Finally, I found something that actually does allow me to interact with a (relatively) modern Motorola phone just fine! It's called P2k Commander and there's a Linux version as well as a Windows version. Seemed perfect! I downloaded the source for p2kc 0.6 and got started. And it was pretty good, but there were some things I wanted to fix in the code . . . So, I did! (Got to love truly free software!) Also, I figured it could stand to be cleaned-up and packaged for Ubuntu. So, I did that, too!
If you'd like to try P2k Commander on Ubuntu, download this package. (If you're running the AMD64 architecture of Ubuntu, use this package instead, but if you're not sure, stick to the default i386 architecture package that will work best for almost all Ubuntu users out there.) Finally, if you're a developer interested in the package sources, you can find those here.
I might eventually create an Ubuntu repository for these packages, but I'm not to sure I can actually provide that, so we'll see . . . In the meantime, once you've downloaded the package, install it like so:
sudo dpkg -i p2kc_0.6-0ubuntu1_i386.debor:
sudo dpkg -i p2kc_0.6-0ubuntu1_amd64.debThen go to your Applications menu and select the P2kCommander launcher (which should be under "Accessories" or "Utilities" or something like that). You'll be asked to enter your password to gain administrative privileges.
After that, you'll need to connect your phone with a USB cable. And then you should be able to view, change, and copy files on the phone by selecting "P2k: /e" or one of the other "P2k" entries. So far, it's allowed me to add ringtones and other files to my phone with little trouble!!! It also allows me to download pictures off my phone and retreive audio files recorded on the phone (which are recorded as AMR files and can only be played with this app, so far as I know). This has opened up a lot of new uses for my phone to me!
I hope this helps someone else. And if you do like this app, show some appreciation to Sándor Ötvös AKA s5vi, who created P2kCommander in the first place.
Finally, if you're interested in the Windows version, you can get that at his site as well: http://www.el-co.hu/smf/.
15 comments:
ur blog is becomng boring :((
when r u getting marriaged?
Huh? Was this too technical? :P
And why aren't you writing more often?
I've been looking all over for something that'll let me access the V3xx from Ubuntu. Thanks for making this post and taking the time to make the packages!
I'm trying to recover contacts/messages for someone whose display got ripped off from their phone. It still functions -- and this utility is the only way to do anything useful with the thing.
Thanks, again. I'm off to find where/how address book entries are stored on the phone.
Hi JS.
I don't think you can extract the phonebook with p2kc. But you can with kmobiletools (it's in Ubuntu repositories).
$ ls /dev/ttyACM* (remember the higher number in the list)
$ sudo ln -s /dev/ttyACM2 /dev/mobile (replace "2" with your higher number, or another one if doesn't work late)
$ gksu kmobiletools (gksu, not sudo)
- Go to Settings > Main Settings > Mobile Phone : choose your phone type
- Go to Phonebook > Refresh
$ sudo cp /root/.kde/share/apps/kmobiletools/kmobiletools.vcf ~/Desktop
$ sudo chown $USER:$USER ~/Desktop/kmobiletools.vcf
You now have your phone book on your desktop in vCard format. You can use this tool if you want to convert it to something else : http://labs.brotherli.ch/vcfconvert/
You can email me if you have any trouble : http://scr.im/rndmerle
Regards.
I was hoping to find the phone book database files one the phone's file system. If I could find the files, it wouldn't be that hard to write a simple utility to dump them in a format I could work with.
I've tried moto4lin (doesn't work with V3xx, as you noted) and kmobiletools. I didn't have any luck with kmobiletools, and my phone gets connected as /dev/ttySL0. I think I tried making a symlink for /dev/ttyACM0 and maybe even /dev/mobile, but I'll give that another shot.
I'll keep the gksu tip in mind when I try it later tonight.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I installed p2k commander, but when i try to select any of the paths: p2k: /a /b /c /e, the program shuts down. I have a Motorola va76r. The message that appears on the lower left side is as follows:
Search for Motorola USBLAN Interface.
Found Interface: Belcarra USBLAN - MDLM/BLAN
sh: ipconfig: not found
Phone model:
As you can see above, the phone model is not indicated.
Any help/recommendation would be appreciated from this newbie.
Thanks
Based on what I'm reading, the va76r is not a straightforward P2K phone, but actually runs under a Linux kernel! I see some saying that they've connected to the phone at just plain "p2k:/", and then they see something like a typical Unix filesystem.
You might even be able to simply mount the phone as a filesystem in Linux and bypass P2kCommander altogether...
I really don't know a lot about phones, to be honest. I happen to have an aging Motorola P2k phone and I just wanted to be able to copy photographs off after I took them. I really only made an Ubuntu package out of a utility I'd already found. I know just enough to make the package, but not enough to change the actual application itself. I'll try to help when I can, but that will probably be on depressingly few occassions.
I've noticed some bugs in the program myself, such as being unable to pull files from the phone that contain a space in the name. Gah! I don't think s5vi has any plans to update the Linux version any time soon...
Good luck!
Hi there,
Thanks for getting back to me...I've tried "p2k:/" but receive the following as an error message: File Manager Error: The location does not exist.
Somehow it does not surprise me...I've tried so many way to connect to this phone and it never worked.
If maybe you show (or point to me how) I can try mounting the phone...that would be appreciated from this newbie to Ubuntu.
Thanks again in advance.
To try and mount the phone as a filesystem, you'll need to know which device file is used by the phone and I can't help much with that. (JS mentioned /dev/ttyACM0 and /dev/ttySL0, but your phone may use something else after it connects via a USB cable. You'll need to Google for your model and linux and see what you can find.) When you know the device, create an empty directory somewhere and then run this:
sudo mount
For example:
mkdir ~/cell-phone # Makes the dir
sudo mount /dev/ttyACM0 ~/cell-phone
More on mounting a filesystem in Linux: http://itc.virginia.edu/desktop/linux/mount.html.
If that doesn't work, you're going to have to look elsewhere. I really don't know a lot about cell phones. I just packaged up P2kcommander for my own cell phone and thought I'd share, if it could help anyone else...
Hi, JS,
perfect ... thanks for all the efforts taken. This works perfectly on Ubuntu 10.10, in fact the first program that allows me to access my phone (all the other stuff exept Kmobiletools -limited to contacts- never before worked).
really great, thanks again
Hi, I installed p2k commander and there is a little problem (Ubuntu 10.04 LTS). Everything works fine but when I starting to make a new skin: After "Creating New Folder" I get a new window without buttons "Are you shure to create...(/c/mobile/skins/Neon...) and i cant react or do anything because there is no "ok" button visible. Any help/recommendation would be appreciated from this newbie.
Yay! With your explanation about p2kcommander, i've finally copied some photos off of my RIZR Z3 onto my main computer, after over two years. Hated trying to email the photos to myself - sometimes it just wouldn't happen. Now I got *all* of them! Thanks to you, my friends and relatives can look forward to many blurry badly-lit photos of building they don't care about, scenery that looks a ruined painting, and cats. :) (I need a new smartphone with a better camera.)
Yay! With your explanation about p2kcommander, i've finally copied some photos off of my RIZR Z3 onto my main computer, after over two years. Hated trying to email the photos to myself - sometimes it just wouldn't happen. Now I got *all* of them! Thanks to you, my friends and relatives can look forward to many blurry badly-lit photos of building they don't care about, scenery that looks a ruined painting, and cats. :) (I need a new smartphone with a better camera.)
(No idea why my post appeared twice. Is there a way to delete one?)
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