Jpilot is part of the answer. Jpilot provides a desktop PIM that can be synced with a Palm. Pilot-Link provides the conduit between a Palm and a Linux (or Win) box. I've used it for years with my T3 and before that with my Palm 5; however, I haven't tried to sync any of my N810 Palm installations.

On the other hand, I would guess that Jpilot and Pilot-Link may be bundled in some distributions.