[Gllug] Mobile (?) with E-mail & Calendar

[John Edwards]

On Thu, Feb 04, 2010 at 12:14:15AM +0000, Mick Farmer wrote:
> Dear GLLUGers,
> 
> I'm certain this group knows a lot more about portable
> devices than I do, so I'm looking for some advice.
> 
> My wife's current mobile phone allows her to sync with her
> e-mail system at work.  Fine.
> 
> She now wants a device that will sync with her calendar at
> work.  It doesn't need to be a phone (but is there any
> alternative?), but it should be small.  She wants it to work
> on the train into London, so does it need to be a phone?
> 
> Please send me your thoughts on what she needs for this.
> Many thanks.

I really depends on which calendar system you want to sync to
(eg Exchange, Google, Zimbra) and what sync methods it supports
(eg ActiveSync, CalDAV, SyncML). It's a bit of a jungle, but
seems to be reducing to two sync methods, CalDAV (open) and
ActiveSync (closed).


I use a Nokia N810, which is a Linux based web tablet and runs a
Debian-like OS. There is an extra package called mcal that syncs
with Google Calendar and works well, though is a bit memory hungry.
In theory it may be able to modified to work any CalDAV system.

A colleague of mine is also working on Z-Push, which is a open
source backend for the Microsoft ActiveSync that a lot of mobile
phones support out of the box. We've got it sync'ing email with
Cyrus and contacts with OpenLDAP, but are still working on the
calendar backend that works with CalDAV.


As for working on the train in London, there are sections of the
overground network that have poor phone reception. But if you can
sync at the start and end of the journey and don't need access to
any live data that is changing, it will probably be OK.


-- 
#---------------------------------------------------------#
|    John Edwards   Email: john at cornerstonelinux.co.uk    |
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