Ical
October 18, 2004 12:48 PM   Subscribe

I am using Ical on my Imac and Ibook. I need to Isynchronize them without using Webdav or .mac. Given that the files generated by Ical are straight text, and complient with the IETF spec., is there some simple, smart way to do this?
posted by mecran01 to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)
 
Yes.
posted by jjg at 12:53 PM on October 18, 2004


Response by poster: The file linked above ftps the .ics calendar file, but doesn't synchronize them.

In my perfect Ical fantasy world, something like the following would happen:

1. I'm working on my laptop and add an appointment to my calendar.

2. A script, activated by a chron job, uploads the file to a server (or in this case, my desktop machine).

3. A second script compares the desktop calendar (a text file) with the uploaded laptop version, and if they are different, merges the two text files, then goes back through and culls the duplicates.

4. The merged version is given a different name, and somehow I figure out how to get it back to my laptop.

Oh crap, this is too complicated. [brain, supplanted with only a humanities education, explodes]

[slowly reaches for credit card in order to subscribe to .Imac, despite the palpable feeling of helplessness and shame]
posted by mecran01 at 1:20 PM on October 18, 2004


are you sure you don't want to use WebDAV?

It does almost exactly what you want (albeit more simply). The problem is that there's no way to specify a remote master calendar that you can also populate from your local machine. iMac remote home-folder stuff might do that, though.
posted by mwhybark at 5:49 PM on October 18, 2004


Go the webDAV route. It's fairly easy to set up- don't fear the command line, it's a bunch of cut-and-paste. I have it running at home and just publish my iCal calendar there so I can access it at work.
posted by mkultra at 6:57 AM on October 19, 2004


Response by poster: My only concern about webdav is that I couldn't get it working (but icalx solves that) and if I recall correctly, it didn't synchronize calendars so much as let you subscribe to an external one.

[thinking...odor of acrid smoke]

So if I make changes to the desktop calendar and publish them, then the laptop can subscribe.

But if I put a new or different event on the laptop (while I'm in the field) and publish, the desktop can see it. But I still have two essentially overlapping calendars. Unless I'm totally missing something obvious.

Icalx looks like the best solution, however.
posted by mecran01 at 9:17 AM on October 19, 2004


Response by poster: Except that it costs $20.
posted by mecran01 at 1:15 PM on October 19, 2004


Response by poster: It looks like Isyncal will do this. It's a $20 app.
posted by mecran01 at 3:50 PM on October 19, 2004


icalx has yet to cost me a dime, FWIW. There are other third party providers doing the same thing too, which may be why.

and, yes, I think you'd have two overlapping calendars, but in essence the data from each is pushed to the other, so you're set either way. Got link for that app?
posted by mwhybark at 2:32 PM on October 20, 2004


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