Re: Rethinking Personal Information Management - Advice and Ideas needed
Why not use org-mode? On Thu, 8 Sep 2011, Alan Chandler wrote:
> For a little while now I have been slightly concerned that contact/address
> book management and calendar management is somewhat exposed - in that it only
> exists in my iPhone.
>
> My contract for the phone comes to an end shortly and I will be making some
> changes - I may keep the iPhone, but I could just as equally switch to an
> Android model of some form. I think the time has come to do some strategic
> planning on how I should really manage mail, contacts and calendars.
>
> My current situation is as follows:-
>
> Mail:
>
> I have a small home Debian Squeeze server running Exim (and anti-spam measures
> such as spamassissin) and Courier Imap providing e-mail accounts for me, my
> business and the rest of the family. I can access this inside the home via
> imap and from outside the home with imaps. This has been a long term stable
> platform for me and I am unlikely to want to change it. This machine also
> supports my external web sites, so could be a good platform for other stuff
>
> I use Icedove for my mail client on my desktop - although I am not wedded to
> it, I am reasonably happy with its e-mail reading facilities especially as
> considerable junk comes through the spamassassin filters but its junk filters
> seem to catch all the rest (and as far as I am aware I haven't seen any false
> positives).
>
> On the otherhand, my address book in it is a mess. It seems to be full of
> junk related (probably) to adding addresses from people who have sent me
> stuff.
>
> External to the house I read my mail on my iPhone and that seems fine for me.
> It took a while to get imaps working and appropriate certificates loaded (self
> signed) and it would take a similar amount of time to figure how to do it with
> a new phone, but I am sure that is feasible.
>
> Contacts:
>
> My master contacts list is in my iPhone and it is that I would use if asked to
> find an address, telephone number or e-mail address. It is also where I add
> new contacts when I get them. However, scarily, because it is a manual
> process to sync the phone, I don't do it very often and even if I do, its
> hidden inside my windows laptop, which I hardly ever use.
>
> Calendar:
>
> My master calendar (including my list of birthdays - so important personal
> data) is also in my iPhone and at the moment that is the only device I use for
> entering meetings or other events. Again is it only backed up when I do the
> occassional manual syncing with itunes.
>
>
> What I would like to achieve.
>
> My mail server (which is also a server for lots of other stuff) has automated
> scripts which backs stuff up overnight - and indeed is where I collect
> information for offsite backups too. I would ideally like to hold the master
> of my calendars and contacts there too, so they could be included in this
> automated backup process. An acceptable alternative is my desktop which is
> also Debian and also backs up stuff automatically. However it is still
> essential that the main user interface is my mobile phone - I have to check
> and setup appointments whilst away from my computers.
>
> I would like better integration between my mobile phone and my desktop
> environment in terms of calendar and contacts. In other words, I would like to
> be easily able to see from my desktop what appointments I have set up, and
> when I need contact information it should be accessible. This can be a web
> interface if appropriate.
>
> However I am quite confused about what is out there and whether I need any of
> it.
>
> I run Gnome on my desktop, but have never really got into Evolution. Why does
> it have something called a data server? Can you sync phones with it?
>
> There seems a whole raft of groupware server packages out there providing (I
> think) a web interface to e-mail calendars and contacts. Is this the way to
> go?
>
> My iPhone is difficult to sync to other than a windows based copy of iTunes.
> I am not wedded to this phone and could consider an android alternative if
> that could achieve my objectives.
>
>
Jude <jdashiel@shellworld.net>
"I love the Pope, I love seeing him in his Pope-Mobile, his three feet
of bullet proof plexi-glass. That's faith in action folks! You know he's
got God on his side."
~ Bill Hicks
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