Re: [NTLK] Idea for Newt Sync development

From: Steve Weyer (weyer_at_kagi.com)
Date: Fri Mar 08 2002 - 18:58:59 EST


> Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 09:56:14 -0500
> From: "eric a . Farris" <eafarris_at_bigfoot.com>
>
...
>
> In addition, i would like to judge the potential audience for a
> newtonlink client for Linux/*Nix that could sync through ethertalk/tcp.
> i plan on start sifting through the NewtonLink code soon, and weighing
> the potential for such an endeavour, other than my own use and headache.
> However, it occurs to me that Sloup only talks serial. Is that correct?
> Is there something like Sloup that i should use when planning this
> ether-sync? Did Apple ever fully document their "Dock" protocol?
>
> Or (i know this isn't trivial, Steve, but watch me ask it anyway ;)
> could Sloup be modiffied to talk on the ether?

Sloup indirectly does tcp/ip now -- if configured as a helperApp,
Newt's Cape will pass a complete Sloup-format file (e.g., a text file with
.slp extension) to Sloup for processing.

Sloup could be rewritten to use tcp/ip directly itself,
but it'd be a sizable effort, and you'd still be left with a text encoding
and transfer mechanism that's adequate for import and export but not really
for true sync (and still inconvenient for binary info like images and
packages)

it'd probably be better to design a different tool that uses Dock or DIL
protocol...

> From: John Ruschmeyer <jruschme_at_mac.com>

> My own personal suggestion would be that someone take a serious look at
> SyncML (http://www.syncml.org), an XML-based open standard for PDA
> synchronization.

... or an XML approach looks very powerful/promising. for example, the
Zaurus handheld stores its apps data in XML format.

-- 
Steve

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