ZEDIC.COM § at&t HTC Tilt 8925 on Ubuntu Linux

at&t HTC Tilt, 8925, TyTN II, Kaiser

I love my new at&t HTC Tilt Cellphone. Otherwise known as the HTC 8925, TyTN II, or Kaiser. This cell is the successor to the at&t HTC 8525, TyTN, or Hermes. It has Windows Mobile 6.1, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, Touch Screen, Qwerty Keyboard. It's kind of like having a tiny laptop in your pocket.

I used to carry a flip phone and an iPAQ 3950 PocketPC around. I decided it was time to combine the two and get a Smartphone. This phone cost me $135 on ebay, and it's like new. It came in the original box with all original accessories, plus an extra battery and Sync Cradle.

I wanted to sync my Contacts and Calendar with Evolution on my Lenovo T60 running Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) Linux. It's kind of tricky to get this setup to work, so I thought I'd post the steps I took for the rest of the world. This should give you a general idea of how to sync other devices or smartphones running WM5, 6, and 6.1 on Linux systems. It should work for most Windows Mobile Devices like: Fuse, Snap, Ozone, Touch, Diamond, Jack, Wing, Dash, Propel, Diamond, Samsung Blackjack, Moto, Palm Trio, LG Insite, and others.

If you have already tried to get this to work yourself, then we need to clean everything up before we start. Your existing settings could screw everything up. You'll want to delete your evolution, multisync, and opensync configuation. If you have already been using Evolution, backup your data before you start, because we are going to delete everything.

BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER AND PHONE BEFORE YOU START! (Just in case)

Starting Fresh

NOTE: The symbols ~/ are a shortcut to your home directory. If your user name is SUPERMAN then ~/ = /home/SUPERMAN
Delete ~/.evolution/
Delete ~/.gconf/apps/evolution
Remove all partnerships
Remove all multisync groups
Restart your Computer

Add Synce Sources

On your Desktop, Open: System > Administration > Software Sources > Third-Party Software
Add: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/synce/ubuntu jaunty main
Add: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/synce/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Install required software

Open a terminal window
Type: sudo apt-get install opensyncutils opensync-plugin-file opensync-plugin-synce opensync-plugin-evolution multisync-tools multisync0.90 synce-sync-engine synce-trayicon synce-hal synce-gvfs
Reboot your computer

Configure Evolution

Open: Applications > Internet > Evolution Mail
Anwser the Questions to setup your email

Configure Your Phone

If you haven't already done so, upgrade your phone to WM6.1. You can get the upgrade from the HTC website.
On your phone, Open: Start > Settings > Connections > USB to PC
Check the box that says "Enable advanced network functionality"
Create at least one Outlook Contact, Calendar Event, and Task

Connect your Tilt

Plug in your tilt using the USB Cble
You should see a message from the SynCE Tray Icon telling you the Kaiser PocketPC HTC9800 has been connected.
You can also type synce-pstatus in a terminal windows to see the device status.

Browes your Files in Gnome

Right click on the SynCE Tray Icon > HTC-9800 > Explorer with Filemanager
You can use this gui to view the Status and create Partners, but I prefer the command line.

Accessing your Tilt from the Command Line

synce-pcp - Copy files
synce-pls - List directory contents
synce-pmkdir - Make directory
synce-pmv - Move (rename) files
synce-prm - Remove file
synce-prmdir Remove an empty directory
synce-prun - Run a program
synce-pstatus - Display status about remote device
synce-install-cab - Install a .cab file

Setup a Partnership

Open a terminal window
Type: synce-create-partnership "Linux" "Contacts,Calendar,Notes,Tasks"
Type: synce-list-partnerships to verify.

Setup MultiSync group

Open a terminal window
Type: msynctool --addgroup Tilt
Type: msynctool --addmember Tilt synce-opensync-plugin
Type: msynctool --addmember Tilt evo2-sync
You can also use the GUI found at Applications > Accessories > Multisync-gui to do these steps, but I like the command-line better.

Sync

Type: msynctool --sync Tilt to sync up.
Open Evolution and you should see your Contacts and Events.

Thoughts

I could not get my Notes/Memos to sync up. If I figure that one out, I'll post it here. My Calander, Tasks, and Contacts work great. I don't sync my email with this phone beause I use at&t Express Mail for that, but it should work. You'll just have to add E-Mail when you create the partnership in the above step.