If all you want to do is share data between your Linux box and the BlackBerry, no sweat. The 2GB Micro SD storage I inserted in my 8800 is available to my Linux system just like any other USB storage device. When I connect the USB cable to the BlackBerry, I simply say yes when Ubuntu asks if I want to enter Mass Storage Mode, and I can copy music and photos to the phone. I have run into a problem getting the audio for videos that were created with Kino to work correctly, but other than that, moving data back and forth between the PDA and the desktop “just works.”The Barry and OpenSync projects aim to provide a little more functionality than just moving data. According to its home page, the Barry project “is a GPL C++ library for interfacing with the RIM BlackBerry Handheld. It comes with a command-line tool for exploring the device and a GUI for making quick backups. This project’s goal is to create a fully functional syncing mechanism on Linux.” Release 0.11, which I’ve been playing with the past week, goes a long way toward meeting those goals. With it, you can explore, backup and restore, and — with a little help from OpenSync — sync databases. There is, however, some assembly required.

If you’re not willing to get your hands dirty by downloading and building software executables in their early stages of development, and working from the CLI once you do, then the Barry/OpenSync combo is not ready for you just yet. If you are, heed this advice: back up your BlackBerry before you begin, because it’s possible you could lose some data.

If you’re willing and able to take the risks, you can get in on the fun and functionality ahead of the curve. The buzz on the Barry developers mailing list indicates that work is already underway to provide Barry as an Ubuntu package, as it already is on Mandriva, so it shouldn’t be long before everyone can simply install the executables and leave the building and testing processes to developers.

I won’t walk you through the installation of each of the components, but I will tell you which ones I used and where I found them. Implementation details will vary with your distro, of course. Here’s what you need:

• opensync-0.22 packages
• libusb-4.4.5
• barry-0.11

Install the OpenSync packages first, because you’ll need them in order to compile Barry. Make sure that not only OpenSync is release 0.22 — there are earlier and later releases, but you need 0.22 to work with Barry — but that any plugins you install match the 0.22 release number of OpenSync.

Before you compile Barry, be sure to specify --enable-opensync-plug-in when you run the configure script, as per Barry’s detailed installation help.

Exploring the BlackBerry with btool

The first time you connect your BlackBerry and Linux machine with a USB cable, you’ll get a screen on the PDA whining about an insufficient amount of current to charge the device. You can safely ignore that; you won’t be short of power for long. In fact, after entering the btool command, you’ll have all the power you need to charge the phone via USB.

You can enter btool -h for a complete list of options. If you enter btool -t, for example, you’ll get a list of all the databases Barry finds on your BlackBerry. There were about 75 on my 8800. Barry can’t presently parse all of them, but the most important ones are there, as entering btool -S reveals:

Supported Database parsers:
   Address Book
   Messages
   Calendar
   Service Book
   Memos
   Tasks
   PIN Messages
   Saved Email Messages
   Folders

Supported Database builders:
   Address Book

You can explore any of the databases on the BlackBerry, not just those with parsers, by dumping their records to the console. To see what’s in Browser Folders, for example, simply enter btool -d 'Browser Folders' at the command line. btool will reply with something like this:

Blackberry devices found:
Device ID: 0×8063860. PIN: 666d6a66, Description: RIM 8800 Series Colour GPRS Handheld
Using device (PIN): 666d6a66
Raw record dump for record: 805f8a8
    00000000: 06 00 26 00 40 02 44 01 01 00 02 e6 17 8a 00 14  ..&.@.D………
    00000010: 00 00 81 d6 e2 b7 60 00 0d 57 41 50 20 42 6f 6f  ……`..WAP Boo
    00000020: 6b 6d 61 72 6b 73                                kmarks

Raw record dump for record: 805f8a8
    00000000: 06 00 2d 00 40 02 44 01 02 00 88 2a 69 2c 00 1b  ..-.@.D….*i,..
    00000010: 00 00 81 d6 e2 b7 60 00 14 42 6c 61 63 6b 42 65  ……`..BlackBe
    00000020: 72 72 79 20 42 6f 6f 6b 6d 61 72 6b 73           rry Bookmarks

Of course, raw data like this is more important to developers than to ordinary users, so let’s move on to more user-friendly things, such as the backup and restore utility.

The GUI backup application included with Barry is simple and effective. Note: Barry has a configure option to build the GUI, but it was built by default on my install. If it’s not on yours, rerun the configure script and add the --enable-gui option, then rebuild.

Start by entering barrybackup at the command line, wait a second until it finds your device and displays its PIN number, and when it does, click on Save. You can edit the list of databases that the app will either save or restore by selecting Edit -> Config from the option menu to display the pop-up window in Figure 1, from which you can edit either list.

After selecting Save, I watched the Progress bar slide across the screen and the database names scroll past in the Database text box until the process was complete. I then immediately tested the Restore function.

When you click Restore, you’re presented with a list of all the saved backups Barry finds in the .barry/backup/PINNUMBER directory, where PINNUMBER is the PIN of the device you’re working with. After clicking Restore, I watched as database names appeared, were deleted on the BlackBerry, then restored from my desktop. All went well until I came to the Time Zones table, when I started to see “usb_bulk_restore” errors. The cure was simply to install release 4.4.5 of libusb. Since doing so, I’ve seen no more of these errors.

Barry aims to provide the infrastructure for more advanced, user-friendly applications that can be developed by others. It includes a couple of sample applications to demonstrate. One allows you to enter new contact information, and the other new calendar entries. They work well, but a full-blown app that would allow you to not only add, but edit or delete existing entries, would really be useful.

Synchronicity

Probably the most sought-after feature Barry provides is synchronization. I wasn’t familiar with the synchronization process before I began exploring BlackBerries and Linux, so the concepts of groups, members, and device plugins were new to me in this context.

The synchronization process acts on a group of devices. Before I could actually sync something, I needed to define a group, its members, and the plugin required for each member. When I installed the OpenSync packages, I also installed a tool to do all those things called msynctool, as well as plugins for Evolution and Google Calendar. Both msynctool and the plugins come from the OpenSync project, but are separate downloads. Msynctool runs from the CLI, and it includes a helpful man page; I recommend entering man msynctool if synchronization is new to you.

Create a group and its members is easy:

msynctool --addgroup Blackberry
msynctool –addmember Blackberry barry-sync
msynctool –addmember Blackberry evo2-sync
msynctool –showgroup Blackberry

The last command reported that the Blackberry group contained two members, but that the first one was not yet configured, which I had to do before I could sync. Still using the msynctool tool, I entered msynctool --configure Blackberry 1, where the 1 represented the barry-sync plugin. That opened the default text editor — nano if you’re using Ubuntu 7.10 and haven’t changed the symbolic link at /etc/alternatives/editor to point to another editor — which allowed me to edit the default configuration for the BlackBerry and insert its actual PIN number in place of the default.

If you prefer to use an editor other than the default on your distro, you can accomplish the same thing outside of msynctool simply by editing ~/.opensync/group1/1/barry-sync.conf.

Finally, it was time to sync the BlackBerry and my Evolution contact files. All I had to do was enter the command msynctool --sync Blackberry, then answer a single question about which plugin should rule when duplicate contacts were found. That was it; I was in sync at last.

If all of this sounds too geeky for you, don’t despair. Help is coming for both installation and use. With a working framework in place, thanks to OpenSync and Barry, GUIs are on their way, in the form of the kitchensync project at KDE.org, for example, or, if you’re a GNOME user, the multisync-GUI tool from the OpenSync project.

Shop @openSUSE Store

Anyone wants to make a gift for me …. let me know, I’ll send you my postal address :-p Happy Christmas to everyone out there.

Features:

• Symbian60 2nd and 3rd Edition support
• Portrait support (Landscape soon)
• Most Icons are replaced by Tango equivalents
• Contains Icons for 3rd party applications
• Custom graphics using the Tango color palette
• Total replacement of all widget elements such as popups, tabs, scrollbars, clock fonts and others
• Music Player Skin (Not on 3rd party music players bundled with some phones)
• Free to download and use
• Free Open Source Software

Grab the .SIS installer from Martin’s website and have fun. Since I am a Windows Mobile 6 Pro user I cannot run it, but would if I had a Symbian S60 mobile. Also check out the openSUSE theme for your Symbian mobile here.

OpenID has arisen from the open source community to solve the problems that could not be easily solved by other existing technologies. OpenID is a lightweight method of identifying individuals that uses the same technology framework that is used to identify websites. As such, OpenID is not owned by anyone, nor should it be. Today, anyone can choose to be an OpenID user or an OpenID Provider for free without having to register or be approved by any organization, being not proprietary and completely free. OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. At the same time, your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to.

For businesses, this means a lower cost of password and account management, while drawing new web traffic. OpenID lowers user frustration by letting users have control of their login.For geeks, OpenID is an open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity. OpenID takes advantage of already existing internet technology (URI, HTTP, SSL, Diffie-Hellman) and realizes that people are already creating identities for themselves whether it be at their blog, photostream, profile page, etc. With OpenID you can easily transform one of these existing URIs into an account which can be used at sites which support OpenID logins.OpenID is still in the adoption phase and is becoming more and more popular, as large organizations like AOL, Microsoft, Sun, Novell, etc. begin to accept and provide OpenIDs. Today it is estimated that there are over 160-million OpenID enabled URIs with nearly ten-thousand sites supporting OpenID logins.Currently work is underway developing OpenID Authentication 2.0, which will use the Yadis service discovery protocol. OpenID is now developing into a much more complete framework that will support other identity services besides authentication and is been made a high priority in Firefox 3 browser.

Here are some places you can visit to see where you can use your OpenID to log in today:

• myOpenID Site Directory
• The OpenID Directory

I am quite sure that Web 3.0, if I may say so, will include OpenID as it’s authentication and ID management backend. So, then what happens to IBM and Novell backed Higgins … or are they collaborating?

Interested what goes behind the curtain when it comes to all those legality issues going around with free and open source world? Then check out a post here to see the Top 10 list of legal issues compiled by Mark Radcliffe from Law and Life: Silicon Valley blog.

“Adobe Acrobat is expensive, but that doesn’t mean you have to live a life without portable documents. What many people don’t realize is that PDF is a Federal Information Processing Standard, which means the specifications behind the format are widely published. Numerous developers take advantage of this fact and create programs that offer effective alternatives to Acrobat. Check out our list of these programs and take advantage of these tools that are full of some of the best PDF features and functions.”

Check out the complete list

“The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, a group devoted to publishing web standards, recently moved to approve the Ogg video and audio formats for inclusion into the forthcoming HTML5 standard. Nokia, maker of mobile phones and mobile multimedia services, has taken exception to this proposal, writing a position paper (PDF) and raising a formal issue at the W3’s web site, claiming that Ogg support should be “deleted” from the spec in order to “avoid any patent issues.”“Nokia to W3C: Ogg is proprietary, we need DRM on the Web” – Ogg is an open encoding scheme, as we all know, and it was On2, the company that developed it, gave it and a free, perpetual unlimited license to its patents to the nonprofit Xiph foundation … but somehow Nokia called it “proprietary” and argued for the inclusion of standards that can be used in conjunction with DRM …..

BTW, did you notice that Nokia’s Internet Tablets do not come with Ogg support out of box, official line being that it is up to third party developers to implement it!!!

As one forum user puts it:

“Nokia today is not Nokia from a few years ago. The old Nokia was a company that sold you mobile devices. The problem was, some moron sat inside Nokia and lusted after Apple’s business model… which leads us to the new Nokia. The new Nokia is a company that wants to sell you a mobile device that you’ll use to purchase lots of music and other forthcoming content (N-Gage games) and lock you into their portals and services (navigation subscriptions). The device is only a means to an end, and giving customers choices by making the devices open limits Nokia’s future revenue”

Sad to read such news. Looks like Nokia has growth issues and problems with a management – while right hand goes to the open world, left hand trashes all efforts to the hell.What the hell there should be DRM in my device? How far this DRM idiocy can go? When pirated content is better than original one, that’s a real shame for authors. This shows how far abuse of monopoly power can go in modern world.

I agree with the post from BoingBoing, discussing this matter, and closing their thoughts with: “But remember, that’s not what Nokia is objecting to: they are arguing that Ogg is proprietary (it isn’t) and that DRM should be part of a Web standard (it shouldn’t)”

• PDF link to Nokia’s W3C submission
• Xiph.Org Statement Regarding the HTML5 Draft and the Ogg Codec Set

P.S. It is strange that this post comes right after a post talking about great OS2008 (which indeed is a great Maemo product) release for Nokia Internet Tablets …. hmm

Users can now download the official installer for OS2008 for your Nokia N800 Internet tablet. You get:

• The sluggish Opera browser has been swapped out for a speedy Mozilla based browser
• If you’re on an N800, the processor speed has been bumped up to 400 Mhz
• Built in Flash 9
• FM Radio software
• A Beautiful new UI
• Improved RSS reader
• and much, much more.

And:

• This update increases the maximum CPU clock speed from 330MHz to 400MHz. The graphical interface feels snappier.
• The browser is now the mozilla-based microb browser which seems to use more memory and slightly slower than the previous Opera browser. However, it’s free software and supports newer web standards, so I’m happy with the change.
• The graphical interface is nicer. The designers appear to have responded to user feedback well in this area.
• There are more codecs , but still no Ogg Vorbis support, which is very disappointing. The third-party package works fine with third-party media players, but doesn’t work with the default media player.
• Newer kernel (2.6.21), Gtk (2.10) and DBUS (1.0) and gstreamer now supports the generic playbin

With this update, it feels like the Internet tablet OS platform is maturing nicely.

Check out the following video review on OS2008 running on the N800 made by Rcadden user:

Maps

Youtube

Overview

Internet Radio

To get the OS2008 update, you’ll need to install the Nokia Internet Tablet Software Update Wizard and download the update file from maemo.org. If you are a lucky Nokia N810 user, then you already have OS2008 running on it, but with this update you get minor optimisations and bug fixes.

Get latest OS2008

Also, check out a very comprehensive and with lots of pics review on OS2008 by thoughtfix on his blog.

After more than 11 years of development, Flightgear 1.0 has arrived.

Flightgear can be played on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, as well as other *nix platforms including FreeBSD, Solaris, and IRIX. Distributed under the GPL, Flightgear is one of the first major Free Software games and has become a flight simulator that rivals it’s commercial counterparts. It is a stellar example of enthusiasts coming together to create something for the community.

Airbus A380 landing

Despite the unbelievable attention to detail, Flightgear can be played on a rather modest PC. However the better the PC, the better it looks and runs so those with the latest, greatest 3D cards can still enjoy the extra beauty and a smoother experience.

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How to get safe and quick access to alternative file systems? DiskInternals Linux Reader is a new easy way to do this. This program plays the role of a bridge between your Windows and Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems. This easy-to-use tool runs under Windows and allows you to browse Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems and extract files from there.

“There are a number of evident merits of the program, which you should know. First of all, DiskInternals Linux Reader is absolutely free. Secondly, the program provides for read-only access and does not allow you to make records in Ext2/Ext3 file system partitions. This guarantees that the interference in an alterative file system will not affect the work of Linux later. Apart from this, it is necessary to note, that it gives you an opportunity to use common Windows Explorer for extracting data. A preview option for pictures is one more pleasant point, which is worth mentioning.

While saving, it ignores file security policies. It means that it is possible to access absolutely any file on a Linux disk from Windows. The program can create and open images of Ext2/Ext3 disks.”

Download

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