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Windows Pocket PC and the Linux desktop
By Basuki Winoto
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April 29, 2005 (8:00:00 AM)
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Linux and Microsoft's Pocket PC platform have different document formats. Since there is no automatic file synchronization program for Linux comparable to Windows' ActiveSync, Pocket PC users have problems not only with disparate file formats, but even file transfer between the two platforms. But there are ways to get them to talk to each other. I tested four of them and found that two worked well for me -- which doesn't mean the others won't work for you, just that I had trouble using them with my hardware and software.
My PDA is a Dell Axim X30 equipped with an external memory expansion slot (MMC), infrared (IRDA), Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b). Therefore I can transfer my files four different ways. Each of them offers pros and cons.
External storage card (MMC) This is the modern equivalent of Sneakernet -- easy but inconvenient. To transfer files via MMC card, you need an MMC card reader for your Linux computer. My card reader is a Billionton SD/MMC Reader which uses the USB 2.0 interface, so Linux recognizes it as a USB drive. I can copy any files to and from it.
Infrared (IRDA) Most PDAs come equipped with IRDA, but most infrared devices refuse to work on Linux, and even if you can manage to make yours operational, you'll find that file transfers are very slow. Unless you already have your infrared device working or you don't have any other choice, avoid this option.
Bluetooth To take advantage of Bluetooth, you need a Bluetooth device on the desktop side. Finding a Linux-ready Bluetooth device may be difficult, and making it work may be more so. I use a Cadmus Bluetooth USB adapter (class 1) with gnome-obex-server. Obex (object exchange) is a protocol widely used for data transfer on small devices for both Bluetooth and IRDA. You can transfer files to and from the PDA by pushing them from the opposite side. Once you succeeded in transferring your files once, the process is convenient from that point on.
WLAN Wireless networking is convenient and relatively secure, but relatively difficult to set up on the PDA side. You need a Wi-Fi adapter and a Wi-Fi access point on your network, plus virtual private network (VPN) software, because WLAN file transfer on Pocket PC requires a VPN tunnel. I used the FreeSWAN project for my VPN.
After trying all four methods, I found external storage to be the easiest, and Bluetooth the most convenient. IRDA and WLAN were a pain.
File formats
Once you've transferred your files from one platform to the other, you still have the problem of incompatible file formats. By default, Pocket Word uses its own file format. Its files have a .pwi extension. Even Microsoft Word users can't open .pwi files on their desktop.
The good news is that Pocket Word supports Microsoft Word file format (.doc) as well. You can open .doc files and save files as .doc instead of *.pwi using Pocket Word. This approach let me open my Pocket Word files using OOo Writer and also let me read OOo Writer files saved as .doc in Pocket Word.
After spending some quality time with OOo, I found that it has a file format transfer feature called XMerge, but it doesn't work out of the box. You need to have Java and Ant to compile this feature from source. XMerge can merge Pocket Word file format (.psw) to OpenOffice.org Writer file format (.sxw). I hope OOo will add this format transfer feature out of the box someday.
Now that I have all the pieces working, I love to sit in a quiet corner with my coffee, turn on my PDA, and scratch out ideas, then transfer my files to my Linux desktop and edit my work using OpenOffice.org.
External storage card (MMC) This is the modern equivalent of Sneakernet -- easy but inconvenient. To transfer files via MMC card, you need an MMC card reader for your Linux computer. My card reader is a Billionton SD/MMC Reader which uses the USB 2.0 interface, so Linux recognizes it as a USB drive. I can copy any files to and from it.
Infrared (IRDA) Most PDAs come equipped with IRDA, but most infrared devices refuse to work on Linux, and even if you can manage to make yours operational, you'll find that file transfers are very slow. Unless you already have your infrared device working or you don't have any other choice, avoid this option.
Bluetooth To take advantage of Bluetooth, you need a Bluetooth device on the desktop side. Finding a Linux-ready Bluetooth device may be difficult, and making it work may be more so. I use a Cadmus Bluetooth USB adapter (class 1) with gnome-obex-server. Obex (object exchange) is a protocol widely used for data transfer on small devices for both Bluetooth and IRDA. You can transfer files to and from the PDA by pushing them from the opposite side. Once you succeeded in transferring your files once, the process is convenient from that point on.
WLAN Wireless networking is convenient and relatively secure, but relatively difficult to set up on the PDA side. You need a Wi-Fi adapter and a Wi-Fi access point on your network, plus virtual private network (VPN) software, because WLAN file transfer on Pocket PC requires a VPN tunnel. I used the FreeSWAN project for my VPN.
After trying all four methods, I found external storage to be the easiest, and Bluetooth the most convenient. IRDA and WLAN were a pain.
File formats
Once you've transferred your files from one platform to the other, you still have the problem of incompatible file formats. By default, Pocket Word uses its own file format. Its files have a .pwi extension. Even Microsoft Word users can't open .pwi files on their desktop.
The good news is that Pocket Word supports Microsoft Word file format (.doc) as well. You can open .doc files and save files as .doc instead of *.pwi using Pocket Word. This approach let me open my Pocket Word files using OOo Writer and also let me read OOo Writer files saved as .doc in Pocket Word.
After spending some quality time with OOo, I found that it has a file format transfer feature called XMerge, but it doesn't work out of the box. You need to have Java and Ant to compile this feature from source. XMerge can merge Pocket Word file format (.psw) to OpenOffice.org Writer file format (.sxw). I hope OOo will add this format transfer feature out of the box someday.
Now that I have all the pieces working, I love to sit in a quiet corner with my coffee, turn on my PDA, and scratch out ideas, then transfer my files to my Linux desktop and edit my work using OpenOffice.org.
Comments
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you can also set both devices in ad-hoc mode and use ftp,scp,sftp,rsync etc without an AP or router....
You list four ways to transfer files but, aren't there five? What about the sync cable?
Regardless, it's pretty sad that with four or five different means of transfers, the best you could manage was a manual "disk swap" solution. And even then you are only transferring files. You are not synchronizing address books or anything else.
I'm not experienced with the Axim but, with Palm OS and Sharp Zaurus devices you can transfer files and synchronize the PDA with your Linux desktop applications like Evolution.
It sounds like you need to switch to Windows or get a PDA that is better suited to your needs. It seems that the Axim does not play well with Linux.
Regardless, it's pretty sad that with four or five different means of transfers, the best you could manage was a manual "disk swap" solution. And even then you are only transferring files. You are not synchronizing address books or anything else.
I'm not experienced with the Axim but, with Palm OS and Sharp Zaurus devices you can transfer files and synchronize the PDA with your Linux desktop applications like Evolution.
It sounds like you need to switch to Windows or get a PDA that is better suited to your needs. It seems that the Axim does not play well with Linux.
You should look into the <A HREF="http://www.multisync.org/news.php" title="multisync.org">MultiSync</a multisync.org> and <A HREF="http://synce.sourceforge.net/synce/" title="sourceforge.net">SynCE</a sourceforge.net> projects. Still not perfect solutions, but maybe better than what you found so far.
How do you create abreviated links inside a response like the MultiSync and SynCE links you created?
AFAIK most Bluetooth devices are supported. There is a limited number of chipset vendors (e.g. CSR) and there seems to be Linux support.
Don't use FreeS/WAN. It has been discontinued. Upgrade to Openswan, Strongswan or ipsec-tools (racoon). Pocket PC does not support IPsec out of the box. You will need to buy a third-party IPsec client, or use PPTP or L2TP/IPsec instead.
Don't use FreeS/WAN. It has been discontinued. Upgrade to Openswan, Strongswan or ipsec-tools (racoon). Pocket PC does not support IPsec out of the box. You will need to buy a third-party IPsec client, or use PPTP or L2TP/IPsec instead.
You could consider using TextMaker, it's available for Linux and PocketPCs (also Zaurus) and offers a lot more features than Pocket Word.
WLAN is not a pain
Posted by: Eugenia Loli-Queru on April 30, 2005 05:24 AMOf course, if you are out of office/home and you don't have a router, Bluetooth is indeed a better option. I found IrDA more of a pain to properly configure, but as long you managed that, it ain't too much slower than Bluetooth. Linux's Bluetooth stack is not known for its great speed either, it usually gives me about 23 KB/sec on file transfers (I tried 4 different BT 1.1/1.2 usb sticks, same performance each time). IrDA SIR gives about 9 KB/sec in my experience, which is not too bad. IrDA FIR (faster version of IrDA hardware) is not commonly used on PDAs, so don't bother buying FIR usb sticks (more expensive, less supported, and at the end they don't give you any gaining in speed as PDAs use SIR, not FIR).
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