6.0 Synchronizing a Handheld Computer with
KPilot
Handheld computers are in widespread use among users who need to
have their schedules, to-do lists, and notes with them everywhere they go.
Often users want the same data available on both the desktop and
the portable device. This is where KPilot comes
in—it is a tool to synchronize data on a handheld with that used by
the KDE applications KAddressBook, KOrganizer, and KNotes, which are
part of Kontact.
The main purpose of KPilot is to allow
sharing of data between the applications of a handheld computer and their
KDE counterparts. KPilot does come with its own
built-in memo viewer, address viewer, and file installer, but these cannot
be used outside the KPilot environment. Independent KDE applications are
available for all functions except the file installer.
For communication between the handheld and the different desktop
programs, KPilot relies on conduits.
KPilot itself is the program that oversees any
data exchange between the two computer devices. Using a particular function
of the handheld on your desktop computer requires that the corresponding
conduit is enabled and configured. For the most part, these conduits are
designed to interact with specific KDE programs, so in general they cannot be
used with other desktop applications.
The time synchronization conduit is special in that there is no user-visible
program for it. It is activated in the background with each sync operation,
but should only be enabled on computers that use a network time server to
correct their own time drift.
When a synchronization is started, the conduits are activated one after
another to carry out the data transfer. There are two different sync
methods: a HotSync operation only synchronizes the data for which any
conduits have been enabled while a backup operation performs a full backup of all
data stored on the handheld.
Some conduits open a file during a sync operation, which means that the
corresponding program should not be running at that time. Specifically,
KOrganizer should not be running during a sync
operation.
