Ubuntu Musings

Application: Piggydb

Replaces: Evernote, Backpack

Description: Piggyb is described as a Web notebook application that provides you with a platform to build your knowledge personally or collaboratively.

No matter what we do — writer, student, teacher, curious Web surfer — we tend to collect a lot of information. Links, quotes, snippets. And we generate thoughts, ideas, and (if we’re writing) even snippets of … well, whatever we’re writing.

Collecting, organizing, and accessing that information when we need it can be tricky. One way to do it is to use Piggydb.

In a lot of ways, it’s an Open Source version of Evernote. You create notes, called fragments that you link together. On top of that, you can organize those fragments in the same way you would index cards.

You can add tags to your fragments and also invite others to collaborate with you (sort of like with a wiki).

Piggydb requires Java to run. You can run it on your desktop, or as a Web application on a Web server via a .war file. To do the latter, you need a servlet engine like Tomcat. Then again, you can probably also run it off a Web server as long as the server has Java installed.

Overall, Piggydb is easy to use and it’s useful — whether you’re working alone or with others.

If you’re curious, try out the demo.

And there are more than a few of them. Why put your data in someone else’s hands when you can retain control?

Over the next few weeks I’m going to look at some Open Source apps that you can install on a Web server that give you many of the same features and functions of some popular (or even just well known) Web apps.

If you have any suggestions, send me a message on identi.ca or leave a comment in this space.

Recently, the folks at Canonical announced that in the Lucid Lynx release of Ubuntu, the default search engine for Firefox will be Yahoo! and not Google. Seems that Canonical (and, I believe, the Mozilla Foundation) will be raking in a bit more revenue from this deal.

The reaction to this move has been … varied, to say the least. It’s ranged from cheers to jeers (and I’m being kind when I refer to the latter). I think the polarization of this situation is best summed up in this lengthy conversation on identi.ca.

My take? I think it’s kind of ironic that an Open Source company will be garnering revenue from a property owned by one of the biggest opponents of Open Source. Remember that Yahoo! gets its search results via Microsoft’s Bing search engine. You can read whatever you want into that …

From the perspective of a user, I’m ambivalent. I don’t use Firefox much anymore. And I’m not (and never have been) a big fan of Yahoo! Guess what? Instead of stamping my feet and whining, I’ll do the adult thing — go into Firefox and change the default search engine. It’s a one-time process and will only require a few clicks. That will probably take less than a minute out of my life.

• Process your words old school, at the terminal with WordGrinder
• Some advice on preparing an Ubuntu box for upgrading
• How to create ebooks with an app called Sigil
• Check out the Ubuntu Manual Project
• Get to know the bash shell
• A good article on Open Source use assistance
• Extend Nautilus by adding actions
• LinuxConsole looks like it might be an interesting distro

Another year is winding down. Which means another set of 365 days will be starting up. And I’m waiting for the inevitable spate of articles and blog posts proclaiming why 2010 will be the year of Linux on the desktop. I’ve been seeing those articles and posts since at least 2006, and there’s no reason the situation won’t be any different in 2010.

In the end though, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care whether 2010 is the year of Linux on the desktop or not.

Why? Linux is ready for my desktop. It has been for years now. And I’m sure the same applies to the fives of people who read this blog. That’s all that really matters.

Sure, it would be nice if Linux grabbed (and held on to) a larger share of the personal and business desktop market. That might happen in 2010. Then again, it might not. I don’t think that we, as Linux users, should be worried about that. Linux and free/Open Source software aren’t going to disappear. Widespread acceptance of both will take a while; probably longer than anyone really anticipates.

Until the year of Linux on the desktop finally rolls around (if it ever does), stop worrying about it. Just keep on using Linux and free/Open Source software. Keep enjoying the flexibility and choice and freedom that you have with Linux.

Because it works.

Yes, it’s that simple. Because. It. Works.

Case in point: the other day, I dug up an old iRiver T30 music player that I’d forgotten I had. There were some files that I wanted to get off it. Being too lazy to boot up my Linux-powered laptop, I asked my wife if I could plug the her laptop running Windows Vista. It was already on, and she’d just finished doing whatever it was she was doing. That’s when the fun began.

I plugged the iRiver in and Windows took a few seconds to recognize it. Not as a USB drive but as a file system or network drive (I’m not entirely sure which). So I popped open Windows Explorer and double clicked on the entry for the iRiver in the directory tree. Windows scanned the iRiver. Or, at least tried to scan it. No connection.

The same day, I tried connecting my ebook reader to a desktop PC running Windows XP. Naively, I expected XP to recognize the reader as a USB drive. XP wouldn’t even recognize the reader. No connection, more frustration for me.

When I connect these devices to my Linux-powered laptop and netbook, guess what? After a few seconds an icon appears on the desktop. I just double click the icon and Nautilus opens up. From there, I can manipulate files to my heart’s content. Not bad for a supposedly inferior OS.

When I mentioned this to an acquaintance, he said that (at least as far as the iRiver went) I’d have to install a driver to get Windows to recognize it as a USB device. First, the computers I connected my devices to didn’t belong to me. I’m loath to install software on anyone else’s computer without permission (or even with it).

Anyway, why should I have to do that? My ebook reader and iRiver are relatively simple devices. They have standard flash memory. I don’t see why Windows couldn’t recognize them without the need to install a driver.

As I said, Ubuntu just works. And that alone is reason enough for me to keep using it.

Update: I don’t want imply that only Ubuntu works — it’s the distro I use and that’s my point of reference. Who’s to say that my experience wouldn’t have been any different with (say) Mint, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, or SimplyMepis?