Open Source Tool For Reading Palm OS datebook files
December 9, 2010 12:41 PM Subscribe
Is there an open source application to access/export calender information from Palm OS datebook files?
My father has an old Handspring PDA that he uses to keep appointments, and has recently had a 'catastrophic failure' when hot syncing causing several months of appointments to disappear. I'm firmly convinced that those appointments are still floating around in a Palm datebook file somewhere within in his profile directory (he's only synced once since he noticed the data was lost, so from what I've read about the way Palm backs up data, it should still be there in the .bak file).
I've followed the advice of this guide and had no luck, so I'm looking for other options. I'm thinking there has to be an open source application/script that will read in palm os datebook files and spit them out in another format (iCal, csv, vCard, etc). Anyone know of one?
Some additional information: I don't own or have access to a Palm PDA, so I've had some issues getting Palm Desktop to read in data without first hot-syncing (which is why I think the instructions didn't work for me in the first place) but I have access to the necessary .dat files.
My father has an old Handspring PDA that he uses to keep appointments, and has recently had a 'catastrophic failure' when hot syncing causing several months of appointments to disappear. I'm firmly convinced that those appointments are still floating around in a Palm datebook file somewhere within in his profile directory (he's only synced once since he noticed the data was lost, so from what I've read about the way Palm backs up data, it should still be there in the .bak file).
I've followed the advice of this guide and had no luck, so I'm looking for other options. I'm thinking there has to be an open source application/script that will read in palm os datebook files and spit them out in another format (iCal, csv, vCard, etc). Anyone know of one?
Some additional information: I don't own or have access to a Palm PDA, so I've had some issues getting Palm Desktop to read in data without first hot-syncing (which is why I think the instructions didn't work for me in the first place) but I have access to the necessary .dat files.
Best answer: This might be the PalmDesktop software that you need.
IANAPalmExpert, so google around to see if this looks right.
posted by CathyG at 1:39 PM on December 9, 2010
IANAPalmExpert, so google around to see if this looks right.
posted by CathyG at 1:39 PM on December 9, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks a lot for the excellent references, particularly the one from the palm developers. It contained a nice Python script that with a few small fixes can read the datebook file format. I'm going to add a little code to it to output that data in a CSV value Google Calendar can read, and I'll post my results.
posted by SweetJesus at 7:41 AM on December 10, 2010
posted by SweetJesus at 7:41 AM on December 10, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
How to import from .dat files into PalmDesktop
This one is similar but references some specific version numbers. The download link is broken.
Without the PalmDesktop software, here are some other possibilities:
Here is a website where Palm developers have written some sample scripts to access the raw data from the .dat files.
Here is a shareware program which says it will mirror the data from Palm Desktop into Outlook. Not sure if they are just using the .dat files or if you need to have the whole Desktop running.
Here is a software that says it will sync your calendar from PalmDesktop to Google calendar. Again, it's not clear whether it uses the .dat files or needs the full desktop to be active.
posted by CathyG at 1:37 PM on December 9, 2010