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Bad News, Good News

2002-04-05
2004-03-08
  • René Witte

    René Witte - 2002-04-05

    Well, as most probably noticed, there has been no progress on a new version since I'm still busy with my thesis (and this won't change anytime soon, I'm afraid).

    However, for those who still look for a self-contained system to backup Palms via USB, or with more than 2MB, or backup flash, I recommand to have a look at Knoppix: http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/ (the webpage is in German, but there is English documentation).

    Knoppix is self-contained Linux system that runs off a bootable cdrom.  Like PB, it doesn't need to install anything on the PC you're running it from.
    But since you can stuff a lot more on a cd than on a floppy, it comes with a full Linux system, including a graphical desktop (KDE), web browsers, MP3 players, network tools, a complete office suite (OpenOffice) and --- the Palm synchronization software pilot-link, as well as a graphical frontend for it.  Since the pilot-xfer version that comes with it is newer than the one on PB, it can also backup the flash memory.  And it will use the whole available memory of a PC, so creating backups of any size is no problem.  This can then be stored on floppy with one of the compression tools, on a local hard drive, encrypted (with GnuPG) and send by email, or whatever.

    It also comes with USB drivers, but since I don't have a USB Palm I couldn't test synchronization with it.  If somebody tries it, maybe (s)he can post a message in this thread.

    The only catch is that it needs a much more powerful PC if you want to run the graphical desktop (say, at least PII/300MHz with 94MB Memory).  But since it can also boot into a text console (like PB), creating backups on less developed PCs should also be possible.

    Cheers, Ren

     
    • Kyle Davis

      Kyle Davis - 2004-03-08

      Do you know if Knoppix could boot off of a CD-RW disc in a burner-capable computer and read/write directly to the CDRW thqat it booted from?  This would be an ideal scenario for me...

       
      • René Witte

        René Witte - 2004-03-08

        No, that doesn't work AFAIK.  However, you can use a USB memory stick to save configurations/user data, write to any hard drive partition, or use the network.

         

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