Syncing a PalmPilot to a Macintosh by Robert Jen
PowerMac 6500 to Pilot Sync
HotSyncing between a PalmPilot and a Macintosh 6500 is very straightforward.
There may be other ways to do this, but the following works very well for me.
Setup
- Install the PalmPilot software on the Mac. The destination folder
must be on the same partition as the System Folder (otherwise the software
can't find some of the things that it needs when it runs).
- Start the HotSync Control Panel. In the General tab,
make sure
that the Local sync option is checked. Click on the Local Setup
tab. Set the Serial Port popup menu to Printer Port and the
Speed to As Fast As Possible.
- Attach the HotSync cradle to the Mac using the printer port.
Syncing
- On the Mac, you need to disable AppleTalk first.
To disable AppleTalk, open the AppleTalk Control Panel.
- Under System 7, you can disable AppleTalk from there.
- Under System 8, if you don't see an Options button, choose the
User Mode option of the Edit menu and set the user mode to
Advanced. You can then click on the Options button and
disable AppleTalk.
- Start the HotSync Control Panel and click on the Start button.
(You can set HotSync Monitor to run on startup, but I prefer not to do that.)
- On the PalmPilot, start the HotSync application and hit the
Local Sync button.
- After the sync has finished, click on the Stop button of the
HotSync Control Panel.
- Turn AppleTalk back on if you need it.
PowerBook 520/540 to Pilot Sync
Setup
- Install the PalmPilot software on the Mac. The destination folder
must be on the same partition as the System Folder (otherwise the software
can't find some of the things that it needs when it runs).
- Start the HotSync Control Panel. In the General tab,
make sure that the Local sync option is checked. Click on the
Local Setup tab. Set the Serial Port popup menu to
Printer/Modem Port and the Speed to As Fast As Possible.
- Attach the HotSync cradle to the Mac using the printer/modem port.
Syncing
- On the Mac, you need to disable AppleTalk first.
To disable AppleTalk, open the AppleTalk Control Panel.
- Under System 7, you can disable AppleTalk from there.
- Under System 8, if you don't see an Options button, choose the
User Mode option of the Edit menu and set the user mode to
Advanced. You can then click on the Options button and
disable AppleTalk.
- Start the HotSync Control Panel and click on the Start button.
(You can set HotSync Monitor to run on startup, but I prefer not
to do that.)
- On the PalmPilot, start the HotSync application.
- Disable the timeout by simultaneously holding down the up and down
arrow
buttons while tapping in the upper right corner of the screen.
You'll know
that you have clicked in the right place if a confirmation dialog box appears
stating that the timeout has been disabled.
- Tap the Local Sync button on the Pilot. It may take up to a minute
for the Macintosh to respond, so be patient.
- After the HotSync has succeeded, click on the Stop button of the
HotSync Control Panel and make sure that you perform a warm reset
on the Pilot to close the serial port. If you don't do this, you will drain
your battery unnecessarily.
- Turn AppleTalk back on if you need it.
Here's a useful article from Mac User
that also addresses the Macintosh<->PalmPilot synchronization issue.
