Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP1 - KDE 14-05-2007, Manual, Page: 143 / 354

6
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.
Synchronizing a Handheld Computer with KPilot 131