checked to see what devices were built in the /dev directory when HotSync was pressed. The output is below:

ecomer@squirrel:~$ ls -l /dev/* >1
ecomer@squirrel:~$ ls -l /dev/* >2
ecomer@squirrel:~$ diff 1 2
669a670,674
> crw-rw-r-- 1 root dialout 253, 15 2008-11-09 17:39 /dev/usbdev2.14_ep00
> crw-rw-r-- 1 root dialout 253, 12 2008-11-09 17:39 /dev/usbdev2.14_ep01
> crw-rw-r-- 1 root dialout 253, 14 2008-11-09 17:39 /dev/usbdev2.14_ep02
> crw-rw-r-- 1 root dialout 253, 11 2008-11-09 17:39 /dev/usbdev2.14_ep81
> crw-rw-r-- 1 root dialout 253, 13 2008-11-09 17:39 /dev/usbdev2.14_ep82
785a791
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-11-09 17:39 189:141 -> ../bus/usb/002/014
1006a1013,1017
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-11-09 17:39 253:11 -> ../usbdev2.14_ep81
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-11-09 17:39 253:12 -> ../usbdev2.14_ep01
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-11-09 17:39 253:13 -> ../usbdev2.14_ep82
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-11-09 17:39 253:14 -> ../usbdev2.14_ep02
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-11-09 17:39 253:15 -> ../usbdev2.14_ep00
ecomer@squirrel:~$

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Copied to intrepid-updates.

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

Ed comer wrote, "No Joy
I have loaded the proposed version of gnome-pilot 2.0.15-2ubuntu4. I set the gnome-pilot Device Settings to Type USB and Device usb: When I hotsync nothing happens. The system does see the PDA etc."

I have done the same (Intrepid AMD 64), still no joy.

I have been using WinXP and the Palm Desktop to sync my Kyocera since the start of 8.04, when Gnome Pilot stopped working for me. Today I blitzed the phone's memory and tried to sync afresh via Gpilotd. I have gotten closer than any occasion in the last year, but it is still a miss: Gnome Pilot is now connecting to the device, but fails to sync, with the message displayed at the end of the attached file.

Any further clues, please?

[Matt Davey (mcdavey)]

Martin,

Ed's problem (comment 53) is almost certainly due to a problem on the pilot-link side that affects his specific device. See, this posting to the pilot-link mailing list for a patch:

http://lists.pilot-link.org/pipermail/pilot-link-devel/2008-July/001697.html

Matt

[Ed Comer (celem)]

The patch referenced in the July dialogue by "Matt Davey" refers to a modified version of libpsock/usb.c at Pilot-Link-Devel. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't see pilot-link as a dependancy with Ubuntu - it isn't even loaded by default. It appears that the pilot-link libraries are compiled into gnome-pilot but the pilot-link package, itself, isn't required. For the record, I have tried to sync with the pilot-link package present and absent without effect.

Additionally, the Pilot-Link-Devel discussion deals with the libpsock library yet looking at the properties of both gnome-pilot and pilot-link show no libpsock present, only a libpisock. Is the library discussed even in the Ubuntu 8.10 distribution and if it actually is, wouldn't the change discussed in the July dialogue have been incorporated?

I do wonder why the device identities are hard coded into a library. Reading the data from a file would make much more sense.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Thanks, Matt. However, this patch is already applied in 0.12.3, i. e. Bruce's problem must be something else. Bruce, please file a bug against pilot-link.

[Ed Comer (celem)]

Another thought. If I load the pilot-link and jpilot packages, I can sync my Clie SJ-22 to jpilot. Thus the actual pilot-link package recognizes the Clie SJ-22 yet gnome-pilot does not. Additionally, since the low level messages (see lsusb post above) indicate that the device is detected, wouldn't the problem lie within the gnome-pilot package?

[Ed Comer (celem)]

Amendment - I meant to phrase "If I load the pilot-link and jpilot packages and modprobe visor and use ttyUSB1 then I can sync to jpilot"...

[Matt Davey (mcdavey)]

Hi again,

Ed: if you can use ttyUSB1 with jpilot, then just configure gnome-pilot to use ttyUSB1 and you should be in business.

Martin - I just downloaded the ubuntu source package and diff from:
   https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/+source/pilot-link/0.12.3-4ubuntu3
and the patch I referred to does NOT seem to be applied. The patch adds "USB_INIT_SONY_CLIE" to the usb device entry for vendor=0x054c and product=0x0066. The current ubuntu source (and pilot-link 0.12.3) seems to only apply it to vendor=0x054c and product=0x0038 and product=0x009a.

by the way:
libpisock is part of the pilot-link (upstream) distribution. I believe ubuntu separates pilot-link source into"pilot-link" and "libpisock" packages. gnome-pilot is linked with libpisock. Any references to "libpsock" are almost certainly just a typo.

[Ed Comer (celem)]

Not really. While "If I load the pilot-link and jpilot packages and modprobe visor and use ttyUSB1 then I can sync to jpilot" - but I don't want to use the jpilot PIM. Gnome-pilot sees the PDA and the sync acts like it is going to work (the Clie makes the sync sound) but gnome-pilot then immediately fails and pops up a dialog box that reads "Device error on cradle (/dev/pilot) Caught unhandled port error".

Anyway, even if I could sync to ttyUSB1, I really would like to understand why "sub:" will not work i it should!

If I can solve this I plan on putting my Windows box to sleep (RIP). Being able to use my Pal Pilot is a MUST (it is my substitute brain) for making the final switch to 100% Linux after years of waiting for the Linux desktop to get to a level of usability that suited my needs. Ubuntu is "so close" but things like this bug are stopping it from reaching the finish line for me. I really want to switch!

[Matt Davey (mcdavey)]

Ed,
I'm not clear whether you triedconfiguring gnome-pilot with "usb" radio button selected and a device entry set to "/dev/ttyUSB1" instead of "usb:"? If you can use ttyUSB1 for jpilot you should be able to use it for gnome-pilot. There may be some other bug at work, but that's definitely worth trying.

The problem is that there are two ways of connecting to palms under linux: either via a serial tty emulation ("visor" module, ttyUSBn devices) or directly via libusb (no "visor" module, "usb:" pilot-link device). The bug I'm trying to flag is that your device needs a specific 'tweak' in the libusb code in pilot-link's libpisock so that it speaks correctly to the clie.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Ah, thanks Matt. My confusing arose because of the upstream ML reply to the reference you gave me: http://lists.pilot-link.org/pipermail/pilot-link-devel/2008-July/001698.html points to http://cvs.pilot-link.org/libpisock/usb.c?r1=1.54&r2=1.55 which is the patch for product ID 9a.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package pilot-link - 0.12.3-5ubuntu2

---------------
pilot-link (0.12.3-5ubuntu2) jaunty; urgency=low

  * Add 10_clie_sj22.patch: Fix flags for Sony Clie SJ-22. (LP: #282491)

 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:40:40 +0100

[Ed Comer (celem)]

Ok. In my previous test (with the error dialog pop-up), the visor module was loaded, the serial radio button was pressed and the device name was devpilot. I just tried with this setup - the visor module was loaded, the USB radio button was pressed and the device name was /dev/ttyUSB1 - this WORKED. I synced twicw to make sure. Next I removed the visor module and the sync failed. Thus the visor module MUST be loaded for this to work.

Thanks for the help getting this far - I'll use this method until "usb:" is less buggy. I still would like for it to work the "right" way, namely "usb:", if only to make Ubuntu a more "ready for the masses" OS and will stand ready to try any other tests. Thanks again.

----------------
Ed,
I'm not clear whether you triedconfiguring gnome-pilot with "usb" radio button selected and a device entry set to "/dev/ttyUSB1" instead of "usb:"? If you can use ttyUSB1 for jpilot you should be able to use it for gnome-pilot. There may be some other bug at work, but that's definitely worth trying.

The problem is that there are two ways of connecting to palms under linux: either via a serial tty emulation ("visor" module, ttyUSBn devices) or directly via libusb (no "visor" module, "usb:" pilot-link device). The bug I'm trying to flag is that your device needs a specific 'tweak' in the libusb code in pilot-link's libpisock so that it speaks correctly to the clie.

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

On Mon, 2008-11-10 at 10:44 +0000, Matt Davey wrote:
Hi Bruce,
>
> Just a quick question:
> are you able to use pilot-xfer? Try: "pilot-xfer -p usb: -l"
>
> If that connects and lists files, then you have a problem on the
> gnome-pilot side, otherwise the problem is at a different level. Either
> way, I suggest you open a new launchpad bug to report your problem - it
> is very hard to track issues effectively if more than one issue is
> reported under a single bug...
>
> Regards,
>
> Matt
>
> Matt Davey Beware of Greeks bearing gifts - but
> Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
>
> Hi Matt,
pilot-xfer does absolutely nothing. My syslog shows that a full speed usb device is connected, and "lsusb" identifies the Kyocera Wireless Device, so I presume I have something missing on the pilot link side of the deal.
I am an old, and late, comer to computing, so none of this comes naturally to me. When I first went to Ubuntu (because I hate the size, scale, and take it or leave it attitude of giants like Microsoft) I searched "Ubuntu+sync Kyocera 6135"; after several tries found a series of files to amend (had to search to find about "sudo gedit"!!) and lines I cut and pasted into a terminal and it just worked, I didn't even know what pilot link or jPilot were.
It's a year now since gnome pilot has been a goner for me: I would love to fry my XP part and live full time with Linux - but.
All of that said, I am absolutely lost in admiration for all the people with arcane knowledge that are out there in the open source world, and their willingness to share that knowledge. I am, myself, always ready to coach learner motorcyclists, or show new farm workers how to calve a cow, or young people going flatting how to bake a batch of scones, but all of that is basically just life experience - you clever geek-type people have actually learnt how the gizmo inside the box that's connected to the monitor works, and it sometimes scares me that the world has people in it with minds like that!
I will bug you no more on my bug, which, indeed, does not seem to be a Gnome-Pilot issue.
Kind regards,
Bruce Crowther.

(Caution - never fry bacon in the nude)

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

Well!
Boyz and girlz, you explain, 'cos I b****y can't.
I've given up, right?
But still: go to Synaptic, completely remove Gnome Pilot, Pilot-Xfer, install Gnome-Pilot.
Sudo gedit, edit /etc/modules for the umpteenth time and add visor. Reboot.
Ignore Evolution preferences, synchronisation options, add the Pilot applet to the task bar, and start trying every imaginable combination of device type, speed, timeout, etc, etc (remember, I have given up, 'cos I don't know what I'm b****y doing).
When we reach "Cradle USB, Timeout 2, /dev/ttyUSB1, speed 57600" it syncs.
Hmm, take out the battery (my backup battery is u/s, so this effectively formats the phone). Do it again.....................
IT IS RESTORED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't understand it, don't care!
I am still prepared to teach young people how to make scones................(http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~bandjc/Rusty/Rusty.html#Marble_scones) even though I know next to nothing about personal computers, and less about Linux.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

pilot-link upstream bug report is http://bugs.pilot-link.org/1956

[Ludovic Rousseau (ludovic-rousseau-gmail)]

pilot-link upstream bug report is (in fact) http://bugs.pilot-link.org/1957

Bug 1956 was reported against J-Pilot instead :-)

[underdog512 (amobley1124)]

I am still having problems with this even after updating my version of gpilot using the update manager. I am having to apply the workaround above every time I restart in order to get it to work.

[Ed Comer (celem)]

As posted earlier, even with the cures posted by others, I was NEVER able to get usb: to work with my Sony Clie SJ-22. However, by loading the visor module, I was able to get connectivity with /dev/ttyUSB1. I gave up on gpilot/evolution and removed them, but not because of connectivity - as I said sync worked with ttyUSB1. I abandoned them because evolution's calendar won't print out a monthly calendar except with the weekend on the right margin as two days in one space. While this may be ok for a workplace, it isn't usable in my lifestyle. There appears to be no way to alter evolution's lame calendar format. Consequentially, I deleted gpilot/evolution and loaded Thunderbird and Jpilot. Jpilot syncs great and has a monthly calendar format that better suits my needs. If you are used to the Palm desktop on Windows, then you'll like Jpilot.

I guess that usb: sync works for somebody, but never for me and my Sony Clie SJ-22.

[Rudolf Reuter (reuterr)]

Hello,
I want to give a positive report for Ubuntu 0804 and a Palm Tungsten E2 and Zire 72.
1. Add the module "visor" to the modules list in a terminal with:
   $ sudo gedit /etc/modules
2. Start the module "visor" with: $ sudo modprobe visor
3. Add a udev rulefor /dev/pilot with: $ sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/15-palm.rules
   BUS=="usb", SYSFS{product}=="Palm*|palm*|Handspring*", KERNEL=="ttyUSB*", NAME{ignore_remove}="pilot", MODE="666"
   The OR combination "Palm*|palm*|Handspring*" should cover all devices.
    === Reboot === to make it work.
4. If you press "hotsync" on the Palm you should see the USB devices until timeout:
    rudi@rudi7:~$ ls -ls /dev/ttyU*
    0 crw-rw-r--+ 1 root dialout 188, 0 2009-09-10 14:10 /dev/ttyUSB0
    0 crw-rw-r--+ 1 root dialout 188, 1 2009-09-10 14:10 /dev/ttyUSB1
    rudi@rudi7:~$ ls -ls /dev/pi*
    0 crw-rw-r--+ 1 root dialout 188, 1 2009-09-10 16:52 /dev/pilot
5. Check if your username is in the group "dialout": $ cat /etc/group|grep dialout
    dialout:x:20:rudi
6. Start the PalmOS wizard. Device setting is:
    Name: USB, Type: USB, Timeout: 2, Device:/dev/pilot, speed: 115200 (default=57600)
7. Daemon check: $ ps -A | grep "pilot*" should show: gpilotd, gpilot-applet
I hope this could help somebody.
Greetings, Rudolf

[Alex Valavanis (valavanisalex)]

Intrepid Ibex reached end-of-life on 30 April 2010 so I am closing the
report. The bug has been fixed in newer releases of Ubuntu.