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Palm PDAs and Linux - pilot-link the main connectivity between a Palm handheld device (such as those made by Palm, Handspring, Handera, TRGPro, Sony or other Palm Compatible Handheld PDA devices) and Linux is pilot-link - a suite of tools that include pilot-addresses - transfer Palm address book entries to and from Linux and delete Palm address entries, uses a generic text format on the Linux side pilot-clip - transfers Palm clipboard data to Linux stdout, or sets the Palm clipboard data to Linux stdin pilot-datebook - transfer datebook information between Palm and Linux pilot-mail - send and receive mail on the Plam using POP on the Linux box (being deprecated, to be replaced with pilot-mailsync - haven't seen pilot-mailsync yet) pilot-schlep - package up any arbitrary file and sync it to your Palm device (you're better off using Plucker so you've got a reader to use on the Palm) and a bunch of other small utilities to do small tasks like dlpsh, ietf2datebook, install-datebook, install-hinote, install-memo, install-netsync, install-user, pilot-addresses, pilot-xfer, read-ical, read-notepad, read-palmpix. You won't need to use these. These are used behind the scenes by other apps. Unless you're working at low level with palms, you won't be touching these. pilot-xfer - this is it - the BIGGIE - this one does most of the normal Palm activity. You use this one a lot. These come standard on most Linux installations nowadays. See the options with "man pilot-link" or run the program with "--help" as the option. The pilot-link system uses environment variables to aid operation PILOTPORT - points to the device your Palm is attached. Defaults to /dev/pilot. If you connect via serial port, you can set PILOTPORT to /dev/ttyS0 (or S1), or you can create a symbolic link of /dev/pilot to /dev/ttyS0. PILOTRATE - speed of data transfer. Default is the safe rate of 9600. Can set it up to 115200. Higher speeds can cause problems, so experiment with some transfers first. I use 57600 and don't have a problem. 9600 is slow. Good tutorial on Linux Magazine (www.linux-mag.com/2000-12/desktop_01.html) on syncing. It's 2000, but still valid. Some devices have a USB connection. These can work, but there are difficulties. This page, www.slac.com/pilone/kpilot_home/hardware.html sets out the successes and fails. [NEXT]