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I used Strip for a while, and it's good, but I switched to Keyring because it has a built-in conduit for Jpilot.

Yes, they have.

I run JPilot to interface with my PDA. It doesn't let me synchronise on USB interfaces without being root, so I changed the source to use an external process to sync.

I can't do this with closed source. If I want to get updates from the project I could get the cvs version and patch that.

I run Jpilot (http://www.jpilot.org/) all the time. It can open popup windows or execute arbitrary commands for events. Plus, it syncs with your (Palm) PDA.

As a previous poster pointed out, pilot-link is how things get done as far as Palm/Linux integration go. Of the GUI front-ends to pilot-link, I have always found JPilot the best. (http://www.jpilot.org/) It even uses GTK2 now.

When they worked at all, I found that both KPilotd and Gnome-pilot/evolution would make duplicate entries and cause some stuff just to disappear. Then there's the fact that, IIRC, Evolution still has no notes function. JPilot is small, fast, simple and just works. You can even use it to sync up with AvantGo with the mal plugin. I even use JPilot without the palm, as it's a nice little PIM program.

And before you ask, there is no working Mozilla/Thunderbird/Sunbird integration that I am aware of. JPilot can integrate with Sylpheed's address book, and I've written scripts to go to and from Thudnerbird, but it's usually a boring, tedious job that I tend not to repeat too often.

I use JPilot with my Sony Clie TJ-37, a great PalmOS device. As a bonus, the drive mounting works quite well with newer 2.6 kernels.

If you're planning to use Ubuntu, check this out too: http://ubuntuguide.org/#configurepalmosdevices

you forgot a link to jpilot: Jpilot.org
Also, worth noting that Jpilot is a virtual clone function for function, of the Palm desktop software.
Truly easy to use, and efficient. The interface is clean too. I like it.

This is terrible. How did this even make it past the /. editors/censors?

My friend, I have one word for you - "google".

Support for PalmOS based units is ROCK SOLID on Linux, especially the USB based units. And it has been for years. I am a PalmPilot user from the 1990s, and while I admit that there were issues in the first few years, today they simply dont exist, not with stuff like Jpilot around. The guys who run the Pilot Link project have been doing fantastic work over the years making sure that things work, and there must be a zillion Linux users out there who benefit daily from their work.

A totally elementary Google search would have brought up EVERYTHING you would need to get things going.

On a tangent - why was this post allowed through in first place? It now sits on the front page of Slashdot, and gives all those guys who never RTFA or read comments more misguidance, leaving them with the impression that what is written in that post is actually true.

And it will poison search engines for a long time, so that anyone who ACTUALLY does a google search before posting gets this post thrown up before any real information.

BAH!

I have been using jPilot for about 5-6 years now with my Palm Vx http://www.jpilot.org/

I can import/export plain text files as text, CSV, or DAT/MPA. No need to copy-paste. This works for the Memopad app in Palm OS. It also works for the Addressbook, Datebook, and TodoList. I can not say enough good things about jPilot... reliable, simple, fast, gets the job done. It is such a good application I would use it as a PIM even if I didn't have the Palm OS device. One can also get plugins for gnu-keyring and email... and a few others I never use.

Only one caveat... jPilot only runs on Linux/Unix. Once the files are imported to the Palm the regualr Windows and Mac OS Palm Desktop apps read them just fine.

I really don't see the problem of the original question. Palm OS does a limited set of things and it does them well. It is basically a way of carrying around a bunch of conveniently searchable and editable databases. I have not found the need for the newer or more featureful apps that are available on Pocket PCs. I also own a Sharp Zaurus 5000 and an HP iPaq. Neither of which comes close to the reliability and utility of my nice little Palm Vx. From my experience all the fancier devices try to squish desktop apps into a palm sized device... none of them do it well.

YMMV

You're second wish is at least partially met by DateBk. It has the added advantage of a linux desktop app that uses the DateBk extensions, J-Pilot

I just bought a Kyocera 7135 because it has recently been made to work with Linux. Though there are still some rough edges with gnome-pilot syncing (with Evolution), I easily got it working with J-Pilot. I like the 7135 because it's a more 'phone like' phone - rather than a PDA with a microphone and antennae :P

The good thing with the Treo is that it's CPU should allow for Vorbis decoding, whereas the 7135 relies on it's built in DSP for the cycles, which only supports MP3.

...But seeing as how I've got a Slackware Linux box on my desk at work, I use the following:

knotes: Short reminders and temporary stuff.

JPilot: Short projects or reminders that are persistent for a month or two. I also use it for its calendar and address book features.

For anything longer, I write out the project description in a document, then draw out a timeline on the chalkboard in my office. If it involves lots of people, I distribute the document to them, and do the diagrams in OpenOffice Draw. And where I work, anything larger than that involves a committee. It's not readily apparent how anything gets accomplished after it goes to committee. ;o)

I would agree, and add that the Palm Pilot itself has proven a wonderfully valuable tool for me. As a full-time software engineer, part-time youth pastor, father of two, member of several committees, I would lose my mind without the ability to track my various to do items (which are usually well over 50).

I use Palm Desktop in w1ndows, and JPilot in Linux. I have found JPilot the most useful analog to Palm Desktop in Linux, as it is the only one I have found to preserve my to-do list categories and priorities (c.f. Evolution). I have a very low-end palm m100, but having uplink cables at home and with my laptop at work, and the optional keyboard has greatly increased my ability to juggle. I regularly take meeting notes with the keyboard, and can shove them right into any application via cut-and-paste. Very handy, and worth the low entry-level cost, especially if you aren't interested in bells, whistles, and convergence

JPilot is an open-source, freeware organizer. You get a calendar, to do list with categories and priorities, address book, dialer, and memo pad. It is designed to sync with Palm devices. However, it can export to other calendar and address book formats (iCalendar, vCard, LDIF).

If you just want a free-as-in-beer organizer, the Palm Desktop is free for personal use on Mac or Windows.

1. Project Sites

   1. gnu-designs, inc.
      Plucker
      Plucker Wiki
      OpenURLs PDA Portal
      pilot-link
      pilot-link Portal
      J-Pilot
      J-Pilot Wiki
      

   HOWTO Documents

   1. Syncronize your PalmOS(R) Handheld with Evolution
      Synchronize your PalmOS(R) Handheld over Bluetooth in Linux
      Syncronizing your PalmOS(R) handheld device over Infrared (IrDA)
      Connecting your PalmOS(R) handheld device to the Internet via PPP
      

1. Project Sites

   1. gnu-designs, inc.
      Plucker
      Plucker Wiki
      OpenURLs PDA Portal
      pilot-link
      pilot-link Portal
      J-Pilot
      J-Pilot Wiki
      

   HOWTO Documents

   1. Syncronize your PalmOS(R) Handheld with Evolution
      Synchronize your PalmOS(R) Handheld over Bluetooth in Linux
      Syncronizing your PalmOS(R) handheld device over Infrared (IrDA)
      Connecting your PalmOS(R) handheld device to the Internet via PPP
      

I've said it before on Slashdot, and I'll say it again: Sharp absolutely, positively needs to have Palm-quality, easily-syncable PIM software on its products before I, a eight-year 100% Linux-at-home user, will buy one to use as my primary PDA. The lack of same is the main reason why I chose to go for a Sony Clie UX50 as my fourth Palm OS PDA in seven years.

My Clie has, thanks to Palm OS's consistent data formats, the entirety of my life for those seven years--college, my first job, and now my second, in two places 2,500 miles apart--within it. I'd have happily migrated the data over to Sharp if the software was equivalent. But it isn't, and so I didn't.

Judd Montgomery has complained on the jpilot (NB - the terrific GPL Palm Desktop replacement I use to sync my PDA with my Linux box) mailing list that he's asked Sharp USA more than once for development units with no success. This is a disgrace.

Hear, hear.

I still use JPilot, even though I use Evolution, because I really want access to my notes.

Evolution developers: please add a "notes" feature to Evolution. Just like on a Palm PDA, the first line of the note should be treated as a title, and there should be a title view for picking a memo. There should be searching within the memo text. The memo feature should use the same character set as the Palm uses so that accents and such display correctly.

P.S. JPilot has plugins, and I'd like to see the same plugins for Evolution. The top one I want to see: Keyring, the password vault.

steveha

• The horrible PIM software. I've used three Palm devices since early 1997, and have been able to easily move my calendar and addressbook data from one device to another. In effect, I have a comprehensive record of my life over the past six years in electronic form. I know I could quite easily beam or otherwise transfer the data to the Zaurus, but what good would it do if the PIM software is too clunky to do anything useful? [1]
  
• Lack of Sharp support outside Japan. I don't mean in terms of warranty per se. I mean in terms of things like the non-release of the C700/C750/C760 outside Japan, the recent discontinuation of all Zaurus sales in Europe, rumors that "only three" Sharp US employees are now working on the Zaurus, etc.
  
• Size. I know the C760 is just a little larger than my Sony Clie N610C, but even a little bit makes a big difference when you're talking about your pants pockets.
  

This isn't needed anymore.

Actually, this has absolutely nothing to do with pilot-link. It has to do with the way USB on any hardware is handled. You have to make the physical electrical connection between Palm handheld and Cradle before the hardware (your computer) can see the device, map a driver against the device, and allow you to communicate across it.

That being said, the pilot-link maintainer (hey, that's me!) has fixed this in a pseudo-fashion by adding a sleep() loop in the latest CVS code that I can see, which means you can launch pilot-link first, or hit the HotSync button on your Palm/Cradle first, and it will "Just Work".

KDE's Kpilot works like this, Gnome has a similar application too.

Both of these tools, built on top of the libraries provided by pilot-link, provide their own daemon process; kpilotDaemon from KPilot in KDE-land, and gnome-pilot (gpilotd) in GNOME-land, which polls for device creation in /proc, and binds accordingly.

Other than being built upon pilot-link, these applications have nothing whatsoever to do with the pilot-link codebase. This means, for those who don't run GNOME or KDE (a growing percentage from what I understand), this is not an option, so they use pilot-link and J-Pilot (also built upon libraries provided by pilot-link).

Hi,

Did you miss the one application does one thing well paradigm?

>Pine can't hold my calendar and sync with my palm, and itegrate all that with my e-mail.

That's because Pine is an email program. It isn't a virtual operating system like Emacs, nor is it sucking at the teat of an operating system like Outlook.

If I want to backup my palm (which I just got for $39 CDN -- WOW), I'll soon be using coldsync because programs that do just one thing well make sense to me.

And, when I want to use a calendar, I'm certainly not going to use an email client. That'd be like going around the world by making bridges across the continents. I'll be using something like this.

When I need to syncronize my mail, I'll use this.

If I really want everyone scrunched into one application, I'll use this.

I haven't even scratched the surface of available applications yet...

You windows people amuse me.

In the future, you might want to search freshmeat before you assume windows does it best.

I cant sync it with my linux box

Yes you can: use jpilot. KDE's PIM supposedly syncs with Palm devices, too, though I haven't tried it out yet.

it uses old mcore like cpu (non arm/mips)

And it still feels faster than comparable units running other OSes and faster chips. Amazing what quality programming can do, huh?

Sure, it won't play my MP3s. That bums me out. And I wish it had the resolution of Sony's units. But the cost difference between implementing those features is substantial enough, and the Treo is already expensive enough, that I'll be happy to forego those advantages when the CDMA version of the Treo ships.

Yes, I am afraid this is one arena where PDA manufacturers seem to think they just can't make money - the ultra low-end. Quite frankly, they are right. The profit margins are too low and the service costs too high.

For example, I was having some syncronization problems with my Visor (it turned out to be Windows...I am now happily syncing with J-Pilot under Linux). Anyway, they shipped me a replacement unit (I figured I'd make sure it wasn't hardware) and I received it 18 hours later! (it was shipped airborne express). It also included a free Airborne Express slip to ship the unit back - no cost and very little hassle to me.

Now, they can handle that sort of service if they make a decent amount from each unit - enough to cover the costs of replacement shippings, etc. When you get sub-$100, the profits are just so small that it isn't really affordable.

Handspring, up until this week, was selling its 2 mb Visor Solo for $129, and refurbished Visor Deluxe's for somewhere around that same price. Granted, it's $50 more than the $80 you are looking for, but that's what they were getting for the 2 meg model (it was recently reduced in price). If you're still interested in buying a 2 meg model I suggest you try e-mailing them or calling them to see if they have any left. Free shipping, pretty nice.

Of course, retail outlets like Office Max seem to be selling cheap(er) PDAs, and you can always find a wide selection of them on Ebay. Sometimes Palm sells refurbished units of its own, but last I checked (about a month ago) they were all out.

If you are a geek who loves lots of fun software I think you'll quickly fill up your 2 megs and wish you had saved up some more. I recommend stashing away some cash and going for an 8 meg model. I actually took the 30 day money-back guarantee from Handspring for my Visor Deluxe and got the Platinum 'cause I liked the new Palm OS 3.5.2 and the faster processor. You'll probably use your PDA more than you think, but there are a few people for whom it just doesn't sit right.

Anyway, good luck.

I use a Kyocera Smartphone combination cell phone and palm pilot, and love it. I only carry one device instead of two, and can use all of the Palm tools (e.g. jpilot and the like) to edit the data for both the phone and the palm.