One of the newest features to be added to XNotesPlus is the Pilot Tool, a set of tools for working with PalmOS personal digital assistants. Originally inspired by the gift of a Palm Pilot Pro, and recently enhanced by the gift of a Sony CLIE, I went searching for Linux compatible software. This led me to find the pilot-link software, a set of command line tools used to communicate between the Pilot and a Unix system. These tools are quite simple to use and lend themselves well to being called from other programs. Naturally I decided it was time to update XNotePlus so I could sync memos, addresses, todos and calendars with my notes. Complete support is now provided (Memos, Todos, Calendar and Addresses) for both serial and USB connected devices.
The Pilot Tool dialog is broken into 5 main pieces: Pilot Memos, Pilot Addresses, Pilot Todo List, Calendar Sync, and Pilot Sync. Pilot Memos consists of a scrolled list, two toggle buttons and two push buttons. The toggle buttons determine which direction you're going to go: Import means you are importing Pilot Memos into XNotes, Export means you are exporting XNotes out to the Pilot as Memos. The Fetch button will retrieve either the list of XNotes (for exporting) or the list of memos from the Pilot (if importing) and place them in the scrolled list. You can select one or more of these from the list and then click on the Process button. This will determine which XNotes to convert to Memos or which Memos to convert to XNotes.
Note: All sync functions are uni-directional. That means that you are uploading databases to the PDA or downloading it to XNotesPlus, effectively overwriting the existing database on the target. This is not a real sync operation, so don't expect it to behave that way. Just be careful that you're ready to make the change to the target.
The Pilot Addresses feature allows downloading of the Pilot Address database to XNotesPlus or uploading XNotesPlus addresses to the Pilot. The local address data is stored in a file called xnaddresses, generally under the $HOME/.xnotesplus/pilot directory, although this is configurable with command line options, etc.
Pilot Todo List allows downloading Todos from the Pilot or uploading XNotesPlus Todos to the Pilot. The local Todo List data is stored in a file called xntodos, generally under the $HOME/.xnotesplus/pilot directory.
Calendar Sync will upload or download PalmOS calendar appointments between the PDA and the XNotesPlus calendar database. Starting with version 3.6, this process works exactly like all the other Pilot tools.
Pilot Sync will do backups of your Pilot to local directories. There are actually 4 types of backups: Backup, Restore, Sync and Update. Check with the pilot-link software for details to what each of these really does. Generally, you can use the Backup type to make backups and Restore to restore them should your Pilot crash for some reason. Sync will simply update an existing backup so it matches the current Pilot data.
Four other options have been added to Pilot Sync with the 3.5 release: Install, Delete, Fetch and List. Install will load a file from your computer into the Palm Pilot as long as the file is a Pilot compatible format (.e.g. a .prc or .pdb file). Delete removes a file from the Pilot while Fetch retrieves a file to the computer. List will display a complete listing of the files on the Pilot in a non-editable text window. You can cut and paste the names to an XNote to save them.
Two text fields are available under the options menu for Pilot Sync. The first is for specifying a directory name. The second for specifying a filename. Some Pilot Sync features require only one of these, while others require both or even none. The following details the use of these fields:
Backup...
Uses directory field only.
Restore...
Uses directory field only.
Sync...
Uses directory field only.
Update...
Uses directory field only.
Install...
Uses filename field only.
Fetch...
Uses directory and filename fields.
Delete...
Uses filename field only.
List...
Uses neither field.
The file button will open a File Selection window that allows you to specify a directory to use for backups. The default directory (or any directory you select from the File Selection window) is displayed in the text field next to the file button. You can type in any directory you want there as well. If the directory does not exist then it will be created, if possible, before the backup process is started. The Today button will tack on a date string to the directory, allowing you to create dated backups. Additionally, you can remove or rename the directory specified using one of the appropriate buttons (``Remove Dir'' or ``Rename Dir''). When you are ready to start the backup or restore process, click on the Start Transfer button.
Once any communication with the Pilot is about to begin you will be prompted to press the Hot Sync button on the Pilot's cradle. Once the data transfer has started you won't be able to do anything else with XNotesPlus until the transfer completes.
Using the PILOTPORT setting
Before you can even have access to the Pilot Tool you must set the some environment variables:
PILOTPORT
Specifies the serial port to which the Pilot's cradle is connected. For many PC-Unix users (eg Linux, Solairs x86) this will be something like /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS01. If you are using a USB connected device then specify the USB device name, such as /dev/ttyUSB1.
PILOTRATE
You need to also specify the speed at which transfers should be done. Although this isn't really required by the pilot-link software, it helps speed things up. The value you should use is probably 57600, but that may be dependent on your serial ports. It seems to work fine on PCs with 16550 UARTS on the serial ports at least. If you are using a USB device, this value is not used.
The PILOTPORT setting may be changed at run time by using the Edit PILOTPORT button in the Pilot Manager window. This button will open a small dialog in which will be displayed the current value for PILOTPORT. Change the value to any value supported by the pilot-link software. This option is often used by USB connected devices because the port in use might change while XNotesPlus is running.
Changes made in the Edit PILOTPORT window are in effect only while XNotesPlus is running. The changes will not be maintained from one run of XNotesPlus to the next. To make permanent changes, change the PILOTPORT environment variable in your shell "rc" script, such as .bashrc or .cshrc.
