6 replies to this topic

[triplemaya]

Hi. Is there a simple way to access the contacts on android from a ubuntu pc? I'm looking for a phone with which I can quickly and easily transfer contacts to and from the pc.

[ptruman]

triplemaya, on Jan 21 2011, 21:32, said:

Hi. Is there a simple way to access the contacts on android from a ubuntu pc? I'm looking for a phone with which I can quickly and easily transfer contacts to and from the pc.

If you are using Google Contacts, they should sync to 'the google cloud' automatically.
If not, then either use the People app and Export the data to SD card - not sure what format it winds up in though.

[triplemaya]

ptruman, on Jan 24 2011, 11:50, said:

If you are using Google Contacts, they should sync to 'the google cloud' automatically.
If not, then either use the People app and Export the data to SD card - not sure what format it winds up in though.

Thanks for that. Bit sad. My great hope was that Android could be directly addressed by linux, but looks like Google have connected it up to Windows Outlook primarily, through the cloud, so there is no advantage over a blackberry.

[toxic-hero]

triplemaya, on Jan 25 2011, 00:25, said:

Thanks for that. Bit sad. My great hope was that Android could be directly addressed by linux, but looks like Google have connected it up to Windows Outlook primarily, through the cloud, so there is no advantage over a blackberry.

why not try 2step sync: sync contacts with google contacts on gmail and find a way to sync gmail to your linux computer.

i don't need my ubuntu computer to be in sync with gmail but i googled around a little anyway. this is what i found:

Getting Gmail contacts synchonised in Evolution
This setting will allow a user to see his Gmail contacts in Evolution (even for offline use). This method creates a new address book that synchronises with Gmail contacts.

    On the Evolution Contacts window, select the New drop-down menu and choose Addess Book. The New Address Book window will appear.

    Ensure that Type is set to Google.

    In the Name field, enter a name for the new calendar.

    In the Username field, enter your Google username. This will be something like [email protected]

    Check Use SSL.
    Click on the OK button.

The new address book should then be displayed in the Contacts list under Google. Existing contacts should be shown and new contacts synchronised.

[triplemaya]

toxic-hero, on Jan 24 2011, 22:57, said:

why not try 2step sync: sync contacts with google contacts on gmail and find a way to sync gmail to your linux computer.

Thanks toxic hero, that certainly looks as if it would work ok. What I was hoping for was a way of directly interfacing between android and linux pc, which seemed like a reasonable possibility since the underlying os is the same. Maybe it will come in later. What I am really after is a phone where I just connect directly to the contacts database etc. I want to be able to sort through the database on the pc screen and use the keyboard to edit etc. AFAIK phones all have proprietory software to access the records on the phone, and they seem to be bloated horrors which do not allow a simple editing of the records and / or do not work properly to backup the data in a human readable form, and also a form which can be easily read by other apps - especially thunderbird which I use and like.

[Tragos]

Android and Ubuntu may share the common Linux kernel, but that's about it. The application layer of these two OS's differs significantly.

You can sync Thunderbird address book with Google contacts using gContactSync (https://addons.mozil...n/gcontactsync/). For calendar, you can install Lightning calendar extension (http://www.mozilla.o...tning1.0b2.html) and Provider for Google Calendar (https://addons.mozil...oogle-calendar/).

[triplemaya]

Tragos, on Jan 26 2011, 10:21, said:

Android and Ubuntu may share the common Linux kernel, but that's about it. The application layer of these two OS's differs significantly.

You can sync Thunderbird address book with Google contacts using gContactSync (https://addons.mozil...n/gcontactsync/). For calendar, you can install Lightning calendar extension (http://www.mozilla.o...tning1.0b2.html) and Provider for Google Calendar (https://addons.mozil...oogle-calendar/).

Thank you Tragos. That's great. I will give that a go.