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startalk

startalk (startalk 0.4)

StarTalk is a program that lets you read and write the entries in your digital Motorola StarTac phonebook.

It was written by Scott Gifford.

Note that StarTalk is beta software, and is not covered by anything resembling a warranty. You probably shouldn't use it on a phone that you would be upset if all data were lost.

Getting it

Download the most recent tarfile (startalk-0.4.tar.gz). 109,022 bytes.

Release Notes

See the file NEWS, included with this distribution.

Requirements

A digital Motorola StarTAC phone with TrueSync support, with the cable that lets you connect it to the serial port on your computer.
Some version of UNIX. I have personally used it on Linux, and have heard succesful reports of it being used on various BSDs and Solaris. StarTalk is designed to be a portable program, so if it doesn't work on your platform, please let me know!
A reasonable compiler and C library.
I have personally tested StarTalk on:
- RedHat Linux 6.0, StarTac software 6308.
- RedHat Linux 7.2, StarTac software 7058.
- RedHat Linux 7.2, StarTac software 7654.

Using it

You can build startalk with

 
	./configure
	make
	make install

Once you have done that, run 'startalk' with no arguments for help.

Further documentation is included in the README.

The Cable

The cable I use to connect my phone to my computer is the Data Connectivity Kit. One end of the phone connects into the bottom of the phone, and the other end is a 9-pin female serial connector that plugs into the back of my computer.

The cable is sold by itself as a Motorola SYN7464 or SYN7465B Data TrueSync Connectivity Cable, or as part of the Motorola 98193 CDMA Data Connectivity Kit with Truesync Software. Searching for these on the Internet, I was able to easily find several places which sell them.

This cable says it is compatible with the following phones:

Motorola Talkabout/ T8160/ T8167/ T8367/
Timeport/ P8367/ P8160/ P8167/ P8767*/
V8060/ V8062/ V8160/ V8162/
Startac/ Star-Tac/ St7760/ ST7762/ ST7860/ ST7860W/ ST7867/ ST7867W/ ST7868/ ST7868W

* The P8767 apparently requires a firmware upgrade from the dealer to work with this cable and software.

I suspect that this software will work with any of these phones, but I've only tried it on my own. If StarTalk works for you, please check the Web page, and if your phone model is not listed there, email me with the model number so I can add it as confirmed working.

I've gotten numerous requests for information on how to make your own cable. I haven't been able to find any information about this; if you have some please send it my way. From what others have told me, I understand that the cable contains a microchip, and doesn't simply connect pins on the phone to pins on the serial port, so it is more difficult than it seems like it should be.

Related Projects

palm2star: Transfers entries from a Palm device to a StarTAC phone.
http://cuspy.com/software/palm2star/
StarTAC AT Commands: http://ridge.trideja.com/wireless/atcommands/
StarTAC Software Revisions: http://ridge.trideja.com/wireless/swrev.html
StarTAC Hardware: These are for GSM phones, but they mention that the other StarTAC phones are very similar.
http://ridge.trideja.com/wireless/swrev.html
http://www.gsm-products.com/html/
jStarTalk: a Java version of StarTalk
http://jStarTalk.MageNet.com
qcplink: like StarTalk for Qualcomm phones
http://qcplink.sourceforge.net/
gnokii: like StarTalk for Nokia phones
http://gnokii.org/

Credits

Thanks to:

Jason White <jdwhite@jdwhite.org>: for his help with testing and debugging the new-style phonebooks and email addresses.
Jeffrey C. Honig <jch@eng.bsdi.com>: for his help and his code to support special characters in phone numbers and to make StarTalk simpler and faster.
Gilbert Raymond <gilbert@lucent.com>: contributed ideas and code for supporting special characters in phone numbers, and feedback on the documentation.
David Kirk: contributed a Verizon 7867W phone, which will let me continue support for the newer-firmware phones. Thanks David!

Copyright

StarTalk is copyrighted by Scott Gifford and is licensed through the GNU General Public License. Read the COPYING file for the complete license.

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