1. Install VideoDownloader Firefox Extension
2. Download the video clips to the harddisk
3. Manually convert the .flv to .avi using ffmpeg like this ffmpeg -i foo.flv foo.avi
4. Copy to the Treo 650′s extension card

That is quite tedious. I need a tool to automate the above procedures, here come the tubefetch.txt:

This script would download the flv files and convert them to avi file automatically, then copy the files to Treo 650 using CardReader, CardExport.

A better solution may go further:

• Develop a Firefox addon: one-click would download/convert the file to the specified path
• Develop a KPilot conduit, download the AVI files to Treo 650′s extension card when HotSync

Well, if I persist the enthusiasm for 3 months, I might roll up the sleeves and go through all the way to do so.

Update The DownloadHelper plugin is exactly what I am looking for. The author does not address the CJK file name issue, here is the modified version to bypass that problem.

KPilot developers have released 3.5.6, and claimed that it has solved lots of long-lasting bug, including my patch as well. However, the KPilot 3.5.6 depends on >=pilot-link-12.0, while pilot-link is buggy for the python and java binding, which is reverse-dependency of JPilot. Anyway, all of them are masked.

Tim told us “Make it work”, let’s roll the sleeves.

In Gentoo’s bugzilla, #89823 is attached an unofficial ebuild for pilot-link, just copy it to pilot-link-0.12.2. Since we don’t really need the python or java binding, just disable the use flag in package.use and leave the patch where is.

Next, build kpilot-3.5.6, it would not compile for GCC 4.1.1. Em, interesting. The bug is straight-forward anyway, the compiler is just picky in doing const cast. With this patch, it works.

UPDATE Just contacted with kpilot developer, pilot-link has changed the interface in the version bump, so kpilot 3.5.6 is supposed to work fine with pilot-link-0.12.[01], this patch is for pilot-link-0.12.2 only.

Let’s put the pieces together:
pilot-link-0.12.2 ebulild, kpilot-3.5.6 ebuild, kpilot-3.5.6-const.patch

Now, KPilot 3.5.6 works fine, but put duplicated appointment when HotSync with Treo 650. That is quite annoying, I would like to use Undup as the work around, then dig into the code later.

This gadget is powered by PalmOS v5.4, Treo Software 1.7b, Firmware 1.51. Palm Inc has recently released one ROM update for the unlocked phone, SW 1.20 for bug fix. I decided to keep up with the service pack. The stability of Treo 650 has always been an issue in the sphere.

I chose the ROM from Hi PDA forum, the localization and candies for the newbies have been ripped off to optimize the DB Cache. Download, unpack, copy to the SD Card, hard-reset the device, plugin the card, pray, pray…, after several reboot, the device is updated and the phone is still usable, unlocked.

Synchronization

Palm supports various synchronization accesses, serial, USB, IrDA, Bluetooth, Modem, Lan, Wireless. We would address three most commonly used ways.

USB Synchronization
This is the most common and reliable way to synchronize the device with the desktop.
1. Besides the standard USB support, build USB Serial(usbserial) and USB Handspring driver(visor) drivers into modules.

2. Update the udev rule in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-palm.rules:

If you use Sony’s CLIE or Handspring’s Visor, you may take a look at cat /proc/bus/usb/devices to figure out how to identify the device. After you push the button of HotSync cradle, or click the BIG button in HotSync application, the device appears as /dev/pilot in Linux desktop.

IrDA Synchronization
Here is a detailed HOWTO about IrDA Synchronization.

Bluetooth Synchronization
Check this HOWTO.

Integration with KDE

TBD

Developement

TBD

Existed problems

• KPilot does not convert the string from UTF-8 to zh_CN.gbk back and forth in synchronization (FIXED)
• Mail plugin works only for legacy Palm mail

Kernel matters

Linux kernel has built-in support for Bluetooth devices, you could build it into kernel or modules. The following configuration also includes the optional bluetooth headphone support, it does not hurt since everything is built into modules.

In the user land, we need to install BlueZ, the Linux Bluetooth protocol stack, in Gentoo, just

We need to modify /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf to make it fit into our needs:

bluepin is a PyGTK-based dialog to prompt the password, if you don’t install X or do not change the PIN whenever a new device is connected, you could just feed the pin directly like this [2]:

in /etc/bluetooth/pin:

OK, plugin the bluetooth adpater. Enable your Palm’s Bluetooth for the first test drive:

OK, at least the Bluetooth adapter works, kernel modules loaded, and BlueZ take actions for the new device.

NOTE: For the curious users, please check /etc/udev/rules.d/70-bluetooth.rules to demystify the magic.

Tie a knot

In Palm side, create a new connection named “Bluetooth to PC” in Preference | Connection | New … like this, then click Device: Tap to find. If this is the first time to bind the handheld and desktop, bluepin would popup to ask for the authentification token.

Then create a new Network in Preference | Network | New , click Details …, then click Script …, and delete all scripts, like this:

The light of the tunnel

Bluetooth synchronization is quite different than the previous two local HotSync, it is a Modem HotSync via dial-up network on bluetooth tunnel. We need to build the dail-in server in Linux side:

Build the kernel modules in Device Drivers | Networking Support

In the userland, install the ppp package and enable the ip forwarding:

Set up the peer-to-peer network, /etc/ppp/peer/dun

Gentoo’s magic bluetooth service would launch the following service for us:

• hcid: the Host Control Interface daemon to talk with L2CAP kernel module.
• sdpd: the Service Discovery Profile daemon to discover nearby bluetooth devices.
• pand: the Personal Arean Network daemon to organize an Ad-Hoc PAN.
• dund: Dial-up Network daemon to build a virtual serial link for dial-up network.
• pppd: Point-to-Point Protocol daemon

Edit the /etc/conf.d/bluetooth:

Once the bluetooth adpater is plugged in, the corresponding services are launched, you can test the connection with either Merge Ping, or use the command line: Preference | Network | Option | View Log, then write ping www.foo.com

The last, but not the least

In HotSync | Options | Modem Sync Prefs…, hightlight Network
In HotSync | Options | Primary PC Setup…

Primary PC Name: leave blank
Primary PC Address: IP Address of the computer
Subnet Mask: Netmask of your network

NOTE Primary PC Name is parsed by the DNS, the best practice is to leave it blank.

When HotSync, select, Modem and Unix as the network. In the desktop side, use net:any to replace /dev/pilot in the previous HotSync settings.

Reference
[1] Synchronize your PalmOS� Handheld over Bluetooth in Linux
[2] HOWTO mobile phone, Bluetooth and GNOME
[3] [HOWTO] Bluetooth and Palm (or PocketPC) Network and Sync

Here is one “just works” solution. Install Sunrise in the computer, and Plucker in the Palm. Export my favorite feeds from the RSS reader in OPML format, and import it to Sunrise which would synchronize the feeds and convert them to Plucker format later.

Download PDB files via kpilot to my Palm via IrDA. It works, but it involves in TOO MUCH interactivities with the users, you wanna catch the bus or not?

What I need is a cron job running in the background, check, convert and save. Whenever I do a HotSync, the files are updated; or just simply beam them to my Palm. Here is my proposal to work it around:

• Develop a RSS fetcher/parser using RSS for Python to fetch the contents.
• Develop a wrapper to invoke official Plucker Desktop to convert them to Plucker PDB
• Develop a file synchronization plugin for KPilot
• Customize a script to beam the files
• Develop a init script to glue them together

Any suggestions?