Tech the halls

[j4]

On my own in the house for the first time these hols, surrounded by glittering piles of shiny tech, I've finally found the motivation to try to set up my SonyEricsson P900 to talk to my computer. (I've only had the P900 for about 8 months, so this is something of a record for me in terms of getting round to configuring things.) First things first, install the software on the two CDs that came with the phone... that's the two PC CDs. Hmm.

Never mind, eh; Macs are clever, so I'll just use iSync to do its clever stuff... except that iSync can't see any devices within range, despite the fact that Bluetooth file sharing was eventually persuaded to see my phone once I told it that it was an 'other device' rather than a phone (though it still can't see any files on it).

What am I doing wrong?

The other tech task I'd planned to get done today was to transfer some files from a mac floppy disk to my laptop. Easy! ... Except that the mac with a floppy drive isn't on the network and doesn't have a USB port, and the PC (which also isn't on the network) which has a floppy drive and a USB port won't read this (rather ancient) vintage of mac disk. Maybe I'll get bored enough yet that I'll try to find a more recent mac/PC floppy disk, transfer the files from one disk to the other on the mac, then use the PC to read the newer disk... or maybe I'll wait till I get back to Cambridge, where I have an external USB floppy drive for the mac.

Meanwhile, while wireless network and BROADBAND are very much appreciated, it's irritating that the built-in firewall here seems to block anything useful (ssh, telnet, ftp). This means that I can only get to chiark (where all my mail is) via mindterm, which is okay except that due to some as yet undiagnosed terminal weirdness tab doesn't work. Which means I can't tab to the next new mail (in an inbox with 1772 mails in it, this is actually something of a problem) and I can't tab-complete anything. Annoying.

In other news: not only do I appear to have no network-fu, I seem to have lost all my elite gamer-fu. sion_a bought me the Sonic Mega Collection for Christmas, and I have been hedgehogging the telly to fuel my videogame addiction ever since. However I completely FAILED to finish Sonic 2 despite having 12 lives at the start of Death Egg Zone, and I can't even get past the Labyrinth Zone boss on original Sonic. And I can't unlock Sonic Spinball until I've finished one or more of the first three games! My left thumb is blistered, I'm seeing gold rings in front of my eyes, but the evil Doctor Robotnik remains unvanquished. I'll get you next time, Robotnik, just see if I don't...

Comments

[brrm.livejournal.com]

I've had a Powerbook and a P900 talking - however, I've still not got 'browse device' to work - let me know if you do. :)
You can send individual files by using "Send as" -> bluetooth on the phone. This is a complete pain, though, as it seems that files can only be sent one at a time this way - not very practical for 20 photos!
iSync definitely sees my P900 as a 'phone', though, hmm. Maybe we shall have to apply my big torch to Morris *and* Sonyericsson fettling when we get the chance. :)

[j4.livejournal.com]

Gah, I don't want to send individual files; I want to get my calendar/contacts/etc. backed up somewhere. And photos. And, well, everything!

Googling around, however, it looks as though P900/Mac compatibility is a known problem. Guess I should have done that googling before buying the phone... :-(

[brrm.livejournal.com]

Calendar & contact synchronisation certainly works on mine.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Ah -- okay, then, how? I guess I'm being dense but I can't see how to do it. & the phone manuals are no help (actually I think there's a more detailed manual than the ones I have with me, but if so it's in Cambridge and I'm not).

The USB cradle thingy doesn't work with the mac either. :-/

[brrm.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I'd be more help if my work Powerbook (only machine normally in my house that's bluetooth-capable) wasn't still at work
due to its reluctance to work at the moment (RAM issues) :(. Still, from
memory, I don't recall anything more unusual than telling the phone to
be discoverable, then choosing 'Configure device' or whatever it is in
the Mac's bluetooth menu, choosing 'Shinyphone' and typing the code on
the phone. The cradle is indeed useless with a Mac, I'd forgotten about that. But
once you've set up the phone, OSX will ask you if you want to pair it
with iCal and Address Book.
I might be able to give you more helpful advice tomorrow or the next day, when I'm in contact with my parents and their bluetooth-capable Powerbook. I'll let you know. :)

[j4.livejournal.com]

It doesn't give me an option of pairing it with iCal (which I don't use anyway so that wouldn't be much use at the moment, though I suppose I could start using it if it was going to be useful), only Address Book. But then when I've gone through the setup thing, it just says "Congratulations! You've set this up!" and doesn't tell you how to actually sync them. Or does it do that automatically? Or what? Am I just being dim?

[brrm.livejournal.com]

Open /Applications/iSync and choose Devices->Add device (unless it is already there - again, navigating blind because I have no bluetooth on this poor old PB :) ). Then just press the sync button. I'm not sure how you configure how often syncing happens - that may be an option when you add a device to iSync.

[j4.livejournal.com]

No, like I said, iSync can't see any devices -- even though I've paired the devices, even though Bluetooth thingy can see it, iSync can't see it. And I have been accepting updates for basically everything. :-/

[brrm.livejournal.com]

It's just occurred to me that support for the P900 may have been added in a later version of iSync - have you been accepting the updates for it in Software Update?