My perspective is a little different from most: I didn’t want to rely on Google to sync my calendar, contacts, etc. I wanted to do that myself. Palm makes it easy; Android makes it hard.

I’m running a Samsung Infuse with Android 2.2.1 currently. Here are the apps I’ve discovered so far to make the Android experience easier. Because I’m cheap, they’re all free unless otherwise noted:

• The calendar app is the most obvious place where Android flunks. I’ve been able to get by with aCalendar for calendar display. It is a lot like the Palm app, and is actively supported. Android also sucks with alarms, so I use Calendar Event Reminder (paid app, around USD 2.50) so I get more than a single “ding” when the alarm goes off. Finally, I use iCal Import/Export to get my calendar events out to the SD card. This is no longer supported by its author unfortunately. It relies on unsupported API as well to get calendar data – but so far that’s the only one. (I heard from the author of aCalendar that he’s thinking about adding export code, though, so there may be hope there. He’s got a Pro verison due out soon, and I’m hopeful. I’ll definitely pay for it when it comes out.)
• To see a percentage representation of battery life (similar to what you’d get on a Palm when you tap the battery icon) I use Battery Indicator.
• I had Noah Pro on my Palm, so I wanted a good dictionary app. ColorDict Dictionary Wikipedia includes all of Noah Pro, and additional files and the ability to do web searches if you’re online. Very nice. (One hint: you need to install dictionary files separately, then run them before you can use them. Looks like a lot of Android users can’t figure that one out.)
• Of course, you’ll need Graffiti for the real experience. I was happy enough with it that I went to the paid version, Graffiti Pro.
• I had Yaps for password storage on the Palm. I eventually migrated to KeePassDroid. Here are more details about migrating from Yaps to KeePassDroid.
• Android search is also pretty lame, especially in contacts. I use Power Search when I really want to find something.
• On Palm, I loved EasyCalc. The best calculator I’ve found so far is RealCalc Scientific Calculator.
• For games, I installed the Ken Magic Solitaire, since it seemed least likely to want to leak my info all over the world.
• To back up applications themselves, I use ASTRO File Manager. This app is able to copy existing apps that don’t have the copy-prevent bit set onto the SD card.
• Finally, to copy all the files up to a server, I use the SAMBA client AndSMB rather than messing around with USB or swapping out SD cards.
• I’ve installed Memento Database as a replacement for JFile, but so far have not transferred my data over, so I can’t say how good it is.

The most surprising thing is the app I haven’t found a replacement for yet – the Notepad! All the apps I have seen so far want to sync to the cloud, rather than letting me export to SD. Bummer. I did use What’s for Dinner Premium for my notes which are recipes, and I think it’s great. (I got this free on the Amazon app store for their free app of the day; normally it’s about USD 2.00.) Right now I’m using the Samsung Memo app (installed with their Android builds) for the rest, but it can’t export so I’m not using it for much. If you know of a Notepad app that doesn’t want network access, please let me know in the comments.

I looked around and decided that KeePassDroid would suit nicely. It’s open source, does decent encryption, and is free.

That brought up the question: how do I convert from YAPS to KeePassDroid? I didn’t want to retype everything – and I eventually did manage to get things working. It was a bit of an effort, though – here’s what I did.

1. First, get the required components. I used YapsView (not strictly necessary, but it makes things easier), cygwin perl, GNU emacs, and KeePass 2.16
2. Export the Palm database into a file called Yaps.txt. I used YapsView to do this, but in theory you could use Yaps to export it to the Palm notepad and then cut & paste that to a file on your desktop.
3. Once the file has been exported, convert all instances of \ to \\. I used emacs to do this.
4. Convert all instances of ” to \” using emacs as well. (Do this after doing \ so you don’t expand the \ in \”.)
5. Save the modified Yaps.txt.
6. Next, I found a perl script that converted Yaps to KeePassX here. I hacked that up to create a script I called convertcsv.perl that convertes Yaps to CSV in the KeePass 1.0 format. It is convertcsv-perl.odt. (Sorry it’s an .odt file – WordPress doesn’t want you to upload .perl files. You’ll need to open it in LibreOffice and copy it into a text file called convertcsv.perl yourself, I’m afraid.)
7. Run “perl convertcsv.perl” in the same directory as Yaps.txt. This will create yaps.csv.
8. Create a new databse in KeePass 2.0. I set it to encrypt notes (under the “Protection” tab) and used defaults for the rest.
9. Import yaps.csv into the database you just created. File -> Import… KeePass 1.x CSV. I said “Overwrite existing” but I don’t think it makes a difference at this point.
10. Now move all the passwords to the proper categories in KeePass. This is dull. If you exported only a category at a time, this might be easier.
11. Finally, export the 2.0 database into a KeePass 1.x file. Although KeePassDroid can read KeePass 2.x files, it can’t write them. I usually update passwords on my device, so I needed to be able to edit. I use KeePass 2.0 as the master on my desktop, but import from the 1.0 file from the device whenever I update a password.

That’s it. Your mileage may vary – especially if you have strange characters in your Yaps password file. I did have a few passwords with ” marks in them, and they appeared to migrate OK. A few minor edits was way better than retyping everything!

After doing that, I went through the VCard file and changed Palm-CustomN fields into NOTE;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE: fields (or appended to an existing note). This is described in more detail at:
www.deepwave.net/articles/palm/palm_ctctvcard/.

After doing all this, I noticed that some of my contacts didn’t get moved over. In fact, they didn’t show up on the Palm Desktop either!

It took me a while before I realized that the records that were missing were the hidden records. Duh! I then set the Palm Desktop to show hidden records, exported them to VCard, hacked out the custom fields, and was off and running.

After doing the imports, I realized I should have exported one category at a time – this would have saved me recategorizing the whole wad on Android.

Luckily, I found this post:
eric.biven.us/2009/02/03/ubuntu-and-the-number-pad-that-wont-work/

In short, the solution to turning off this feature is to go into System->Preferences->Assistive Technologies, press “Keyboard Accessibility”, then under “Mouse Keys” uncheck “Pointer can be controlled using the keypad.”

My KVM switch often leaves the shift state down – and the keyboard shortcut for this is Shift + NumLock.

Luckily, there was help this time. I started with my config, and merged with this post:
ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10864691

Here’s the config I ended up using:

Configuration: AX.25
IO:
Mode: soundcard
Audio Driver: /dev/dsp
Half Duplex: selected
PTT Driver: none

Channel Access:
TxDelay: 150
Slot Time: 100
P-Persistence: 40
Full Duplex: not selected
TxTail: 10

Channel 0:
Modulator:
Mode: afsk
Bits/s: 1200
Freq 0: 1200
Freq 1: 2200
Differential: selected

Demodulator:
Mode: afsk
Bits/s: 1200
Freq 0: 1200
Freq 1: 2200
Differential: selected

Packet IO:
Mode: MKISS
Interface: sm0
Callsign: mycall
IP address: 10.0.0.1
Network mask: 255.255.255.0
Broadcast addr: 10.0.0.255

I also set up /etc/ax25/axports to have:

sm0 mycall 1200 255 7 144.39 APRS (1200 bps)

Finally, I made sure Avahi was set to ignore sm0. This is easier than it was prevously – now you just add:

deny-interfaces=sm0

to /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf

Once that’s done, don’t forget to chmod 4755 /usr/bin/xastir so it can open sm0 and things are good.

It turns out I have an Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 01). This is one of the many Intel video cards that have trouble.

I applied workaround F from here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

That led me to here:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/intel-graphics-performance-guide-for-ubuntu-904-jaunty-users.html

After applying the Method 2 fix from there, things seem to be a little more stable. Time will tell.

No idea why. So I deleted it and reinstalled it. When I went to reinstall it, the original IP-address method wasn’t available. Instead I picked: Network Printer -> Brother MFC-9840CDW and accepted the host and queue as filled in by the configuration dialog. When I did that, no luck.

Instead, I selected AppleTalk/HP Jet Direct since I knew the printer supported that protocol as well. Then I had to enter the IP address of the printer and accepted the default port (9100). Once that was done, I could again print a test page and use up all my ink.

In order to promote their tab agenda, they’ve changed the order of the context menu so your muscle memory for “Open Link in New Window” now brings you “Open Link in New Tab”. Ugh.

Luckily, there is an answer for this.

Create a userChrome.css file in your profile/chrome directory (on Windows, C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\somethingrandom.default\chrome\):

#contentAreaContextMenu > * {
-moz-box-ordinal-group: 2;
}
#context-openlink {
-moz-box-ordinal-group: 1 !important;
}

This doesn’t change the order under the file menu, but at least when you’re using the context menu it will work right.

1. Install Flip from the Atmel webpage. If you don’t already have a JRE, you probably want the 20 megabyte package that includes one.
2. Download the 8U2 firmware. That’s the “Arduino-usbserial-uno.hex” file. The “UNO-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex” is the Arduino Uno bootloader firmware for the 328p. If you try installing the 328p firmware onto the 8U2 in Flip, you’ll get an error dialog:

   class com.atmel.flipGui.FileMenuHandler
   Address is out of range.
   

3. I ended up cutting & pasting the hex file contents into a text editor because I couldn’t figure out how to download a single file from github, and I didn’t want the whole 200 megabyte wad.
4. Hook up wires and touch them to the right spots on the Uno at the right time as described in this Arduino forum post by pluggy. You’ll know you did it right when Windows detects a new device. It took me a few tries to keep the first wire steady enough when touching the second wire. Make sure you’re going to the right pads – you could short out your Uno if you touch the wrong place!
5. After Windows detects the new device, you don’t have to hold the wires in place any more. Move them to the side so you don’t accidentally short out something.
6. When the Windows device installer comes up, select “have disk” and install the Atmel USB driver. By default the Atmel USB driver is installed in C:\Program Files\Atmel\Flip 3.4.2\usb\atmel_usb_dfu.inf
7. Notice that the driver is AT90USB82, not ATmega8U2
8. Although it tells you that you have to reboot XP when you install the driver, I didn’t bother.
9. Start Flip from the Program menu
10. File->Load HEX file->Arduino-usbserial-uno.hex
11. Device->Select->AT90USB82
12. Settings->Communication->USB and press Open
13. At this point, you should be ready to program. Press the “Run” button on the main screen.
14. Programming is quick, taking about 4 seconds. After it’s done, remove the two wires you put in earlier, then unplug the USB cord and reinsert it.

Once you’ve done that, your Uno should be out of DFU mode and back into normal mode.

You can go to My Computer->Manage->Device Manager->Ports (COM & LPT), right-click on “Arduino UNO” and select “Properties”. Under the Details tab, Firmware Revision should now be 00.01.

Unfortunately, the obvious place talks about programming with WinAVR and other random things that you don’t care about when you’re hot to see if the thing actually works.

Here’s what I did instead (using a Windows XP machine, since that is what’s claimed to cause the least trouble):

1. I downloaded the USBtinyISP drivers and unzipped them into a directory.
2. I plugged the USBtinyISP in (before putting the programming cables / case on yet). It was recognized as a USB device, and I installed usbtinyisp.inf from the unzipped driver.
3. I immediately tried to talk to the device using the Arduino 022 IDE and “Burn Bootloader -> w/USBtinyISP”. It failed with the error message “Could not find USB device 0×1781/0xc9f”.
4. So I unplugged the device and plugged it back in. This time I got “Initialization failed, rc=-1″ which is correct.

Whew, that meant my device was talking – in other words, I’d probably put it together correctly. Next was to see if it actually could program my Uno.

1. I plugged the 6-connector programming cable in. The red stripe went on pin 1 of the silkscreen of the USBtinyISP, and the pin with a dot on it on the programming header of the Uno. (At first it looked wrong, but when I turned the cable around it was fine. The cable goes across the whole length of the Uno.)
2. Then I made sure the jumper on the USBtinyISP was off (not supplying voltage).
3. Next, I plugged the USBtinyISP into my USB port and verified that the green light came on.
4. After that, I plugged in my Uno (to a different USB port) so it was getting power and was recognized.
5. Finally, I went to the Arduino IDE and did Tools -> Burn Bootloader -> w/USBtinyISP.
6. The red light came on for about two minutes to program my chip. After it turned off, I uploaded a sketch to make sure it worked – and it did. “Done burning bootloader.” Yay!

Finally, I put the 10-pin programming cable in and the case on. I had to push the LEDs around a little (the green one was getting pretty close to the USB header). Then I was able to snap the case on and catch my finger in there as well, removing a little skin I didn’t need.

That was it – I now had a good programmer. I did another program with the case on to make sure it worked and I hadn’t broken anything.

Next I’ll look on the Arduino firmware github page to see if there’s any newer boot firmware.