ABOUT PDASync

The following identifies the differences between Sun's PDASync and 3COM's HotSync product. Where appropriate, an alternative method in PDASync is described.
 

CALENDAR

If there is no data on the desktop (for example, you have deleted the very last appointment on the desktop), calendar conduit will force your hand-held device to overwrite the desktop.

Calendar conduit only supports a range. The default date range is 6 months, 3 months before and 3 months after. The maximum date range covers 48 months (4 years).

The whole series of a repeating appointment will be synchronized even though part of the repeating appointment falls outside the range. As long as the repeating appointment has an instance which falls within the range, it will be synchronized.

Only beep and popup reminders on the desktop will be synchronized with your handheld. That is, if your handheld appointment has an alarm,
the desktop appointment will have beep and popup reminders after the synchronization. On the other hand, if you have either a beep or a popup on your desktop, your handheld appointment will show up with an alarm after the synchronization. And if you have a different time set for your beep and popup reminder, the time set for the beep will take precedence.

If you ever hard-reset your handheld, calendar conduit will perform a restore in most of the cases, except if you have your synchronization type set to "Desktop overwrites handheld". In that case, it will perform "Desktop overwrites handheld", and only a range will be synchronized.

Calendar notes are kept in separate directories and files from appointments. The appointments contain the file location for the notes.

Calendar notes cannot be larger than 4k.

MEMO

The handheld will store only 16 categories. When more than 16 categories are created on the desktop, your handheld will store the memos from the 17th category and beyond in the 'Unfiled' category.

Memos that are to be synchronized to Categories must have a file name extension of ".txt" (all lower case letters) and be in a subdirectory of the Memos directory where the name of the subdirectory is the name of the Category to be used on your handheld.

If either of these conditions is NOT true, a memo will not synchronize correctly.

Resetting your handheld may be required to fix this category problem. Memos MUST go in subdirectories such as ~/PDASync/PalmPilot/memos/some_subdirectory   /* CORRECT place for memos */

This results in a new Category called "some_subdirectory" to be created on your handheld (unless it already exists) when doing anything EXCEPT "Handheld overwrite Desktop" type synchronization.

Empty memos on the desktop will be synchronized to the handheld. However, once on the handheld, these memos must be filled in upon opening. Otherwise, the handheld deletes them.
 

DESKTOP MEMO INITIALIZATION PROCEDURES

To begin using the Category synchronization capability, follow these initialization procedures the first time you use the new Memo sync to Categories capability:
  1. Make sure all memos are in subdirectories (as described in the Memos section).

  2.  
  3. Make sure NO memos exist in the main Memo directory:  ~/PDASync/PalmPilot/memos (for example, they MUST all be in "some_subdirectory", as described in the Memos section).

  4.  
  5. Delete the file:  ~/PDASync/PalmPilot/memos/memopad.dat

  6.  
  7. Do a "Desktop Overwrites PDA" to overwrite all of your memos and their respective categories (for example, subdirectory names) onto your handheld.

MEMOPAD.DAT FILE RE-CREATION

On the desktop, the state of the memos is saved as a category index file in the Memos directory. Typically, this file is:  ~/PDASync/PalmPilot/memos/memopad.dat

This file is utilized during a fast sync to optimize the sync performance.  Normally, this file does not need to be created or modified in any manner since the PDASync software maintains the contents of this file. However, if for some reason the information in this file is not correct (accidentally overwritten or modified, or you delete referenced memo files, add memo files, etc.), the PDA software can be forced to recreate this file by simply deleting it. Normally this should not be done. However, if for some reason it is desired to have the PDA software reconstruct a valid memopad.dat file, deleting it will force this to happen. This forces the PDASync software to search the Memo subdirectories for memo files (those with a file extension of ".txt") and build a new valid memopad.dat file based upon what memos it finds in these subdirectories.

ADDRESS

Address card notes cannot be larger than 4k.

Attention Alpha and Beta users: Before synching with a new version of PDASync, sync with the Alpha or Beta version to put everything on the handheld. Then use the newer version's "PDA overwrite desktop" option.

MAIL

Before synching with Mail:
 
  • Always check your sync settings on the handheld. By doing this you can prevent synching your entire mailbox which may take a very long time.

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  • Close the desktop mail application, otherwise there may be some unexpected results, especially local mailboxes.
  • PDASync BEHAVIOR

    Unsupported features found on the PC version of HotSync that are not supported in PDASync:
     
  • File linking - specifies a desktop file to sync with a database on your handheld. The desktop file has to be in a known format (for example, comma-delimited fields for a database).

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  • Network based HotSync - can't sync from one machine on the network to contact your machine for data.

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  • Archiving - none of PDASync conduits support archiving of deleted records.

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  • Profile sync - synching a set of applications and databases without naming your handheld; for example, when you want everyone in your department to have the same data or applications.

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  • Modem sync - can't sync via a modem connected to your workstation.

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  • Registry-based install of databases - under Windows9x, installing a conduit can tell the registry to automatically install a database on your handheld. This isn't supported in our install because Solaris software installation is different. Solaris doesn't have the equivalent of a Windows9x registry in it's OS. You must manually direct PDASync to install a database.

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  • When restoring a handheld that has been reset, all conduits will be invoked in the restore, including those marked inactive.

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    INSTALL CONDUIT

    Filenames must be in lower case (*.prc/*.pdb).

    Common Desktop Environment 1.4

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