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FOSS Multicast Document Sharing?
Posted by
timothy
on Sun Sep 28, 2008 03:17 PM
from the holy-grail-for-remote-work dept.
from the holy-grail-for-remote-work dept.
Jawdy writes "I am currently leading a small game development project with artists and developers scattered all over the country. Getting together is somewhat difficult, but we try to do this every couple of months.
We often share all kinds of documents with each other, and even do so while using IM clients (GTalk and MSN), but this winds up being a tedious process of: send document; read and edit; send back; rinse and repeat.
What I wanted to ask fellow slashdotters is, if anyone knows of any FOSS software that can handle IM (or even voice chat), Whiteboard and document sharing — where we can all see the document, pass around 'editing rights' and edit live. Even several small apps that handle the individual components would help out!"
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Submission: FOSS Multicast Document Sharing? by Anonymous Coward
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Abiword (Score:3, Informative)
Abiword has an experimental plugin to allow collaborative document editing. Otherwise, I'd suggest just using Google Docs.
Google Docs (Score:2, Informative)
What about Google Docs?
It's not an F/OSS solution, but it supports ODT, DOC, and just about everything else, and allows for the cooperative editing that you're looking for.
Plus, you have the added advantage of not needing to host and upkeep some app.
Re:Google Docs (Score:4, Informative)
And, Google Docs also has a built-in "IM" feature. The "Discuss" tab on the right lets you see who is currently looking at the document, and IM each other right in that tab, for discussion/coordination/etc.
I'd highly recommend it. We recently used it on a spreadsheet for a planned data center power outage, with all of the sysadmins IM'ing at the same time, and all we would each mark the "up/down" collumn of the sheet as we finished with a bunch of machines (over 300 total). And we had one spot that was a counter for how many were still up or down. It also kept track of shutdown/start-up order, responsible sysadmin, and dependencies. Instead of being like a mad-house we've had in previous outages, this one was almost like a ballet. Very useful tool.
So, yes, Google Docs may not technically be "Open Source", but it is free, and I bet you'll find it to be amazingly useful for what you want.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Personally I use Google Docs for this purpose.
While I agree that it is not technically 'open source'... From the Google Data API:
Google gives you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive licence to use the software provided to you by Google as part of the Services as provided to you by Google (referred to as the âoeSoftwareâ below).
Re: (Score:2)
"Do you guys really have any idea what you are doing?"
Your post might have been of any interest if you included any hint about your tested alternatives.
Sorrily, you didn't.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
What kind of documents? (Score:5, Informative)
Google documents [google.com] or Zoho [zoho.com] or some other gratis (but typically proprietary) "cloud" solution might be reasonable.
If you're fine with text-only, you have a lot of options. VIM and EMACS both allow collaborative editing, you can share a screen session [aperiodic.net], or you can get a specialized collaborative editor (such as Gobby [0x539.de] and ACE [sourceforge.net]) or a specialized framework, such as DocSynch [sourceforge.net]
If you need light-weight word processing, Abiword [abisource.com] has a plugin [abisource.com] for real-time collaboration.
Heavier weight word processing of DOCX can be done with Plutext [wikipedia.org].
If you need more graphical documents & the above doesn't seem to fit AND if you have a small group of friends who you trust, I'd just go "simple" & host with VNC or some other remote desktop protocol.
As far as other pieces, there is a lot of good F/OSS voice/IM/whiteboard software. Coccinella [thecoccinella.org] and ekiga [ekiga.org] are good examples.
Abiword? (Score:2)
I'm really excited about the new koffice, but is Abiword worth a look, as well?
Re: (Score:2)
Abiword is great. It can open ODF, MS Word Docs, and a variety of other files. (It can't save MS Word Docs though, it saves as RTF.)
It does have a few problems, though most of the time you won't encounter them. One I found once had to do with pasting a formatted header... Another I have, I think has to do with different character sets.
But, if you only work in AbiWord, and you don't go messing with other word processors, then most of the time it will work great.
Loads fast, works well, has built in grammar ch
Re: (Score:2)
Run it inside a Screen session.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Screen [wikipedia.org]
OpenH323 (Score:5, Informative)
OpenH323 is basically Netmeeting, but OSS version. Mind you, it uses (surprise) H.323 protocol, and not all firewalls like it (since it requires connectivity to both directions).
http://openh323.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
Google docs is an easy first thing to try (Score:4, Informative)
Parent post is NOT redundant. (Score:5, Informative)
Some Moderators seriously do NOT understand the use of the "redundant" modifier in answers to a "Ask Slashdot" topic.
The parent topinc is NOT redundant. It answers the topic, with a good answer (google docs) and brings some further information to the table (simultaneous live edits)
Although it sometimes can be annoying to see multiple posts with the same suggestion (similar to a "me too"). However in this case, if you look carefully you can see the parent post, and most others who suggested Google Docs, have all posted at the same time (around 8:22pm). It is therefore reasonable to assume that this is not intended to be a "me too" post. Therefore it is unfair to mark this as redundant.
Also take into account, the person who asked the question may be looking at popularity,a nd many people suggesting "google docs", together with WHY, may help that person make a better decision.
I hope the "redundant" mod given to the parent is properly meta moderated, as it is unfair.
Parent
Document Sharing - Dropbox (Score:3, Informative)
Personally I would abstract this away from the app (Score:5, Interesting)
For really simple interactivity, I would suggest something along the lines of
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vnc-reflector/ [sourceforge.net]
Let one person do the application hosting and get your committee to VNC to that host. Then everybody can do everything, including applications that don't have shared edit features built in.
Dabbleboard (Score:3, Informative)
Check out Dabbleboard. It was written by a friend of mine. There is a video showing you how it works.
http://www.dabbleboard.com
Gobby (Score:5, Informative)
Gobby [0x539.de] is an open source client-server application which supports multiple documents in one session, document synchronisation on request, password protection and an IRC-like chat for communication.
Eclipse Communication Framework (Score:5, Interesting)
ECF [eclipse.org] is an integrated Jabber (XMPP)-based protocol that allows collaborative work. Introduction here. [infoq.com] "Real-time communication and collaboration features for teams using Eclipse such as peer-to-peer file sharing, remote opening of Eclipse views, screen capture sharing, and real-time shared editing."
Other Jabber products you might find useful are Coccinella with whiteboarding, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
If you then add the MICE MBone tools, you get the remainder of what's wanted - video, audio, whiteboard and primitive shared text editor. It's a damn shame MICE stopped development of the tools because they are good, easy-to-use and modular. Modular is very important. Most modern videoconferencing tools are monolithic, all but impossible to extend and are just not designed for anything I'd consider "real work". They're toys. Powerful toys, but this is something software developers really need to grasp. If y
Microsoft SharedView (Score:5, Interesting)
OpenDocMan (Score:2)
Out of the box on OLPC (Score:2)
The "write" activity on olpc supports collaborative editing out of the box using Jabber as a transport. I think it is a derivative of Abiword - but in any case it is open source.
I actually use it quite often, having a group document is a favorite activity among the olpc g1g1 kids - the usual take turns adding a sentence to a silly story type thing. (I never fully grew up.)
Inkscape (Score:4, Interesting)
This is only for whiteboarding (not document sharing), but Inkscape can share a workspace over XMPP (Jabber) protocol. The feature is sometimes called Inkboard.
More info here: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/WhiteBoard [inkscape.org] and here: http://inkboard.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
-molo
Re: (Score:2)
Mod parent up. Inkscape is a great product for the whiteboarding side of this problem.
37signals (Score:2)
37signals [37signals.com] has a number of apps that do these things. Campfire is web IM (with logging, file upload, etc.) and Basecamp is essentially a personal wiki with calendaring and other features.
FOSS? And you use MSN? (Score:2, Interesting)
Use Alfresco [alfresco.com] for document sharing.
In terms of document sharing: (Score:2)
I'd recommend DropBox. Not, FOSS I know, but you get 2Gigs of storage gratis, and it is great. Skype is going to be the obvious solution for IM and voice, leaving you witj whiteboarding
iChat and SubEthaEdit (Score:4, Informative)
google docs? (Score:2)
wiki (Score:2)
use a wiki.
i've been using confluence for a couple of years now, and cant imagine any sort of collaborative document writing without it.
there are plenty of plugins, including a recent whiteboard thing ( havent used it myself ), and you can always use skype/msn/other instant messaging in the background.
KabLink (Score:2, Informative)
You might have a look at http://kablink.org/ [kablink.org] from the former SiteScape (now Novell). I'm not sure if their current open source offering includes the voice collaboration server. I think it used to. Also lots of collaboration tools, although id does not seem to include a collaborative white board in the FOSS version.
I Wrote That Once.... (Score:2)
Mac app (Score:2)
This is not exactly a direct response to the question as asked, since it's not F/OSS. That aside, Mac users can use SubEthaEdit http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/ [codingmonkeys.de], and share a single document with each user's focus and changes being highlighted with a selected color. It uses the Apple "bonjour" protocol, but the concept shouldn't be all that difficult to implement in other software. I'm not aware of any at the moment, however.
Source of apps (Score:2)
http://thinkofit.com/webconf/workspaces.htm [thinkofit.com]
Assembla.com (Score:2, Interesting)
Zimbra (Score:2)
Hi There,
Zimbra is an open source email platform which has a document store and wiki-esq functionality. The latest version also has an instant messenger etc.
I am doing exactly this for a modding team... (Score:2)
And the answer we're using is MediaWiki [jasmine.org.uk]. Before we used MediaWiki we used GoogleDocs, but MediaWiki suits us better.
vic, vat, wb, nte, sd (Score:2)
Years ago there used to be a collection of FOSS software [ucl.ac.uk] that did just what the poster was describing. I don't know the status of those pieces of software are today, but its all been done before.
Wiki is essential (Score:2)
I've used Trac a lot for distributed projects - the integration is very nice.
This guy seemed to want real time colloboration, though, which is why I referenced Eclipse Communication Framework in other post, rather than a wiki.
Re: (Score:2)
I see, ok. Wasn't clear to me.
Then I guess, simply, just have a chat then and let one participant make the changes in a wiki or similar.
Is there a way to access a shared desktop over the network simlutaneously? So then you'd say in the chat "let me write" and then that one person moves the mouse, type, etc... .. take turns, etc. This way, any application would become "shareable" without any code change (OO / IDE's / Gimp / etc)
Just need to set up a machine that can be accessed by all.
Stephan
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's what I set up for our office. It's not perfect but you do get a lot of functionality right out of the gate. Document sharing, chat, shared calendars. No one had trouble adapting, many were already forwarding mail to a Gmail account anyway.
Re:VCS (Score:5, Informative)
Google "revision control".
No, "collaborative editing". Revision control gives a tedious process of: commit document; update; read and edit; commit; rinse and repeat. Wikipedia says that Abiword and Google Docs (among others others) [wikipedia.org] probably do what's asked for here.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Revision control isn't fantastic; right now, I'm not aware of any that can merge changes to an OpenOffice or MS Office document. LaTeX would work, but most people don't know LaTeX. I imagine with XML-based word documents we'll see revision control plugins to merge the underlying XML instead of the binary files that contain them, but last time we looked at this it wasn't there yet.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
In other words, it's not "free," because it requires a software (and hardware) dongle.
(Screw the OSS aspect, I'm just talking price...)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Still my point was to offer to a fellow developer an app that has been really helpful in bringing telecommuting developers together to coloborat
Re: (Score:2)
Elaborate on what you mean here?
It may only work with Mac but it works well with all platforms.
I don't believe that the screen sharing is open-protocol or anything like that; thus, it seems very single-platform, at least for the use case that is presented.
Re: (Score:2)
If you can point to