Let us suppose that I have a Samsung SGH-A777 (because I do). Let us further suppose that its inbox for text messages is nearly full, and that it refuses to just use the lots of other free space left on the thing for this purpose. And that I, not wanting to just delete all these (though I have been devouring it, slowly, to clear up space), want to offload these to my computer.
OK. I'm going to need a cable to connect it to my computer, via a USB port. Got that. What else will I need? Right! Drivers.
Unfortunately the drivers for this phone don't exist for Linux, and I've accidentally rendered my copy of Windows unbootable. Lenovo apparently won't just send me a Windows CD (why didn't the computer come with one?), nor will Microsoft. However the guy at Lenovo tech support tells me that the restore utility on the computer (which I have not rendered unbootable) will indeed wipe the whole hard drive and put everything back the way it was. I don't know if he's correct -- the internet seems skeptical of this proposition -- but because I have an external now and can easily back things up (indeed, I did so the other day), this is actually a viable solution; even if it fails, reinstalling Linux Mint is not exactly hard, so I haven't lost anything but my time. However I can't do that here in New Jersey because I didn't take my external with me. (And I'd avoided doing this previously because I wasn't expecting to need to, and I had other things I had to do.)
Anyway, I figured, I'd do this once I get back to Glen Rock, right? (Or just ask a friend who has Windows, but... I'll be back in Glen Rock soon so no need, right?) Just install the drivers and boom, right?
First I try it on Elana's old computer, running Windows XP. It's super-slow, so, actually, I don't try it.
Then I try it on the upstairs computer, running Windows 7. Install drivers... run the program it comes with (Samsung PC Studio 3 -- apparenly this is the only way)... and, it can't connect to the phone. Looking it up, I see they apparently don't support Windows 7, just XP and Vista (huh?). People have got it working via various hacks, but I don't want to go trying that right now on my parents' computer.
OK. Elana's old computer then? That's running XP. Install drivers, etc., it can't connect to the phone either. Gah. I do not want to go messing around with strange settings right now. (Also, Windows Update apparently hadn't been run in forever. But it didn't help either.)
Now I had read somewhere that if I were using Bluetooth, I wouldn't need special drivers. Now that didn't seem to make a lot of sense, but I figured it was worth a try. Also, the Samsung software I'd downloaded had a mode for connecting to the phone with Bluetooth rather than USB, so, y'know, that should work anyway. But my phone doesn't have Bluetooth, does it? Well, apparently it does. I had no idea because the interface is awful. But I was poking around in a corner I hadn't poked around in before (since when do I leave corners of settings menus unexplored? since it's too much damn trouble because the interface is awful) and found that yes, this phone does Bluetooth and here's how you enable it.
I'm going to skip the terrible running back and forth and skip to the point -- apparently Bluetooth requires special hardware, which neither of our Windows computers has. My laptop does, though. I couldn't get it working for quite some time, which I at the time I thought was Linux Mint being stupid, but now I think was me being stupid. Regardless, I finally got it working and connected to the phone, but, y'know, without the appropriate drivers.
Click on "browse this device" and... holy crap! I see folders! ...but I don't see a folder for text messages. And all the folders are empty, when the corresponding folders on the phone are *not* all empty. So apparently the phone *partly* responds to this standard protocol, but, y'know, not usefully. Meaning I still need the appropriate drivers. Which I can't install on this computer at the moment due to it not having a working copy of Windows, and I can't use the restore mechanism to attempt to get it back because my backups are offline and in Michigan.
Maybe in another two weeks, once I'm back in Michigan, I'll be able to extract the damn text messages already? :-/
Update: My dad has a Windows 7 CD that came with his desktop! Will that correctly reinstall the bootloader without resulting in some sort of DRM horribleness? We'll see! But not now.
-Harry
(Or, I could try buying a Bluetooth adapter. Or, try actually messing around with the settings to see if I can get it working via USB...)
Edit: Thought -- is it possible the charging-and-data cable I bought (from random place on internet, of course :P ) was actually just a charging cable? :-/ Probably not, but...
OK. I'm going to need a cable to connect it to my computer, via a USB port. Got that. What else will I need? Right! Drivers.
Unfortunately the drivers for this phone don't exist for Linux, and I've accidentally rendered my copy of Windows unbootable. Lenovo apparently won't just send me a Windows CD (why didn't the computer come with one?), nor will Microsoft. However the guy at Lenovo tech support tells me that the restore utility on the computer (which I have not rendered unbootable) will indeed wipe the whole hard drive and put everything back the way it was. I don't know if he's correct -- the internet seems skeptical of this proposition -- but because I have an external now and can easily back things up (indeed, I did so the other day), this is actually a viable solution; even if it fails, reinstalling Linux Mint is not exactly hard, so I haven't lost anything but my time. However I can't do that here in New Jersey because I didn't take my external with me. (And I'd avoided doing this previously because I wasn't expecting to need to, and I had other things I had to do.)
Anyway, I figured, I'd do this once I get back to Glen Rock, right? (Or just ask a friend who has Windows, but... I'll be back in Glen Rock soon so no need, right?) Just install the drivers and boom, right?
First I try it on Elana's old computer, running Windows XP. It's super-slow, so, actually, I don't try it.
Then I try it on the upstairs computer, running Windows 7. Install drivers... run the program it comes with (Samsung PC Studio 3 -- apparenly this is the only way)... and, it can't connect to the phone. Looking it up, I see they apparently don't support Windows 7, just XP and Vista (huh?). People have got it working via various hacks, but I don't want to go trying that right now on my parents' computer.
OK. Elana's old computer then? That's running XP. Install drivers, etc., it can't connect to the phone either. Gah. I do not want to go messing around with strange settings right now. (Also, Windows Update apparently hadn't been run in forever. But it didn't help either.)
Now I had read somewhere that if I were using Bluetooth, I wouldn't need special drivers. Now that didn't seem to make a lot of sense, but I figured it was worth a try. Also, the Samsung software I'd downloaded had a mode for connecting to the phone with Bluetooth rather than USB, so, y'know, that should work anyway. But my phone doesn't have Bluetooth, does it? Well, apparently it does. I had no idea because the interface is awful. But I was poking around in a corner I hadn't poked around in before (since when do I leave corners of settings menus unexplored? since it's too much damn trouble because the interface is awful) and found that yes, this phone does Bluetooth and here's how you enable it.
I'm going to skip the terrible running back and forth and skip to the point -- apparently Bluetooth requires special hardware, which neither of our Windows computers has. My laptop does, though. I couldn't get it working for quite some time, which I at the time I thought was Linux Mint being stupid, but now I think was me being stupid. Regardless, I finally got it working and connected to the phone, but, y'know, without the appropriate drivers.
Click on "browse this device" and... holy crap! I see folders! ...but I don't see a folder for text messages. And all the folders are empty, when the corresponding folders on the phone are *not* all empty. So apparently the phone *partly* responds to this standard protocol, but, y'know, not usefully. Meaning I still need the appropriate drivers. Which I can't install on this computer at the moment due to it not having a working copy of Windows, and I can't use the restore mechanism to attempt to get it back because my backups are offline and in Michigan.
Maybe in another two weeks, once I'm back in Michigan, I'll be able to extract the damn text messages already? :-/
Update: My dad has a Windows 7 CD that came with his desktop! Will that correctly reinstall the bootloader without resulting in some sort of DRM horribleness? We'll see! But not now.
-Harry
(Or, I could try buying a Bluetooth adapter. Or, try actually messing around with the settings to see if I can get it working via USB...)
Edit: Thought -- is it possible the charging-and-data cable I bought (from random place on internet, of course :P ) was actually just a charging cable? :-/ Probably not, but...
