Datasheet

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 avail-
able for all these 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 ex-
change 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 desk-
top applications.
The time synchronization conduit is special in that there is no user-visible pro-
gram 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 oper-
ation 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 the correspond-
ing program should not be running at the given time. Specifically, KOrganizer
should not be running during a sync operation.
9.1 Conduits Used by KPilot
The conduits used by KPilot can be enabled and configured after selecting ‘Set-
tings’ ➝ ‘Configure KPilot’. The following is a list of some important conduits:
Address Book This conduit handles the data exchange with the handheld’s ad-
dress book. The KDE counterpart for managing these contacts is KAddress-
Book. Start it from the main menu or with the command kaddressbook.
KNotes/Memos This conduit allows you to transfer notes created with KNotes
to the handheld’s memo application. Start the KDE application from the
main menu or with the command knotes.
142 9.1. Conduits Used by KPilot