Serial Ports And Linux

Making a Palm serial device work with Linux doesn't require any particularly hard configuration, but now and again things just don't work. Before blaming SuperWaba, try to make pilot-link work to make sure your Palm, serial port and serial cable all work first and that you have access to the serial port device.

Here is what I would do - and yes I am paranoid:

• Check the serial port on the PC using "minicom -o" as root - short pins 2&3 together and disable handshaking to test the port. You should be able to echo characters.

• Check again as the active user.

• Check the serial port on the Palm using an application such as ptelnet. Do the same trick with pins and handshake.

• Connect Palm to PC using ptelnet/minicom and ensure that you can type on one and see the result on the other.

THEN try using pilot-xfer and specify the port with the -p parameter.

You may also need to set the PILOTRATE environment variable. I use export PILOTRATE=57600

-- VikOlliver - 03 Oct 2004