12:42 p.m.
Greetings,
Much thanks for all of the help.
My goal is to keep all of my PIM data in sync across several components: a
desktop, an Android phone, and occasionally a laptop; the desktop and
laptop run some version of Fedora linux and evolution.
Previously, I had a Palm Centro phone, and I used J-Pilot on my desktops
to sync PIM data. USB cabling was all that was required.
With an Android phone (HTC Design 4G) replacing the Palm Centro, USB
cabling apparently became unavailable, at least for those using a Linux
desktop/laptop. HTC only provides software for Windows platforms (HTC
Sense).
Consequently, the cloud seemed to be the expedient alternative, with
several choices available.
Google seemed to be an uncritical default w/ so many of Android's
functions tied to Google's services. However, since Google is in the
search business, PIM data seems to be something that I personally would
like to keep separate from my search engine or Google Reader histories.
So, I've been working/syncing with three different services: Memotoo,
Funambol/Onemediahub, and everdroid (mobical).
Two areas of frustration: category-synchronization, and device
synchronization.
On my Android phone, PIM data is kept seperately from the default
(Onemediahub keeps the phonebook in a phonebook labeled "Onemediahub;"
likewise Memotoo). Is there are a way of making the cloudservice the
default?
As for categories, Memotoo accepts the master data's (in my case the
desktop's) categories; Onemediahub doesn't. At the Android device level,
categories aren't imported during a sync; however, once you setup a
category that's in the sync'd data, the items in that category show up.
In the old days (twenty years ago), rationales for certain
internet-related procedures were first embedded in RFCs. However, there
seems to be a bit of a potential for inconsistency given the way PIM data
is used and moved by cloud services.
Comments?
Much thanks,
Max Pyziur
pyz(a)brama.com
1:24 p.m.
On Tue, 2013-01-29 at 14:42 -0500, Max Pyziur wrote:
Google seemed to be an uncritical default w/ so many of Android's
functions tied to Google's services. However, since Google is in the
search business, PIM data seems to be something that I personally would
like to keep separate from my search engine or Google Reader histories.
So, I've been working/syncing with three different services: Memotoo,
Funambol/Onemediahub, and everdroid (mobical).
Two areas of frustration: category-synchronization, and device
synchronization.
On my Android phone, PIM data is kept seperately from the default
(Onemediahub keeps the phonebook in a phonebook labeled "Onemediahub;"
likewise Memotoo). Is there are a way of making the cloudservice the
default?
I think keeping a separate address book is by design, so no.
As for categories, Memotoo accepts the master data's (in my case
the
desktop's) categories; Onemediahub doesn't.
You are talking about contact data here, right?
CATEGORIES were tested successfully with Onemediahub when SyncEvolution
1.3 was released; I just checked the logs, the server did include
correct CATEGORIES data when downloading via SyncML. I did not check
whether the UI made use of that data correctly.
At the Android device level,
categories aren't imported during a sync; however, once you setup a
category that's in the sync'd data, the items in that category show up.
How do you sync? I used the Synthesis SyncML client for a while, but
don't remember if it supported categories.
--
Best Regards, Patrick Ohly
The content of this message is my personal opinion only and although
I am an employee of Intel, the statements I make here in no way
represent Intel's position on the issue, nor am I authorized to speak
on behalf of Intel on this matter.
2:40 p.m.
On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Patrick Ohly wrote:
On Tue, 2013-01-29 at 14:42 -0500, Max Pyziur wrote:
[...]
> Two areas of frustration: category-synchronization, and device
> synchronization.
>
> On my Android phone, PIM data is kept seperately from the default
> (Onemediahub keeps the phonebook in a phonebook labeled "Onemediahub;"
> likewise Memotoo). Is there are a way of making the cloudservice the
> default?
I think keeping a separate address book is by design, so no.
One down, one to go. (Copy contacts may be a solution here).
> As for categories, Memotoo accepts the master data's (in my
case the
> desktop's) categories; Onemediahub doesn't.
You are talking about contact data here, right?
Yes
CATEGORIES were tested successfully with Onemediahub when
SyncEvolution
1.3 was released; I just checked the logs, the server did include
correct CATEGORIES data when downloading via SyncML. I did not check
whether the UI made use of that data correctly.
Categories do travel with the data to Onemediahub (since when I sync a
device to OneMediahub data the categories move to the device also - I see
them if I do an export to a VCF file on the device)
however, unlike Memotoo, they don't show up automatically. In Memotoo, if
categories are used in the PIM contacts data on the destktop, sync'd to
Memotoo, then Memotoo automotacily shows accounts and their groups.
> At the Android device level,
> categories aren't imported during a sync; however, once you setup a
> category that's in the sync'd data, the items in that category show up.
How do you sync? I used the Synthesis SyncML client for a while, but
don't remember if it supported categories.
My syncing (so far): desktop -> cloud service -> device.
Since I'm new to this game (post-Palm Centro), I'm open to alternatives.
Thanks,
Max Pyziur
pyz(a)brama.com
7:48 a.m.
On Tue, 2013-01-29 at 16:40 -0500, Max Pyziur wrote:
On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Patrick Ohly wrote:
> CATEGORIES were tested successfully with Onemediahub when SyncEvolution
> 1.3 was released; I just checked the logs, the server did include
> correct CATEGORIES data when downloading via SyncML. I did not check
> whether the UI made use of that data correctly.
Categories do travel with the data to Onemediahub (since when I sync a
device to OneMediahub data the categories move to the device also - I see
them if I do an export to a VCF file on the device)
however, unlike Memotoo, they don't show up automatically.
So they are stored in Android, but not used in the UI? This is really a
question for Funambol, no idea.
>> At the Android device level,
>> categories aren't imported during a sync; however, once you setup a
>> category that's in the sync'd data, the items in that category show up.
>
> How do you sync? I used the Synthesis SyncML client for a while, but
> don't remember if it supported categories.
My syncing (so far): desktop -> cloud service -> device.
That doesn't answer how the cloud service -> device part is done. Both
Memotoo and OneMediaHub work with arbitrary SyncML clients. I see on
memotoo that for Android, both their own Memotoo sync (a Funambol client
fork as far as I know) and the Synthesis client are mentioned.
Either way, this seems to go wrong outside of SyncEvolution. You should
better try to get in touch with the developers of the Android sync
client to get your problem fixed.
--
Best Regards, Patrick Ohly
The content of this message is my personal opinion only and although
I am an employee of Intel, the statements I make here in no way
represent Intel's position on the issue, nor am I authorized to speak
on behalf of Intel on this matter.
8:35 a.m.
On Thu, 31 Jan 2013, Patrick Ohly wrote:
On Tue, 2013-01-29 at 16:40 -0500, Max Pyziur wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Patrick Ohly wrote:
>> CATEGORIES were tested successfully with Onemediahub when SyncEvolution
>> 1.3 was released; I just checked the logs, the server did include
>> correct CATEGORIES data when downloading via SyncML. I did not check
>> whether the UI made use of that data correctly.
>
>
> Categories do travel with the data to Onemediahub (since when I sync a
> device to OneMediahub data the categories move to the device also - I see
> them if I do an export to a VCF file on the device)
> however, unlike Memotoo, they don't show up automatically.
So they are stored in Android, but not used in the UI?
Sort of:
1 - if I export the contacts data in vcf format from the Android device
OneMediaHub "phonebook" then I see the appropriate category in the
exported file.
2 - if I explicitly add the category to Onemediahub Android device or on
the website, then those items associated w/ that category appear (in this
case MemoToo wins, since I don't have to go through this process on the
website).
This is really a
question for Funambol, no idea.
Copy that.
>>> At the Android device level,
>>> categories aren't imported during a sync; however, once you setup a
>>> category that's in the sync'd data, the items in that category show
up.
>>
>> How do you sync? I used the Synthesis SyncML client for a while, but
>> don't remember if it supported categories.
>
> My syncing (so far): desktop -> cloud service -> device.
That doesn't answer how the cloud service -> device part is done. Both
Memotoo and OneMediaHub work with arbitrary SyncML clients. I see on
memotoo that for Android, both their own Memotoo sync (a Funambol client
fork as far as I know) and the Synthesis client are mentioned.
Either way, this seems to go wrong outside of SyncEvolution. You should
better try to get in touch with the developers of the Android sync
client to get your problem fixed.
I get it: SyncEvolution is between Evolution and a respective cloud
service or peer/local device, not between cloud service and Android
device.
One personal peeve, w/r/t contacts and the cloud services: the country
field gets "homogenized" in the cloud service, notably Memotoo.
Several examples: if I have, say, an ISO-3316 two-letter code for a
country on my Evolution desktop - US (for the United States), Memotoo
converts it to "United States."
If I use a foreign term for a country code, say "Россия" (Russia), Memotoo
on the web page converts this to "Russian Federation"
Would someone know of an override for this (as in, leave my country names
as is, please)?
Thanks to everyone for all of their help.
Max Pyziur
pyz(a)brama.com
10:08 a.m.
On Thu, 2013-01-31 at 10:35 -0500, Max Pyziur wrote:
On Thu, 31 Jan 2013, Patrick Ohly wrote:
> On Tue, 2013-01-29 at 16:40 -0500, Max Pyziur wrote:
>> On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Patrick Ohly wrote:
>>> CATEGORIES were tested successfully with Onemediahub when SyncEvolution
>>> 1.3 was released; I just checked the logs, the server did include
>>> correct CATEGORIES data when downloading via SyncML. I did not check
>>> whether the UI made use of that data correctly.
>>
>>
>> Categories do travel with the data to Onemediahub (since when I sync a
>> device to OneMediahub data the categories move to the device also - I see
>> them if I do an export to a VCF file on the device)
>> however, unlike Memotoo, they don't show up automatically.
>
> So they are stored in Android, but not used in the UI?
Sort of:
1 - if I export the contacts data in vcf format from the Android device
OneMediaHub "phonebook" then I see the appropriate category in the
exported file.
2 - if I explicitly add the category to Onemediahub Android device or on
the website, then those items associated w/ that category appear (in this
case MemoToo wins, since I don't have to go through this process on the
website).
SyncEvolution as a SyncML client of Onemediahub has no API to create
categories. It can only send a vCard with CATEGORIES set. Looks like
OneMediaHub should scan incoming vCards to detect new categories.
>> My syncing (so far): desktop -> cloud service ->
device.
>
> That doesn't answer how the cloud service -> device part is done. Both
> Memotoo and OneMediaHub work with arbitrary SyncML clients. I see on
> memotoo that for Android, both their own Memotoo sync (a Funambol client
> fork as far as I know) and the Synthesis client are mentioned.
>
> Either way, this seems to go wrong outside of SyncEvolution. You should
> better try to get in touch with the developers of the Android sync
> client to get your problem fixed.
I get it: SyncEvolution is between Evolution and a respective cloud
service or peer/local device, not between cloud service and Android
device.
Exactly. The problem is that hardly any vendor (none!?) can afford to
write native code for all clients or support all clients that someone
else might have written. Therefore there is no solution which works for
arbitrary combinations.
See https://syncevolution.org/blogs/pohly/2011/state-syncing-open-source
One personal peeve, w/r/t contacts and the cloud services: the
country
field gets "homogenized" in the cloud service, notably Memotoo.
Several examples: if I have, say, an ISO-3316 two-letter code for a
country on my Evolution desktop - US (for the United States), Memotoo
converts it to "United States."
If I use a foreign term for a country code, say "Россия" (Russia), Memotoo
on the web page converts this to "Russian Federation"
Would someone know of an override for this (as in, leave my country names
as is, please)?
It is not uncommon that servers convert data into some kind of internal
representation - they have to, in order to convert between clients with
different representations. How that is done depends on the server-side
implementation. In the case of Memotoo, it seems to use an enumeration
internally instead of a plain text string. This is something that you
need to talk to Memotoo about, but probably it'll be hard to change.
The general problem of cloud services is that you are often not in
control. If you have the server-side source and run it on your own
server, then you have at least theoretically the possibility to modify
the behavior to suit your needs. In practice it depends on your time and
programming skills, or how much time the upstream authors have to
respond to feature requests. I don't know whether this is an option for
you.
SyncEvolution can run as SyncML server with Android hooked up to it via
some SyncML client, like for example the one from Synthesis. See
https://syncevolution.org/wiki/http-server-howto
OwnCloud or Kolab may be other alternatives. There are no HOWTOs for
setting that up in combination with SyncEvolution and it is a bit harder
than with SyncML (see https://syncevolution.org/wiki/http-server-howto).
--
Best Regards, Patrick Ohly
The content of this message is my personal opinion only and although
I am an employee of Intel, the statements I make here in no way
represent Intel's position on the issue, nor am I authorized to speak
on behalf of Intel on this matter.
3435
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syncevolution@synevolution.org
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