moto V3 - linux

Links:  p2kmoto source      moto4lin source

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My old HTC G1 was recently ripped-off at work and I didn't want to purchase a G2X, so it had me thinking. First I thought I'd pay the $120 insurance deductible and get a replacement G1 to take me to whenever I made a decision. Second though, I had an old V3 (device code ID 22b8:4901) sitting in a drawer -- why not activate it and see if I could live with WAP and a non-QWERTY keypad until I decided? Meanwhile, see if 2011 Linux access was enough to save contacts and photos.

activation - 10 minutes plus driving time

My G1 was T-Mobile, and I had served the two year plan. The V3 was a Cingular phone and I had also served the Cingular contract prior to switching to T-Mobile G1 in 2008. Before I switched to T-Mobile, I went to the Cingular store (by then, AT&T) and they gave me the unlock code for the V3. I never used the code, so I brought it with me to the T-Mobile store last week with the old V3. At the T-Mobile store, a dude put in a new SIM and entered the code. The V3 fired right up. He switched the V3 onto the plan I had for the G1, and away I went. I sat in the parking lot and messed with the text and the WAP for awhile, and it seemed to work. It was a blast from the past.

PC connection - a few hours

The part of the experiment Googling around for Linux access to Motorolas was uninspiring. It appeared the likely candidates were p2kmoto and moto4linux. These two pieces work together. Available at the links at the top of the page.

Compile and install p2kmoto, which puts in libp2kmoto, and the CLI executable p2ktest. Then, hook-up the phone (it takes a micro-USB cable) and run # p2ktest to see if it's connecting in the right ways. I first ran # udevmonitor to be sure that HAL was doing the right things with the phone; also double-checked with # lsusb. All was good.

Next compile and install moto4linux. The moto4linux is run simply as user, but it won't find the phone. So the order is:

# p2ktest
$ moto4linux

The above two commands are all that are needed to manage phone access and files. P2ktest apparently finds and opens the phone for access; moto4linux then does the file management. It (moto4linux) opens a GUI, so it's cut and pasty.

WAP access - ongoing