Would Ubuntu be the first distro to support Pocket PC devices out of the box?

[David Eriksson]

Hi,

This is a shameless plug as I'm one of the project managers for SynCE, a
project dedicated to connect Microsoft Windows CE devices to Linux,
FreeBSD and similar operating systems:

  http://synce.sourceforge.net/

Windows CE devices include, as you probably know, devices running Pocket
PC, Microsoft Smartphone and Windows Mobile.

I'm seriously hooked to the idea that things should Just Work, and as
that seems to be a prominent part of Ubuntu, I thought you may be
interested.

In the ideal world, SynCE should work similar to the corresponding
ActiveSync software on Microsoft Windows: you connect any Windows CE
device to the computer and you automatically get an icon in "My
Computer" to browse the files on the device, and your appointments,
tasks and contacts are synchronized between the device and your PIM
application if you setup a partnership between the PC and the device.

SynCE can do all of that, but has not yet reached your speciality, "Just
Work", due to a few limitations including:

- The kernel driver (called "ipaq") works very well, but not always
out-of-the-box. See http://synce.sourceforge.net/synce/howto.php and you
will know that it can get complicated...

- Repeated disconnection/reconnection does not always work properly.

- The GNOME integration works, but there is only support for
synchronizing with Evolution 1.4, not with Evolution 2.

- KDE integration is also in place, and a KitchenSync Konnector for
synchronization of PIM data was recently added, but requires some
patches for KitchenSync.

If Canonical/Ubuntu people helped to remove these limitations and made
SynCE Just Work, it would be one stumbling block less for someone close
to switching from MS Windows to Linux.

SynCE already exists in Debian, see this page for a package list:

  http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=Volker+Christian

-- 
Best regards,
               -\- David Eriksson -/-

        SynCE - http://synce.sourceforge.net
       CalcEm - http://calcem.sourceforge.net
      ScummVM - http://scummvm.sourceforge.net
     Desquirr - http://desquirr.sourceforge.net
  SetiWrapper - http://setiwrapper.sourceforge.net