My current hack for syncing text files (well, _a_ text file) between a Mac and a Palm, using the MacNoteTaker conduit - NoteTakersFriend.sh:

#!/bin/bash
#It seems like growlnotify can not be launched by NoteTakersFriend

#could probably rewrite simply with rsync
#gotta wait until the first sync is done
#watchfile /Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Palm\ Users
#-60 second interval

#IF Conduit Manager is not an active process OR if that UserData file exists then execute NoteTakersFriend
#watchedfileboils
#this is definitely checkable through Applescript (see itunes status mod.)
#newer=ls -t /Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Surly/NoteTaker/remind*|awk '{print $1}';
#simpler: TIME=`date | awk '{print $4}'`

#DEBUGGING:
#It seems like something sometimes gets screwed up such that this file gives no echo output.
#The cure to this sleeping sickness seems to be somewhere in running (at least pasting the
#commands into a sh shell), thecure.sh (basically commenting out the if [ "$?" != "0" ] line and it's fi terminator)
SyncMode=`diff /Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Palm\ Users /Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Palm\ UsersSyncOnce |cut -c 112-117`;
newer=`(set \`ls -t /Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Surly/NoteTaker/remind*|awk '{print $1}'\`; echo $1)`
#echo "$newer"
#if (lastntfif [ "$SyncMode" = "differ" -a "$newer" = "/Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Surly/NoteTaker/remind.txt" ]; then # = for strings and -eq for numbers
# if [ls -t /Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Surly/NoteTaker/remind*|awk '{print $1}'=~s/remindmergetracker
#if (change date of NoteTaker/remind.txt >change data of remind.txt)

#deal with line feed discrepancy
#merge osx old palm
userspath="/Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/";
fileold="/Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Surly/tmp/remind.txt";
file="/Users/Surly/remind.txt";
filepalm="/Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Surly/NoteTaker/remind.txt";
filemerged="/Users/Surly/Documents/Palm/Users/Surly/tmp/remind.txt.merged";


cp $filepalm $filepalm.tmp
tr '\015' '\012' <$filepalm.tmp > $filepalm
rm $filepalm.tmp
#instead of diffing palm and laptop versions, just check last time
#NoteTaker/remind.txt was touched
diff -q "$file" "$filepalm" >/dev/null;
if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then #$?==0 when files are identical (no differences)
#if [ diff -q "$file" "$filepalm" >/dev/null 2>&1]; then
#echo "$file1 and $file2 differ"
merge -p $file $fileold $filepalm >$filemerged
cp $fileold $fileold.1
cp $file /Users/Surly/remind.bak
cp $filemerged $filepalm
cp $filemerged $file
cp $filemerged $fileold
#cp $userspath/Surly/tmp/remind.txt.merged
#cp $userspath/Palm\ UsersWriteOnce $userspath/Palm\ Users
cp $userspath/Palm\ UsersSyncOnce $userspath/Palm\ Users
touch $userspath/Surly/NoteTaker/remindmergetracker
#the assumption here is that nothing happens on the palm between the
#read sync and the write one - i.e., days do not go by
#defense against such intervening stretches? Maybe on reboot cp ReadPalm to default

#another possible loophole: Conduit Settings is open, NTF runs, then Conduit
#Settings closes, saving its prior settings
#open -a /Applications/Palm/Conduit\ Manager
echo "HotSync again to synchronize NoteTaker" | /usr/local/bin/growlnotify -s -a /Applications/Palm/HotSync\ Manager
#man 1 growlnotify for help
echo "NoteTaker sync mode =>2: Sync with Palm"
fi
#identical files
#NoteTaker/remind.txt was newer than
else
if [ "$SyncMode" = "differ" ]; then
echo "NoteTaker sync mode 1: Read from Palm"
else
echo "NoteTaker sync mode 2: Sync with Palm"
fi
fi


#manual sync again?
#if so, then must worry about even or odd number of syncs
#or else come up with some kind of timing gimmick or something

#TO automate for an entire directory of synched files modify:
#for file1 in *; do
#for file2 in *; do
#if [ "$file1" != "$file2" ]; then
#if [ ! diff -q "$file1" "$file2" >/dev/null 2>&1 ]; then
#echo "%file1 and $file2 are identical"
#fi
#fi
#done
#done


I hope to document this in the future, but basically I just set NoteTaker conduit settings (to read from Palm, write to Palm, whatever) through HotSync Manager and then copied the Palm Users file to those named in the script.