Hotsync and internet connection with Palm OS device to Linux via Bluetooth

After much persistence, I am finally hotsyncing and surfing the Net on my Zodiac through Ubuntu Linux via bluetooth. The main references I followed are the following:

Howto: Internet on your palm via bluetooth from scratch
bluetooth and Linux
Surf the Web with Bluetooth

These settings worked for me: Run scan for bluetooth:

$ hciconfig
hci0: Type: USB
BD Address: 00:10:60:A7:27:5F ACL MTU: 192:8 SCO MTU: 64:8
UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
RX bytes:41356 acl:533 sco:0 events:1462 errors:0
TX bytes:277041 acl:2258 sco:0 commands:108 errors:0
$ hcitool scan

Create /etc/ppp/peers/dun:

debug
57600
noipdefault
proxyarp
# IP address of PC : IP address to be assigned to Palm
172.31.64.12:172.31.130.67
# My DNS server
ms-dns YOUR_DNS_ADDRESS
ktune
noauth
local
nodefaultroute
noipx

Use ifconfig to check for the IP address currently used. If possible, set it to a static IP. Substitute the IP address of your DNS server for YOUR_DNS_ADDRESS. You can find it out by looking into the file /etc/resolv.conf (look for 'server aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd' and write ms-dns aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd into the above file.)

Run test for connection:

dund --nodetach --listen --persist --msdun call dun

Set the bluetooth device to connect to internet. If test successful, insert line into /etc/default/bluetooth

DUND_OPTIONS="--listen --persist --msdun call dun"

If it connects but there's no data, check that firewall tools like moblock/blockcontrol are not blocking it. Disable to confirm.

J-pilot is a good replacement for Palm Desktop on Linux. Pilot-link is one solid program for transferring files between the Palm and PC though it needs to run from the terminal. Now its really good riddance to Windows. There's one minor quirk on my Zod though -- I need to get it connected to the network before I can hotsync or else it will crash.