Free alternatives to Backpack

November 1, 2005 5:12 PM

I like Backpack but I've reached the limitations of the free version. It's just a fancy wiki, right? Are there any open source alternatives that I can install on a server and which look and feel as user-friendly?

Specifically, I'm looking for functionality like the one-click add a ToDo item, email to add a ToDo, reminders etc. I could probably live without the fancypants AJAX stuff but that would be nice.

I've tried TiddlyWiki, MediaWiki and QwikiWiki but they're all too freeform; I'd rather have something which is focussed on tasks/projects and has built-in ToDos like BackPack. Constantly having to click "Edit this page" is also annoying.
Please don't suggest a hipster-bloody-pda. I'll scream.

Thanks.

posted by blag to Computers & Internet (19 answers total)

What limitations have you reached? Without knowing, it seems like backpack is the best solution.
posted by TheAnswer at 5:29 PM on November 1, 2005

Response by poster: The most obvious limitation is the 5 pages maximum. I need at least 30 pages to keep track of various projects which is going to cost over $100 /year. Which isn't a huge amount but strikes me as a lot for what is essentially a (posh) wiki.
posted by blag at 5:34 PM on November 1, 2005

there's GTDtiddlywiki, maybe?
posted by boo_radley at 6:30 PM on November 1, 2005

Have you checked out this list?
posted by TheAnswer at 6:47 PM on November 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

I like airset.com it has as many things as I would like to track.
posted by bigmusic at 8:53 PM on November 1, 2005

This is the closest thing I've ever seein in terms of design; I'm not sure it has what you need, though.
posted by metaculpa at 9:28 PM on November 1, 2005

A piece of software maps exactly to how you work and think. You try it out for free, love it, want it to scale to your needs which grow as you realize the power of the software. The cost for that scaling is $100. This $100 allows the developers to continue to add features and not have to work many other jobs so they can devote more time to the thing which now allows you to work the way you want.

But you want it to be free. I know Open Source is great. It is great in many respects, least of all the pocketbook and the concept of one world for all. But if a piece of software - independently produced, I might add - does exactly what you want, it seems exceedingly silly to refuse a $100 donation to continue to get support and new features.

Remember that our society doesn't run on love. Supporting the makers of things you love and use frequently is one way to allow the small guys to keep producing software and other tidbits without excessive outside support or income production. $100 seems like a relatively small chunk of change if you're using it to track 30 pages worth of projects.
posted by barnone at 9:58 PM on November 1, 2005

I've never used Backpack, so I don't know how the two compare, but I'm a fan of Voo2Do. I don't use it very intensively, but I like how it works.
posted by reese at 10:06 PM on November 1, 2005

$100 seems like a relatively small chunk of change if you're using it to track 30 pages worth of projects.

$100 bucks is a lot of money to a lot of people.

As for me, only allowing one to-do list per page, not being able to change the order of things on the sidebar without a hack, among many other things lacking, 100 bucks is too much.
posted by justgary at 10:34 PM on November 1, 2005

Best answer: Tasktoy looks good.
posted by metaculpa at 10:57 PM on November 1, 2005

I know $100 is a lot. It's about 20 hours of work for me. But if one uses it to a great extent, and no other software fits the bill quite the same, it seems *for me* that I'd figure it out. I'm not arguing that this software is worth $100 - I've never used it, but simply "free for the sake of being free" doesn't rock my world. It doesn't answer the question, but it does say, "let's look at your reasoning so we can help figure out an alternate idea for you."
posted by barnone at 11:00 PM on November 1, 2005

I've been using Issue Dealer and enjoying it. It's got an awful name and is kind of a pain to install (you've got to install Zope) but the interface is very nice and clean — it's basically a hierarchical wiki, with a nice clean tree structure and the ability to assign a status such as open or closed.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 11:01 PM on November 1, 2005

I'm not positive what your organization system looks like. Initially, I had everything done through raw text files. Since I use a hipster-pda, I wrote a perl script that parsed my todo list into an html file, that had a css include, so it was formatted for a 3x5.

My main problem was I simply wasn't looking at the HPDA very much, so after a few weeks sticking to just hand-written notes, I've now switched everything I do into a pmwiki on my website. Keep in mind I'm taking on a bunch of different school and non-school related projects, and this system isn't meant solely for GTD related items, it's also a good place to store notes. What I like about it besides how modular it is, is that everything is contained in raw text, so I can access it through a script to pipe it into the text editor of my choice.

Pmwiki is completely skinnable, can support double-click style editing, and even check list style todo lists, and is very modular. If you have experience with web development, I don't think it would be too hard to set up to your liking.

If monstrous wiki doesn't suit your needs, I saw GTDTiddlyWiki mentioned above. I used it for a little while this summer, and it seemed like a very good system. It's very nice that it's maintained on a single html file. If you don't have hosting, this comes in handy. The interface was simply amazing, I think a Backpack fan would appreciate it. It also prints directly to 3x5's for HPDA's, a feature I liked. Be sure to give it a try, it's worth a look.

Hope my eclectic organizational systems have helped you find a good backpack alternative. Best of luck!
posted by phr4gmonk3y at 12:15 AM on November 2, 2005

There are a number of different wikis to try out on Opensourcecms.com
posted by bering at 12:54 AM on November 2, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers so far, folks. Some good suggestions - TaskToy in particular, thanks metaculpa. I'll have another look at (GTD)TiddlyWiki but the lack of built-in support for checklists was a deal-breaker last time I tried it. pmwiki looks like a possibility.

Barnone, to clarify: I agree with your argument entirely. I'm a shareware donator, an Amazon-wishlist-giver and when I think a project is truly invaluable, I'll happily pay. I pay $12 /month for Basecamp, for example^*. I also buy from my local farmers' market and am nice to old people. It's just that in this case, i) the application seems so straightforward (it's just a fancy wiki), ii) it isn't perfect (justgary's examples are also my main bugbears) and iii) there is a wealth of very-similar-but-not-identical stuff out there, it pains me to cough up the cash. Yeah, I know. Spoilt by Open Source.

* No, I can't manage them all in Basecamp, much as I would love to. $50-$100 /month. Ooof.

Any more ideas?
posted by blag at 1:37 AM on November 2, 2005

I've always found the web-based solutions too limited and too slow for my needs. If you're willing to consider a non-web-based solution, ToDoList is really nice and free (MS Windows).
It has an option to automatically export an HTML file which you can put on your personal web server so you'll be able to access your tasks online.
posted by Sharcho at 3:12 AM on November 2, 2005

Could you not try getting a bit creative with the free version of Backpack? It's been a while since I used it (I switched back to just using text files for this sort of stuff) but when I did, I managed to work on a large number of projects in the free version by eg. using characters like *, & or $ at the beginning of list items to serve as markers for different projects on a single page's list section, so I could quickly add new items, then take a minute every so often to group together todos by project according to their markers.

I'd have, going by what's in my text file todo lists just now, about 20 projects on the go at the same time, all with associated todo lists, notes, etc. (You can do a lot with formatting in the notes section - and presumably the new Writeboard feature? - to keep seperate projects on the same page, too.)

This was for lots of small, short projects though, so if you're doing a huge complex project over a long period it might not work so well, but if you can't afford the cash and really like the application, it might be worth thinking about how you can bend it to your ends.
posted by jack_mo at 11:09 AM on November 2, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks again folks. TaskToy looks like it may be perfect - it has todos, projects and deadline tracking.

I also found a version of TiddlyWiki which includes checkbox functionality - DirtyWaterWiki - but the download link seems to be broken. Shame.

Thanks again.
posted by blag at 3:53 PM on November 3, 2005

(You may be amused to know that I was just searching for a wiki along these lines, and came across this page. We'll see if my previous recommendation for tasktoy holds. Uh, remember much, metaculpa?)
posted by metaculpa at 11:48 PM on May 30, 2006