TheNitai

Right, so here is the scope. I’ve been a MacOS X user for many years, not that I have been a fanatic one but I simply used what works best for me. In any case, I own 3 Mac Mini’s and mostly got a new MacBook Pro every year. I also converted quite a lot of people over the Mac. Recently, I’ve even got a iPhone (well, 1 1/2 years ago) after many years of using a BlackBerry. I have to say, the “Apple way” has worked very well for me.

That being said, I have always followed how Linux has been developing, especially on the desktop side (all of our servers run Linux). Actually, with Ubuntu 8, I seriously was thinking of using Linux on the desktop, but back then some application were missing. Later with Ubuntu 9, I took another try, but it still wasn’t ready for me. Now, with Ubuntu 10, the distro is not only very mature, but also, the applications I need are mostly up to date and work well for me.

So, today I set out to see if I will be able to replace my workplace which is based on MacOS X to Linux Ubuntu. My current setup is a MacBook Pro 15″ as my main machine hooked up to a 23″ Cinema screen. I was thinking to replace this setup with a desktop machine and have a netbook (the Asus EeePC 1201PN looks very sweat) as well. Since I still have a older MacMini lying around I set out to get Ubuntu 10 running on it.

Installing Ubuntu on a MacMini

Installing Ubuntu 10 on the MacMini was easy and surprisingly Ubuntu found every bit of hardware, it even found my Bluetooth Logitech Mouse within seconds.WIFI, Ethernet and external hard drives were also found without problems. For those wondering how to install Ubuntu on MacMini all you have to do is to partition your drives with BootCamp, insert the Ubuntu CD and then reboot the Mac (hold down the ALT key). Select the “Window” partition and it will start up from the Ubuntu CD and will start to install it.

So, how is it working with Ubuntu 10?

What can I say, except that the people over at Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) has fulfilled the promise to bring the best Linux experience to the desktop. I have had no driver problems, could immediately connect to the WIFI network and installing new software even easier then on the Mac.

But we already knew that Ubuntu is good, right? So the real thing for me is to see if I can get my workspace going under Ubuntu. In short, this means that all my applications and workflow will be available and doable with Ubuntu. Thus the rest of this blog post and part two and maybe even part three will be about finding and using the equalivant of of the Linux app to the Mac ones.

I won’t go into the obvious applications that are the same on each operating system like browsers or file explorer systems. The good thing to know is that Firefox and Google Chrome and all their extensions work the same under any operating system. One thing I noted so far, is that Firefox does not seam to have the memory leak problems like the one on the Mac.

Eclipse

I’ve used Eclipse for a long time and recently switched to Coda on the Mac, since Eclipse just eat away all the RAM I had and even crashed many times a day. I’m happy to see that Eclipse under Linux is rock solid and I can use my favorite development environment again.

Mail / Calendar / Contacts / iCal / Address Book

This is a no brainer for me, since I have been using Google Apps for some time and thus my Mail and Calendar already resides in the cloud I can simply continue using my browser without any OS worries. I never used Mail.app (instead used the Browser or Mailplane) and used Spanning Sync for keeping iCal and my Address Book in sync with Google Apps. Since, I don’t like any Mail apps or Calendar under Linux I simply opted to use the browser for Mail, Calendar and Address Book (this will keep it in sync with the iPhone/Android).

Word / Excel / Powerpoint

Right, so much has been said, about using OpenOffice instead of iWork or Microsoft Office. In my testing I have to say that OpenOffice 3.x works fine, but maybe it is just me or does OpenOffice on Linux look like Word 98? Feels like flying back in time… I have to say, that I haven’t tested this part in depth and so I can’t really give any verdict on this.

I have some other apps I need to work with like Aperture, TextExpander, 1Password, etc. and will write on these on the second part.

I hope this helps anyone that is wanting to switch over to Ubuntu. I haven’t made up my mind, if I should switch full time to Ubuntu. At the current state, the MacOS X with its Unix root feels like the grown up Linux, just more polished and with all the apps in the right place.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comment section.

So true

http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/

Given gMail has one of the best web application interfaces (for its usage) and can sit happy in your browser tab, it is after all still a web application and can not interact with your local address book, offers no drag and drop possibility and desktop notifications.

Furthermore, Gmail offers some really useful features like threaded conversation view, saving of chats, starred items and archives. Features that anyone who has used Gmail for more then one day has come to love and cherish. Since, those functions are just so useful many are just using Gmail in the browser, after all it is free and it works.

Still, I set out for a quest to find a desktop client and an iPhone app for gMail for the obvious reasons mentioned above and… …to say upfront, I found (for me) the perfect Gmail experience on the Mac and on the iPhone. So, read on…

Synching
We as Mac users like our iCal and our Address Book. They might not be the perfect solutions, but to be honest, they are the best we have and they come with MacOS X and are tightly integrated with the system. Thought, Apple made some improvements to iCal (adding WebDAV) and subscribing to other calendars it does not come close to experiences that some have with Outlook and Exchange server. Let’s not even talk about the Address Book which is somehow closed in itself (yes, I know you can lookup LDAP, but does a private person have LDAP installed?). What we (I) really want is to have a easy synchronization of my Calendar (iCal) and my addresses (Address Book) with Gmail. It is not too much to ask, right?

The desire to do so, is fortunately not only mine, but also that of the developers of SpanningSync. In short, SpanningSync allows you to sync your address book and calendar(s) (yes, more then one) with your GMail contact/calendars. Best of it all, you don’t have to do anything at all to make it work, simply install it, set it up once and forget it. From then on SpanningSync, syncs everything in the background for you.

For me, not one thought crossed my mind not to get it. They offer an annual license or a onetime license.

iPhone & gMail

Besides browsing to the mobile gMail site within Safari and then save it as a book mark site (which then appears as a custom app on the iPhone) there are two gMail applications, one is called iGmail and the other Mailroom.

Honestly, I have been using iGmail for some time and even slashed out $5 for having it work with my Google App account. But recently I experienced random lockouts, as such that I could not login anymore (even after restarting the phone) and once I was able to re-login I experienced random crashes. Another thing is that on slow connections (like on EDGE) the application did not work at all. Obviously, I was looking for an alternative.

Today, Mailroom had gotten the top spot on my iPhone. Mailroom is by far the best gMail application and works every time I have to use it, be it on a slow network or not. Mailroom does even more then the “normal” gMail mobile site. Some of the things are;

• Multiple Accounts
• Threaded Messages
• Using Local Address Book
• Offline Support

Personally, I don’t regret for once second that I bought Mailroom. It works every time and does what it promises.

Desktop & gMail

Of course, you can have your Apple Mail set up with gMail over IMAP (recommended) or POP3, but for me Apple Mail does not work so well. I like the gMail interface, but still want the desktop feeling and the convenience of attaching any document by drag/drop. The only application that offers me all that is Mailplane. I can’t say anything else, then that Mailplane does all the things you are accustomed to from a desktop application and some more. That and the user interface from gMail makes it a clear “must have” for any serious gMail user.

Some of the benefits of using Mailplane are;

• Having notification (Growl)
• Drag & Drop attachments
• Having different account and switch to them on the fly
• Individual formated signatures for each account
• Access to Address Book
• Create screen shots within Mailplane
• etc.

The Conclusion

Having a perfect workflow in sync with gMail, MacOS X and iPhone is something that can easily be achieved with the outlined tools above. For me, my current set up works flawlessly for many months now and supports me 100% in my work. In short, I use SpanningSync for having my calendar and address book in sync with gMail, iCal and Address Book. On my iPhone I got Mailroom and on MacOS X I use Mailplane.

I like to keep myself informed on different topics, as such RSS feeds are a great way to keep informed. They allow you to follow a site, without having to visit a specific website and scan for the latest articles. Moreover, it can keep you updated of software updates or news that would not enter your radar.

Over time, I have accumulated around 600 RSS feeds and the challenge to manage them all was a challenge in itself. Thought, today I have a very satisfying setup which I like to share.

The old workhorse

In the past I would go nowhere without NetNewswire. I’ve been a huge follower of NetNewswire for a long time. I can’t remember the companies name of the past, but it was one guy doing the whole work and the application was great. Then he sold it do Newsgator and they had this very great setup with their online RSS client which would sync the read statuses with the desktop client. Furthermore, they also had a iPhone client. All in all a winning team.

After some time, they gave up this setup and recommended all their customers to use Google Reader and use NetNewswire, both on the desktop and on the iPhone, to sync with Google Reader. Thought, I did not like Google Reader at first I have to say that i use Google Reader as my main “RSS server” nowadays.

Unfortunately, or let’s say fortunately, the move from the Newsgator platform to Google Reader has also brought new opportunities and ways in my RSS reading workflow, I would have never experienced with NetNewswire alone.

This brings me to my current setup.

The new workhorse

Today, I have replaced NetNewswire on my iPhone with Newsrack (it used to be called Newsstand). Newsrack is a full featured RSS reader, displays your news in a news stand like display (I don’t use it and simply like the “standard” view) and it is blazing fast in loading the feeds.

The big plus, apart from syncing with Google Reader is the ability to share the feeds by eMail, with my Google Reader followers, post it to Twitter, Delicious or Instapaper.

Sure, Newsrack itself is not a free app, unlike NetNewswire, but for my taste NetNewswire just did not scope it anymore for me. It did not sync properly anymore, the displaying of ads bothered me after some time, but apart from that, it was just painfully slow in syncing with Google Reader.

All in all, I’ve been buying Newsrack after around 2 hours playing with it and never regret it in any way.

I’ve looked into other RSS readers that have the option to sync with Google Reader, but could not find one that would work well for me. Especially the sharing feature and the way it works, just does it for me.

On to the Mac Desktop.

One might wonder why I would want to use a desktop RSS reader if Google has made Google Reader so easy to use in the browser and especially with Google Chrome the reader is just plain fast. Still, for me, desktop apps have benefits over their web counterparts. Some of the benefits are the possibility to read the feeds offline, be able to easily drag and drop them to an email client and post to a blog with MarsEdit.

So far, I have used NetNewswire also for Google Reader replacement, but here also, I experienced slow syncing and the ads really were annoying. Thus I set out on my quest for a replacement. Foremost, I did *not* want an AIR application (don’t get me started on AIR’s RAM usage). Luckily, it did not last long until I found the perfect Mac desktop Google Reader. Enter Gruml…

Gruml is a pretty young project (Version 0.9.17) and (surprise?) comes from a person in Germany. But what really got me hooked on Gruml is the usability that just makes it so much fun to use. Also, for just about every action you have shortcuts. Want to post a article to Twitter? Hit shift+T, Want to spread the news with ping.fm? Hit shift+G. Best of it, it opens a new tab with the build in browser.

But one of the really neat feature is the icon in the menu bar of MacOS X itself. First it lets you now how many unread items you got and when you click on the icon it gives you a preview of the feeds in its own window. Me thinks, that is really slick!

Moreover, I have found that Gruml is really in sync with Google Reader all the time. In my testing I saw that it syncs almost instantly with Google Reader and as such you have Google Reader, Newsrack on the iPhone and Gruml in sync almost by the beat.

Of course, one of the best selling points for Gruml is the price -  free by the means of Gratis, pay nothing, enjoy and follow the feeds

Thought this to be quite useful for my American friends.

The recent eMail von Jason Calacanis and his blog post entitled “The Case against Apple in five Parts” brought a little up stir in the Apple world. The recent reply came from Marco.  You can read their back and forth on Jason’s take on Apple and make up your own mind. I have read all the blog posts so far, but I have been missing one simple thing!

The one single thing that makes me use Apple products is that they simply work!

I have used Windows, Linux and MacOS X over the last couple of years. Hell, this blog post is even being typed on a Thinkpad with Windows XP, but nothing has ever been an hassle free experience then with using Apple products, be it hardware or software.

When has there ever been a more relaxed operating system update then with MacOS X? All you have to do is to pop in your DVD, run the update and know for sure that it will reboot safely with the new update. Moreover, with the applications itself you don’t need to run trough a “painful” installations with minimum five “OK” clicks (I know you Windows guys don’t see this as a problem because you are used to!), on MacOS X you simply drag and drop an application to the place you want. Nothing else!

iPhone is another topic that people like to argue about. Sure, the hardware is behind the current standard. Bluetooth does not work with cars and you might have to reboot your iPhone sometimes. But, have you ever used a Windows Mobile and did you every try to sync it with your Windows OS? I hate to repeat myself, but with the iPhone all I have to do is to hook it up to my Mac, sync it with iTunes (including Music, Photos, Videos, etc.) it even takes over my eMail settings and my eMail and Calendar just works. Symbian based phones and Windows Mobile ones require you to spend at least an hour fiddling with setting and try and error attempts. I don’t think I have to start arguing about the usability of the iPhone. Apple has done something, that for many years no one could. It brought a phone that simply works and is easy to use.

Remember the “plug und play” wording? Well, what is a “myth” in the Windows and Linux world is a fact with MacOS X. You got a new digital camera? All you do is connect it and the system recognizes it, iPhoto opens and there you got your photos. No hunting for a updated driver , no installation, no reboot needed, nothing else, just plug it in and start working. Isn’t that worth the little more money you got to pay?

Regarding the price, I do have to say that a Dell Lattitude E6500 with the same configuration as an Apple MacBook Pro 15″ will cost you about the same (at least in Switzerland). Price is not everything. And when it comes down to usability you save a lot more then with the initial cost when you use something that simply just works.

For me, and I’m sure for many other people, it is the Apple eco system that saves us money in the long run because it just works!

I love to read. I like to get as much knowledge as possible into my system. So far, I have been an “old style” book reader, meaning I actually bought a book in paper form and read it. But in the light of a greener environment and saving trees I wanted to go more into the eReader craze.

There has been a lot of buzz around the Kindle 2 in the last weeks, but I just did not want to carry around another device. Since I already have a iPhone I was looking for a solution for the iPhone itself. After some searching I found Stanza. Stanza is available as a Desktop application and as a iPhone application, also. Since, both applications are free of charge there was actually no need of holding back.

I have to say, that I was highly skeptical, but I have been reading 4 books in the last couple of weeks with the Stanza application on my iPhone and have to say, that i was pleasantly surprised how good the reading experience was.

The application itself is very well made and easily understood. With a tip on the left of the right side you flip pages, with a tip in the middle you get some information about the book. Reading the book in landscape mode is just a move away, and Stanza is enough intelligent to stay on the same page and even move a bit if the pages have more text landscape mode. You can set bookmarks, also.

Reading books was actually very easy on the eyes as you can adjust the size of the test sizes, the same way as you would within Safari. You can change the color, text font and much more. But I have to say, that the default settings were just about perfect for me.

I have to say, that one of the best features must be that you can transfer eBooks from the Desktop application the iPhone with a single click. All you do it enable “sharing” in the Desktop application and within the iPhone you can browse “remote books” and download them to the iPhone. Nothing easier then that. All in all, I have to say, that the Stanza iPhone application must be one of the best iPhone application ever made.

Actually, Stanza must have made a big impression out there, so much that Amazon bought the company behing Stanza the other day. In any way, I hope that Stanza will not get lost into the migration of Amazon, but in the long run, I wonder if Kindle for the iPhone and Stanza for the iPhone, both from the same company really makes sense.

Jeff Han has been showing multi touch screens for many years. Very impressive and fascinating to control your own computer like that. We already see, that people love the way how the iPhone can be navigated, just imagine how it would be if the below can become mainstream.

I am a huge fan of making my life “simple” and not complicated. After all, life around us is already complicated with all that is going on, so why bother taking it home, right?

That is also one of the reasons, why I use Apple Hardware and, to some extend, Apple Software. Not that I don’t know how to work with Linux or Windows, but Apple has one thing going for them, that is “It simply works”. That is true when it comes down to their Hardware, Operating System and Phone. You could argue, that this and that feature is not there and Apple is mediocre in their feature set (thought, this is mainly true), but I think because their not overloaded with features they have less to worry about and again it boils down that “it simply works”.

In that regard, I set out the other day to get my sound and TV setup right in my house. Something which I thought will take a long time, took merely minutes to get everything up and running. I took a new Mac Mini as the center of my “Hub”, meaning I have iTunes running on it, got it connected to my Apple Airport Extreme (with 2 Airport Express devices on other levels in the house) and have my Stereo connected to another Airport Express device. Then I also hooked up the Mac Mini to my TV Set.

Now, the best part of this setup is that I can control iTunes and the Mac Mini from everywhere in my house with my MacBook Pro, or from my wife’s MacBook or from my iPhone. Yes, iPhone!

Did you know that Apple has a great little iPhone app that allows you to control iTunes directly from your iPhone? I didn’t and so I as totally blown away when I found this little gem of software, called “Remote“. Once installed, again it took a minute to install and setup, you can control iTunes and Apple TV right there from your iPhone.

I remember when I was invited by Apple to come over to a MacWorld keynote and I saw Steve Jobs talking on the Apple Hub idea. His vision was that Apple devices become the Hub, the center of your life. Well, I have to say that they achieved it. Well done and thank you.

The fifth major revision of the HTML markup language (HTML5) brings some real power to web applications and will close the bridge for Online/Offline application.

As an example, Google has just showcased how they would leverage the power of HTML5 with the integrated database and Caching with the use of their famous GMail service. Since I have just posted about Collaboration and especially the Google Apps Services you might find the below video very interesting.