File transfer: Palm V/Linux/SiED

"ri" == Ray Ingles <sorceror DeleteThis @localhost.localdomain> writes:

ri> On 2006-01-11, Jim Kalb <kalb DeleteThis @aya.yale.edu> wrote:
>> I've got my Palm V connected to my Linux desktop communicating with
>> pilot-link and J-Pilot. I'd like to be able to transfer longish
>> files back and forth so I can edit them on the Palm with SiED or
>> some such. I can't figure out how to do the transfer so work
>> becomes possible.

ri> What specific tools and commands are you using? I.e. what
ri> commands do you type in to do the conversion, etc.?

ri> How big are the .txt files? Note that Palm's "Memo" format is
ri> limited to at most 4K. It's possible you're creating invalid Memo
ri> files. For larger files, the "Doc" format (a semi-official Palm
ri> standard) may be a better choice. This utility might help:

ri> http://homepage.mac.com/pauljlucas/software/txt2pdbdoc/

ri> Further, if the files are bigger than 100K, you might see this
ri> note from the SiED web page:

ri> "Edit ~600Kb files on most PalmOS 5 devices, ~100Kb files on
ri> earlier devices"

The file I've been trying this with is about 35 K. I suppose I should
also mention that I have Palm OS 4.1.

I do the conversion with

txt2pdbdoc -c -v file.tex file.tex file.pdb

That produces a file.pdb file that I transfer to the Palm V with
"install" on J-Pilot. Once that's done it can be opened with SiEd on the
Palm. It can even be edited and saved, and retrieved by doing a backup
of the Palm, but it takes about 5 seconds a character for the reasons
stated (a couple warning boxes come up for each character that's
changed).

>> There has to be another way. Can anyone tell me what it is? (If
>> Linux is difficult and Windows is easy say so and maybe that can be
>> a fallback.)

ri> For larger, and compressed, files, you might look at:

ri> http://www.freewarepalm.com/docs/zdocj.shtml

SiEd is apparently a better editor for moderate sized files (less than
100k) so I hope to get it working.

ri> -- Sincerely,

ri> Ray Ingles (313) 227-2317

ri> "A PC without Windows is like chocolate cake with no mustard." -
ri> JAPH Doggy, on Slashdot

Thanks much for the response! This is all a bit confusing for a newbie.

--
Jim Kalb

Thanks to Ray Ingles for the response. It seems there's probably a bug
somewhere in SiEd (which is no longer under development) that causes the
problem. Other editors work OK and I think I'm settling on QED. Zdocj,
which Ray suggested, works fine but it bothers me that making a change
is the same as saving a change, so there's no way to undo a mistake.

jk

"jk" == Jim Kalb <kalb RemoveThis @aya.yale.edu> writes:

jk> "ri" == Ray Ingles <sorceror RemoveThis @localhost.localdomain> writes:
ri> On 2006-01-11, Jim Kalb <kalb RemoveThis @aya.yale.edu> wrote:
>>> I've got my Palm V connected to my Linux desktop communicating
>>> with pilot-link and J-Pilot. I'd like to be able to transfer
>>> longish files back and forth so I can edit them on the Palm with
>>> SiED or some such. I can't figure out how to do the transfer so
>>> work becomes possible.

ri> What specific tools and commands are you using? I.e. what commands
ri> do you type in to do the conversion, etc.?

ri> How big are the .txt files? Note that Palm's "Memo" format is
ri> limited to at most 4K. It's possible you're creating invalid Memo
ri> files. For larger files, the "Doc" format (a semi-official Palm
ri> standard) may be a better choice. This utility might help:

ri> http://homepage.mac.com/pauljlucas/software/txt2pdbdoc/

ri> Further, if the files are bigger than 100K, you might see this
ri> note from the SiED web page:

ri> "Edit ~600Kb files on most PalmOS 5 devices, ~100Kb files on
ri> earlier devices"

jk> The file I've been trying this with is about 35 K. I suppose I
jk> should also mention that I have Palm OS 4.1.

jk> I do the conversion with

jk> txt2pdbdoc -c -v file.tex file.tex file.pdb

jk> That produces a file.pdb file that I transfer to the Palm V with
jk> "install" on J-Pilot. Once that's done it can be opened with SiEd
jk> on the Palm. It can even be edited and saved, and retrieved by
jk> doing a backup of the Palm, but it takes about 5 seconds a
jk> character for the reasons stated (a couple warning boxes come up
jk> for each character that's changed).

>>> There has to be another way. Can anyone tell me what it is? (If
>>> Linux is difficult and Windows is easy say so and maybe that can
>>> be a fallback.)

ri> For larger, and compressed, files, you might look at:

ri> http://www.freewarepalm.com/docs/zdocj.shtml

jk> SiEd is apparently a better editor for moderate sized files (less
jk> than 100k) so I hope to get it working.

ri> -- Sincerely,

ri> Ray Ingles (313) 227-2317

ri> "A PC without Windows is like chocolate cake with no mustard." -
ri> JAPH Doggy, on Slashdot

jk> Thanks much for the response! This is all a bit confusing for a
jk> newbie.

jk> -- Jim Kalb

--
Jim Kalb