Handhelds Syncing w/ Web-Based Calendars? 67
hacker asks: "I have been asked many times over the past few years to support "web-based calendaring" with pilot-link, so people can syncronize their PalmOS handheld devices directly with 'online' calendaring software. The problem is...what calendaring software? I've looked at the various alternatives (PHP iCalendar, WebCal, and about two-dozen others) free and commercial, and none of them really offer a good, powerful, flexible way to integrate the same kind of data that resides on a Palm handheld device. I would write the conduit between Palm and calendaring software. Has anyone actually used a web-based calendaring product they like, and if so, which one, and why? Would the ability to syncronize your Palm handheld with your web-based calendaring software be useful?"
Re:Already exists (Score:1)
Re:Already exists (Score:1)
Re:Already exists (Score:2, Flamebait)
1. The palm conduit for iSync is slooooooooooooow. About 10 times as slow, by my estimation.
2. iCal does not support categories for tasks on your to do list. With Palm software you can sort your tasks by categories such as by customer or, separate your sysadmin tasks from other work.
Re:Already exists (Score:2)
you're either trolling or ignorant, or you can't read. He said "flexible and powerful". iCal does not fit that description. I love my Mac at work, but iCal & iSync just doesn't cut it for calendaring.
1. The palm conduit for iSync is slooooooooooooow. About 10 times as slow, by my estimation.
2. iCal does not support categories for tasks on your to do list. With Palm software you can sort your tasks by categories such as by customer or, separate your sysadmin tasks from other work.
The fact that yo
Yahoo Calendars is GREAT (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yahoo Calendars is GREAT (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Yahoo Calendars is GREAT (Score:1)
Re:Yahoo Calendars is GREAT (Score:2)
Re:Yahoo Calendars is GREAT (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Yahoo Calendars is GREAT (Score:1)
Re:Yahoo Calendars is GREAT (Score:1)
ArcStream's Blackboard toGo! (Score:5, Informative)
ArcStream makes a conduit for Blackboard called Blackboard toGo! [arcstreamsolutions.com] I have never used the software but it seems to be exactly what you are looking for.
Again...this all stems on you already using the Blackboard software...(from what I understand most Universities in the states already do)...and you getting your University to use the Arcstream software.
Note: I am not affiliated with ArcStream Solutions, Inc. or Blackboard Inc.
More general... (Score:2)
One possibility would be to always use some sort of groupware suite (e.g. phpGroupWare), but:
- they are focused on groups, not individuals
- it's more comfortable to use a real mail/calendar/... client when you have it available than always using a webclient
So, I was wondering if there is some sort of 'personalware', as compared to 'groupware'
Re:More general... (Score:5, Informative)
The web client is almost identical to Outlook, and every PDA syncs Calendars, ToDos etc. with Outlook.
Re:More general... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:More general... (Score:2)
Re:More general... (Score:4, Interesting)
There is no 'focusing' on groups. An individual is just a group of one. Designing for groups is the more generalized solution.
I am much more aghast at the number of solutions that *don't* include support for groups.
Re:More general... (Score:4, Interesting)
- they are focused on groups, not individuals
On the backend, it probably doesn't make much difference if the product is focused on groups or individuals.
In the Web UI, you could probably clean up the interface a bit to remove some of the more group-based features (We don't really need "Discussion Groups", etc.
However, it doesn't seem that there is a simple way to sync your handhelds with PHPGroupWare or eGroupWare (It still lack a complete implementation [phpgroupware.org].
Re:More general... (Score:2)
It doesn't do everything Outlook does, but since Outlook sucks like a Hoover, this might actually be a Good Thing(tm).
Don't know about PDA support though.
I started to scratch this itch 10 months ago... (Score:1, Interesting)
I am about to do a major re-write and I could do with some help, guys !
Mobical.net (Score:3, Informative)
I use it primarily as a backup of my contact info, in case I'd lose my cell phone. However the web interface is quite neat.
Re:Mobical.net (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Mobical.net (Score:2)
The SyncML backend of Mobical is Tactel Blues, which is fairly arcane (and nowhere to be found). They apparently developed a SyncML client for Palm about 2 years ago, but it is probably wildly out of date, and won't work on current Palm handheld devices (OS5+ API, larger screens, smaller fonts, network capabilities, etc.).
Trust me, I've looked into a lot of these solutions VERY heavily (as mentioned in my original article submission). I didn't ju
Web-Basec? (Score:3, Funny)
Screw it, it's too early in the morning to make fun of
Well, compared to others, Yahoo is OK. (Score:1, Redundant)
Based upon your mention of PHP-based calendars, you're obviously trying to have a fully home-grown solution. But just for fun, I thought I'd mention Yahoo's calendar [yahoo.com]. It uses Intellisync to sync up their Web calendar with Outlook, Outlook Express, Palm OS handhelds, Lotus Organizer, and ACT. You might look at what they're doing, if only to see a system that works relatively well.
(If you can't find the sync link, after you login to your calendar, look for "sync" on the upper right side.)
Steltor CorporateTime (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Steltor CorporateTime (Score:2)
Re:Steltor CorporateTime (Score:1)
Re:Spelling (Score:1, Interesting)
None of the solutions provided seemed to actually come close to answering what he wanted.. which was to sync with a Palm handheld, or at least, provide an interface that has the same kind of data that a Palm holds. Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Tasks.
Suggesting a costly proprietary solution to a problem where he is obviously developing the conduit to give away, for free, is not a good solution
Re:Spelling (Score:2)
These things happen.
CGPro (Score:1)
And you can sync with some handhelds (Score:5, Informative)
Installation is pretty straigtforward. It's Windows only.
For the first fews syncs, or if the data on either Yahoo or your Palm gets out of sync, you'll have to spend some time telling Intellisync which entry is the correct entry.
Now, if Yahoo would change their email GUI to display message threads, and let me have more then one level of subfolders, I'd be really happy.
Re:And you can sync with some handhelds (Score:3, Interesting)
As you can see in this Outlook task [gnu-designs.com] entry, everything looks kosher. That hash in the Note field is for DateBk5 [pimlicosoftware.com]'s icons.
When I sync to Yahoo!'s Calendar, I see something that looks like this [gnu-designs.com]. Opening the Tasks form, I see this [gnu-designs.com] output. No titles for any tasks.
Let's focus in on the 9/18 task. Opening that one, shows this form [gnu-designs.com], where you can see the Note
Re:And you can sync with some handhelds (Score:2)
Re:And you can sync with some handhelds (Score:2)
Related question... (Score:2)
Re:Related question... (Score:3, Informative)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpicalendar/
Re:Related question... (Score:2)
Re:Related question... (Score:3, Informative)
It is great, for a static "events" calendar, but it really isn't remotely close to a solution for an interactive web-based calendaring/PIM solution.
Re:Related question... (Score:2)
Re:Related question... (Score:2)
Re:Related question... (Score:2)
Re:Related question... (Score:2)
Re:Related question... (Score:2)
I did find this link: http://starship.python.net/pipermail/triangle-zpug /2003-August/000211.html
and this: http://cmf.zope.org/Members/andrew/projects/CMFCal endar/examples/talkback/1051263512
and this http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/09/23.html
Seems like enough to get started...
OpenGroupware (Score:2)
Re:OpenGroupware (Score:3, Informative)
It does rely on Network Hotsync if you're syncing directly to your OGo server, so unless you have a decent VPN setup, remote users aren't going to have a good time of it, but I recokon you could let those people connect with something like Outlook and have them sync locally using Intellsync or the l
use iSync on the Mac... (Score:1)
It's a bit magical: Here's my calendar on the Web, no -- here it is on my Desktop. Look, it's the same data on my Palm!
For what its worth, PHP iCalendar seemed the most reliable to me when I used it.
Web-based Calendaring and more.... (Score:4, Informative)
Also available is a service called TeleConcierge. Most restaurants in their system allow for the operator to make reservations on your behalf. Hotel reservations are also available. Flight status, movie times, horoscopes, weather, driving directions, it's all there. Just $0.89 per call for up to 15 minutes, and just $0.05/min after that. Automatic debit from most major credit cards and there's no contract. You can access the service from any phone, home, cell, or pay. Just dial 888-411-1111.
Best of all, the operators that answer will be in the area you're calling from, no matter where you are in the country, including Hawaii, so you'll always have a local to give you advice when you're away from home.
Webcalendar.sourceforge.net? (Score:5, Informative)
# Export events to iCal, vCal or Palm
# Import from vCal or Palm
# Optional general access (no login required) to allow calendar to be viewed by people without a login (useful for event calendars)
# Users can make their calendar available publicly to anyone with an iCal-compliant calendar program (such as Apple's iCal or Mozilla Calendar)
Re:Webcalendar.sourceforge.net? (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, it can't import the standard Palm data. I have 697 events in my calendar, which show up in Linux under Evolution and J-Pilot and with a Perl dump of DatebookDB.pdb. They also show up in Windows under Outlook and Palm Desktop.
Following the instructions in Webcalendar, to import the datebook/datebook.dat file from the Palm Desktop setup, only imports 53 entries, mostly holidays.
If it can't handle the format supplied, it should not advertise that it can. Clearly nobody tested this capability (and yes, I'll be reporting the bug with the Webcalendar maintainers).
That's a blocker for me, so I stopped testing it right there.
Check out Mozilla Sunbird (Standalone Calendar) (Score:2, Offtopic)
I just learned that it does not yet synch with Palm Pilots.
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/ [mozilla.org]
Sunbird nightly builds:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/su nbird/nightly/ [mozilla.org]
Re:Check out Mozilla Sunbird (Standalone Calendar) (Score:2)
So not an answer to the Askslashdot question and not an answer to the majority of PIM users
Bye egghat.
SUSE OpenExchange Server (Score:3, Interesting)
You can sync from Windows with Palm Desktop and the help of the SUSE OpenExchange palm conduits to their OpenExchange server. Works great. There also is a Linux client available, haven't tried it yet.
OpenExchange is getting there, people!
-m
php/oracle/java based pc/mac palm conduit (Score:3, Interesting)
We also wrote a palm conduit for it for pc and mac..
It has been in production for over a year now with many thousands of users using it every day.
We were going to open source it but havent because of how oracle centric it is
Re:php/oracle/java based pc/mac palm conduit (Score:4, Interesting)
- Only personal users will use it, oracle is free for them
- People will convert it to the SQL backend of their choice
Either way you will get all of the advantages of opening the code base to the community.
Sidekick [danger.com] (Score:1)
Pocket PC + PHPiCalendar + Mozilla Calendar (Score:3, Interesting)
WeSync - the unsung application (Score:1)
had a Web i/f prepared; but the droids 'in charge' of Palm, pre-split, buried it, just like they buried the PalmOS5 version of WeSync (which, BTW, WORKS GREAT!).
WeSync syncs up to fourteen calendars, and has a Windows desktop component so you can see what's going on without a Palm. Wireless syncs work just dandy, have ever since I got my first wireless Palm.
It also does address book syncs for shared contacts. It is the Killer App for married Palm users. Really. And, it's free.
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