sync with Kontact or Evolution WITHOUT the cloud.
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| paai Oct 06, 2009 2:23 AM EDT |
I do not consider Google or Funambol or any other cloud based calendar/contact list as a solution for my personal data needs. The reason is obvious: what is possible and free today may well be impossible or costly tomorrow. Therefore I want direct sync of my personal data between PDA and the Linux desktop. The fact is that there is no easy, guaranteed way of syncing ANY cellphone or PDA with the Linux desktop. The old Palm OS comes close, but is buggy both in KDE and Gnome. Reports on SyncML are all rather iffy and installation is very complicated without certainty of full functionality with any phone. We must call on the developers to go into this problem. A desktop without syncing with a PDA is severely handicapped. Hans Paijmans |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 06, 2009 4:46 AM EDT |
Paai, you can always run our own "cloud". Get an old computer and install Linux (or buy a server. A basic Dell server is really cheap). Install Dovecot IMAP for your e-mail, OpenLDAP for your contacts and Apple's CalendarServer (open soure, python) for your calendar and you're done. Everything under your control and you can access it from your computer, cell phone, netbook, etcetera. |
| jsusanka Oct 06, 2009 9:38 AM EDT |
what amazes me is the security folks that have problems with the "cloud". they worry about someone else on the data and yet you a syncing on a device that could be easily loss and poof goes your data. if you have data that is absolutely needed to be secure it should not be on your phone. |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 06, 2009 10:12 AM EDT |
@jsusanka: The reasoning is very simple. The device is yours so you have control over it (forget about DRM and phoning home for a moment). You can't control what happens in some cloud provider's data center. Being in control yourself always beats the other options. |
| paai Oct 06, 2009 1:25 PM EDT |
@ sander: If I would install dovecot - of course I have my own Linux server - would all PDAs that sync with Google also sync with dovecot without me having to go in convulsions trying to get things to work? I have a bellyfull of attempts syncing my Treo and I do not look forward to another few weeks of struggling. |
| hkwint Oct 06, 2009 3:36 PM EDT |
Quoting:You can't control what happens in some cloud provider's data center. Worse: You don't know the physical location of your information while it's in the cloud. |
| gus3 Oct 06, 2009 3:42 PM EDT |
A quantum physicist will tell you that you have to observe (find) the information, and then you will know its location. |
| TxtEdMacs Oct 06, 2009 4:49 PM EDT |
But if you really nail down the location you have zero knowledge of where it is going. That is the essence of: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. YBT |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 06, 2009 4:56 PM EDT |
@paai: Yes. GMail is plain and simple IMAP. PDA that can sync with GMail over IMAP can sync with any IMAP server, including Dovecot. The same goes for the Apple CalendarServer. Any PDA or application that syncs with Google calendar can sync with CalendarServer. If fact, CalendarServer is *the* canonical iCal server. The only thing that is missing is a webclient for iCal for your server. For IMAP it is easy. There are many web applications like Horde and squirrelmail that you can put on your server to give you a web interface for your IMAP. Sadly there is no such thing for iCal yet. There are many web applications that provide calendaring services over the web, but they all insist on storing the data in their own database. There is no web application that can store data in a stand alone CalendarServer. What that means in practice is that you can access your e-mail from your computer, from your PDA and from a website on your server. But you can only access your agenda from your computer and your PDA. Not from a website on the server. |
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