M: Trying to recover info from Palm pilot mdb files on a Linux system. Not sure what version of Palm os or Palm model. Need a brief rundown of how to pull this off.

G: Palm Pilot .mdb files are likely part of a Palm Desktop database, but not Microsoft Access. If they're actual Palm databases (PDB or PRC) mistakenly named .mdb, you’ll need different tools. Here's a general approach:

1. Identify File Type

Run:

file yourfile.mdb

strings yourfile.mdb | less

If it’s a Palm database, you’ll see headers like PDB or PRC.
If it’s an actual Access database, use mdbtools (mdb-export, mdb-tables).

2. For Palm Databases (PDB/PRC)

Install pilot-link:

sudo dnf install pilot-link

Extract records with:

pilot-read-pdb yourfile.mdb

3. For Access MDB Files

Install mdbtools:

sudo dnf install mdbtools

List tables:

mdb-tables yourfile.mdb

Export data:

mdb-export yourfile.mdb table_name

4. Check for Palm Desktop Compatibility

If it’s a Palm Desktop file, try running an old version of Palm Desktop in Wine or a Windows VM to extract data.

Let me know if the file type isn't clear.

M: It’s reacting like an access db. Actually, with the strings command you suggested, it said “standard jet db“. I’m trying to pull the data out using the export command. Can you give me a quick command line script to export all the tables to a single text file?

G: Since your file is a Microsoft Access database (Jet DB), you can use mdbtools to extract all tables into a single text file. Here's a quick script:

#!/bin/bash

DB_FILE="yourfile.mdb"
OUTPUT_FILE="exported_data.txt"

# Clear the output file
> "$OUTPUT_FILE"

# Loop through each table and export it
for table in $(mdb-tables -1 "$DB_FILE"); do
    echo "Exporting table: $table" | tee -a "$OUTPUT_FILE"
    mdb-export "$DB_FILE" "$table" >> "$OUTPUT_FILE"
    echo -e "\n---\n" >> "$OUTPUT_FILE"  # Separator between tables
done

echo "Export complete. Data saved in $OUTPUT_FILE."

Usage:

Replace yourfile.mdb with the actual filename.
Save the script as export_mdb.sh.
Make it executable:
```
chmod +x export_mdb.sh
```
Run it:
```
./export_mdb.sh
```

This will export all tables into exported_data.txt, adding table names and separators for clarity.