Cre eating Platfo orm In ndepe endenc ce For Emaill, Calen ndaring g, Tasking, Etc. V 1.0 – to be continued upon request
This documentt is a step by step guide to making T m your em mail, calendaring, tasking, etc. platform m independen nt. The software menttioned herein can be used on Windows, Mac c OSX, and mo ost Linux distrib butions. Furthermore, the t setup featu ured will leave e your data (a at least a copy of it) on third--party servers – totally s synchronized d 24/7. So if your com mputer crashes,, gets stolen, or o your whole infrastructure is destroyed yo ou just buy a new n computer (regardless the e make), hook k it up to the internet, follo ow the instructtions in this guide and you are a operationa al again. Now for the best b part: All applications mentioned herein h are ope en-source and d FREE!
D Donations Welc come (click buttton below)
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
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Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
Those of you who T w are on Mac c and PC, on Mac M and Linux, or any other exciting e constellation will defiinitely know the hassle o keeping data synchronized of d. Yet also the poor souls who regularly use e more than on ne computer are aware of the e hassle. For me, both apply a and I hav ve been trying to figure out a way to keep my data synch hronized. And this t is the term m to generalize the problem... Ma aking my email, calendar, tas sking, twitter, documents, d etc c. available not only on multiple machines runn ning several pla atforms, but allso considering g that I want to o have most off my stuff availlable offline to be able t work in plan to nes, trains, or where ever. T The solution(s)) I implied: •
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Email - This calls fo or Gmail(GO!) and its awesom me and constantly increasing g storage capac city. And of course the treme endous amountt of nifty features involved lik ke sending from m other addres sses you own. Using the IMA AP protocol you can access your cons stantly synchro onized email from every platfform and even make it availa able offline e when using a client like Thu underbird(GO!) . (why Thund derbird? We'll get g to that late er) Calen ndaring - Google's Calender (GO!) app sco ores big time in n this case... Multiple M calenda ars, multiple pe ermission settin ngs on what wh ho can read and where. Taskiing - This is where it gets a bit hairy - sinc ce Google Calen ndar does not support task synchronization n we have to find d a workaround for that one.. So we end up p using the free e version of Re emember The Milk(GO!) M whic ch we will then integrate i into Google G Calender later on. Twittter(GO!) - Som me will refer to o it as a useles ss necessity... but I live there e - Hey, be tole erant! ;) And this also calls for f some integration obstacle es. You can verry well use the e web based ve ersion from pre etty much any platform and your y cell phone e to keep peoplle up to date. But B how boring g is that please e? We want the e big boy's stufff! So we'll use u TwitterFox x(GO!) which in ntegrates seam mlessly into you ur Firefox brow wser. Docu uments - I pretty much have e my famous brrain farts all da ay long. Remembering my th houghts always s prese ented a big challenge. Not tha at my brain cap pacity would be overrun - bu ut it's just the mass m of things. And of course the desire to o make my lettters, etc. availa able anywhere. Hey, who wants to run arou und with a lapttop all day long? I don't. So this is where we go to Google Docs(GO!) and d use their grea at Google Gearrs(GO!) (which h is by the way y is also availa able to Google Reader(GO!) ) IM - Something S no one really nee eds. But a grea at deal to stay in touch with Friends F and business colleagu ues. Just make e sure that you don't spread your y handles to oo far as it can n very well bec come a pain in the ass being available all day. The problem p with IM Ms though was s that in the pa ast - if you're running more th han one system m - you had more m than one lo og stored in se everal places de epending on th he system or VM V you were on n. The directions d we want w to go to so olve this issue is Meebo.com (GO!) Meebo unifies u all yourr IM accounts to t a web based d platform and stores logs with all conversa ation server sid ded. The conse equence being that you have all the data available a in one place. RSS Feeds F - Who can c live withou ut them? But th he more importtant question is, who has tim me to read them m while online e? Google Reader (GO!) takes care of o this issue in a very simple way, w utilizing Google G Gears(G GO!), making the t last 2000 articles in your favorite feeds available for offline reading g.
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
Putting g it all togeth her‌ 1.
Sign up u for all the services s pointed d out above - or o the ones you want to utiliz ze. The simplest way to do is s to go to http:///google.com/a accounts from where you can n sign up for 1 1. Google Mail 2 2. Google Calendar 3 3. And downlo oad Google Ge ears 4 4. The Screen n you get should look like this:
2.
NOTE E: once you ha ave your GMail account set up p, make sure to t DEACTIVATE E! POP3 protoc cols in the setttings tab of you ur GMail home screen!
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
3.
Down nload and install Mozilla Firefo ox(GO!)
4.
Down nload and install Google Gearrs(GO!) to yourr Firefox to ma ake Google Doc cs and Google Reader availab ble for offline e usage
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
5.
For Tw witter Users -> > Download Tw witterFox(GO!) and install it to t your Firefox and have yourr tweets pushe ed to your computer(s) or deviice(s)
Then configure yourr TwitterFox
6.
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
Now we’ll w download, install, and setup Mozilla's Thunderbird(G GO!) to keep yo our email in pla ace 1. 1 2 2. 3 3. 4 4. 5 5. 6. 6 7 7. 8. 8 9 9. 1 10. 1 11. 1 12. 13. 1 1 14. 15. 1 1 16. 17. 1 1 18. 1 19. 2 20. 2 21.
22. 2 2 23. 2 24. 2 25. 26. 2 2 27. 2 28. 2 29. 3 30. 3 31. 3 32. 3 33. 3 34. 3 35. 3 36. 3 37. 3 38.
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
Open Thun nderbird, and select Tools > Account Setttings. Click Add Account. A Select the Email accoun nt radio button n and click Nex xt. The Identity y screen appea ars. Enter your full name in th he Your Name e field. Enter your y Gmail add dress (usernam me@gmail.com) in the dress field, and d click Next. Google G Apps us sers, enter you ur full address in the format Email Add username@your_domain.com Select IMA AP as the type of incoming se erver you are using. u Enter im map.gmail.com m in the Incom ming Server fielld. Set the Ou utgoing Serve er to smtp.gmail.com and cliick Next. Enter your full email address (including g @gmail.com @your_domain. @ .com) in the In ncoming Userr Name and Outgo oing User Nam me fields, and click Next. Enter a nam me for your em mail account in the Account Name field, and click Next. Verify yourr account information in the dialog d box, and d click Finish. Select Serv ver Settings from f the folderr list below you ur new account. Update the e Port value to o 993. • In the e Security Setttings section, select SSL fro om the Use se ecure connectio on options. Select the 'Check for mes ssages at starttup' checkbox and a the 'Check k for new mess sages every 10 0 minutes' checkbox. Click Outgoing Server (SMTP) ( in the folder list. Select the smtp.gmail.c com (Default) ) entry from th he list and click k Edit. The SM MTP Server page appears. Enter smtp p.gmail.com as s the Server Name N and set the Port to 58 87. Select Use er name and password p and d enter your full email addres ss (including @g gmail.com or @your_dom main.com) in th he User Name e field. Select TLS S from the Use e secure connection radio buttons b and clic ck OK. Click OK to o save your cha anges and exitt the Account Settings dialo og. From the Tools T menu, select Account Settings S and highlight your Gmail address s. On the Ser rver Settings tab Check for new n messages at startup > checked c Check for new n messages every 10 minu utes > checke ed When I dellete a message e > Mark it as s deleted Clean up (""Expunge") Inb box on Exit > do d NOT check k Empty Tras sh on Exit > do o NOT check On the Cop pies & Folderrs tab in the When W sending messages, automatically section Place a cop py in > do NOT T check On the Cop pies & Folderrs tab in the Drrafts and Tem mplates section Keep mess sage drafts in > Other Other > [Y Your Gmail add dress] > [Gmail] > Drafts On the Jun nk Settings ta ab Enable ada aptive junk mail controls > do o NOT check Click OK to o save and clos se your accoun nt settings. If you'd like to further en nhance your IM MAP experience e, please carefu ully follow thes se additional stteps: • In the 'T Tools' menu, op pen Options. • On the 'A Advanced' tab,, open the Gen neral section. • Click the e Config Edito or button. • In the 'F Filter' box, type e 'browser.cach he.memory.cap pacity' • Double-c click on the bro owser.cache..memory.capa acity entry to edit its value. • Change the t value to '30720' and click k OK. • Delete th he text in the 'Filter' box and type 'mail.serrver.default.fettch_by_chunks s' • Double-c click on the ma ail.server.deffault.fetch_by y_chunks entrry to set its value to false. • Close the e 'about:config g' window and then close 'Op ptions' by clicking OK.
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
7.
For th he secure folks s: download enigmail(GO!) to o sign or encrypt your mail on n a PGP basis (requires ( GnuP PG(GO!) for Windows - Is inc cluded and pre-installed in most m Linux insta allations) There e is an excellen nt, 16 page doc cumentation av vailable here(G GO!) on how to o get enigmail running.
8.
Down nload and install Lightning forr Thunderbird(GO!) which willl enable calend dar usage insid de Thunderbird d
9.
Down nload and install the Google Calender C Plugin n(GO!) for Thunderbird to enable 2way sync
10. Go to the Thunderbird Calender ta ab:
Then import the Google Calender’’s iCal stream Righ ht Click on the e Calendar Pa ane > New Ca alender > Fro om Network > Next > Goog gle Calender
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
On th he Google Cale endar Home click c > Settin ngs > Calenda ars > “Your Calendar” C > Then scroll down to the very botto om to RIGHT CLICK! C The ICA AL Button > Co opy Link Locatio on
t URI you ha ave just copied into the field of the Thunderrbird Prompt Post the
Then click next and wait for the prrompt for yourr Google Accou unt access code e
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
11. Notice e that we do not have the tas sks yet... so im mport the reme ember the milk k calender also o(GO!) 12. Since Remember Th he Milk is also based b on the iC Cal format (wh hich is one way y synchronizatiion) we need to download and install this Plugin to o Thunderbird to t enable two-way synchroniization… [NOT TE: since it’s in development you need to re egister to down nload – but it works] w c Right click on the e calendar Tab b, select New Calendar C Once installed and configured
selectt the “Rememb ber The Milk Prrovider”
Then we go to Reme ember The Milk (RtM) (and lo ogin with our user u ID and password) On RttM, we go to Settings (top right) > Info > select iCalen ndar Service (All ( Lists) Copy y that link and d then you’re se et to go.
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
Instan nt Mess saging Although widely conceived as A s pesky, instan nt messaging has h proven to be b a good way to stay in touc ch with close friends a and trusted bu usiness partnerrs. A great feature e of IM is that chats are logged. But if you use multiple co omputers you will soon have e past discussio ons flying a around everyw where. Meebo unites pretty p much all chat services s including ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber, GTalk k, etc. And the e best thing is: you can t turn logging on n and Meebo will w store all your conversations. 1 Go to meebo o.com
2 Sign up for the t Meebo Acco ount 3 Once you have done so, se elect the servic ce you want to use 4 off you go to o a united chat adventure – regardless r if yo ou are on Mac OS, Windows, or Linux.
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
Docum ments Google Docum ments offers you u full-featured spreadsheet, word processo or (including sp pellchecking forr several langu uages), a and presentation capabilities s in an on- and offline (using Google Gears)) environment.. All in your bro owser. Offline function nality includes document editting and synch hronization upo on gaining yourr online connec ction back. Definitely men ntionable is the e collaboration feature, referrring to the fact that you can share s documen nts with other Google Document users. For instanc ce other members in your org ganization. The most interresting fact is that T t you can ex xport your crea ated documentts to pretty mu uch every form mat like Open Office-, O Microsoft comp patible formats s, RTF, HTML, PDF, P etc. But since we’re talking ab bout having synced data: rregardless of th he system you are working on o (Windows, Mac, M Linux) you alw ways have acce ess to all your documents d in a familiar envirronment. A you need to All o do is sign up using your pro obably existing g Google Accou unt and you can get started.
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID
RSS Fe eeds Keeping track of information through RSS feeds f is sometthing which has s not spread to oo far. But it is s the informatio on source o the future. Every of E good site e offers you the possibility off staying on tra ack subscribing g to its RSS fee ed, signaled by y an o orange symbol, looking some ewhat like your WiFi connection. Since most peo ople have man ny feeds to kee ep track of, so called RSS rea aders have dev veloped. Some of the offline, most of t them online. Google Readerr offers you the e possibility to utilize both on n- and offline usage, u using Go oogle Gears (s see previous ch hapter). 1.
Sign up fo or Google Read der using your Google Accoun nt
2.
Once you have done so, you can start subscribing to o RSS feeds
3.
s you an orange o symbol in the address s bar, click it Wheneverr your Firefox shows
4 4.
You will th hen see the RS SS layout of the e page
5.
Copy that URL (address)) that is now shown in your address a bar and paste it into the field on Go oogle Reader and a click “add”
6.
The feed will w appear on your list. And every e time it is s updated, you u will be notifie ed by an indicator (1) beside the feed’s nam me.
hilse@gmail.co om and I will se ee how I can assist a you. Need help? Just send me an email to lars.h P Please conside er a donation n if you think this documen nt was helpfu ul to you (CLI ICK HERE)
Lars Hilse Eichstr. 10 B DE-25767 Bunsoh G Germany
DE +49 (0)1801 55577 775788 UK +44 (0)870 974905 50 US +1 206 203 5212 p://lars-hilse.de/con ntact http
SPK Westholstein (218 518 30) 0263 Account: 85010 IBAN: DE75218518300085010263 HNDEH1MLD SWIFT(BIC): HSH
WWW W.LARS-HILSE.DE E
Registered in Bunsoh, Gerrmany ew York City, USA and Ne Court: Meldorf, Germany D: 86105724235 (DE E) Tax ID