How can I convert my Palm OS Calendar to Thunderbird/Lighting (/ics) format?

Question

I have an old copy of my PalmOS calendar, but no longer have the device. How can I import these into Thunderbird/Lighting or convert them to .ics?

Answer 1

The short answer is that you cannot, at least not directly. Palm's Desktop application only supports exporting in their own Date Book Archive (.dba). Thunderbird/Lighting uses the standard (.ics - RFC 2445/RFC 5545) format.

The site at: http://hepunx.rl.ac.uk/~adye/software/palm/palm2ical/ has a tool that runs on Windows, Mac, Linux called palm2ical. it's self contained.

The next problem was how to get the DatebookDB.PDB or CalendarDB-PDat.PDB file if you no longer have your PDA.

The page talks about:

Extracting the PDB file from your Palm 1. Easy method — using an SD Card or LifeDrive 2. Harder method — using HotSync 3. Extracting the PDB file without your Palm (by using the Palm Simulator).

Once you have the database file (.pdb), you can run the utility:

Examples:

palm2ical
palm2ical -o CalendarDB-PDat.ics CalendarDB-PDat.PDB
palm2ical CalendarDB-PDat.PDB > CalendarDB-PDat.ics

There are also other tools listed under "Similar Programs". Although I have not tested them.