29 Oct 2007

BlackBerry support in Ubuntu Gutsy

To charge or backup your BlackBerry device under Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon, there is a nice little GPL package named barry put together by some nice folks in Ontario. It isn't part of the Ubuntu software catalog yet, so here are some steps to get this up and running. (Note: the authors give instructions on how to build it from source – take your pick.)

First, you'll need to install an updated version of libopensync0 (0.22). Add the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

#opensync
deb http://opensync.gforge.punktart.de/repo/opensync-0.21/ etch main
deb-src http://opensync.gforge.punktart.de/repo/opensync-0.21/ etch main
So, go get that along with some other prerequisites:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libopensync0 libglademm-2.4-1c2a libtar
Then, download and install barry.

wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/barry/libbarry_0.9-1_i386.deb?modtime=1192146928&big_mirror=0"
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/barry/barry-util_0.9-1_i386.deb?modtime=1192146873&big_mirror=0"
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/barry/barrybackup-gui_0.9-1_i386.deb?modtime=1192146747&big_mirror=0"
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/barry/libbarry-dev_0.9-1_i386.deb?modtime=1192146953&big_mirror=0"
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/barry/libopensync-plugin-barry_0.9-1_i386.deb?modtime=1192147004&big_mirror=0"
sudo dpkg -i libbarry_0.9-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i barry-util_0.9-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i barrybackup-gui_0.9-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i libbarry-dev_0.9-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i libopensync-plugin-barry_0.9-1_i386.deb

Note: you probably don't need the libbarry-dev package unless you plan to develop with this stuff, but I installed it anyhow. Won't hurt anything. The libopensync package should enable some sort of integration with your local copy of Evolution or Thunderbird, but I haven't tried it.

After all you can plug your BlackBerry into the USB port and it will finally charge. These packages don't put any entries in the Gnome menu system, but you can run "barrybackup" which will let you back up all data (and restore, if you want).

9 comments:

KDeuce said...

I am having trouble getting the GPG key for opensync. Any ideas?

Unknown said...

Hi!
Here are a solution (in spanish, but easy to follow) for the GPG issue. Just replace for your data.

Greetings!

Mikael
http://www.miblackberry.cl
El primer sitio sobre BlackBerry en Chile
The first website about BlackBerry in Chile

Unknown said...

Hi all -

I am running Using Ubuntu 7.10 i386

First time I plugged in BB Curve 8320 (t-mobile) via USB, I got error on the BB saying I did not have the right USB support. OK, so I googled, need btool and barry, got it.

I then installed barry (0.9-1_i386), opensync, etc as per instructions on web. No problem there.

Plugged in BB and now it charges and no error on device about usb. Cool. Ubuntu mounts the device as /media/disk-1.

But when I run either ~$ btool -t or barrybackup I get:

xxxxx@bxxxxxx:~$ barrybackup

Usb::Error caught in main:

(-16, could not set config 1: Device or resource busy): Probe: SetConfiguration failed


With a pop up warning:
Device busy. This is likely due to the usb_storage kernel module being loaded. Try 'rmmod usb_storage'.

What now?

Unknown said...

Jonathan

here is the fix

http://www.mail-archive.com/barry-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg00484.html

Unknown said...

Much thanks...it works.

ChongZi said...

My blackberry can be charged in Ubuntu 8.04 and my bb is 7290.

ChongZi said...

My bb(7290) can be charged in Ubuntu 8.04 .

admin said...

indeed, here's a post from someone using Kubuntu and is able to sync PIM data and Music with Amarok.

http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/linux/2008/05/31/synchronizing-a-blackberry-with-kdepim-in-kubuntu-hardy-howto

Unknown said...

Just want to update all, there is an excellent link, http://blog.linuxoss.com/2007/12/syncing-your-blackberry-on-linux/ to a tutorial to use msynctool to sync a blackberry to evolution calendar and address book. Works well with a Curve and Ubuntu 7.10 + 8.04 (both i386 and amd64). Also, from the Ubuntu repositories you can get multisync (currently 0.91.0-4) to install a gui for msynctool which is CLI. Opensync plug-ins for Google calendar is also available as well as Evolution.