Pages

Nokuntu - Unofficial Nokia PC Suite for Ubuntu!

It's said that currently Ubuntu Linux distribution is the world's 3rd most popular operating system which is catching up with MS Windows and Mac OSX, fast, kinda :). On the other hand, Nokia is one of the keystone manufactures of mobile phones from the beginning to this day.

Sometime ago they did get inspired by the word "OpenSource" which made the take decisions like participating in projects like MeeGo and most importantly they own (bought) the Qt toolkit which is the famous KDE desktop is built upon as well.

But recently they did go through some interesting changes such as abandoning the gorgeous looking N9 smart phone (its OS actually) + almost all of their interest in the MeeGo platform which is quite sad from an OpenSource geek's point of view :).

Anyhow apart from all these issues for sometime now, Nokia was a bit "heavily" involved in GNU/Linux for the good or the worst.

But surprisingly... after Ubuntu's gaining some momentum and popularity... still they have been unable to release a Nokia PC Suite for GNU/Linux, to this day :/. Luckily one dude in particular thought "hmm, why wait for Nokia, I'm gonna make a Nokia PC suite of me own for Ubuntu!" which later became a reality and it's now known as Nokuntu!.

Here are some of the main features about Nokuntu (Ubuntu-Nokia connection suite)...



*. Once the phone is connected you can use Nautilus file manager to brows the memory cards installed and copy/move/delete files. Remember by default you can easily read the memory card's data of your phone by just selecting the "Storage emulation" rather than the PC-Suite.

But if you want to access the phone's chip, then you'll have to install another graphic frond-end which is built for communicating using the "OBEX" protocol (more on that later).

*. Import your back-up contacts in the Phone and use them under Evolution e-mail client.

*. Receive files via Bluetooth.

*. Connect to Internet using the built in modem.

*. Displays battery charging level.

*. Backup your SMS messages.

*. Install Java applications.

*. Compose and send messages.

*. Adding off-line maps.

*. Use the mobile phone's camera for capturing and storing videos directly to the PC/Laptop ... are the main ones to mention.

You can install this Unofficial Nokia PC suite called Nokuntu in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (should work in both 10.04 and 10.10 as well) by first downloading the .deb package from this page.

Once the downloading is complete, open it via the Ubuntu Software Center and follow the on screen instructions.

As said for the optimum usage make sure to install the OBEX protocol frond-end called Obextool. You can install the obextool in Ubuntu by entering the below command in your GNU/Linux Terminal window.
sudo apt-get install obextool

Remember, Nokuntu may not work in all the Nokia phone modules (unless they have a certain framework for accessing the hardware, I'm not an expert on those subject so I may be wrong on that one :/).

But until Nokia decides to create a Phone suite for GNU/Linux (if it's ever going to happen), Nokuntu will come in handy for a lot of Nokia phone users who wants to access the phone easily using their Ubuntu PC or Laptop nonetheless. Good luck.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doesn't work in ubuntu 11.04 everything is greyed out buttons not working.

Gayan said...

@Anonymous,

It works fine in my 11.04 (which I used to take the screenshots)... perhaps your phone is not supported?? (have you installed the "obextool" package??

Anonymous said...

Worked when I first installed it but two days later everything is just greyed out and not working. Yes I have the obextool package installed.

Gayan said...

@Anonymous,

Well perhaps it could be a application collusion...

Before doing a re-installation, can you launch the nokuntu in your terminal window and send me the out-put?

Gayan said...

@Anonymous,

Also make sure that you're running it with administrative privileges (I reinstalled Natty few days ago and don't have Nokuntu currently.. but did remember it asking for administrator password from me, since to run some portions of the app it requires those privileges..)

you can also try the below command in the terminal too

sudo nokuntu

Anonymous said...

Done a complete removal of package then a re install. Done a restart and now everything is working fine again. Thank you for your prompt reply its much appreciated.

Gayan said...

@Anonymous,

Glad you've got it working :)

NIDHI said...

I can't install nokuntu in my pc. when i tried to do it, an error msg is showing like this,
There seems to be a programming error in aptdaemon, the software that allows you to install/remove software and to perform other package management related tasks. Please report this error at http://launchpad.net/aptdaemon/+filebug and retry.
how can i solve this?

Gayan said...

@NIDH,

Well there seems to be an issue with your apt-get (package manager) thus you can try a suggestion that I found on the below link....

https://answers.launchpad.net/aptdaemon/+question/129088

Here's the solution according to that page...

"when you boot your pc at grub screen click on the second option ubuntu 10.10 recovery mode, when you the select the option fix broken packages, reboot and you will see you can install programs again"

Anonymous said...

Does it work on 11.10? I tried and could not install.

Marcel said...

really strange, it asks me things in spanish and german, whereas the install seems to be in english.

sorry, no matter what I tried it wouldnt work. I had to remove it.

thanks anyways,
Marcel

Gayan said...

@Marcel,

Sorry to hear that :/.

Anonymous said...

Great
but if language for the software would be in english it will be far better

Rob said...

"Anonymous said...

Great
but if language for the software would be in english it will be far better" - so, offer to help with the English localisation then...

So far it works very well with my N73 and PC running Ubuntu 10.10. However, the Maps facility does not seem to create the MGMapsCache folder. I'll dig deeper in a while.

But thanks for the great application!

Gayan said...

@Rob,

You are welcome.

Unknown said...

Thank you very much for the tip. As per today, the link in this article leads to the version 0.5.9 of Nokuntu. Why not replace the download hyperlink with the most recent version of Nokuntu? ;)

Here it is: http://sourceforge.net/projects/nokuntu/files/latest/download

ciao!

Anonymous said...

Have you tried it on Ubuntu 12.04 ? When I ran "sudo dpkg -i nokuntusp_0.6-1_all.deb" (after having installed obextool), it gives me the following error:
dpkg: error processing nokuntusp_0.6-1_all.deb (--install):
unable to open file '/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci//usr': Is a directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
nokuntusp_0.6-1_all.deb

Gayan said...

@ Frédéric,

Thanks mate, I updated the post. It's been a long time since I wrote it :).

Gayan said...

@Anonymous,

Try to install it using the Ubuntu Software Center because I just downloaded it and when doubled clicked, the Ubuntu Software Center installed it without any issues (in 12.04).

By the way, sorry about the late response, been a bit busy lately :).

Anonymous said...

(ex-anonymous)
If you've been busy, I've been busier I guess...
Ubuntu Software Center still gave the same dpkg error. Finally a PPA mentioned here (
http://www.ashwinraon.com/2012/04/nokuntu-nokia-pc-suite-for-ubuntu/) was what helped me out.

JJ said...

When trying to install it gives me the error "Package operation failure"

Details:

dpkg: error processing /home/xyz/Desktop/nokuntusp_0.6-1_all.deb (--install):
unable to open file '/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci//usr': Is a directory

I installed obex tools and I am installing via Ubuntu Software Center

mrg said...

I have the same problem as JJ, can someone help us?

OfficialUbuntu said...

Not done in my 11.10

Артур said...

How it remove if i don't need it already?

Gayan said...

@ApTyp,

Try 'sudo apt-get purge nokuntu'

Post a Comment