Howto: Use Ubuntu One to Sync Tomboy Notes Cross-platform
It was recently brought back to my attention by one of the FTN readers that you could sync your Tomboy notes cross-platform using Ubuntu One without actually having the Ubuntu One client installed, pretty handy seeing as a client does not exist on Windows and Mac. None the less this is the best way to sync your notes along with always having access to them via the web interface.
Howto: Use Dropbox to Sync Tomboy Notes on Ubuntu 10.04
Ubuntu by default comes with Ubuntu One, which is basically a Dropbox clone with a few cool additions. Ubuntu One has got some great desktop integration syncing which I really like, but unfortunately like most people I don't just work in an Ubuntu environment, so Ubuntu One just doesn't suite my needs. I want something that will sync all my files, Tomboy notes etc... cross-platform. So I've been using a feature in Tomboy that allows local folder syncing, which can take advantage of Dropbox's own syncing abilities. Basically what we're going to do is have Tomboy sync to a local folder which is located in the Dropbox folder.
Howto: Install Dropbox on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx
If you're like me and just can't switch over to Ubuntu One because they don't have a cross-platform client quite yet, Dropbox is still the king of easy folder synchronisation.
Step 1
Go to www.dropbox.com/downloading and download the appropriate .deb file.
Note: If you don't have a dropbox account sign-up for one here
Note: If you're not sure which one to download, you'll notice just above the download links they recommend which one you should download.
Step 2
Once downloaded, locate the file and double click it. You'll be presented with a package installer, just follow the on screen prompts.
Howto: Use Symbolic Links to Sync Folders with Dropbox on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
I've been using Dropbox to sync files over multiple OS's for a while now, but I've always found it annoying that I couldn't sync folder I specified rather than just the one Dropbox folder. While my solution isn't quite what I want, I does a pretty good job of it nonetheless, this is done by using symbolic links.
Basically a symbolic link will allow a folder to be in two places at once. In my case I'd like to make a symbolic link of my /Documents folder and place it in my /Dropbox folder so it will be synced to my other machines.
Step 1
Open a Terminal and simply run the following command:
Howto: Compile Dropbox from Source on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
It's very straight forward to do and doesn't really take much time at all. If you're on another Debian based distro it should work fine.
Step 1
Download the source files from here www.getdropbox.com/downloading and unzip it (right click and "Extract Here").
Note: If you don't have a dropbox account sign-up for one here
Step 2
We now need to install the dependencies in order to build our install files from source.
Open up your Terminal and type:
Google Chrome OS Open Source Project Announcement
Google Chrome OS is an open source operating system for people who spend most of their time on the web built around the core tenets of speed, simplicity and security. http://www.chromium.org
During the Q&A I found that people really didn't understand what ChromOS is and the differences between it and the Chrome Browser. Firstly everything on the system is a web application so you should be able to use the web application from any browser. People just need to think of it as an OS that is just the browser. This means you never install applications, everything is stored remotely and nowadays that's fine seeing as we spend most of our time in a browser connected to the internet.
Howto: Install Dropbox on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
Dropbox have officially released there .deb's for Ubuntu 9.10 32/64 bit! It's quite straight forward to install.
Step 1
Go to www.getdropbox.com/downloading and download the appropriate package for your system.
Note: If you don't have a dropbox account sign-up for one here
Step 2
Run the .deb file and follow the install instructions, it'll just take a moment.
Step 3
It'll tell you to logout and log back in, do so. Now run the application from Applications->Internet->Dropbox. It'll take a moment to load up then give you a warning that it's going to download/install a nautilus daemon, allow it to do so. This will just take a minute or so.
Step 4
You'll soon be greeted with a window that'll ask you if you'd like to login or create an account do what's appropriate for you.
Step 5
Once you've gone through the setup stage your Dropbox folder will now be located in your /home directory. You can however pick where you'd like to locate it and you can see that option in the setup, but the default is fine.
Step 6
Simple drag and drop files in and out of the folder and they will sync with the cloud and other machines you have it running on (can be Windows/Mac/Linux)
Congratulates you're all done! The thing I like the most about Dropbox is the fact that it's so easy to use, cross-platform and most of all free!
If you liked this guide or would like to add to it, please post a comment below and don't forget to subscribe (it's free)
Howto: Install Dropbox on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Beta
UPDATE:Ubuntu 9.10 has been released and so has an official .deb install file for Dropbox, updated Howto HERE.
UPDATE: I reposted this guide seeing as there's no need for it here: Howto: Compile Dropbox from Source on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
As of yet the dropbox team haven't released a .deb file for Ubuntu 9.10 (32/64 bit), I'm sure they'll release one by the time 9.10 is released, but I can't wait that long. So what we're basically going to do here is compile it from source, it's not all that scary...
Step 1
Download the source files from here www.getdropbox.com/downloading and unzip it (right click and "Extract Here").
Note: If you don't have a dropbox account sign-up for one here
Step 2
We now need to install the dependencies in order to build our install files from source.
Open up your Terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install libnautilus-extension-dev libnotify-dev python-docutils
Follow the prompts and it should a a few minutes to download and install everything.
Step 3
Navigate to where you created your /nautilus-dropbox folder (it'll probably have a version number after it) in the Terminal, in my case:
cd /Downloads/nautilus-dropbox-0.6.1/
Step 4
Once inside type the following commands into your Terminal:
./configure
make
sudo make install
Run each command one after another, they'll run for just a couple of seconds each.
Step 5
After installing it simply log out and log back into your system, navigate to Applications → Internet → Dropbox, click “OK” and it'll download and install the daemon and then prompt you for your dropbox details.
As you can see it's a pretty easy install and it's been working great for me!
If you have any questions, comments or tips, please leave a comment below.
Gmail's Down! – Rethinking Cloud Computing
I've been a big proponent of Gmail and most Google Applications, however I've always been wary of the pitfalls with 'cloud computing'. I think storing information online is a great idea, but I still feel that it's unreliable, Google services rarely go down, but I don't think that's good enough. Most people are dependant on online services and if they break there could be major repercussions, be it loss of money or not being able to hand in a college assignment. Cloud computing just isn't at the point were we can completely rely on it.
My current method of backup was to forward my college email to my Gmail, but this doesn't help if I can't access the internet and really need to check something. This interruption is the reason I've decided to revisit Google Gears as I've come to a point in my life were email is very important to my academics and I've got important documents I should really have local backups of.
I prefer Google Gears to other email clients such as Thunderbird or Evolution Mail, because I’ve grown accustomed to the Gmail UI and in my mind when I think of email I think, browser.
Ultimately I think the best solution is syncing your local information with the 'cloud' to give both reassurances that your information is backed up, read locally, but also be accessed from other machines via the internet if needed. Programs like Dropbox are a prime example of this unity.
Note: I noticed Gmail went down around 9PM GMT and is still not back up, just logged back on and it's back up.