How to sync your Palm via IrDA
Apr 03, '02 12:36:58PM
Contributed by: Anonymous
The Palm website gives instructions on how to sync via IrDA but they are woefully incomplete. After spending a few hours tinkering with different configurations I finally got it to work.
You must first make sure that you have Palm OS 3.5.3 installed. Otherwise the hotsync will begin and then quit as it will try to install the 3.5.3 update and then die. I had to install the update from a PC, since I couldn't sync on my powerbook. It is probably possible to install it with Palm HotSync for OS 9 but I never tried this. Palm has a web page that talks about not being able to hotsync pdb's or prc's via IrDA.
Read the rest of the article for the step-by-step to sync via IrDA in OS X...
Here are the steps to enable IrDA hot syncs:
On your Mac:
- Make sure that OS X 10.1.3 and Palm Desktop 4.0 are installed.
- Open Palm Hotsync Manager
- Under the HotSync Controls tab make sure HotSync is enabled
- Under the Connection Settings tab make sure the checkbox next to 'IR Port' is checked. Select IR Port and click on Settings. Select Serial as the Connection and select 'As fast as possible'.
On your Palm:- Open the HotSync application.
- On the main screen make sure 'Local' is selected and 'IR to a PC/Handheld' as the connection type.
- Select 'Connection Setup...' from the 'Options' menu.
- Select 'Direct Serial' and click 'Done'.
Make sure that IrDA is on. This should happen automatically if HotSync is enabled. I noticed that I wasn't able to turn IrDA off unless I disabled HotSync (or killed the Transport process).
Now line up your palm IrDA port with the one on your powerbook. Open the Hotsync app on your Palm and click on the big hotsync button. If all is well at this point you should see an intermittent communication happening between the palm and your Powerbook. You may have to wait for the 'Waiting for Sender' window to clear on your palm before you can click on the Sync button. Good Luck.
[Editor's note: I have not personally tested this procedure...]
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