HTC Hero Sync

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
morrijr
Posts: 4
Joined: 18. Sep 2009, 11:32
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Windows 7

HTC Hero Sync

Post by morrijr »

Hi,

I'm also asking this on android forums...

I'm trying to get an HTC Hero (which runs android) to connect to the HTC Sync application (windows only). The windows vm detects the phone correctly and installs the drivers but I have been unable to get them to connect to sync (I've not attempted to connect as an external storage device since I can do that under linux).

Should this be possible? Does anyone know how to get it to work? Is there anything information I can supply to help progress this?

Thanks,

John.
Jeff_syr
Posts: 4
Joined: 16. Sep 2009, 22:20
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win XP & Win 7

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by Jeff_syr »

Not familiar with that phone or it's sync software but it sounds like you should have it. I have the same type of setup with iTunes and iPhone and that works.

Do you have a specific filter set for the phone? Does the host OS ignore it's connection or does the host try to mount the device as well?
morrijr
Posts: 4
Joined: 18. Sep 2009, 11:32
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Windows 7

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by morrijr »

As far as I understand (and I'm not at the computer atm), the ubuntu doesn't make any attempt to mount the device during sync, or at least, if it does I don't see any notifications.

Is there anything I can do to watch for this? Does the action get logged?

I don't understand about "specific filter", could you explain further?

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

John.
Jeff_syr
Posts: 4
Joined: 16. Sep 2009, 22:20
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win XP & Win 7

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by Jeff_syr »

Ok... started to reply about filters and double checked my iPhone operation and it was only half working. This is going to end up being long.. sorry in advance.

This really applies to iPhone but I suspect it will be the same for many of the newer phones including yours. Using VB 3.0.6 and Ubuntu 9.04.

Plug in phone with VirtualBox closed. Does Ubuntu open up picture viewer or mount the device as mass storage? If so this fixes that issue so VM has direct control. On the downside you will no longer be able to get to those functions in Ubuntu (mass storage or pic viewer).

With phone still plugged in -
Open VirtualBox.
Select your VM
Click settings
Select USB
Click the green + button
Connected devices will show in pop up - select your phone
Phone filter is now in the list and selected
Select OK

If you were to launch your VM and connect your phone at this point, device manager will show the phone connected but inoperable or malfunctioned. Ubuntu will also show the device as mounted as a mass storage device. If you unmount the device on Ubuntu then click disable in windows device manager, followed by enable in device manager. Your device should start working in Windows VM.

You can see this happen in Ubuntu terminal with the commands "lsusb" and with "dmesg | tail" dmesg is the most telling. Shows Ubuntu picked up config 1 of 4 and vbox user assumed control of config 0.

Exact wording may not be correct but you should get the idea.

To prevent Ubuntu from taking any control of the device when it is plugged in you need to do the following.

go out to terminal in ubuntu and enter

Code: Select all

lsusb
you should see something like:

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Bus 001 Device 023: ID 05ac:1294 Apple, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c50e Logitech, Inc. MX-1000 Cordless Mouse Receiver
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
In my case my phone is obviously "Bus 001 Device 023: ID 05ac:1294 Apple, Inc."
Important part is Bus 001 Device 023

Now enter the following substituting the correct bus and device numbers into that command replacing my 001/023 with what you had.

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lsusb -D /proc/bus/usb/001/023 | head -n 20
This should give 20 lines of information on your device. The line you are looking for is iProduct. Should be the 13th line down.

Now using that information enter the following replacing iPhone with the value in the iProduct line.

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hal-device | grep iPhone


That will return:

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 usb_device.product = 'iPhone'  (string)
  info.product = 'iPhone'  (string)
The second line is what we are looking for, specifically the information that is in quotes.

It is just coincidence that my iProduct line and info.product returned from hal-device are the same. Don't assume yours will be.

Now enter

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sudo gedit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-iphone.fdi
into that empty file paste in the following. The 4th line is where you need to substitute in the string value pointed out in the last command.

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>
    <match key="info.product" string="iPhone">
       <merge key="info.ignore" type="bool">true</merge>
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>
Save the file and you should be done. May want to restart X. Not sure if it necessary though.

Now when you plug in your phone to Ubuntu nothing will happen. If you check lsusb you will see it present but no event was triggered for it.

Now try it in VirtualBox. - Let me know.

To undo all changes.

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sudo rm /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-iphone.fdi
- Jeff
morrijr
Posts: 4
Joined: 18. Sep 2009, 11:32
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Windows 7

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by morrijr »

WOW.

Thanks for the detail! I don't have time to try it tonight, but I'll certainly give it a go over the weekend!
thoughtbox
Posts: 10
Joined: 10. Jan 2009, 15:07

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by thoughtbox »

FWIW I am able to browse the device as a disk, but I am not able to use HTC Sync.

(Ubuntu 9.04/amd64, VB 3.0.6, WinXP)

/TB
alex.bepple
Posts: 1
Joined: 24. Oct 2009, 04:14
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP SP3

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by alex.bepple »

I have the same problem: browsing the card works fine, but I cannot connect via HTC Sync.
Using Linux Mint 7 (based on Ubuntu 9.04) as host and Windows XP SP 3 as guest. Running VirtualBox 3.0.8.

I tried Jeff’s suggestion without success.
mihai007
Posts: 1
Joined: 17. Mar 2010, 20:58
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win XP

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by mihai007 »

Hello.
Using Ubuntu 9.10 64bit and VBox 3.1.4 PUEL version.
I have the same problem, in WinXP with the latest HTC Sync application.
The only workaround I found was to install VMWare Player, create a machine and install WinXP, install HTC Sync software (using IE6 :D ) and I managed to update the HTC Hero ROM without any problems, everything went smoothly.
Not even a single configuration was made to ubuntu to have the sync working.

So in my opinion this has somehow to do with VirtualBox as VMWare does the job perfectly.
karatedog
Posts: 8
Joined: 2. Apr 2009, 22:10
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 9.10, Windows XP, Windows 7, Debian 5 server 64-bit

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by karatedog »

A working solution for me:
I have converted the .vdi image (the virtual HDD) to .vmdk which can be read by Virtualbox, and VMWare as well. Then installed VMWare Player 3 (which is free as Virtualbox) and created a new virtual machine with the converted HDD image (in VMWare I haven't find the proper way to do this. I had to create a virtual machine - which automatically adds a new hard drive - then add the .vmdk as a secondary drive and then delete the first drive).

Now I have Virtualbox and VMWare and they use the same virtual HDD. Whenever I want to sync my HTC Hero, I start VMWare, but usually I use Virtualbox for other purposes.
You might ask why I just don't ditch Virtualbox? (as lot of HTC users will do, hear me Virtualbox developers :)
I use Cairo-Dock where the dock is always visible (in other words it takes a little space away from the bottom of the screen and pushes up even fullscreen applications). VMWare is the first application that cannot handle this and when I make VMWare fullscreen, its window covers the entire desktop, thus covering the dock.
jeenuv
Posts: 21
Joined: 19. Oct 2008, 10:27

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by jeenuv »

I've WinXP VM on Ubuntu with VB 3.1.6 - I'm having similar problems with my HTC Tattoo. I'm subscribing to this post and am keen to see a working solution.
jeenuv
Posts: 21
Joined: 19. Oct 2008, 10:27

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by jeenuv »

Wondering if anyone has filed a bug for this. If not, I think we should.
jeenuv
Posts: 21
Joined: 19. Oct 2008, 10:27

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by jeenuv »

I've filed a ticket here: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/6915
mathfeel
Posts: 8
Joined: 18. Dec 2008, 08:12
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, 2008

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by mathfeel »

jeenuv wrote:I've filed a ticket here: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/6915
Thanks. I see you posted a screenshot. Perhaps you should also post a screenshot with Device Manager, which shows a Device called "Android USB Device/My HTC" working in addition to the USB MSD.
jeenuv
Posts: 21
Joined: 19. Oct 2008, 10:27

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by jeenuv »

Thanks. I see you posted a screenshot. Perhaps you should also post a screenshot with Device Manager, which shows a Device called "Android USB Device/My HTC" working in addition to the USB MSD.
I just uploaded a new screen shot with device manager window. For some reason I couldn't upload it with the replace option checked.
jeenuv
Posts: 21
Joined: 19. Oct 2008, 10:27

Re: HTC Hero Sync

Post by jeenuv »

Has anyone tried with a custom Android ROM on the phone? I'm miffed at HTC not providing any ROM upgrades to low-end phones like Tattoo, while they're doing for their other phones. So I was planning to flash my phone with any custom ROM's available.
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