Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Adriaan de Groot
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
KPilot 4.3.0 is the KDE version of the Desktop HotSync® software for the 3Com® PalmPilot™ and similar products.
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Using KPilot
- 3. FAQ
- 4. Credits and License
Introduction
KPilot 4.3.0 is the latest version of the Desktop HotSync® software for UNIX®. After several releases and many contributions from users KPilot, along with KOrganizer, has evolved into a rather complete replacement for the Windows® Desktop provided by 3Com®. KPilot offers a few internal tools for viewing and manipulating data, and a convenient API for developing ways of sharing data with other applications. KPilot supports the 3Com® PalmPilot™ and similar devices, like the Handspring™ Visor™.
There is a web page for KPilot: the Official KPilot Home Page . The KDE-PIM website also offers useful information on the subject of PIM in general. KPilot shares the kde-pim mailing list, <kde-pim@kde.org>. See the mailing lists page for more information on subscribing and unsubscribing from the list.
A word about version numbers: KPilot 3.x versions are for KDE 1. With the release of KDE 2 KPilot 3.x is obsolete and KPilot 4.x has become current.
Warning
This document still reflects KPilot version 4.2.2. The descriptions may be inaccurate and the screenshots misleading. Updated documentation will be released after the KDE 3.0 release.
New in 4.3.0 - a new architecture, USB support, and possibly a VCal (KOrganizer) conduit that isn't dead slow.
New in 4.2.2 - (There were versions 4.1.x and 4.2.1 for KDE 2, but we never updated the documentation to reflect this. These revision notes apply to the change between KPilot 4.0.0 and 4.2.2.) Many compilation and portability fixes were applied. Those changes do not affect the visible appearance of KPilot. What has changed is the GUI. We now use the KDE 2 XML GUI. This means that menu names have changed again but we feel it should be obvious where things have ended up. This has the advantage that you can now easily customize the toolbar and that the KPilot user interface behaves more like the rest of KDE 2. Tool tips (also called balloon help) have finally been added.
There are two new external conduits: one for KAddressBook (and hence kab, the KDE 2 address book) and one for the expenses application on the PalmPilot™.
What's missing: The expense conduit is rather experimental as of may 2001, but should improve vastly before the KDE 2.2 final release. The FastSync vs. HotSync is not fully functional yet. There have also been problems reported with the KNotes conduit.
New in 4.0.0 - KPilot is now a KDE 2 application. A lot of work has gone into making the main KPilot application compatible with the new KDE 2 standards. The stability of the program as a whole has improved as well, with lots of bugfixes under the hood. The most important visible new features are:
There is a new KNotes conduit that synchronizes the memo pad with KNotes.
More intuitive conduit installation and setup.
The documentation has been brought mostly up-to-date.
New in 3.2.1 - more bugfixes. KPilot 3.2.1 is also the last version of KPilot for KDE 1. Development on the 3.x series has stopped.
New in 3.2.0 - KPilot has been polished sufficiently for a new public release. The infamous application-category bug has been squashed along with other bugs.
New in 3.1.14 - New configuration options Backup Only: and Skip have been added to avoid database corruption for some Handbase databases — and possibly other products as well. The documentation for KPilot — in english only — has been vastly expanded.
New in 3.1.13 - You can now HotSync - experimentally - with UNIX® style mailboxes. The popmail conduit will read a standard mailbox and copy it to the PalmPilot™. The GUI has been improved and some issues with various OS distributions have been dealt with. See the buglist for more information.
New in 3.1.12 - This release of KPilot has only been tested with KDE 1.0, 1.1 and 1.1.1. Previous versions of KDE are no longer supported. KPilot 3.1.12 has a number of new features compared to 3.1b9. It also includes a large number of bug fixes.
The most important new features are:
Now supports debugging output, just start KPilot by hand from the command line with kpilot --debug 1023 and you will get loads of debugging output. Useful for reporting bugs. See the FAQ for information on the parameter to --debug.
Addresses can be sorted by company, name or by lastname, firstname.
A new (demonstration) conduit has been added that does nothing. For programmers, mostly.
The GUI has been cleaned up.
The most important bugs that have been fixed are:
SMTP support
Daemon startup
Note that the debugging code hasn't spread to the whole of KPilot yet. The daemon and conduits do have some debugging output, which may also be useful if KPilot doesn't work perfectly on your system.
New in 3.1.9 - This is the fourth release of KPilot. The major change in this release is conduit support. There are currently two included conduits, a KOrganizer conduit (vcal syncing) and a PopMail conduit (this fixes the email bug with KPilot 2.1). Also fixed in this release is the Address/Memo “off by one” bug. This release requires KDE Beta 4 or better.
Using KPilot
Once KPilot is installed it needs to be configured to match your hardware. The conduits need to be configured as well. After that you can use KPilot to synchronise your PalmPilot™ with your KDE desktop or view data from your PalmPilot™ with the builtin applications.
Once KPilot is installed it is easy to set up. Run KPilot from either the panel menu or from the command prompt and it will prompt you with a dialog box asking you to configure it for the first time. This configuration dialog can be requested later from the Settings->Configure KPilot menu or by starting KPilot from the shell as follows:
$ kpilot --setupIn addition, if you upgrade KPilot and some new configuration options require your attention, this setup dialog will reappear.
A full description of the setup dialog can be found below.
Once
KPilot is properly set up, pressing OK
will bring up the
main KPilot window.
The first thing you should do is
make a full backup
of the PalmPilot™.
Do this by selecting
File->Backup
or the toolbar icon
Full Backup
.
When you do,
the status bar will ask you to press the HotSync® button on the
cradle.
Assuming everything is set up properly you should see the
PalmPilot™ begin to sync and a message box telling you what databases are
being backed up. This will back up your entire PalmPilot™ into your local
directory.
Note that this may take a little while, however a normal
HotSync® operation is significantly faster.
This is a setup page that contains options describing the PalmPilot™ hardware, you, the user and how you want the various parts of KPilot to be started.
The General setup page
- Pilot Device
This is the serial port that the cradle is connected to. By default it is set to /dev/pilot which should be a symbolic link to the proper serial port. Make sure the serial port has the correct permissions. It must be read/write by all if KPilot is intended to be used by a normal user! This is done by doing a chmod 666 device where device is the correct serial port. See also the FAQ for more information about setting up the PalmPilot™ device. Handspring™ Visor™ / USB cradle users see the FAQ as well!
- Speed
This indicates the speed of the serial connection to the PalmPilot™. For an older model PalmPilot™, choose 9600. Newer models may be able to handle speeds up to the maximum listed, 115200. You can experiment with the connection speed: the PalmPilot™ manual suggests starting at a speed of 19200 and trying faster speeds to see if they work.
- Pilot User
This is the user name of the PalmPilot™. By default this name is the same as your log on name. When you first sync with the PalmPilot™ KPilot will check to see if this name matches the one on the PalmPilot™. If they do not, you are asked to pick which you will use. If you pick the local name, the PalmPilot™ will be changed to match. This is also used to store the information synced from the PalmPilot™. For example, if I were to HotSync my PalmPilot™ on your machine, it would store the data into a subdirectory named pilone.
- Start HotSync Daemon at login
By enabling this a link to the daemon is placed in your autostart folder and will be started automatically. Note that this is not normally needed if the daemon is docked in the panel.
- Start KPilot at HotSync
When the HotSync® button is pressed on the cradle (assuming the daemon is running) KPilot can sync without actually starting up the GUI. However, by enabling this option the daemon will start up the KPilot GUI when the HotSync® operation begins.
- Show Daemon in Kicker
This option lets the daemon place a little HotSync icon HotSync icon
.
in
the Kicker system tray.
This icon has a menu that can be brought up with
the right mouse button, for performing a HotSync® and the like.
Without this option, the daemon is not visible to the user at all.
- Stop Daemon on exit
Setting this option will cause the daemon to exit when you quit KPilot, leaving the serial port free for other PalmPilot™-syncing tools such as malsync
For a fully visible KPilot installation, enable Start KPilot at HotSync and Show Daemon in Kicker while disabling Stop Daemon on exit. To make KPilot all but invisible, disable all the options except Stop Daemon on exit.
The address page contains settings specific to the built in address book viewer. Note that this address book has nothing directly to do with the KDE address book, your email address book, or anything else. Connections with those address books could be provided by conduits. The kaddressbook conduit can sync your PalmPilot™ with the KDE address book.
The Address setup page
- Import Format, Export Format
KPilot can import and export the address database to or from a text file. These two fields determine the format the file is written in (for export) or must have (for import). You can list the fields of the address book, separated by commas. The names of fields are described below.
Tip
Noone really uses the CSV import and export for the address book, so leave it alone.
- Address display
This set of radio buttons determines how addresses are displayed and sorted in the address book. This is similar to the setting in the PalmPilot™ itself where addresses can be sorted based on company or on last name.
Both the import and the export format are lists of field specifiers separated by some delimiter (usually a comma). Note that all fields must be separated by the same delimiter. For import formats: Field specifiers are three-character strings that begin with a %. Field specifiers %CC are used to indicate that in the imported data the data for the corresponding field is to be found there (as a string that does not contain the delimiter character). The following field specifiers are supported:
This page contains settings specific to the PalmPilot™ databases KPilot works with.
The DB Setup page
- Show Secrets
In your PalmPilot™ you can mark some records as “private”. By default, KPilot does not display these records on the screen. If you want to see them, turn this option on.
- Backup only:
This text field can be used to list databases that should not be synced, only backed up. Note that you have to fill in the database creator, not the name of the product, so for Handbase databases you fill in PmDB. Multiple databases should be separated by commas. See the FAQ for a list of databases that should be listed here (the default should be OK though).
- Skip
This text field lists databases that should not be backed up nor synced, in the same format as the backup only field.
Warning
Changing the contents of the Backup Only: or Skip fields, in particular removing the databases already listed there, can damage those databases when you perform a HotSync®.
The sync page contains preferences relevant to the HotSync® operation on your PalmPilot™.
The Sync page
- Sync Files
When this is enabled any files dropped into the file install (either the icon docked on the panel or into the file installer in KPilot) will be installed on the PalmPilot™ during the next HotSync.
- Local overrides Pilot
When a record has been modified on both the PalmPilot™ and the local side, only one can be kept. By default KPilot assumes the PalmPilot™ has the most recent information and will keep that. By enabling this option KPilot assumes it has the most recent information and will overwrite the PalmPilot™'s copy.
- Force first-time sync every time
Under some circumstances — you have many PCs and many PalmPilot™s — you may want to perform a "cleaner" HotSync every time instead of the "quick-and-dirty" HotSync that KPilot does if you just have one PalmPilot™ and one PC. Just when you want to enable this option is a matter of personal preference.
- Do full backup when changing PCs
If you have more than one PC and synchronise your PalmPilot™ with each of them you may want to disable this option. When you change PCs it is a good idea to perform a full backup, since otherwise your KDE desktop will not reflect the state of your PalmPilot™ accurately. (This is a limitation of the PalmPilot™ itself.) On the other hand, performing a full backup can be time-consuming and annoying, which is why you can disable such a backup here.
- Prefer FastSync to HotSync
While a HotSync is faster than a full backup, a FastSync is faster still than a HotSync and synchronises only those databases that have conduits. This means that any database without a conduit is not backed up and not synchronised. This also means that if something goes wrong with your PalmPilot™, you may not be able to recover databases with no conduit. This is a classic trade-off between speed and safety.
Main Window
The main window in KPilot just contains the KPilot logo. You can switch to one of the builtin applications by using the View menu.
The Main Window
The main window contains the application menu, which we will deal with here.
- File->HotSync
Starts a HotSync®. You should press the HotSync button on your PalmPilot™'s cradle.
Note
It is not possible to cancel a HotSync® once the request has been made.
- File->FastSync
(not available with all installations) Starts a FastSync in the same way that a HotSync® is started.
- File->Backup
Performs a full backup of your PalmPilot™. This is like a HotSync®, but can take several minutes.
Tip
The first thing you should do after starting KPilot for the first time is make a full backup.
- File->Restore
This copies all the data on your PC to your PalmPilot™, replacing whatever data was there. Use this if your PalmPilot™ suffers some catastrophe (or is replaced by a new one).
Warning
Doing a restore will erase all data on the PalmPilot™ before restoring the information from your PC!
- File->Quit
Quits KPilot, closing the main window and stopping the daemon if that configuration option is enabled.
The View menu allows you to choose a database viewer or KPilot's main page.
- View->KPilot
Displays the KPilot logo page. This puts KPilot in the state shown in the picture above.
- View->Memo Viewer
Displays the internal memo viewer. See below for more information on the memo viewer.
- View->Address Viewer
Displays the internal address book viewer. You can view and edit addresses with the address book viewer. See below for more information.
- View->File Installer
Displays the file installer. You can drag files onto the file installer to install them on your PalmPilot™. See below for more information.
Builtin Applications
The builtin applications can be selected : by selecting the application from the Conduits menu, for example Conduits->Memo.
Selecting one of the builtin applications will cause that application to appear in KPilot's main window. Any changes you make to the PalmPilot™ databases with the builtin applications (such as deleting a memo) do not take effect on the PalmPilot™ until the next HotSync.
The memo application allows you to view the memos on your PalmPilot™, export them to text files, import new ones to be installed the next time you HotSync®, or edit existing ones.
The Memo Application
The memo application has a drop-down box for the memo categories defined in the PalmPilot™. Here category "All" is selected. Underneath the drop-down box is a list of memo titles. These are the first lines of the memos, just like in the PalmPilot™ memo application. Clicking on one of the memo titles in the list box will display it in the text box labelled Memo Text: to the right.
When a memo is selected you can use the buttons Export Memo and Delete Memo to export the selected memo to a file or to delete the selected memo. Exporting a memo requires you to give a filename; the memo is written to that file. Take care not to overwrite existing files with this action. Deleting a memo does not affect the PalmPilot™ until the next HotSync®.
The Import Memo button allows you to read a text file and add it — as a memo — to the PalmPilot™. Importing a memo does not take effect until the next HotSync®. Note that if you import a memo and decide that you do not want to have it on the PalmPilot™ you must perform a HotSync® (copying the memo to the PalmPilot™) and then delete the memo from the PalmPilot™. It is not possible to delete newly-added memos from the builtin memo application.
The address viewer lets you view, import, export and edit addresses to and from the PalmPilot™. The import and export format is configurable via the settings dialog. Note that the first field in the import format is used as the Key Field. That is, if Use Key Field is turned on in the settings dialog, when importing if KPilot sees another record with a matching Key Field the existing record is updated to reflect the new data being read in. If no such record exists, a new record is created. The default is not to use the Key Field, so every record read in from the import file is created and added to the database.
The Address Application
The address application resembles the memo application; the drop-down box, list and text area function exactly the same, allowing you to select and view an address as on the PalmPilot™.
You can use the buttons to enter new records into the address book, delete addresses or changes addresses. The button Import List lets you read a text file containing records in comma-separated-value format (with the fields in the particular order described by the Address Import setting) and add those records to the address book. The Export List writes all the addresses in the address book to a file in the format given by the Address Export setting.
The file installer supports dragging and dropping of files into the file list area or just hit the Add File button to add a file if you are not. These files will be installed on your PalmPilot™ during the next HotSync® if Sync Files is checked in the settings dialog. If you choose not to install the files on the PalmPilot™, just hit Clear List to remove any pending files.
Tip
An internal copy of the file is kept, so you can even drag and drop URLs from Konqueror!
Also, if you are using the HotSync® Daemon you may drag and drop files or URLs onto the docked icon on the tool bar. Provided Sync Files is checked in the settings dialog they will be installed the next time you HotSync.
The File Installer
Conduits
Conduits can be external programs, written by third parties, to interface your PalmPilot™ to any application imaginable.
Conduits can be set up by selecting Settings->Configure Conduits. This allows you to select which conduits to run during a HotSync® and to configure those conduits. A window similar to the following will be displayed:
The Conduit Setup Dialog
This conduit allows you to send and receive email. The configuration of the Mail Conduit is fairly complex.
The Mail Conduit Conduit Setup Dialog
Choosing the Send Method
Depending on which send method you choose, different fields will be activated in the remainder of the tab, allowing you to enter the necessary information.
General mail configuration: who are you?
Your email address can be entered in the Email Address field. This is the email address that goes in the “From:” line in outgoing mail. If you enter a file name in the Signature File field then that file will be appended to each outgoing mail as a signature.
sendmail® configuration
The configuration of the sendmail® method of sending is fairly straightforward. Check the path to your installation of sendmail®, for example by typing which sendmail in a Konsole window. The options to sendmail® should not need to be changed, but you can if you like.
Warning
sendmail® is not provided with destination addresses on the command line, so you must specify the -t. If you are using a non-sendmail® MTA like Postfix then the equivalent ‘extract recipients from message headers’ option must be given.
SMTP setup
To use SMTP sending you need to specify the name of the machine which runs your SMTP server, and the port number to connect to. The default port number of 25 is almost always correct.
Note
KPilot does not use the SMTP configuration of the SMTP IOSlave. This may change in a future version of KPilot.
KMail sending
When sending mail through KMail, KPilot automatically places it in your KMail outbox. KMail saves mail in the outbox until you request that those pieces of mail are really sent. Check the Send mail through KMail immediately to let the Mail Conduit tell KMail to send all mail from the outbox as soon as it it done HotSyncing. This has the side effect of also sending any other pieces of mail that may be in your outbox.
This conduit will synchronize your PalmPilot™ with KOrganizer. The conduit needs two pieces of information: the filename of the calendar file (this will usually be a file that ends in .vcs under .kde/share/apps/korganizer/ under your home directory) and whether or not to ask before changing data in that calendar file.
Calendar Conduit Setup
You can usually leave Prompt before changing data off.
This conduit synchronizes with KOrganizer's todo list. The configuration dialog looks exactly the same as the configuration dialog for the Calendar Conduit.
The KNotes Conduit is a partial replacement for the builtin memo application. It keeps the notes you write with KNotes synchronized with the memos you write on your PalmPilot™.
Setting up the KNotes conduit is very simple, since there is only one configuration option.
KNotes Conduit Setup
The KAddressBook conduit allows you to synchronize the PalmPilot™ address book with your KDE address book.
FAQ
| 1. | What do I put after --debug? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The number after --debug indicates what kind of messages you want to see; 1023 indicates all messages. The exact numbers you can use are as follows:
Just add up the numbers of the kind of messages you want. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2. | KPilot says Can't connect to pilot | ||||||||||||||||||||||
This can have various causes. Check that:
|
Database Questions
This section answers questions commonly asked about particular databases and how they interact with KPilot.
- 1. Databases become corrupted after a sync, what should I do?
- 2. Is there a conduit for Netscape Calendar?
| 1. | Databases become corrupted after a sync, what should I do? |
Certain databases (from third-party software manufacturers) appear not to follow the standard database layout. If you can find out what the creator id of the database is, you can add it to either the Backup Only: list or the Skip list in the settings dialog. The following table shows which databases should be skipped or backed-up only: | |
| 2. | Is there a conduit for Netscape® Calendar? |
No, there isn't. Neither are there plans to include support or write a conduit for Netscape® Calendar. |
Special HotSync Questions
This section lists questions about HotSync methods that differ from the “usual” direct serial link method.
- 1. How do I do an infrared (IR) HotSync?
- 2. Can I do a HotSync with my (USB) Handspring Visor?
- 3. Is there any support for remote HotSyncs?
| 1. | How do I do an infrared (IR) HotSync? |
First of all your PalmPilot™ has to actually support IR HotSyncs. This can be achieved through various means: Palm OS® 3.3 and higher include support for it; there is an IR enhancements package for older Palm OS® versions; IrLink from IsComplete apparently has the same capabilities. Check out the Palm web pages for more information. Assuming your PalmPilot™ now has PC HotSync support and it is setup to do IR HotSyncs (in the HotSync preferences on the PalmPilot™), we can turn our attention to the PC you will be syncing with. It needs an IR port. For laptops, this is trivial, desktop PCs may require some extra hardware. Your Linux® kernel will need to support IR and the IRCOMM protocol. For stock Red Hat® systems, the following command should setup IR support (as root): # modprobe ircommOther distributions should follow the IR-HOWTO. Once IR support in the kernel has been activated, you need to make devices for the IR ports. The IR-HOWTO suggests (as root): # mknod /dev/ircomm0 60 64 # chmod 666 /dev/ircomm0Next we need to start some daemons for IR services: # irattach /dev/ttySn # irmanager -d 0Here /dev/ttySn is the serial port the IR port is using. n could be 0, 1, or some other number depending on your hardware setup. Follow the instructions in the IR-HOWTO for assistance (for desktop machines, it's usually a setting in the BIOS). Once you've gotten this far, just make /dev/pilot point to /dev/ircomm0 and you're ready! The IR-HOWTO and other useful information on using IR may be found at http://mobilix.org/howtos.html and http://mobilix.org/software/irda/. | |
| 2. | Can I do a HotSync® with my (USB) Handspring™ Visor™? |
Yes, you can. I don't have definitive information, but postings on the KPilot mailing-list have stated that you can point /dev/pilot to the USB device and everything will work fine. | |
| 3. | Is there any support for remote HotSyncs? |
No, not yet. Maybe later. |
Credits and License
KPilot Program copyright 1998-2000 by Dan Pilone <pilone@slac.com>
Contributors:
Adriaan de Groot <adridg@cs.kun.nl>
Preston Brown <pbrown@redhat.com>
VCal and Todo Conduits by: Herwin Jan Steehouwer, Kenneth Albanowski, Michael Kropfberger
Popmail Conduit overhaul: Marko Grönroos
KAddressBook Conduit: Greg Stern
Patches by: Robert Ambrose, Jörg Habenicht, Philipp Hullmann, Dag Nygren, Scott Presnell, Heiko Purnhagen, Chuck Robey and Jay Summet
Documentation copyright 2000,2001 Adriaan de Groot <adridg@cs.kun.nl>
This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.