Why do I need to know this?  I don’t really.  But it’s one of those things that I find interesting, because I have access to the data.

I guess this must mean I use more gas going home than I do coming to work.

One of the newest features of this blackberry over my last, the 8700, is the addition of the built in GPS receiver.  While I generally do know where I am, I have played with GPS before and I do like the idea of having a handheld device capable of giving me my location to within a few metres.  It seems so Star Trek, and being that I am a nerd who grew up wishing he were aboard the Enterprise (any one of them), something that brings me closer to Trektopia is always a welcome addition to my life.  The GPS in this device seems to be quite capable and has functioned well in my limited testing.  It finds the satellites quickly, and promptly tells me where I’m at.

While the built in software doesn’t have the capability of speaking turn by turn directions to me, I believe there are other 3rd party applications that offer this.  I am not too interested in that though.  I find if I have a map, which I always have handy by way of Google maps, and I know where I am on that map…reaching my destination is not too difficult.

Another addition is the voice dialing system.  Now, there have been around for quite some time, but I do like this implementation.  Rather than having to create a specific voice command for each voice dialing entry as I have had to do in the past with other cell phones, this one uses a voice recognition system that will allow me to speak the name of the contact as it appears in my address book without any prior training.   It has been quite good at understanding me so far.  Again, one step closer to the Trektopia. "Computer, tea, earl gray, hot."

And finally, I am glad they finally added expandable memory via a MicroSD card slot.  Now I can use my BB in a similar manner to a USB memory stick, which I so often have trouble keeping track of.  I have yet to lose my Blackberry.

I do love the toys…..

But again, for those that do…here goes.

So my scenario is as follows….

I have a newly installed Ubuntu 7.04 installation, and a Blackberry 8700.
As any of you blackberry users know, when you plug your blackberry into the USB cable in windows, it conveniently begins to charge. Easy stuff, no messing about generally. This is not really the case with Linux. (Ubuntu 7.04 to be precise, in this scenario)

You see, as I understand it, and have confirmed in my last few days of migrating to Ubuntu on my desktop PC, a usb port normally outputs 100mA of juicy power. This is not enough to charge the Blackberry. It requires 500mA.
Now windows, in all it’s wonder (and with the help of a driver) is quite efficient in recognizing that when you are plugging in your blackberry, you most likely want to charge it. So, sensing the blackberry it increases the output of the USB port accordingly and viola, you have a charged blackberry some hours later.

Ubuntu however requires a little help in this area. Out of the box it does not appear to see the blackberry for what it is, and does not change the power output of the USB port, and therefore, does not charge your little hip side companion.

Fortunately, there is some help for ubuntu in this regard. The Barry Project at Sourceforge includes a handy utility called bcharge that can recognize your Blackberry and adjust the output power to the required 500mA, much like Windows does. In many cases this tool is all that is required for making your Ubuntu install into a fully functional blackberry charger.

However, this did not quite work for me with the 8700. I am not entirely sure why. But the issue was that the power on my usb port would be increased, but only for about 1 second. Then, my little charging icon on the blackberry would go away, leaving me sadly with no more juice in my crackberry.

I was stumped, and could not find a resolution to this issue until today, when I spoke to my nephew, who knew a guy who had resolved it. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I cannot. But since I didn’t find this work around anywhere on the net so far, I thought I would share in the hopes that someone else will have some luck with it!

So here is the solution (Finally) to…

Charging the Blackberry 8700r on Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) using bcharge.

***********************************************************
DISCLAIMER: USE THIS SOLUTION AT YOUR OWN RISK!
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I cannot be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device as a result of using this method.
All I can say is that it works for me, and so far, my blackberry has not blown up or caught fire, or been otherwise visibly damaged, I cannot guarantee you will get the same results!

The solution is pretty simple really. A loop. Since the charging icon goes away after just over a second, Run bcharge, every second!

This is what I did exactly. (Fyi: I placed the script in my home directory, but put the sudo in anyway)

1. Use your favourite text editor to create a script that we will use to loop bcharge.

sudo nano bbcharge.sh

2. Use the following script code that will run bcharge every second, forever. Save it when you are done.

#!/bin/sh
X=0
while (X=0)
do
bcharge > NUL
sleep 1
done

*Note: This is exactly the second shell script I have ever written so forgive the rudimentary nature of it.

3. Make the script Executable.

sudo chmod 755 bbcharge.sh

4. Plug in your Blackberry. (Do this first, when I run the script first the blackberry reboots when I plug it in, can’t be good)

5. Run the script!

./bbcharge.sh

You should now be charging away.

Let me know how it works out.