BlackBerry Pearl connecting to gentoo

[silverwolf]

Greetings,

This is probably going to be a stupid question, but I'm struggling to resolve this one myself. I also don't know which part of the forum this topic should reside in.

I recently acquired a BlackBerry Pearl (well done, RIM -- a really viable alternative), and -- when I connected it to my gentoo laptop, got the following message on the device:

[jasn]

Blackberry mounting as a USB mass storage device works well, provided your kernel options are configured correctly. You may want to read the following thread on USB mass storage, to make sure the proper USB kernel options are set in your kernel. Since I use Gnome, this wiki, offers a great explanation on how to configure a Gnome environment for automounting FAT USB devices, (like the Blackberry). I have a Pearl, and I use hal, ivman, and as a user, I am a member of the plugdev group. When I plug in my Pearl it appears on my desktop as a mass storage device, and I can copy to the memory card on the Pearl at will.

Two options to look at once you've configured everything, make sure you have CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN=y set in your kernel (in the make menuconfig it will be under SCSI support). And don't forget to make sure your Blackberry has the proper option set too. Options -> Advanced Option -> Media Card -> Auto Enable Mass Storage Mode When Connected: Yes/Prompt. Looking at your output that may be the only thing keeping you from mounting your Blackberry as a mass storage device, (unless you don't have FAT support in your kernel). You can also check out the following thread at Blackberry forums on the subject of Linux and Blackberry mass storage support.

In terms of the charging of your Blackberry via a USB cable, it's not a USB 1 vs USB 2 issue. It's because the voltage supplied via a USB cable under Linux isn't as high as it is under Windows. Under Linux the Blackberry is only receiving 100 mA over the USB cable, where it needs to receive 500 mA to properly charge (like it does under Windows). A Blackberry will still charge like this, just very slowly. In order to fix this, with kernel 2.6.21, Linux now has support for providing the proper charging voltage under Linux. It's a kernel option under Device Drivers -> Misc, called berry_charge. You can configure it and load it in your system, but there's still one problem. According to this post over at Blackberry Forums, the newer SD-card enabled Blackberrys (8100/8300/8800/etc.) are not yet supported due to a conflict with the USB mass storage mode. So hopefully this will get addressed in the future and we can quickly charge our Pearls then.

You can also check out the following thread for some discussion on other Linux Blackberry related stuff, particularly the backup project called barry, which looks promising for backing up the Blackberry databases under Linux, and the sync project called Funambol, although I've never heard of anyone syncing their Blackberrys with any Linux apps, yet.

Good Luck..

[omega5]

if you're prepared to rebuild your kernel you'll find in the usb driver section under miscellaneous: blackberry charging driver....

came across it myself as i work with blackberries and mobile phones all day long working for telstra wireless data customer support...

[jlward4th]

Just FYI for anyone wondering about this... I disabled the mass storage mode on my BB 8300 curve and now it seems to be charging correctly.

[jlward4th]

I take that back. It still doesn't work. I get the "USB charging current is not sufficient." message after a few minutes.