[Evolution] Partial solution to Palm sync problem

["Paul M. Bucalo" <pmbuc pmbservices com>]

I have worked out some of this intermittent problem people are reporting
to have in syncing their Palm devices with Evo 2.0.2. I'm running
FC3/SELinux/usdev on a Dell Inspiron 4000 laptop. Until a little while
ago I couldn't get any Palm device-compatible program to recognize my
Handspring Visor Deluxe, let alone sync properly with it. 

First, I tested my ability to sync with Evo/gpilotd and jpilot using a
hard symlink: /dev/pilot ---> /proc/bus/usb/001/002 (the assigned
location for my Handspring base at the time) I had to loosen up the
permissions and ownership on the link to allow a program under user to
access the device. Both programs synced up immediately to my Visor. Of
course, this is a temporary connection as a reboot wipes the symlink.
Without the link, no recognition or sync.

Next, I edited /etc/udev/ruled.d/50-udev.rules and added this:

KERNEL="ttyUSB[0-9]*",SYMLINK="pilot"
BUS="usb", KERNEL="ttyUSB[0-9]*", NAME="usb/%k"

I looked at the successful connection with my USB-driven Epson CX5400 to
rough this out. (It may not be correct, or completely correct. Advice or
recommendations welcomed.)

Trying to sync to Evo didn't work unless I accessed 'Tools | Pilot
Settings...' from the menu. <Bear in mind that I had successfully set up
this area when I first created the hard symlink> If a first time
connection hasn't been made, I would guess that it would now happen as
you progress through the gpilot setup. 

Interestingly enough, this is as far as I ever got with 1.2 - 1.4.5. On
the very first time I accessed Evo after booting up, I had to enter into
gpilot's settings to made the link happen. Thereafter, it would work
just by hitting the hotsync button on the base or making the connection
through the Palm interface, for as long as I was up and running. 

The first time with jpilot is a matter of timing. If I try to hotsync
before jpilot is ready, it fails. First the sync button on jpilot and
then hotsync from the base. It didn't work all the time, but enough that
I think I can make it work every time with some practice on my timing.

I hope this helps those who haven't even gotten this far. Better yet, if
someone who is using the same distro and setup and *hasn't* had any of
these problems would like to compare notes, there may be a permanent set
of mods and rules that will make this work for everyone under the new
kernel and /dev management system. You can contact me/reply here or off-
list.

Paul