Smartphone/PDA
This page contains informations about applications, that can be used on PDAs as well as Smartphones and some mobile phones powered by the Symbian operating system. You'll also find information about 3rd party applications (or plug-ins) that allow you to synchronize your Smartphone with your own Cloud...you can also call it Home Cloud (e.g. with a Zarafa installation on you Synology DiskStation as starting point).
For the applications you find here I used for example the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME), TotalCross (also see the TotalCross Wiki - the successor of SuperWaba) or SuperWaba. Maybe in the future Google Android applications will also show up. Even more likely are applications for the new Palm WebOS and therewith for the new Palm device called Pre.
The following is seperated into several parts. Click on the link to jump directly to the interesting section:
- Description of Java ME
- Description of TotalCross (SuperWaba successor)
- Description of SuperWaba
- Tips and Tricks
- Some additional information
- The list of projects
Java ME
Java ME
is still called by it's previous name Java2ME or J2ME.
Java ME uses different characteristics as for example device
configurations and additional profiles.
There are for example the configurations Connected Device Configuration (CDC)
and Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC). Recent
mobile phones support normally CLDC and alongside the
Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP).
One of the most widespread Java ME implementations comes from IBM and
is called "J9".
Additional extensions are defined by so-called JSR's.
The access to the internal address book of mobile phones has been
defined in JSR-75, while for example the JSR-82
allows the direct access to the Bluetooth functions of the device.
TotalCross
TotalCross
is also Java, but it has a different function range and has also
a different API. Because of this differences it's not allowed to
call it Java, even if it follows the Java design.
I'm using TotalCross among other things because I can use the Bluetooth-Interface
on PalmOS devices. IBM's J9 implementation for PalmOS supports
for example the JSR-75 to access the internal address book, but
unfortunately not JSR-82 needed to access Bluetooth.
In the first TotalCross release from January 2009 the PIM functions
(Calendar/Tasks/Contacts) are missing. This is because TotalCross is
supporting newer devices and the API has to be revised.
TotalCross supports the following platforms:
- PalmOS (5.x with NVFS - Treo >=600, T|X, E2, Zire 22)
- Backberry (ROM Version >=4.3)
- iPhone (1.1.4 with JailBreak - iPhone 2nd Generation planned)
- Windows Mobile
- Pocket PC
- Windows CE
- Symbian (planned)
- Windows
- Linux (planned)
The development of TotalCross applications is the same as in Java and you can even use the same Java development environment (e.g. Eclipse) to create TotalCross applications. The migration from SuperWaba is easy and supported by a tool that comes with the TotalCross SDK. The SDK now also includes the Litebase database component.
TotalCross has a new licensing modell and now
the end-user has to buy the VM for his device.
The license is not very expensive as you can see below.
As I think no big company needing >100 licenses is reading this, here is only
the price of TotalCross for 1-100 licenses (as of 2009-01-21):
- TotalCross VM + Litebase (Database): 18.00 USD (~14,00 EUR)
- TotalCross VM only: 12.60 USD (~10,00 EUR)
SuperWaba
As SuperWaba
is the predecessor of TotalCross, most things also apply to SuperWaba.
SuperWaba allows you to access the PIM functions.
SuperWaba can be executed on several different devices and operating systems:
- PalmOS
- SuperWabaVM PalmOS 5.x (ARM) with 16-bit Colors (e.g. Treo, E2, T|X,..)
- SuperWabaVM PalmOS 5.x (ARM) with 8-bit Colors (e.g. Zire 22)
- SuperWabaVM PalmOS 5.x or 4.x with 16-bit Colors
- SuperWabaVM PalmOS 3.x and 4.x with 8-bit Colors
- Windows Mobile
- Pocket PC
- Windows CE
- Symbian (Note: Rename the *.cab file to *.sis!)
- SuperWabaVM Symbian (Nokia S60)
- SuperWabaVM Symbian (Nokia S60v3)
Important instructions - SuperWabaVM Symbian (Nokia S80)
- Windows
- Linux
The development of SuperWaba applications is the same as in Java and
you can even use the same Java development environment (e.g. Eclipse)
to create SuperWaba applications. There is also an Open Source
Eclipse-Plugin available called
SuperWaba IDE.
It is no longer maintained but still very useful.
SuperWaba is available as commercial product (matter of expense US$ 500 each year)
and also in a version using a LGPL license. When using the
LGPL version you are not allowed to sell your application to make profit.
Tips and Tricks
As a workaround for the missing JSR-82 on IBM J9 for PalmOS
you should be able to access a Bluetooth GPS receiver by using
a serial bluetooth connection.
This can be done by using a normal serial port setting:
comm:rfcm;baud=9600
Other Details
Java ME as well as TotalCross and Superwaba use a Virtual Machine (VM) where the actual application will be executed. This has the advantage that the application should not be able to crash your device (at least this shouldn't happen) in case of an major application failure inside the VM. Beside that another advantage is that you can run an application written on every device where the Runtime (the VM) has been ported to. TotalCross and SuperWaba need about half of the memory for the Virtual Machine compared to IBM's J9. TotalCross is faster than SuperWaba. Starting applications written with TotalCross or SuperWaba are starting much faster than e.g. .NET Compact Framework applications on the Windows Mobile platform.
Projects
After this entering guide to the used virtual machines I'll finally introduce you to the different applications I've written in table form. By clicking at the name of the application you will be forwarded to a detailed description.
Overview
Name | Version | Releasedate | Target platform | Compiler | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FinchSyncSW Client | 0.45 | work in progress (no release date determined) |
-PalmOS -Pocket PC & Windows Mobile -Symbian planned with TotalCross: -iPhone -Blackberry |
SuperWaba v5.85/ TotalCross v1.x | FinchSyncSW Client is synchronisation client
application written in SuperWaba. It will allow the synchronisation
of contacts and appointments with Mozilla products like
Thunderbird (Contacts) and Sunbird (Appointments). More information can be found below. |
Z-Push | 2.0.6-1616 2.0.5-1541 2.0.3-1467 2.0.2-1437 |
2012-12-23 2012-12-04 2012-09-20 2012-08-22 |
Zarafa on Synology DiskStations (tested: DSM 4.1) | - | Z-Push is an Addon for Zarafa to Sync
your Smartphones (Contacts, Calendar, Tasks,..)
with Exchange Active Sync (short: EAS). More information can be found below. |
Here are the application details
FinchSyncSW Client (Update: 2009-01-28)
FinchSyncSW Client is a client application for the data-synchronisation written in SuperWaba (currently in early development stage). When completed it will synchronise contacts and appointments with the Mozilla products like Thunderbird (Contacts) and Sunbird (Appointments). To transfer the data you need a TCP/IP connection using GPRS, Bluetooth, WLAN or any other technology.
I had problems with the stability of the network connection which I could finally solve while I was experimenting with the TotalCross Beta4 release in January 2009. The work on the client has been picked up and will continue to use SuperWaba until TotalCross will be able to access the calendar, appointments and tasks. You can find some more information about TotalCross in the news section (January 2009).
Beside the TCP/IP connection you need on your PC the FinchSync server component (a Java application). This application has been written by Markus Rahlff, who has been so kind to give me the necessary information to develop a client for PalmOS. He only offers a client for Pocket PC and Windows Mobile powered devices.
The FinchSyncSW Client will communicate with the FinchSync server component that will in turn interact with the Mozilla products.

The main focus of this development is to provide a solution for PalmOS powered devices like e.g. the Treo Smartphone series. Because of the nature of SuperWaba, it should be possible to use this appliction also on Pocket PC, Windows Mobile and Symbian powered devices. As I don't own any devices (except a Treo650) I can't guarantee that those operating systems will work. Make sure you always have a backup of your data before using this application (especially on a non PalmOS powered devices)!
Here we have some screenshots of a version running on my development machine. The application basically should look like the C# version from Markus Rahlff. The colors vary depending on the platform you run the application, this is only the look when I run it from inside my development IDE.





Screenshots of FinchSyncSW Client -- Date: 2007-08-08
(click to view larger image)


Screenshots of FinchSyncSW Client running inside
PalmOS (Treo 650 Sample) and MS-PocketPC WM6 Emulator -- Date: 2007-08-08
(click to view larger image)
Summary and Features
- Sync using FinchSync server component (Java application)
- Contacts with Thunderbird
- Appointments with Sunbird
- Supported client operating systems (your PDA or Smartphone)
- PalmOS (e.g. Centro, Treo650, Treo680,.. Smartphones - Main development focus)
- Pocket PC & Windows Mobile 5/6 (tested with MS-PPC Emulator only - seems to work so far)
The FinchSync author offers a client for Pocket PC & Windows Mobile written in C#, using the .NET Compact Framework! - Symbian (tested on Nokia 6630 & Nokia N70 - seems to work so far)
- Planned support for client operating systems (your PDA or Smartphone) with the release of SuperWaba 6 (TotalCross)
- iPhone
- Blackberry
- The client will support the following languages
- English
- German
- Italian
- You can help to extend this list of supported languages (Contact).
- Supported server operating systems (your Personal Computer)
- Any OS where a Java Runtime Environment (JRE; Java >=1.4) is available!
- eComStation (eCS) or OS/2 (Java 1.4.1 by Golden Code Development or Innotek Java 1.4.2)
- Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista
- Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat, CentOS,...)
- Mac OS X
- and other operating systems
Z-Push Zarafa Addon for Synology DiskStations (Update: 2012-12-23)
The Z-Push Addon available here is from Z-Push and itself hasn't been modified. The unmodified original code has been put into another new archive where additional extended scripts based on the older official Z-Push v1.5.10 (Synology Z-Push version by Julian Dohle) have been applied. With this it is possible to install this Addon directly using Package Manager of the Synology DiskStation.
Note: The latest version of the Z-Push package available here hasn't been tested by me beside the basic installation process and a simple sync of contacts!
Download Z-Push v2.0.6-1616 [2012-12-23]
Z-Push Zarafa Synology DS SPK package (0,5 MB)
Download
Download Z-Push v2.0.5-1541 [2012-12-04]
Z-Push Zarafa Synology DS SPK package (0,5 MB)
Download
Download Z-Push v2.0.3-1467 [2012-09-20]
Z-Push Zarafa Synology DS SPK package (0,5 MB)
Download
Download Z-Push v2.0.2-1437 [2012-08-22]
Z-Push Zarafa Synology DS SPK package (0,5 MB)
Download