managing gtd system with two computers
sjarvis
setting up my system is that I work on two computers:
1. my home iMac G4 (running OS X 10.3.x)
2. my work TiBook (running OS X 10.3.x)
I'm planning on using a group of text files (not unlike how Merlin
outlined his setup on 43folders.com). Most of Merlin's tips so far (and
the other setups I've found on the web) are keyed to someone using just
one computer for their system.
I've come up with several options for dealing with this, but I haven't
yet chosen one (so I'm sort of frozen at the intial collection phase).
The options are:
1. Keep everything on my home computer. Using my PowerBook (which is
with me most of the time), I *can* access my home computer from just
about anywhere I have access by mounting my hard drive via AFP tunneled
through SSH. It's a bit slow, though, enough to be annoying. On the
plus side, since it's mounted as a local volume, I can use QuickSilver.
2. Have work lists on the TiBook and non-work lists on the iMac, but
that seems like it would start getting out of control, and I'd really
prefer to have all my lists in one place for backup, reviews, etc.
3. Keep everything on the TiBook, since I can (and usually do) bring it
home every night. But, that makes me a little nervous having my
personal (and side consulting business) stuff on my work computer.
_I'm_ not very good about keeping my work and personal lives separate,
but I'm not sure my boss would be so chuffed about my blended approach
to getting things done. And, if something should happen that the
Powerbook got repo-ed, I'd lose a day's worth of data (assuming I back
up every night).
4. Keep my GTD system as analog as possible. I don't currently own or
use a PDA, so I _could_ go with a non-computer-based GTD system, using
a "Hipster PDA" and physical tickler files (I'd still probably keep my
appointments in iCal and contacts in AddressBook (synched to my mobile
phone), just because if I need those things, I'm usually at a computer,
and I can keep them synced pretty easily with iSynch and .Mac.
Has anyone else dealt with this situation? Tips? Tricks? Advice?
thanks!
Steven
--
Steven Jarvis
sjarvis.com
John S J Anderson
>
> I'm just getting started with GTD and one of the issues I'm facing in
> setting up my system is that I work on two computers:
>
> 1. my home iMac G4 (running OS X 10.3.x)
> 2. my work TiBook (running OS X 10.3.x)
> with me most of the time), I *can* access my home computer from just
> about anywhere I have access by mounting my hard drive via AFP tunneled
> through SSH. It's a bit slow, though, enough to be annoying. On the
> plus side, since it's mounted as a local volume, I can use QuickSilver.
with a CLI-based editor to maintain the files? Just SSH back into the
home box, fire up Emacs on your TODO file/directory, and you're good
to go. (And if you go that route, you should look into planner.el --
possibly more about that later.)
This is exactly what I do for my GTD stuff: the "base" is my home
workstation; while I'm at work, I SSH back into there. There's some
work/home separation in terms of which tasks are placed where, but all
the files are on the home machine.
(Yet another GUI vs CLI way of thinking about the problem, I think...)
cheers,
john.
--
genehack.org * weblog == ( bioinfo / linux / opinion / stuff )
dansays
out $99/year, [setting up your own iDisk/WebDAV setup][1]?
[1]: http://www.tnpi.biz/computing/mac/tips/idisk/
Thomas
the sort of system you describe by keeping the same text files on both
computers. In my case the work laptop is Win2k, while the homebox is a
Mac -- so I have a quick and dirty little bash script I keep in
$HOME/bin on each machine (I have [cygwin][1] on the laptop, natch.
Don't use Windows without it!) that uses rsync over ssh to swap changes
back and forth as needed. Since you're using OS X on both sides,
something like [psyncX][2] might be an option.
This approach obviously requires a little more care to maintain file
consistency across the two machines. For me the advantage over keeping
one set of files on a remote machine is that I can work on my lists
even without a net connection - while commuting or traveling, say.
Of course, I partly did it this way because I like scripting (and have
a special idiosyncratic fondness for invoking rsync). Perhaps a more
straightforward way to accomplish the same effect would be simply
always to save your list file to easy removable media, such as a USB
keychain flash drive, that you can swap from machine to machine as
needed.
- Thomas
http://syntactician.com
[1]http://cygwin.com
[2]http://sourceforge.net/projects/psyncx
mal...@gmail.com
and the "always with me" data store.
Things get listed on that if I'm not at a computer (if I have time -
otherwise I record a voice memo for later transcription - also on the
T3). If I'm at a computer (home or work) I enter it on the computer.
I always synch when I arrive at a new location (home or work) and
before I leave. The nice thing is, that my cradle is at work (plugged
into the Windows machine), but the T3 can also synch with the mac at
home, over bluetooth - and I don't need a second cradle.
My biggest issue is that I have both task lists (using the various
task/todo applications) and email folders/labels (outlook at work,
gmail at home) - but that's a subject for another post.
sjarvis
As for the straight CLI idea, I'll probably do some of that, though I'm
a Mac use from way back, and though I use the CLI for a lot of stuff
these days, I still sometimes like to "get my hands on" files. The GUI
is still my "native language."
As for the iDisk, I'm still debating about .Mac. I'm currently about a
week away from the end of my 60 day trial. Currently, I use it just for
syncing iCal, AddressBook, and a feedreader app currently in beta and
therefore remains nameless. ;) I have my own webserver, and I could use
it, but it's not as convenient as an iDisk. I'm still trying to decide
whether syncing is worth $99/year.
thanks again for all the tips!
Steven
Samuel DeVore
<http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/> on a mac server and just
open them from where ever I am. I even keep a shared list open for
members of a joint project...
Sam D
tewh...@gmail.com
version-control system, ala CVS (or the new darling, Subversion).
It'll give you offline access, but still allow you to sync changes
when you're net-connected.
As a bonus, you'll get, um, version control.
Miguel
lines? It's limited to 30mb nowadays, I believe, but if it's GTD text
files, that's way more than enough.
Miguel
quiksan
with a different method.
I post my lists (new or appended) to a private weblog (just used
blogger because it's quick and simple to setup, and I'm not going for
aesthetics) from which I keep live bookmarks in firefox 1.0 on both my
home and work browsers. so in half a second, I can see what's on my
list(s).
then, to make it even simpler, I use email-posting and I'm done.
quick, simple, and waiting for me wherever I go.
Jonathan Greene
I also have a Mac / PC world and am trying to think how to best get
started. I'd love something easy to sync to my Treo so it's always
there and can be modified easily. I've got access to a server and
..Mac which works on both....
Edward Vielmetti
a network connection, and easy to make hyperlinks in and out of (that
suits my hyperlinked mind). The system has been mutating around for
about a year and a half now, but what has stuck has been an "action
items" page that I bookmark that has the current dump of actions, and
each action in turn is listed along with the project it belongs to.
Ed
--
Edward Vielmetti
317 S Division St, PMB 218
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
+1 734 276 5910
edward.v...@gmail.com
edward.v...@socialtext.com
Jonathan Greene
That's a good idea though I can do a wiki in a few secs thanks to my
web host (pair.com)
Matt Sweeney
<jonatha...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I had not considered live bookmarks but that's an interested method.
>
bookmarklet means I can bookmark things easily. The categories option
allows me to label things for browsing (if only I could assign a post
to multiple categories from the bookmarklet it would be perfect). And
the fact that I can access it anywhere really comes in handy when
working at a customer site.
matt
bryce benton
I tried briefly to use the Mozilla calendar application with this
method, but it seems to work better in iCal although you do have to
restart the application after updating the calendar files to the
latest version. It seems like it would be pretty easy to write an
applescript that would update the calendar files and then restart
iCal.
Previously, I always found it frustrating that I couldn't modify a
calendar of my own that I had subscribed to, and this solves that
issue.
A quick tip: iCal looks for its calendar files in ~/Library/Calendars,
so you'll need to check out your version-controlled calendar files
into that folder.
I suppose an added advantage to this method is that your calendar
would survive a hard drive failure, as it's stored on more than one
machine.
--bryce
Jonathan Greene
link blog? When I used MT last (I am now on WordPress) you could not
edit from the bookmarklet.
btw - in WP you can do more than one category from it's bookmarklet
amongst other features.
Matt Sweeney
<jonatha...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> are you saying that you use MT to manage your lists? Is it more of a
> link blog? When I used MT last (I am now on WordPress) you could not
> edit from the bookmarklet.
>
as well, just not with the bookmarklet, as you mentioned.
> btw - in WP you can do more than one category from it's bookmarklet
> amongst other features.
>
installing it on my web site. Thanks for the tip. Now if I could
just find time to play with it.
Matt
simper
situation, but I'm having trouble because I can't get Safari to open
rtf files with Word rather than Text Edit. (Of course I can get there
eventually, but I'm looking for a quick system.) I've really searched
for a way to change the default launch applications on Safari. Can
anyone help with that?
David Edmondson
generally. Find a .rtf file on your Mac, select it, do 'Get Info...'
and a panel should appear telling you stuff about your .rtf file.
Third component down is "Open with:", where you can choose the
application used to open this file. Change to Word then click "Change
All...".
dme.
simper
Yes, thanks, that's what I thought, too. I've made sure, however, that
the Mac is set to open rtf files with Word (which it does). Safari
won't follow that command, and its help menus don't, well, help. I
might just change my list format to one that Text Edit handles better.