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FAQ
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Q: My Palm got reset, and when I synched with ColdSync, all my stuff got
deleted! Help!
A: First of all, don't panic. This is the so-called Bargle Bug.
1) Make a backup of your .palm directory:
cp -rp .palm .palm.backup
This isn't required, but is prudent in case you mess up your .palm
directory.
2) Make a restore directory, say
mkdir /tmp/restore
3) Copy your applications (.prc files) to the restore directory.
They should be in ~/.palm/backup/Attic .
4) All of the contents of your record databases (.pdb files) should
be in the archive files in ~/.palm/archive . These files are in archive
format, not .pdb format. Convert them to .pdb format using the
`archive2pdb' tool, available at
http://www.ooblick.com/software/coldsync/archive2pdb
Note that `archive2pdb' is very rough and unfinished, which is why it
isn't part of the standard distribution. It will copy all of the records
in the archive file to the .pdb file, including all of the stuff that
you deleted months ago, which means that you'll have to delete it all
over again.
5) Restore your .pdb and .prc files to the Palm:
coldsync -r /tmp/restore
6) Clean up. Delete (on the Palm) all of the old stuff that you
didn't mean to re-upload. All of your application categories will have
been lost as well, so you'll need to recreate them again.
Q: ColdSync seems to start okay, but then fails with "ACK timeout".
A: Most likely, your Palm is running PalmOS 3.5 or later, and has a
password set. Try unsetting the password.
Early versions of PalmOS trusted the desktop implicitly. As of
version 3.5, however, this is no longer the case: it expects the desktop
to know the password on the Palm. I haven't sussed out yet how the
desktop is supposed to tell this to the Palm, so ColdSync fails with
password-protected Palms.
Q: Are these *really* frequently-asked questions?
A: No. ColdSync really doesn't have enough of a following for any questions
to have been asked often enough to become tedious. But if I had called
this the "AQ", people wouldn't find it.
Q: Have all of these questions really been asked?
A: No. Some of the questions in this list have been added to prevent their
being asked. But if I had called this the "Q", people wouldn't find it.
Q: Is ColdSync better than pilot-link?
A: Well, *I* think so, otherwise I wouldn't have written it.
Seriously: technically, pilot-link is mainly a library of
functions for talking to Palm devices. ColdSync includes such a library
as well. I think that the ColdSync library is better-written, in the
sense of being more readable (and hence more easily maintained), better
documented, and more robust.
The ColdSync library is not compatible with pilot-link, nor was it
ever intended to be. At the same time, they are designed for similar
purposes, and so share some similarities. It should be possible to port
an application like KPilot to the ColdSync library without superhuman
effort.
ColdSync the application... that's a matter of taste. Most of the
syncing applications out there seem to be clones of existing
Windows-based applications; they require you to be logged in, and to
have X running.
That wasn't what I wanted. I wanted something more Unix-y. When it
grows up, ColdSync will be a daemon started at boot time that you'll
never need to interact with directly.
If that's not what you're looking for, well, there are plenty of
other applications out there. Take your pick or write your own.
Q: Does ColdSync do X?
A: Depends on the value of X.
Q: Why doesn't ColdSync do X?
A: Depending on the value of X, there are three possible answers:
1) I haven't had time to add it yet, and nobody's volunteered.
2) I've considered it and rejected it.
3) I haven't thought of it.
Q: I've set "speed 9600;" and now all I get is timeouts.
A: This is a known, if not understood problem.
The immediate problem is that the Palm isn't transmitting at the
speed that ColdSync expects. Why this is so I don't know, since ColdSync
is supposed to dictate connection speed to the Palm.
Under PalmOS 3.3, you can set the connection speed under
HotSync -> Connection Setup -> Direct Serial -> Edit -> Details -> Speed
Under earlier versions, you can play with
HotSync -> Modem Setup -> Speed
Q: Why the Artistic license? Why not the GPL?
A: Philosophical answer: because I want ColdSync to be
freely-distributable, without the limitations that the GPL imposes. I
believe that all software, free or otherwise, should stand or fall on
its own merits, and not because it matches someone's agenda.
Real answer: because I don't really care that much. What I'd really
like to say is "Do what you like with this. Just give credit where
credit is due." ColdSync is not commercial because, quite frankly, I
have neither the time nor the inclination to run a business.
I also wanted to use a "canned" license, one that many eyeballs
have debugged. The Artistic license was closest to what I was looking
for.
Q: I added a new ToDo/Memo/whatever category on the Palm, and it hasn't
shown up on the desktop.
A: Yup. This is an unsolved problem.
Categories are stored in a database's AppInfo block. The AppInfo
block can't be synced the same way as the data records. The Palm doesn't
report when the AppInfo block has changed, the way it does for data
records. There doesn't seem to be a good way to synchronize the AppInfo
block without risking losing information.
Q: Why doesn't ColdSync synchronize my preferences?
A: Preferences, such as your e-mail signature, your preferred time and date
format, and so on, are kept in .prc files. .prc files do not lend
themselves to syncing, for many of the same reasons as the AppInfo
block: they don't have flags indicating whether they've changed since
the last sync, and you can't have more than one copy of each one.
Q: Does ColdSync work with the Handspring Visor?
A: Yes.
Under FreeBSD 4.x, use
listen usb {
device: /dev/ugen0;
}
in your .coldsyncrc . If you want to run ColdSync from usbd, use the
following /etc/usbd.conf entry:
device "Handspring Visor"
vendor 0x082d
product 0x0100
release 0x0100
attach "/usr/local/bin/coldsync -s -md -t usb ${DEVNAME}"
Linux users can follow the instructions at
http://usbvisor.sourceforge.net/Handspring-Visor-mini-HOWTO
Then sync with /dev/ttyUSB1. In the .coldsyncrc, use "listen serial",
since ColdSync won't be accessing the USB port directly.
(Thanks to alert readers Shawn Sorichetti <[email protected]> and
Gaspar Chilingarov <[email protected]> for this information.)
Q: Does ColdSync work with the Sony Clie?
A: Yes. See http://kreucher.user.msu.edu/clie/
Q: Does ColdSync work with the Palm M50x series?
A: Yes, though USB support is still very incomplete. Under Linux, you can
sync over USB; under other OSes, you'll need to use a serial cradle.
Syncing over USB involves a somewhat different set of protocols
from serial syncing. Palm has not published documentation on either set
of protocols, so this may never work properly.
Q: Does ColdSync support syncing via the infrared port?
A: Not directly, but yes.
You need to install an IrCOMM handler, which will make your IR port
behave like an RS-232 serial port. As far as I know, the only OS with a
working IrCOMM implementation is Linux.
Several people have reported being able to sync over IR, though I
have so far been unable to duplicate their success. You should probably
start with the IR-HOWTO that comes with the Redhat distribution.
Q: ColdSync doesn't detect my Visor's serial number correctly.
A: As far as I've been able to determine, the Handspring Visor does not
allow one to get at the serial number in software.
The Visor appears to support reading ROM tokens, which is the way
one reads the serial number in software. It even appears to have an
"snum" ROM token. However, the contents of this token are not a
12-character string, but a set of 12 0xff bytes.
Q: I initialized my Visor the way ColdSync said, and now it won't sync!
A: If it told you to set the serial number with
pda {
snum: "*Visor*-G";
}
take out the "-G". This is due to a bug.
Q: How can I find out the user name and user ID on my Palm, in order to set
up my .coldsyncrc correctly?
A: Two ways: the simplest is to run
coldsync -mI
If the username and userid don't match what's in your .coldsyncrc, it
will suggest a palm{} block to add to your .coldsyncrc.
A more direct way, however, is to write
<Shortcut> . 4
on your Palm. The username and userid will be displayed on the screen.
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