---
title: "Install syncthing on PocketBook"
slug: syncthing-on-pocketbook
description: "Install syncthing on your PocketBook e-reader."
date: 2020-11-17T22:57:28+01:00
type: posts
draft: false
tags:
- syncthing
- pocketbook
comtodon: A1J4iIO2gJhoLjICoK
---

:source-highlighter: pygments

Installing syncthing on a PocketBook is fairly easy, but it requires a bit more
setup than on PCs. I've tested this with a PB632 (PocketBook Touch HD 3), but it
should work on any PocketBook device.

Connect your PocketBook via USB in “PC link” mode. Create the directory
`applications/syncthing` in your PocketBook's storage. Get the latest ARM 32 bit
version of syncthing from <https://syncthing.net/downloads/> and extract the
binary “syncthing” to the directory you just created. Now create the following
files:

.`applications/syncthing.app`
[source,shell]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#!/bin/sh

SYNCTHING_DIR="/mnt/ext1/applications/syncthing"
${SYNCTHING_DIR}/syncthing -home="${SYNCTHING_DIR}"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.`applications/syncthing/config.xml`
[source,xml]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<configuration version="32">
    <gui enabled="true" tls="false" debugging="false">
        <address>0.0.0.0:8384</address>
    </gui>
    <options>
        <startBrowser>false</startBrowser>
    </options>
</configuration>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[NOTE]
PocketBooks don't seem to have an address assigned to the loopback interface. If
you try to listen on 127.0.0.1 syncthing will exit with an error message.

Disconnect the e-reader, enable wireless LAN and start syncthing. It should show
up in “Apps” as “@syncthing”. Open a browser on your PC and connect to the IP of
your PocketBook (see <<How to find the IP address of your PocketBook,below>> if
you don't know it) on port 8384. Now configure syncthing as normal. There is no
window showing up if you start syncthing, the screen appears to freeze. You can
get back to your start screen with the home key. syncthing will continue to run
in the background. You can close syncthing with the “Task Manager”.

[TIP]
If you want to see the output of syncthing, download “pbterm.zip” from
<http://users.physik.fu-berlin.de/~jtt/PB/>, install it and start
`syncthing.app` from there.

[CAUTION]
We configured syncthing to accept connections from everywhere without a password
and we disabled encryption. Make sure to disable the GUI or set a password and
enable TLS if you want to use it in insecure networks.

== How to find the IP address of your PocketBook

Connect the e-reader to your wireless LAN. If you've installed pbterm, open it
and type `ifconfig`. The IP address comes after “inet addr:” in the
output. Alternatively, If you have a computer with Linux, BSD or a similar OS on
your network, open a terminal on it and type `arp`. In the “HWaddress” column
look for an address starting with
pass:[<abbr title="Shenzhen YITOA Digital Appliance CO.">]
*94:99:01*pass:[</abbr>]. The IP address is on the left.

[NOTE]
Different PocketBook models may use network chipsets from other vendors with
different hardware addresses.



//  LocalWords:  loopback syncthing PocketBooks PocketBook
