I found this one: gmailfs. I didn’t find the time to try it out but it sounds neat! The moment I get my eeePC I’ll post an update on it

Update:

The first version is ready! I’ve to get it down to 700mb though for a first release which should be somtime next week…

have a look: http://scrivlin.wordpress.com/

Update one Writing Linux:

After some time now, I decided, that the base of Scrivlin, the scricener’s Linux will be geubuntu, an enlightenment powered ubuntu-distro (unofficial). Enlightenment, while being very ressource effective, looks incredibly good and has loads of configuration options. Unlike other Linux distros dedicated to authors of the various kinds, eye-candy is very important to scrivlin for it is intendet to be a usable distro - one that one could use on a day to day basis, suft the web, check mails, listen to music - while still having the options to soak oneself into one’s writing without having to much distraction. Furthermore scrivlin includes some basic graphic applications as well. I learned that from GhostWriter(which seems to have disappeared). Graphics might be important to authors of children books.

anyway…the first version of scrivlin will be finished quite soon…

Since I’m myself a writer I’ve now decided, to start a Ultimate-Ubuntu-like “distro” especially for scriveners. The initial announcement can be read here (german only!)

How to get Slackware into graphical mode?

For most of us today’s linux users the GUI is crucial. With slackware you’ll learn how to use the CLI - and after a while you’ll not just love it, but will be addicted! Nevertheless there has to be a GUI. The first thing you’ll notice when booting Slackware is, that there’re no fancy splash screens. That’s probably cause X is not activated by default.So how do you get there?

After login in at the prompt, type ’startx’. That command, as you might have guessed, starts the X-Window-System. But we don’t want to do that everytime we check the mails or look up the adress of a pub, do we? So we have to play around but first I’ll introduce you to the term runlevel.

Basically runlevels define what processes should be running on your computer. The default runlevel in Slackware is runlevel 3 as defined in /etc/inittab. There you’ll find /very fast if you type hit : and than type /Default runlevel) the following two lines:

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:3:initdefault:

all you have to do is changing the second line to

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:4:initdefault:

For a short overview of the runlevel concept see Help2Go

Now Slackware will boot into runlevel 4 which is defined in /etc/rc.d/rc.4! Have a look at it! and at rc.6 as well (rc.0 should be the same as rc.6)! Everything after a ‘#’ isn’t executed but there’s a reason for those lines being there: to be read by new Linux users. Have a look in some other files in /etc as well. If you’re afraid of ruining anything: everytime you close a file in /etc (which is the directory where almost every configuration file goes) type q! which will force (!) vi to quit without any changes. If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t hit ‘w!’! Read inetd.conf, ntp.conf and fstab

Slackware is the oldest Linux-distro that is till being maintained. Most Linux Newbs start with K/X/Ubuntu, Linux Mint or other Ubuntu derivates. Of course: Ubuntu is easy, looks good and is quite fast (compared with for example Windows) but you don’t really learn much about what Linux really is and how to get the best out of Linux. I think there’re only two rules for learning Linux: DO and SEARCH! Reading books might help you understand where which file has to go but the real Linux-thing is Doing!

So learning by doing…for that I find two distros very, very usefull: Puppy Linux and Slackware. For some reason, both of them make fun of themselves by choosing those names whilst Ubuntu takes itself a bit too serious. So let’s start with Puppy:

Right now Puppy is available in version 3.01 which is around 100MB and incredibly fast - even when run from CD or USB. After a few prompts you’ll boot directly into X (which is the graphical user interface - GUI - as oppsoed to the command line interface - CLI). The rest is self explaining: the backgroud image gives the first introduction into Linux. Connecting to the internet (just for the record: ethX is your network interface) , text editing and some other basic tasks. While you’ll be familiar with the programs for your everydays use (Office, Music Player, E-Mail client, Webbrowser,…) the real power and the real life of Linux is still the CLI (you can acces the CLI by opening a terminal or shell - in Puppy you’ll. And that’s where Puppy Linux is at it’s best (the speed is amazing though!): in many directories you’ll find a file named README. just type in the command line “vi README”(if nothing really happens but a few lines appearing do the following: look for vi replacements in the text and than replace vi with the new command) the file opens. To exit vi (thats the most basic text editing program in UNIX operating systems) just pres ESC, than type “:q!”. The Readme is very useful to find out, what directory you’re in (there’re directories like the Program Files under Windows) - keep that in mind for it will help you understand how Linux works.

The CLI…some very basic commands (and the ones you’ll be using most of the time) in the formula command - description : usage example:

cd - change directory : cd /usr/bin

ls - list all files in a directory

ps -ax - list all running processes

with the last you see, that it consists of two parts: the command and the option(s). Using options is always the same: command -option. many programs need options to function properly. That might be a bit overwhelming at the beginning but there’s a way to get the system to help you. To give an example: I want to know, how to use the ls command so I type “ls –help” which will display syntax-/information and a listing of options; or I type “man ls” which will display the manual for ls. You can try this with any command you find.

After a while experimenting with Puppy Linux, you propably should give Debian a try. Installation is quite easy, it is the most stable and solid Linux-distro and has an awsome packaging system (apt) - hence it may take itself seriously for it is a serious distro.

But Debian, while being my personal favorite isn’t the right distro for “digging in”. For that I used and still use Slackware Linux. The Howto’s and FAQ’s (in /usr/doc/__) will come in handy. And make sure to read the slackbook!!! But you know: after you managed Slackware, you can do almost anything you want with Linux - and that, not the Ubuntu-Standardized-Like-Desktop-Linux is the real strength of all those Unix-derivates

There so many of thos articles claimint this ones better (or the other one). Honestly: It’s stupid. They’re both good desktop environments. So her comes a review, claiming nothing but being unbiased (as far as possible):

I started with gnome ad I really liked it. The first thing I noticed, was how nice it looked. It was different to “M$DE” allright, with the “Start Menu” at the upper left corner. Configuration was easy (Desktop-> Preferences/Administration), startup of programms was fast (especially if you’re used to vista-times),…and I like Evolution, the mail PIM and IM programm of Gnome under Debian.

Abiword really impressed me after I had tried OpenOffice.org, which was incredibly slow. Abiword comes with everything you would expect from a text editing program, and it’s much faster than either OpenOffice.org or MS Office. Gnumeric Spreadsheet was..allright. There was only one thing I really missed: a MS OneNote alternative. So I searched the internet for one and ther I found this: BasKet Note Pads. Now, if your not familiar with KDE and Gnome: the capitalized K in BasKet immediately tells you, that this is a KDE program. Of course you can run KDE programs in a Gnome Environment but they’ll be much slower than so called native programs. So I removed Gnome and manually installed KDE on my Debian machine. BasKet was fast allright…but I didn’t like the look of KDE one bit! So I reinstalled my original Debian again and was happy with Gnome.

A few weeks later I stumpled upon BackTrack a security linux liveCD based on Slackware an KDE - and it was BEAUTIFULL!!! So I gave KDE another go…and installd Slackware 12 on my laptop - the full version with everything packed into it: 4gigs of space used - and worth it for now I knowm, that KWrite is not the KDE version of Abiword but of M$ Editor!

So now to KDE: I found Configuration a bit more difficult than in Gnome and what was split into different menus (Applications, Places and Desktop) there is here one menu. KDE is fast as well; in fact I wonder how people can say, Gnome ist that much faster or KDE is that much faster…One thing with KDE is really great though: KOffice. While Gnome Office seems to be nothing but Abiword and Gnumeric, KOffice consists of KWord, KSpread, KPresenterm Kexi, Kivio, Karbon14, Krita, KPlato, KChart, KFormula, Kugar, KOrganizer, KThesaurus, Kontact and KOffice Workspace (which is like a conrtol center for all of KOffice Programms) which is a full M$ Office-Suite (without Groove and OneNote). And than you have BasKet, which is almost irreplacable to me! Of course, if you have Gnome, you could still add BasKet as a startup programm with the option –start-hidden given (this option starts the programm but only displays the try icon - just like after you close BasKet).

Visually I still very much prefer Gnome, but Office is much better in KDE. Gnome is easy, while KDE is a bit more like Windows (and I do not mean that because of the “Start”-Button at the bottom left)

Since I’m right now quite engaged in Linux (whatever distro) and really do like the Linux-Way and the Linuy-Spirit, I decided to give something back to the community (sounds a bit hollow, doesn’t it?) by posting my very personal experiences with linux (didn’t Clement Lefebvre (Linux Mint) start the same way?). This is because I’m a newb and thus a) can’t script (properly) and b) won’t use very technical stufff…

So here we go: Newbe for Newbes!

By Martin Prechelmacher

About CSpace

CSpace is a secure and decentralized IM and file-sharing program. It is written in Python and uses OpenSSL for crypto.

Every user is identified by a 2048-bit RSA key which also ensures strong encryption. After creating the key, the public key is uploaded to a server in India, which maintains a so called Distributed Hash Table (DHT) that resolves the RSA-keys in IP-addresses (so that you can easily use CSpace with varying IP-addresses – e.g. on a travel notebook).

Furthermore each user creates a contact list by downloading the public key from the server (the key is identified by a Key-ID, which has to be sent per e-mail or any other communication-device).

Now the user is able, to open an encrypted connection to any other user, whose public key he has downloaded.

CSpace’s great feature is, that it combines up-to-date P2P-technologies with strong encryption and secure user authentication.

How to IM:

Simply double-click on the name of the contact, you want to chat with or open the context-menu by right-clicking and then click “Text Chat”. Once a new window appears, start chatting.

Note: your contact wont see anything happening until you send your first message

How to transfer files:

Right-click on the contact and choose “Send Files…”. A window will appear, that states “Drag and drop files to be sent”. Once you’ve done that, click “Send Files…”

Now your contact will find a window popping up at his screen where he can either Accept or Cancel the files. After accepting, the right directory has to be chosen and voila – the files are being sent!

How to open a RemoteDesktop connection:

Right-click on the contact and chose “Remote Desktop…”. Once your contact accepts the VNC-connection, you’ll see his screen.

Need it a bit more remote?

Go to Options->Modify Permissions:

In the lower half you type in your rules in the formula (action) (username) service (service) as given in the upper half.

List of options:

All rules are matched in sequential order, which means, that if two rules would apply on a particular connection, only the first (upper) one is applied.

Example:

A one-man-company has to do support for “sensitive” clients including maintenance jobs at client’s PCs. Option a): everytime something has to be done, waste hours, driving to the clients. Option b): establish a cost-effective and easily maintained network via CSpace:

The steps the company would take:

1.) Install CSpace on maintainer-PC and create an account

2.) Use the following Permissions:

a. Prompt <contact-user> service TextChat

b. Prompt <contact-user> service FileTransfer

c. Deny <any-user> service RemoteDesktop

3.) Install CSpace on client’s PC’s and add the maintainer-account to the contact list

4.) Use the following Permissions on client-side:

a. Allow “maintainer-account” service RemoteDesktop

b. Allow “maintainer-account” service FileTransfer

c. Prompt “maintainer-account” service TextChat

d. Deny <any-user> service <any-service>

5.) Ensure, that CSpace is running when maintenance job has to be done

a. e.g. via scheduling

6.) Tell clients, to run CSpace-TextChat and contact the “maintainer-account” for support.

CSpace portable

So you find CSpace to be a nice tool? Why not take it with you?! Even though it is not designed to be portable, there’s a little trick, to force it to:

Download CSpace and install it. Connect your thumbdrive and copy all the files from C:\program files\CSpace (or wherever you’ve installed it to) to a directory on your usb. All the files except one: “uninst.exe” – you won’t need it (and I don’t think that you need the version number file either but I didn’t try). Then, after copying has finished, pull the thumbdrive and uninstall CSpace on your PC – or don’t…

unfortunately I haven’t yet found a way, to keep the account when forcing CSpace into portability

Update:

The problem with the account is, that the files aren’t stored in the install-directory so they aren’t copied. Right now if you want to carry CSpace with you, you have to copy the following two directories to your usb:

c:\documents and settings\”username”\_CSpace and c:\documents and settings\”username”\_CSpaceProfiles

for using it on another computer, you have to copy thos files back to c:\documents and settings\”currentusername”\

a more convenient solution is currently under developement…

 Update:

Hint: During a RemoteDekstop Session, press F8 for configuration menu (where you can enable fullscreenmode - especially usefull if you’re connecting from a laptop to a 19″ res computer)

Download:

Version used in this tutorial

http://cspace.in/downloads/CSpaceSetup126.exe

Current version:

http://cspace.in/downloads

so i signed up for office live…but i can’t wait! so i found this: zoho writer. and not just writer: sheet, show, meetings, chat, wiki, planner, creator, notebook…wait a second: creator?!?! isn’t all of this meant to creat something?! well zoho creator, that’s what i understood is for creating online applications. can you believe this?! but that’s what they state! well, i still need to have a close rlook at it.
so…who would give all that away FOR FREE??? AdventNet Inc.  , a company focusing on building affordable software for businesses , is doing this…and this is, what welcomed me, when i entered the writer:

Hello martin.kai,Welcome to ZohoWriter, your friendly on line word processor!

• Create, format, & edit documents online with a powerful WYSIWIG editor
• Access & share your documents from anywhere using just your browser
• Lock your documents while in shared mode
• Post to your blogs (Blogger/Typepad/LiveJournal/WordPress) from within Zoho Writer
• Export your docs in word, pdf, sxw, odt, txt, rtf & html formats
• Periodic auto-saving of your documents to prevent data loss
• Spell check, tag your documents for ease of use

and do much more…Get started by clicking Newon the top left of this page Now.

and here’s the link here’s the link to zoho!