How do you live a computer-independent computing lifestyle?

December 10, 2005 10:31 AM

As a computer geek, I've wasted a lot of time contemplating how to build a system that would let me access, preserve, and share my information without being dependent on any particular computer. What are your thoughts?

Here's what I think would be required (are these the best solutions?):

* Access from anywhere: PCAnywhere + PCAnywhere Express. Or are there better ideas?

* Backing up information: Mirra Personal Server (so if my computer goes down I can transfer my whole setup elswhere instantly) + automatic backup of important small files to a web host or to Streamload (have a software recommendation for backup?)

* Sharing information: A personal web server...any suggestions for one that is user-friendly, allows extremely easy sharing of photos and generation of thumbnails and the like, and has good secure defaults?

* Sychronizing files between laptop and desktop: any ideas for software for this, given the above context? Email can be synched using IMAP. Is it worth putting Exchange Server or the like on the desktop server to synchronize Outlook? And then add a specific file-sync program for files?

* Is there anything I've missed? Any recommendations for other good discussion forums in which to talk about this?

posted by shivohum to computers & internet (21 comments total)

I do pretty alright with SSH and X-forwarding. This thing may be easier to do with a Linux lifestyle.

This question may be unclear. Using something like PCAnywhere would still require a personal computer running somewhere, correct?
posted by adamwolf at 10:55 AM on December 10, 2005

No, you're right. I would still be dependent on a computer, just not AS dependent on its physical location, and not as vulnerable if it went down.
posted by shivohum at 11:00 AM on December 10, 2005

Seconding adamwolf's suggestion - if this is really what you want from a computer system, go Linux. Windows was designed as a desktop operating system; Linux is a mainframe/multiuser operating system that's had desktop use foisted upon it - it's much better designed for remote use, and still functions within the paradigm of client/server and terminal/mainframe...
posted by benzo8 at 11:09 AM on December 10, 2005

Use a unix-like OS and remote X. You can run an X server from whatever machine you happen to be on (cygwin/x is free, Hummingbird is nicer but expensive) and access all of your programs.

Look into linux/BSD/solaris to see which you like best. Its definitely a personal preference, and no one will be able to tell you what you should use. Solaris & (most distributions of) linux are both basically SysV, which I don't like (between commands, the init system, and the kernel philosophy). The BSDs are, of course, BSD systems. Solaris has some nice features over linux (I still like CDE, and the ZFS filesystem is by all accounts great - there's also somewhat nicer kernel-level debugging), but linux has a wider range of software & kernel modules available (and may be "faster").
posted by devilsbrigade at 11:21 AM on December 10, 2005

More details about how to do this from a Unix-like system (which could be Linux, *BSD, OS X, AIX, etc.)

1. Access from anywhere: ssh
2. Backing up information: Subversion
3. Sharing information: apache
4. Sychronizing files between laptop and desktop: Subversion, rsync

Old Skool unixes like slackware, Redhat, most BSD and almost all of the big-iron systems work very nicely at the back end. You can have a linux or bsd box colocated for US$100-$200 per month. Less if you are willing to share some of the system resources with others. Unixes like Ubuntu and OSX are great for the desktop, but the tools I've listed are generally Windows friendly as well.

Unix boxes are less likely to go down than windows boxes, and you can colocate several around the world. Use rsync to synchronize non-versioned files, and subversion when you need a history of modifications. You may want to throw some PHP and MySQL in as well. A wiki like MediaWiki could be interesting, depending on what you are trying to do.
posted by b1tr0t at 11:22 AM on December 10, 2005

For bonus points, carry around a linux livecd that automatically finds your colo box and logs in remotely. Then you'll never, ever be away from home.

(This diagram gives a good view of the history of the main UNIX variants, btw)
posted by devilsbrigade at 11:25 AM on December 10, 2005

Depending on how comfortable you are with Unix & Subversion, this article on checking your home directory into source control is great. Being able to configure any Unix box for your use with a single checkout is great.
posted by precipice at 11:35 AM on December 10, 2005

I'll third (or fourth, or whatever) that if access from anywhere, on any platform, is your first design goal, that you'll be much better off using linux or *BSD and accessing via ssh, X over ssh, or xdm/gdm connected to VNC over SSH.

Access from anywhere: PCAnywhere + PCAnywhere Express. Or are there better ideas?

Many of the VNC variants are just as good as PCAnywhere, and they're open source, which may make them better, but certainly makes them a better value. For purely windows systems, UltraVNC has some specific advantages over the others.

Keep a copy of a vnc viewer for several platforms on a USB stick.
posted by toxic at 11:53 AM on December 10, 2005

Thanks for the Linux suggestions, but the problem with it is its complex learning curve. So too Apache. I've dealt with these systems to some extent, and I would have to invest an enormous amount of time to master them, I think. I have much more experience with Windows XP already.

I'm trying to figure out a solution that is easy to setup, secure, easy to administer, and robust... I'm looking for software whether others have already done most of the work of configuring this stuff for the common uses (see Mirra). I figure that will be the software that will be in most common use and easiest to install, maintain, and troubleshoot.
posted by shivohum at 12:02 PM on December 10, 2005

I'm trying to figure out a solution that is easy to setup, secure, easy to administer, and robust

These requirements are generally mutually exclusive. Unixes do take some time to learn, but once you are familiar with them, they are very powerful and secure. I don't know any profressional windows administrator who thinks that putting a Windows Terminal Server host on a public IP is a good idea, much less VNC or PC Anywhere.
posted by b1tr0t at 12:07 PM on December 10, 2005

I guess most of us took "I'm a computer geek" at face value and assumed that you'd love to play with, learn and explor new technologies and systems!

If you must stay on XP, then VNC (as suggested by toxic) would probably be a better solution than PCAnywhere, which has got seriously bloaty these days. Alternatively, you could look at Remote Desktop (what Microsoft call Terminal Services in XP) which is quite capable, or even Citrix, which will map local drives to your remote session, allowing copying stuff between the two machines quickly and easily...

(Go Linux. You know it makes sense!)
posted by benzo8 at 12:10 PM on December 10, 2005

If you are on XP Pro I would not think twice about using Remote Desktop. It works great (much better than VNC), and there are clients for all operating systems (see here for Windows clients). And it is already installed on your computer.
posted by davar at 1:15 PM on December 10, 2005

You can do maybe 90% of this through a combination of FolderShare (free) and a hosted Exchange Account ($8/mo). FolderShare will transparently keep files and folders in sync across multiple computers and let you access them through the web. A Hosted Exchange Account will let you sync Outlook on multiple computers intelligently (i.e. record level, without having to copy around the .PST file). You might also want to consider Oboe to back up your music collection.
posted by zanni at 2:58 PM on December 10, 2005

Don't just open your box up to the internet. Get yourself a router that'll act as a VPN endpoint, and use a secure passphrase on it.

Then, you can connect to your home network from anywhere with internet access, and do it securely. Once you're attached to your home network, you can use Remote Desktop to control your PC remotely, or just browse shared files, like you'd do from another computer at home.
posted by CrayDrygu at 2:59 PM on December 10, 2005

gmailfs can make a great personal info system
posted by suni at 3:16 PM on December 10, 2005

As a lateral thinking solution: set up a blog on one of the free providers and use it as a personal information store. I don't have a lot of experience with these types of providers, but it wouldn't surprise me if you could find one that offered password protection, if you're not comfortable with just anyone being able to stumble across your data. It would be searchable, almost certainly would allow you to upload images etc, and would require no software installation at your client end (beyond the obvious need to have a browser available).
posted by planetthoughtful at 7:53 PM on December 10, 2005

Colo: Having a box that will (almost) always be up on the internet and not restricted by your broadband provider is nice. I pay < 30usd a month for a 1u slot at a colo; the $100-200/month fees mentioned above are a bit high, and 1u boxes aren't that expensive. (see next)

Operating Systems: linux, *bsd, solaris for x86, or if you want to run Solaris for sparc, you can buy a 1u Netra T1 off ebay for < 100usd. I like the Netras (and other Sun machines) because of their LOM - lights out management - which enables you to remotely power on, power off, boot from CD, etc. I'm a little behind the times on PC hardware, but I know some of these features are available through add-on cards for PCs. Anyone care to help me out on that?

Backup - subversion and rsync have already been mentioned above. nasbackup is a windows version of rsync.

Remote access - ssh, vnc, again already mentioned above. Any linux/bsd/unix system should already have ssh installed on it, but carry around putty.exe on a memory stick, along with those various vnc clients you downloaded per the above post.

Sharing files: Apache as a web server. Gallery for pictures if you need more flexibility than flickr.

Yes, this is a lot to learn, but it's not that hard if you're serious about calling yourself a computer geek.
posted by cactus at 10:27 PM on December 10, 2005 [1 favorite]

I use a combination of Microsoft's SyncToy and (because I'm a geek), subversion.

SyncToy is great for quick 'n dirty, and Subversion has a client called "Tortoise" that integrates into windows explorer... right click, browse to the files you want in the subversion, and check them out.... delete when you're done (I use this on a laptop with a 10gig drive... not a work computer, but I transfer music/ebooks onto it when I'm traveling)
posted by hatsix at 12:55 AM on December 11, 2005

davar writes "If you are on XP Pro I would not think twice about using Remote Desktop. It works great (much better than VNC), and there are clients for all operating systems (see here for Windows clients). And it is already installed on your computer."

Ehh... Remote Desktop is OK for computers if you never have to run applications on them, but if you want to do anything with applications, you'll have to use VNC (Remote Desktop logs in as another user, hence anything running on the actual desktop is hidden to you)...
posted by hatsix at 12:57 AM on December 11, 2005

hatsix: I am not sure if I understand you correctly. I have an XP box with Firefox and Putty open. I now log in (with my own username) to this XP box from my Handheld PC. On my handheld PC, I now see my own desktop, with Firefox and Putty. This seems to me exactly what the OP wants. (It is true that while I am logged in from my handheld, I cannot at the same time access the applications from my desktop computer, but the OP does not indicate that that would be a problem. You can only be at one place at a time, right?).

I do use VNC if I want somebody else to see what I am doing on their PC, but I would never use it to access my own PC from another location.
posted by davar at 8:10 AM on December 11, 2005

I think Hatsix is talking about what I would call "desktop sessions." As far as I can tell, XP Pro only allows one desktop session per user, whether they log in directly from the console, or via Remote Desktop. As a result, you'll see your desktop, including all open windows, in exactly the same state no matter how you are accessing the machine.

Windows Server has different behavior, by default, at least. It lets a given user have two different desktop sessions, one for when they log in via the console, another when they access remotely. In this case, you can leave applications running on the console that you can't have access to when you come back in with remote desktop.
posted by Good Brain at 10:33 AM on December 11, 2005