Synchronize text files with your palm device and a macintosh
(cross-posted to Palm Addicts Forum)
A note for Mac users:
I thought I’d add a note about achieving a synchronized directory of text files without using Missing Sync. It does require a wee bit of unix knowledge (since the technique relies on running a shell script from the terminal) but not too much!
In order to make this work, your palm device needs to be able to connect as an external drive. Some devices such as the Lifedrive come with a program called DriveMode that provides this functionality. For the rest of us there is the wonderful Card Export II by Softick With your palm device connected to your macintosh, activate the Card Export program and you will see a new drive show up on your desktop! You can now browse the sd expansion card in your palm device directly from your macintosh desktop! Very cool, eh?
So what about synchronizing directories? Let’s suppose that in your home directory (usually /Users/username, where username is the name that shows up when you open Terminal from the Utilities directory) you’ve created a subdirectory called “Textfiles” Within that subdirectory you could have a bunch of text documents or subdirectories containing other text documents. Utilizing subdirectories is a nice way to keep your files sorted by project, subject or however else you like. Now comes the unix magic: in order to synchronize this “Textfiles” directory with your palm’s SD card, open up a terminal and run the following command:
rsync -av –delete /Users/username/Textfiles /Volumes/SD_CARD/PALM/
(remember to replace ‘username’ with your macintosh username)
This command will synchronize the “Textfiles” directory with the “/PALM/Textfiles” directory on your palm’s SD card. Now you can use a text editing program on your palm such as txtMemo to view or modify your files wherever you happen to be!
This is the way I used to synchronize my text files before purchasing Missing Sync. It requires a few extra steps each time you sync your palm device, but it works quite well. However, Missing Sync can do all of this plus a whole lot more! If you are a heavy palm user on a macintosh, you really should look into purchasing Missing Sync! It has simplified my data sync to the point where I don’t even think twice about it anymore!
