It is getting easier to sync your cell phone with your linux box
Very long time without posting, but a good one now, it is getting easier
to sync your cell phone with your linux, I have just upgraded my Kubuntu
to gutsy (7.10) and just got a very good surprise, not it comes with the
new version of Kitchensync, this one makes it really easy to setup the
synchronization, and you do not need to touch a single configuration
file, you can do everything from the great KDE GUI.
When I open Kytchensync (K Menu, Utilities, KitchenSyncFilter), I can
see the list of all “Sync profiles” I have already created, to sync my
phone I need only to click on the Synchronize button at the tool bar, or
in the “Synchronize Now” at the bottom of the selected profile.

Lets take a look at the setup I use to sync my Nokia N80 with Kontact
(you can use it with any symbian device).
I just clicked in the Edit Group, but you can create a new group, and
just add a KDE PIM and a “SyncML over OBEX client”.

You have lots of possible endpoints, I have just a few installed on my
machine, but Kitchensync uses opensync as its backend, so it has support
for Evolution2, Google Calendar and many more client/server points. The
great thing is that you can sync more than two points at a time.
The KDE PIM member does not need any configuration, the only problem is
that you need to close Kontact before synchronizing, the OpenSync group
tells that when KDE 4 is out this problem will be fixed.

Now I need to configure the connection to my Nokia N80, configure the
MAC address of your symbian smart phone and select channel 13 (for the
N80 13 is the right channel, for other models this can change), you can
use Konqueror to discover the MAC address of your cell phone Bluetooth
port (I do not know if there is any key combination to show this number
in the display).

In the Data Bases tab, make sure your contacts database is named
“Contacts”, your calendar and tasks database is named “Calendar” and
your notes database is named “Notes”, if you have changed this on the
cell phone, change here according,

In the options tab, configure the same username and password that you
configured in your cell phone to the “PC Suite” synchronization profile,
I could not make it work without a username and a password, so you need
to choose one.
I had to choose the version 1.0 of SyncML for synchronization because in
the tests the synchronization freezed 3 times when I tested the version
1.1, and I cound’t even connect to the cell phone using the version 1.2.
Make sure the application identifier in this screen is “PC Suite” I have
tried some other names but for some strange reason this one is the only
that seems to work (yes, I created the other test profiles in the cell
phone too).

If you want to sync another point with your cell phone and Kontact, for
example google calendar, just add the member and configure it as in the
screenshot bellow (if you want to know my password, it is 10 stars

Well, I think now you can get your cell phone to sync to your linux box
too.
I’ll make some tests with gnome and evolution and will post here the
step by step.
If any one of you test this procedure with any other cell phone please
let me know if it works and what changes to this setup ware needed, then
I’ll keep here an updated list (or if you want to give-me a cell phone
to test I’ll be very happy
Thanks for taking time to read this.
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Great guide thanks. I cannot connect my cell phone Nokia e61i and think it may be because of the channel number. Can you tell me how to identify this channel number please.
I can however connect and share files through clicking on the bluetooth adapter icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
Thanks
it is probably the channel number as you said
try running:
sdptool browse
from the console, and look for the channel record of a service that has SyncML or PC Suite in it’s name
Thanks for the tutorial, however I am a user of Gnome (Ubuntu) so I am waiting for your next tutorial. A question is that is it possible to use the usb connection with the pc suite profile or does it have to be done via bluetooth?
Looks nice, but I don’t have neither KDE-PIM nor Urubanta Mobile icons after installing Kitchensync… I get only the star icon…
Samy, you need to follow the tutorial …
they appear if you choose the options I told in the post after clicking in “Add Member”
Ok, problem is I only have two possible members: SyncML over HTTP server and over OBEX client. I can’t find KDE PIM, even though I have installed the kdepim package…
Samy, you need to install other opensync plugins.
if you use ubuntu/kubuntu/debian you can find the availlable options with the following command:
apt-cache search opensync
look at the list, and install the plugins you need …
the “Urubatan Mobile” icon is a “SyncML over OBEX client” member (you can choose the name later)
Hi:
Nice tutorial! Thanks. Almost got working my Sony Ericsson P800, however, I think I need to pair my phone to my PC before it works… only think is I have no idea how to do that. Any hints?
Thanks again.
Hi Urubatan
All done as shown in tutorial. I use an N80.
“On the SyncML over OBEX Client” line I get:
“Error: Auth required but not given”
displayed very briefly.
Synchronisation fails leaving my N80 displaying its “connecting” bar (N80 bluetooth icon is bracketed).
Note that my N80 Sync profile “PC Suite” allows only Server version 1.1 or 1.2. Tried (Kitchen set-to 1.0 & N80 set-to 1.1)
and (Kitchen set-to 1.1 & N80 set-to 1.1)
with same results.
I’m stuck.
Kind regards,
Justin
Justin, have you tried to edit the PC Suite profile in the phone and setting a username and password for it?
Eduardo, I used the Konqueror to browse the phone files, and the popup to pair the phone showed while browsing the files
Thanks for the howto, Urubatan.
Unfortunatly, i am stuck in the same situation as Justin, the only difference is that i am using nokia 6120 classic. And, of course, the user name and the password was set.
Any suggestion?
Ciao!
Ceres
Hi Urubatan. I did indeed edit the PC Suite profile in the phone and assigned a user and password. I can only think that it must be that my N80 only allows Server versions 1.1 or 1.2. I am trying other permutations of settings.
Hi. Good news and bad!
I removed the username and password on my N80 and in the SyncML options tab. The SyncML pluggin now works as I see “283 entries read” topleft of the KitchenSync client area.
Unfortunately, in the area right of KDE PIM pluggin (where normally appears the word “ready”) i now briefly get “Error: broken pipe”
What could this be, anyone?
Kind regards,
Justin
Hello.. I don’t have blutooth, so anybody now if it is possible to sync the N80 trough the USB cable??
Thanks for the How To.
My handset is NOKIA - E50.
It supports both syncml client and syncml server over obex..
I have done with syncing from command line using
$msynctool –sync group_name
But when I do sync from mobile I get connection and disconnection which I can see in dump. The procedure on phone was as :
I create profile on mobile by
connectivity –> synchronize –> New sync profile –>
profile name — PC Suite
Application —
- Contacts -
- Include in sync — yes
- Remote database — Contacts
- Sync type — Normal
-Calender
- Include in sync — yes
- Remote database — Calender
- Sync type — Normal
Then I do syncronise on mobile…and select my PC BT adapter
Last devices used ==== BlueZ_PC
I select it which I have allready paired.
It says connecting and disconnecting…
No sync happens…
On system I was running
$msynctool –sync my-nokia-group –wait
> Synchronizing group “my-nokia-group”
It stops here.
Whats the other way to initiate sync from mobile…
Was this correct???
I have the same problem as Justin. Does anybody have any ideas on how to sort this out?
Thanks.
Hi,
Thanks for the tutorial, but I’m having the same problem as Justin. Anyone know how to sort this out?
Thanks,
Conrad
Hi, just a few infos:
- for kubuntu 7.04 the methods (kpim, wathever) are not installed by the add/remove program, aptitude shows them.
- wammu shows the channel for the synchronization, for instance 8 for a SonyEricsson k610i.
Nicolas