[Robotgroup] GNU/Open Source contact manager?

[Shane Geiger]

Google Calendar works nicely.  If you need to sych it to something 
local, you can find solutions for that.  I have python code to add items 
to it from the command line.  Google Calendar can SMS you reminders of 
appointments, so you really don't need something running on your desktop 
(and your desktop app can't always SMS reminders to your phone, so this 
is even better than ACT in some ways).

I use Mozilla Thunderbird, which has a simple address book which you can 
export to CSV if you need to.  I created a python script that turns the 
Mozilla Thunderbird address book CSV dump into a Python dict, which, of 
course, can then easily be used for anything.  (I don't know how to 
update the Thunderbird address book from outiside, though.  That hasn't 
been something I needed.)

Dia is okay, but there are other apps out there that are definitely 
cooler (but different):  kivio, inkscape, skencil, graphviz.

The replacement for unpacking zip files is not 7zip, imho.  It is 
"unp".  Of course, I'm a command line.  Then again, if you aren't using 
the CLI, you aren't enjoying some of the beauty of Linux.  Windows tried 
to ignore the CLI, but it did so at a cost.

Picture publisher:  see the dia alternatives as well as scribus.

FTP: You can use command line tools for this, too.  This is pretty 
handy, imho, as you can SSH into a Linux box and download something to 
that box inside a screen session, and then you can go offline while 
still downloading something with the other server.  It's worth learning 
the CLI ftp tools.
curl (and perhaps even wget) can do FTP, but there are FTP-specific 
tools, too, like lftp and ncftp.



Unfocused Brain wrote:
> To see a wiki list of eqivs see:
> http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software
> http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/AppHelper
>
> But specific to your questions I would say:
>
> For calendar:
> http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution/ - There is a win32 port.
> or
> http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/ - Lightning and Sunbird.
> (I know you tried these already but they will improve over time.)
>
> For visio:
> http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/ - there is a win32 port.
>
> I would also suggest that if you are really stuck in the windows world, 
> just run Linux as a virtual machine using vmware player under windows.
> http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
>
> James
>
> Vern Graner wrote:
>   
>> In my quest to prepare for the Microsoft-free Linux lifestyle I envision
>> for myself in the future, I'm trying to replace all the commercial
>> Windows apps I use with equivalent GNU applications.
>>
>> I've pretty much moved from/to the following:
>>
>> Microsoft Office -> Open Office
>> Outlook -> Thunderbird
>> Internet Explorer -> Firefox
>> Winzip -> 7zip
>> Acrobat -> PDF creator
>> WSftp -> Filezilla
>> ICQ -> GAIM
>> Picture Publisher -> The GIMP
>>
>> So now, I need a contact manager / appointment calendar to replace ACT
>> 2000. Of course, as I am still infected with Windows XP, the solution
>> has to be something that has a Win32 version for now.
>>
>> I've experimented with Sunbird and just recently with Lightning plug-in 
>> for Thunderbird, but it really doesn't integrate with the address book 
>> at all, which is pretty disappointing...
>>
>> Any other ideas?
>>
>> Vern
>>
>>     
>
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-- 
Shane Geiger
IT Director
National Council on Economic Education
sgeiger at ncee.net  |  402-438-8958  |  http://www.ncee.net

Leading the Campaign for Economic and Financial Literacy