Month: March 2008

Hotsync Palm Centro on Ubuntu Gutsy

Here’s a brief howto on setting up a Palm Centro to work on Ubunty 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon”.

ALL THIS CRAP DOESN’T MATTER. IT’S WRONG, AND ACTUALLY GETS IN YOUR WAY IF YOU USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN JPILOT. To get your pilot-link, jpilot, kpilot, or whatever stuff working, just point the source to “usb:” rather than /dev/pilot or whatever. Doing “usb:” works perfectly on everything the first time, and no hours of mucking around is necessary. So on Ubuntu: plug it in. Make sure it’s looking at your “usb:” port and not /dev/pilot. Press hotsync. Enjoy.

Here’s a brief howto on setting up a Palm Centro to work on Ubunty 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon”.

ALL THIS CRAP DOESN’T MATTER. IT’S WRONG, AND ACTUALLY GETS IN YOUR WAY IF YOU USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN JPILOT. To get your pilot-link, jpilot, kpilot, or whatever stuff working, just point the source to “usb:” rather than /dev/pilot or whatever. Doing “usb:” works perfectly on everything the first time, and no hours of mucking around is necessary. So on Ubuntu: plug it in. Make sure it’s looking at your “usb:” port and not /dev/pilot. Press hotsync. Enjoy. That’s what I get for being an old-school UNIX geek. I thought this was supposed to be difficult.

  1. Disconnect your Palm Centro from the computer if it is already connected.
  2. Open a terminal window.
  3. In that terminal window, type “sudo bash”. We’re becoming the root user for the rest of this session.
  4. Type “cd /etc/udev/rules.d”
  5. Open the file “60-symlinks.rules” in your favorite text editor (default, I think, is pico on ubuntu, which works fine).
  6. Comment out — that is, put the # character at the start of the line — the following lines: 
     KERNEL=="ttyUSB*", ATTRS{product}=="Palm Handheld*|Handspring *|palmOne Handheld", \ SYMLINK+="pilot"

    That section should now look like this: 

    # KERNEL=="ttyUSB*", ATTRS{product}=="Palm Handheld*|Handspring *|palmOne Handheld", \ # SYMLINK+="pilot"
  7. Save and close the file.
  8. Edit the existing version of, or create a new file named “10-custom.rules”
  9. In that file, include these two lines (it’s actually one line, separated by the “\” character, but I did it so it’s easy to copy and paste): 
    BUS=="usb", SYSFS{product}=="*[vVisor]*", KERNEL=="ttyUSB[13579]", NAME="pilot",\ GROUP="dialout", MODE="0660"
  10. Save and close the file.
  11. Now edit /etc/modules, and add the word “visor” to the last line of the file.
  12. Type “modprobe visor” (or reboot and skip the next step, too…).
  13. Type “/etc/init.d/udev restart”.
  14. Fire up your Pilot sync application (I use jpilot), re-attach your Centro, press Hotsync on the Centro and you’re off!

Of course, I had to press the hotsync button in Jpilot after pressing the hotsync button on the Centro cable. But it backed up all my important info, which is what I was looking for!

Additional note: you may have some issues using jpilot if you try to point to /dev/pilot or /dev/ttyUSB* for your input port. If you go to File – Preferences and modify “Settings” to “usb:” (no quotes), it will see the connection very consistently and run very quickly.

Additional update: Apparently, all my hijinks above are completely unnecessary if you just do the last bit: change your connection setting in jpilot to “usb:”… it works out of the box!

The Sprint Store

I walked into the Sprint store in West Valley City and stood around, looking interested in various phones for a few minutes while I waited for a salesperson to take notice of me. They were all very busy: one was talking on her mobile phone, two were behind the counter obviously helping customers on the other side, and a fourth was busy trying to silence the “someone tried to steal a phone!” alarm spewing from one of the aisles. Eventually, Alarm-Guy turned the ear-piercing shriek off and asked how he could help me.

I walked into the Sprint store in West Valley City and stood around, looking interested in various phones for a few minutes while I waited for a salesperson to take notice of me. They were all very busy: one was talking on her mobile phone, two were behind the counter obviously helping customers on the other side, and a fourth was busy trying to silence the “someone tried to steal a phone!” alarm spewing from one of the aisles. Eventually, Alarm-Guy turned the ear-piercing shriek off and asked how he could help me.

“The two-year contract on my PPC6700 expired yesterday. I would like to buy a new phone. I want a Palm Centro, in red, and I want to pay $99 for it.”

“I can help you with that, let’s go over to the counter.”

<walk walk walk>

“What’s your phone number?” says he.

I give it to him. At that moment, I get a text message from a friend. I read, reply, and return to the conversation. Apparently, Alarm-Guy — who’s name was Ed — is used to such interruptions.

Ed types in a bunch of stuff on a little terminal. He goes to the back room. He retrieves a box, pulls a phone out of it, pops in the battery, and begins configuring it.

“Would you rather pay today, or have the charge appear on your bill?”

I reply, “I’d rather be billed.”

“OK, sign on the pen screen to agree to a new two-year contract.”

“What’s the charge to break the contract?” I asked.

“$200.”

“Sold.”

I decided to read the contract. Five scrolling pages later, Ed helpfully informs me that I need to press “Finish” in order to sign the contract. I knew that, but I like to read what I’m agreeing to. Five more scrolling pages later, after reading something regarding goat’s blood and my first-born child, I decide to forgo reading the rest of the extremely lengthy contract and sign.

Ed prints out a very, very long receipt. “Sign this and we’ll bill you.”

I sign. He hands me a receipt, a box, and a beautiful red Palm Centro phone. “Have a nice day and enjoy your new phone!”

I pause. He looks at me quizzically, eager to serve the next customer. “Ed, was it just me, or did we just go this entire transaction without you ever asking me for any form of identification? I mean, I just walked in, gave you the phone number, signed a couple things, and am walking out with a new phone, and am getting a bill for it.”

Ed blanched. “I asked you for your password, didn’t I?”

I shook my head.

“No, no, I didn’t,” he continued, “you got a message on your phone right as I was going to ask for it. Sorry about that.”

Now, people give off subtle visual cues. I’ve noticed that people tend to just trust me anyway, even though I’m lazy, irresponsible, and should never be trusted with the keys to your new car. I guess I give off the “nice guy, trust him” vibe or something. In fact, leaving that same Sprint store, another salesperson asked if I was some truck driver that she knew who wanted a new phone. I had to politely reply that I wasn’t.

I left the store a little disturbed, though. If someone equally as trustworthy-looking walked into a Sprint store, could they walk out with a free phone on my tab?

Who says Shakespeare is dead?

…his works live on in Burger King…

Who knew I would have found enlightenment in a fast-food joint on the way to work?

(Yes, I was running very late today, I’m usually in around 7AM…)

…his works live on in Burger King…

Who knew I would have found enlightenment in a fast-food joint on the way to work?

(Yes, I was running very late today, I’m usually in around 7AM…)

Good USB or Firewire MIDI interfaces?

Apparently, Sammy G and I have a problem. Our MIDI interfaces have not lived up to our new computing rigs. My M-Audio Firewire Audiophile has simply fallen over, giving me the old snap-crackle-pop and hung notes within seconds of use, while Sammy’s Midiman 1×1 isn’t working right either.

Apparently, Sammy G and I have a problem. Our MIDI interfaces have not lived up to our new computing rigs. My M-Audio Firewire Audiophile has simply fallen over, giving me the old snap-crackle-pop and hung notes within seconds of use, while Sammy’s Midiman 1×1 isn’t working right either.

Anybody have an outboard (meaning: not a PCI/PCI-E card) MIDI interface that’s really doing the job for them with Windows XP or Vista right now?

I’ve been hitting forums trying to figure out a solution to my Audiophile breakage, and although there have been a lot of suggestions I haven’t found a magic bullet yet. Was hoping some of us have played in that realm a bit and could make a suggestion.