If you haven't used a handheld device with your computer before, you need to run the GNOME Control Center by clicking System > Settings, and make sure that Pilot Link is properly configured. Make sure that you have read and write permissions on the device, which is normally in /dev/pilot. If that does not work, check in /dev/ttyS0 if you have a serial connection, or in /dev/ttyUSB1 for a USB connection. You can do this by becoming root and adding your username to the group that owns this device node. For a USB device on sync, two device nodes are created, ttyUSB0 and ttyUSB1. The second node is the one to be used in configuring the device.