iCal

I have been in the process of planning out switching to Linux in 2010 for my main development computer (a laptop), as well as for various web and database servers I am responsible for at work.

I’ve been making good use of Sun’s awesome (and free) VirtualBox program, which allows me to create any number of virtual computers to experiment on. I’ve had a couple of CLI-only server versions running (Debian and Ubuntu), as well as what amounts to a desktop system for the last three Ubuntu releases: 8.10, 9.04, and the just-issued 9.10.

My User has information that could… that could make this a free system again! No, really! You’d have programs lined up just to use this place, and no MCP looking over your shoulder.

I’ll cover the whys and wherefores of switching in the future. For now, suffice to say that the ever-increasing commercialization of Mac OS X, with accompanying restrictions, has been grating on me for some time now. I am also attracted to the notion of software freedom (having been a huge fan of the original Tron movie ;) and of course the cost savings can be dramatic. And since I work primarily in education, I think we would be neglecting our duty by not exploring the open-source world.

All that is visible must grow beyond itself, and extend into the realm of the invisible.

One of the first and ongoing steps is compiling a list of application equivalents to programs I am need of.

• Mail -> Evolution
• iCal -> Evolution
• Exchange -> Evolution \m/
• MacJournal -> Zim or RedNotebook or Lifeograph
• iPhoto -> filesystem + gThumb (still need EXIF editor: JHead?)
• iTunes (music) -> Rhythmbox
• iTunes (podcasts) -> Rhythmbox (audio ok, testing vidcasts)
• OmniFocus -> Getting Things Gnome (GTG) or spreadsheet?
• Adium -> Empathy
• Quicksilver/Spotlight -> Deskbar-Applet
• iFlash -> Mnemosyne
• NetNewsWire -> Liferea or Gregarius
• Tweetie -> Gwibber
• VoodooPad -> Zim
• MarsEdit -> Drivel, BloGTK, or Gnome Blog?
• Dictionary.app -> Gnome Dictionary
• RPG -> see http://www.shell-fu.org/lister.php?id=885
• Black Ink -> Xword
• Desktop Pictures rotation -> Wallpaper Tray (Gnome panel)
• GarageBand/podcasting -> Audacity + LMMS
• OmniGraffle -> Dia
• Minuteur/ApiMac Timer -> Timer Applet

Still looking:

• Time Machine (backup) -> roll-my-own or manual?
• Bluetooth File Exchange -> built into Gnome?

Stuff that exists in both places:

• Firefox
• MacVim -> Gvim
• Audacity
• GIMP
• VirtualBox
• ClamXav -> ClamAV
• VLC
• MySQL Administrator and Query Browser
• NeoOffice -> OpenOffice
• Google Earth
• MacNikto -> Nikto

If you’re looking into switching as well, or just are looking for new apps to try out whatever your platform, check out AlternativeTo, which provides alternatives for Linux, Mac, and Windows programs.

Note: Written before the current cold whacked me in the head and upper respiratory tract. Bits are incomplete. Suggestions are welcome.

End of line.

• Voodoopad lines to iCal todos “…script to take line-items from VoodooPad pages and make them into Todo items in iCal…” (tags: applescript gtd howto ical mac osascript osx productivity program programming python script todo voodoopad )

Just in case you’d like to play around with the to do creation itself, iCal has a few properties for the todo class that can be added in a similar fashion to what you see in the PARTB string from totodo.sh:

• completion date (date) : The todo completion date.
• due date (date) : The todo due date.
• priority (no priority/low priority/medium priority/high priority) : The todo priority.
• sequence (integer, r/o) : The todo version.
• stamp date (date, r/o) : The todo modification date.
• summary (Unicode text) : This is the todo summary.
• description (Unicode text) : The todo notes.
• uid (Unicode text, r/o) : A unique todo key.
• url (Unicode text) : The URL associated to the todo.

(Part of the Remind Like Water series)

The idea is to separate out the repeating/recurring tasks from the regular projects and actions (contained in a GTD program like iGTD or OmniFocus), and hook it up with a calendar system of some sort. Using remind and iCal, we can make that happen with a smidgen of sealing wax and bailing wire.

This shell script takes the output of the standard rem -q command and creates individual to do items in iCal from it. Pretty simple and barebones at the moment, but works. It will need to be in your path in the terminal and made executable. If you scoff at my mad script skills, feel free to offer alternative approaches — I’d love to hear them.

Like anything nowadays, the script may cause blindness or extreme rashes, so make backups before testing.

#!/bin/sh
# by Robert Daeley
# version 0.1 2007-06-07
# assumes existence of iCal calendar called "remind"
# run in your terminal with ./totodo.sh

REMINPUT=$(rem -q | sed '/^Reminders /d;/^$/d' | \
 tr "\n" "," | sed 's/,$/ /')

PARTA='make new todo at the end of todos of calendar \
 remcal with properties {summary:"'
PARTB='", due date:thisday}'
IFS=","
for TODONAME in $REMINPUT; do
    osascript -e 'set remcal to "remind"' -e 'set thisday \
     to current date' -e 'tell application "iCal"' \
     -e "$PARTA$TODONAME$PARTB" -e 'activate' -e 'end tell'
done

I should add that this “Remind Like Water” project is more of a feasibility analysis than anything else. In other words, don’t try this at home. ;)

• “Remind Like Water”
• “Remind Like Water, part 2”

I both love and hate when my system gets in flux — love due to finding new ways to organize, hate due to the plate-spinning getting precariously out of control.

With the flux comes the need for a decision, covered in the above links. I just don’t feel comfortable investing the time in iGTD yet, and kGTD is pissing me off. Remind is a great reminding system, but not a great to-do tracking system. I may have to revert to something simpler for now — say, an OmniOutliner-based document of my own, possibly with a scripted interaction with Remind and/or iCal, but way less involved than kGTD.

I say “pissed off” at kGTD, when really I should be thanking it for helping me get back on the path to an organized life again. So much got out of control this past year, I can liken it to a train derailment, with car after car falling to the wayside.