OpenMoko + Exchange

[not12listen]

i've done a decent amount of searching around.  i have not found any direct answer to my question:

does OpenMoko allow/support communication with an Exchange server.

my work email/contacts/calendar are all hosted on an Exchange server, and i REALLY want to get an OpenMoko phone and have it be my only phone...

[Olivier Migeot]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 7:17 PM, not12listen <[hidden email]> wrote:

> does OpenMoko allow/support communication with an Exchange server.

Simple answer : no. There's ways that could eventually lead to an
exchange-compatible openmoko, but none of them are usable yet nor
anybody expressed interest in exploring them.

Don't wait for OM to support Exchange, if you really need a
directpush-compatible phone, for for Windows Mobile. Sad, but true.

--
Olivier

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[Henner Zeller]

Maybe there is something available in the context of openmapi ?
http://openmapi.org/

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM, Olivier Migeot <[hidden email]> wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 7:17 PM, not12listen <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> does OpenMoko allow/support communication with an Exchange server.
>
> Simple answer : no. There's ways that could eventually lead to an
> exchange-compatible openmoko, but none of them are usable yet nor
> anybody expressed interest in exploring them.
>
> Don't wait for OM to support Exchange, if you really need a
> directpush-compatible phone, for for Windows Mobile. Sad, but true.
>
> --
> Olivier
>
> _______________________________________________
> support mailing list
> [hidden email]
> https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/support
>

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[not12listen]

i know that Evolution email can do Exchange.  last i read, Debian can be loaded onto the OpenMoko Freerunner.  but, i was just curious if anyone has done this, how difficult it was, etc...

Henner Zeller wrote:

Maybe there is something available in the context of openmapi ?
http://openmapi.org/

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM, Olivier Migeot <[e-mail]> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 7:17 PM, not12listen <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
>> does OpenMoko allow/support communication with an Exchange server.
>
> Simple answer : no. There's ways that could eventually lead to an
> exchange-compatible openmoko, but none of them are usable yet nor
> anybody expressed interest in exploring them.
>
> Don't wait for OM to support Exchange, if you really need a
> directpush-compatible phone, for for Windows Mobile. Sad, but true.
>
> --
> Olivier
>
> _______________________________________________
> support mailing list
> [e-mail]
> https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/support
>

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[Thomas Otterbein]

> i know that Evolution email can do Exchange.  last i read, Debian can be
As far as I know to be a native Exchange-Client Evolution requires a non-free-
plugin. But even if you purchase it I doubt that the plugin will work on OM.

However Exchange speaks IMAP and IMAP allows to place contacts and
appointsments into it's folders. I know of mixed environments (Mac/Win) where
people use it for common calendars. However I've never had the chance to test
it myself as I lack access to a Exchange-Server and it's Admin (I don't
believe it is available by default). If the latter is not an issue for you I
suggest KDE's KMail for a proof-of-concept test as I'm sure it supports IMAPs
extended functions.

After a successful test you only have to find a good IMAP-client and probably
need to extend it only just a bit to do the trick...

> loaded onto the OpenMoko Freerunner.  but, i was just curious if anyone has
> done this, how difficult it was, etc...
>
> Henner Zeller wrote:
> > Maybe there is something available in the context of openmapi ?
> > http://openmapi.org/
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM, Olivier Migeot <[hidden email]>
> >
> > wrote:
> >> On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 7:17 PM, not12listen <[hidden email]>
> >>
> >> wrote:
> >>> does OpenMoko allow/support communication with an Exchange server.
> >>
> >> Simple answer : no. There's ways that could eventually lead to an
> >> exchange-compatible openmoko, but none of them are usable yet nor
> >> anybody expressed interest in exploring them.
> >>
> >> Don't wait for OM to support Exchange, if you really need a
> >> directpush-compatible phone, for for Windows Mobile. Sad, but true.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Olivier
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> support mailing list
> >> [hidden email]
> >> https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/support
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > support mailing list
> > [hidden email]
> > https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/support

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[Joachim Breitner-2]

Hi,

Am Dienstag, den 13.01.2009, 23:03 +0100 schrieb Thomas Otterbein:
> > i know that Evolution email can do Exchange.  last i read, Debian can be
> As far as I know to be a native Exchange-Client Evolution requires a non-free-
> plugin. But even if you purchase it I doubt that the plugin will work on OM.

that used to be the case, but now the evolution plugin is free, or it
wouldn’t be here:
http://packages.debian.org/sid/evolution-exchange

And yes, you could install Debian and that package on your FreeRunner.
It’s just that the evolution UI is not very suited for a
touch-screen-interface and VGA resolution...

Greetings,
Joachim
--
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Debian Developer
  [hidden email] | ICQ# 74513189 | GPG-Keyid: 4743206C
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[Petr Vanek]

>i've done a decent amount of searching around.  i have not found any
>direct answer to my question:
>
>does OpenMoko allow/support communication with an Exchange server.


besides all the other posts on this topic, i think the issue it that
the real pim support is so far being planned. after storage is fixed, we
can look at synchronization. this is my understanding.

--
Petr Vaněk



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[Nicolas Dufresne]

Some javascript/style in this post has been disabled (why?)

By the way, for clarification, I don't think there has ever been native support for MS exchange in evolution, and anyways the binary protocol only works within your Lan. Evolution Exchange is a wrapper around the Web Interface of Exchange server. Today it works quite reliably, but it's still a little intensive on network and memory. Also, MS Exchange is not IMAP compatible without alteration of the server.

For sure with a PIM support in FSO we will be more equipe to integrate mail backends like Exchange.

Nicolas

Le mardi 13 janvier 2009 à 23:39 +0100, Petr Vanek a écrit :

>i've done a decent amount of searching around.  i have not found any
>direct answer to my question:
>
>does OpenMoko allow/support communication with an Exchange server.


besides all the other posts on this topic, i think the issue it that
the real pim support is so far being planned. after storage is fixed, we
can look at synchronization. this is my understanding.

--
Petr Vaněk



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[Olivier Migeot]

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 2:45 PM, Nicolas Dufresne
<[hidden email]> wrote:
> Evolution Exchange is a wrapper around the Web Interface of Exchange server.

Are you sure of that? I thought it was based on Exchange's WebDAV
access, which is a bit different. Sure it's still tied to web
technologies, and needs OWA to be enabled on the server, but it's much
more efficient than wrapping around a web interface, and should work
well over the internet (you can proxy it through HTTPS frontends or
anything, if you want).

There was another connector-like-thing named Brutus, who forced MAPI
commands through CORBA. But it needed some code at both side (a daemon
on the server side, and libbrutus on the device/application). I don't
know if it's still active, though.

There's also some opensource code regarding ActiveSync "over the air"
in Zarafa/ZPush projects. This implements part (only server part,
sadly) of Microsoft's protocol for synchronizing devices over HTTP(S)
connections, supporting even "idling connections" (branded as
"DirectPush") to avoid constant polling. Maybe someone can "guess" the
client part of the protocol by looking at ZPush. It's PHP code, so if
anyone is brave enough ;)

Another way, which sounds much more practical for desktop than
embedded use, is the wonderful work of OpenChange's guys : namely a
bunch of code to emulate several parts of the Exchange architecture
within an AD/Samba4 environment. Though it should be pretty effective
in a LAN, I guess it would need some heavy tweaks to be used over the
internet.

Any other ideas?

--
Olivier

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[not12listen]

I might show how 'green' I am (in regards to all things Linux), but Ubuntu 8.10 ships with Evolution Email (don't recall which version), but it works near perfect with Exchange servers (cannot pull up shared calendars being its 1 fault - this is NOT a show stopper for me).

My question (in a nutshell) was basically 'is there a portable version of Evolution Email was available for OpenMoko?'  Because, the Evolution Email guys got it working right, and that would be an absolutely ideal platform for me.

During the setup process for the mail account within Evolution Email, you do specify the HTTPS server hosting your Exchange account, but Outlook works the exact same way.

So again, if Evolution Email is available on OpenMoko, then I believe that YES there is a way to get Exchange email on a OpenMoko device...

Does that make sense? :)

Olivier Migeot wrote:

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 2:45 PM, Nicolas Dufresne
<[e-mail]> wrote:
> Evolution Exchange is a wrapper around the Web Interface of Exchange server.

Are you sure of that? I thought it was based on Exchange's WebDAV
access, which is a bit different. Sure it's still tied to web
technologies, and needs OWA to be enabled on the server, but it's much
more efficient than wrapping around a web interface, and should work
well over the internet (you can proxy it through HTTPS frontends or
anything, if you want).

There was another connector-like-thing named Brutus, who forced MAPI
commands through CORBA. But it needed some code at both side (a daemon
on the server side, and libbrutus on the device/application). I don't
know if it's still active, though.

There's also some opensource code regarding ActiveSync "over the air"
in Zarafa/ZPush projects. This implements part (only server part,
sadly) of Microsoft's protocol for synchronizing devices over HTTP(S)
connections, supporting even "idling connections" (branded as
"DirectPush") to avoid constant polling. Maybe someone can "guess" the
client part of the protocol by looking at ZPush. It's PHP code, so if
anyone is brave enough ;)

Another way, which sounds much more practical for desktop than
embedded use, is the wonderful work of OpenChange's guys : namely a
bunch of code to emulate several parts of the Exchange architecture
within an AD/Samba4 environment. Though it should be pretty effective
in a LAN, I guess it would need some heavy tweaks to be used over the
internet.

Any other ideas?

--
Olivier

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[Olivier Migeot]

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 7:03 PM, not12listen <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Does that make sense? :)

It does. But it's not the faint hearted. Getting Evolution to run on
Neo won't be too easy, but it should be reasonnably doable (in a
perfect world, it might compile directly on arm... maybe it already
does, btw). Then having it running everyday would start to be a pain
in some lower parts : Evolution, as nice as it is, needs a _lot_ of
resource compared to what a Freerunner can offer. The screen size
might be a pain too.

Well it's surely possible to run Evolution. Now whether that would be
the solution to not12listen's problem or not is another whole debate.
And if it were that easy, it'd be done already (Evolution can do much
more than Exchange connectivity, and _many_ people would love those
too). Our guy asked if he _can_ read Exchange mail's on OM. Not within
the year, nor in an unknown future, but _now_. And _now_, he can't.

We got too many people disappointed by the Freerunner, we don't need
another one.

--
Olivier

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[Joachim Breitner-2]

Hi,

Am Mittwoch, den 14.01.2009, 19:33 +0100 schrieb Olivier Migeot:
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 7:03 PM, not12listen <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > Does that make sense? :)
> It does. But it's not the faint hearted. Getting Evolution to run on
> Neo won't be too easy, but it should be reasonnably doable (in a
> perfect world, it might compile directly on arm... maybe it already
> does, btw).

hmm, Debian needs to advertise it’s supported platforms more: Almost all
applications are built for armel, including evolution:
http://packages.debian.org/sid/evolution (scroll to bottom)
http://packages.debian.org/sid/evolution-exchange
and almost any other package, as unsuited for an armel machine as can
be :-)

(Your others points are valid, of course)

Greetings,
Joachim
--
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Debian Developer
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[arne anka]

two things:
- what about those maemo guys? don't they create something like that  
already? besides the gui the relevant parts should be in some kind of  
library which should ne portable, shouldn't it?
- re evolution: the same thing applies. shouldn't be the relevant parts in  
a library and thus "only" a new gui be necessary?

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[not12listen]

bringing this back from the dead...

i've been off the OM boards for a bit, but my interest in owning one has not diminished in the slightest.

my question still stands...  is there a reasonable method by which to connect an OM device to an exchange server?

in all honesty, if there is, i'd run out and buy one tomorrow... :)

again, i am VERY green when it comes to linux, but is there a way to package the Exchange connection add-on of Evolution to either Claws, Openmoko Mail or Qtmail?  or, is that idea much like re-inventing the wheel?

[Al Johnson]

On Tuesday 29 September 2009, not12listen wrote:

> bringing this back from the dead...
>
> i've been off the OM boards for a bit, but my interest in owning one has
> not diminished in the slightest.
>
> my question still stands...  is there a reasonable method by which to
> connect an OM device to an exchange server?
>
> in all honesty, if there is, i'd run out and buy one tomorrow... :)
>
> again, i am VERY green when it comes to linux, but is there a way to
> package the Exchange connection add-on of Evolution to either Claws,
> Openmoko Mail or Qtmail?  or, is that idea much like re-inventing the
> wheel?

What _exactly_ do you mean by 'connect to an exchange server'? I ask because
for some people it means 'read my inbox' while others think it means 'look and
feel exactly as Outlook does.' There's a world of difference between them, and
probably solutions for several points in between. What capabilities are deal
breakers if missing, and which ones don't you care about?


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[not12listen]

Al Johnson wrote:

On Tuesday 29 September 2009, not12listen wrote:
> bringing this back from the dead...
>
> i've been off the OM boards for a bit, but my interest in owning one has
> not diminished in the slightest.
>
> my question still stands...  is there a reasonable method by which to
> connect an OM device to an exchange server?
>
> in all honesty, if there is, i'd run out and buy one tomorrow... :)
>
> again, i am VERY green when it comes to linux, but is there a way to
> package the Exchange connection add-on of Evolution to either Claws,
> Openmoko Mail or Qtmail?  or, is that idea much like re-inventing the
> wheel?

What _exactly_ do you mean by 'connect to an exchange server'? I ask because
for some people it means 'read my inbox' while others think it means 'look and
feel exactly as Outlook does.' There's a world of difference between them, and
probably solutions for several points in between. What capabilities are deal
breakers if missing, and which ones don't you care about?


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my apologies for not being clear.

i need to be able to view/reply to emails within my inbox and the folders inside, and also view/edit my calendar - all of this is hosted on an exchange server of course.

if any further clarification is needed, please let me know. :)

[Adolf Winterer]

On Tuesday 29 September 2009 05:45:55 not12listen wrote:

> Al Johnson wrote:
> > On Tuesday 29 September 2009, not12listen wrote:
> >> bringing this back from the dead...
> >>
> >> i've been off the OM boards for a bit, but my interest in owning one has
> >> not diminished in the slightest.
> >>
> >> my question still stands...  is there a reasonable method by which to
> >> connect an OM device to an exchange server?
> >>
> >> in all honesty, if there is, i'd run out and buy one tomorrow... :)
> >>
> >> again, i am VERY green when it comes to linux, but is there a way to
> >> package the Exchange connection add-on of Evolution to either Claws,
> >> Openmoko Mail or Qtmail?  or, is that idea much like re-inventing the
> >> wheel?
> >
> > What _exactly_ do you mean by 'connect to an exchange server'? I ask
> > because
> > for some people it means 'read my inbox' while others think it means
> > 'look and
> > feel exactly as Outlook does.' There's a world of difference between
> > them, and
> > probably solutions for several points in between. What capabilities are
> > deal
> > breakers if missing, and which ones don't you care about?
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > support mailing list
> > [hidden email]
> > https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/support
>
> my apologies for not being clear.
>
> i need to be able to view/reply to emails within my inbox and the folders
> inside, and also view/edit my calendar - all of this is hosted on an
> exchange server of course.

There is a project under development, which does native MAPI for communication
with Exchange servers, allowing access to all types of objects (folders,
shared folders, calendar, contacts...). You may want to have a look at it:
<http://www.openchange.org/>

The functions are bundled into a library (libmapi), making them available to
all applications that care to use the library. Early versions of interfaces
to the library exist for Evolution and the KDE PIM framework Akonadi.

- Adolf

> if any further clarification is needed, please let me know. :)



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[not12listen]

Adolf Winterer wrote:

On Tuesday 29 September 2009 05:45:55 not12listen wrote:
> Al Johnson wrote:
> > On Tuesday 29 September 2009, not12listen wrote:
> >> bringing this back from the dead...
> >>
> >> i've been off the OM boards for a bit, but my interest in owning one has
> >> not diminished in the slightest.
> >>
> >> my question still stands...  is there a reasonable method by which to
> >> connect an OM device to an exchange server?
> >>
> >> in all honesty, if there is, i'd run out and buy one tomorrow... :)
> >>
> >> again, i am VERY green when it comes to linux, but is there a way to
> >> package the Exchange connection add-on of Evolution to either Claws,
> >> Openmoko Mail or Qtmail?  or, is that idea much like re-inventing the
> >> wheel?
> >
> > What _exactly_ do you mean by 'connect to an exchange server'? I ask
> > because
> > for some people it means 'read my inbox' while others think it means
> > 'look and
> > feel exactly as Outlook does.' There's a world of difference between
> > them, and
> > probably solutions for several points in between. What capabilities are
> > deal
> > breakers if missing, and which ones don't you care about?
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > support mailing list
> > [e-mail]
> > https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/support
>
> my apologies for not being clear.
>
> i need to be able to view/reply to emails within my inbox and the folders
> inside, and also view/edit my calendar - all of this is hosted on an
> exchange server of course.

There is a project under development, which does native MAPI for communication
with Exchange servers, allowing access to all types of objects (folders,
shared folders, calendar, contacts...). You may want to have a look at it:
<http://www.openchange.org/>

The functions are bundled into a library (libmapi), making them available to
all applications that care to use the library. Early versions of interfaces
to the library exist for Evolution and the KDE PIM framework Akonadi.

- Adolf

> if any further clarification is needed, please let me know. :)

so again, as i'm very green with linux, how difficult would this be to get working on an OpenMoko Freerunner phone?

and honestly, which model should i look at purchasing?

[Adolf Winterer]

On Tuesday 29 September 2009 07:32:06 not12listen wrote:

> Adolf Winterer wrote:
> > On Tuesday 29 September 2009 05:45:55 not12listen wrote:
> >> Al Johnson wrote:
> >> > On Tuesday 29 September 2009, not12listen wrote:
> >> >> bringing this back from the dead...
> >> >>
> >> >> i've been off the OM boards for a bit, but my interest in owning one
> >>
> >> has
> >>
> >> >> not diminished in the slightest.
> >> >>
> >> >> my question still stands...  is there a reasonable method by which to
> >> >> connect an OM device to an exchange server?
> >> >>
> >> >> in all honesty, if there is, i'd run out and buy one tomorrow... :)
> >> >>
> >> >> again, i am VERY green when it comes to linux, but is there a way to
> >> >> package the Exchange connection add-on of Evolution to either Claws,
> >> >> Openmoko Mail or Qtmail?  or, is that idea much like re-inventing the
> >> >> wheel?
> >> >
> >> > What _exactly_ do you mean by 'connect to an exchange server'? I ask
> >> > because
> >> > for some people it means 'read my inbox' while others think it means
> >> > 'look and
> >> > feel exactly as Outlook does.' There's a world of difference between
> >> > them, and
> >> > probably solutions for several points in between. What capabilities
> >> > are deal
> >> > breakers if missing, and which ones don't you care about?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > support mailing list
> >> > [hidden email]
> >> > https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/support
> >>
> >> my apologies for not being clear.
> >>
> >> i need to be able to view/reply to emails within my inbox and the
> >> folders inside, and also view/edit my calendar - all of this is hosted
> >> on an exchange server of course.
> >
> > There is a project under development, which does native MAPI for
> > communication
> > with Exchange servers, allowing access to all types of objects (folders,
> > shared folders, calendar, contacts...). You may want to have a look at
> > it: <http://www.openchange.org/>
> >
> > The functions are bundled into a library (libmapi), making them available
> > to
> > all applications that care to use the library. Early versions of
> > interfaces
> > to the library exist for Evolution and the KDE PIM framework Akonadi.
> >
> > - Adolf
> >
> >> if any further clarification is needed, please let me know. :)
>
> so again, as i'm very green with linux, how difficult would this be to get
> working on an OpenMoko Freerunner phone?

You probably want to use a readily made package. I do not know if OpenChange
is already available pre-packaged for the architecture the Freerunner use,
but there are packages for Ubuntu and Debian.

Here I found a recipe for making the Debian package:
<http://wiki.openchange.org/index.php/Debian>

This should be applicable to the Freerunner's architecture. But sorry, I can't
do this.

> and honestly, which model should i look at purchasing?



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[Lars Nooden]

not12listen wrote:

> in all honesty, if there is, i'd run out and buy one tomorrow... :)

And the day after tomorrow MS would change the specs again to break it.

Is there an option to move off MSexchange to some reliable, modular,
standards-based services?  Kolab and Citadel top the list.

Regards,
/Lars

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