Over the years I had tried many note taking and organizing tools but somehow there were always something that stopped me from continuing using them. Online tools were too slow and can’t be used offline. Most have proprietary format that are not portable. Corrupt the file and it was bye-bye notes (Okay, I should have backup).

All that changed after I found KeepNote. Having used it for more than 2 year, I quite happy to report that I’m still using it. In fact, I am so happy to come out of hiatus to post an article about it.

Why am I so happy about it?

Cross Platform

Cross platform is important to me because I use Windows, Mac and Linux. It was good to be able to use the same application when working on different platform. The same note could be opened from the portable hard drive on any platform.

Open Format

KeepNote organizes the notes into folders and file. To me, this was logical and intuitive. What is even better is that the structure is exactly how it is store on the disk. So if I had some file attached or images in my note, I can just go to the folder and open them.

The notes itself is a html file. How simple and smart! When working a workstation without KeepNote, the note can still be viewed. Just dragged the html note into a browser and it opens up. (KeepNote is portable too, so a copy can be keep on the portable disk to use on the go.)

Keep on getting better, fast

When I first started using it, it was simple, usable but there are also some laments of  ”if only it could …”. But very quickly features were added. (Just look at the update page to see the active development going on.) It was a delight to find in each new version “hey, now I could …”.   Particularly, I was excited when the insert screenshot and attach file functions came out.

If you are still looking for that elusive note taking application, give KeepNote a try. It might just end your searching.

Where to get it?

• KeepNote is at http://keepnote.org/
• Current version: 0.7.5
• Function: Note Taking

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• Using Portable Applications for easy OS reinstall

This makes trying out new applications very easy and simple without leaving trails of registry rubbish and leftover files and folders.

I had been using PortableApps for a few years now. Although the quality is high and regularly updated, the collection of applications available is sufficient but not wide.

Recently I started to try out CodySafe which hasa collection of administrator tools that I find pretty useful. Look under Download, Portable Suites, Admin Pack.

This actually got me interested in also testing out other collections to see if there is anything interesting, especially for use in a small business setting.

Will be updating anything interesting here… stay tuned.

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• Using Portable Applications for easy OS reinstall

As mentioned before, since I’m now using Ubuntu, my focus would be tools that should runs on Linux. But keeping in mind that many non-technical users are on Windows and I also uses MacOSX, the perfect backup solution is indeed one that runs on the 3 major platforms – Linux, Mac and Windows.

As with most solution search these day, the first stop is to visit the seach engine and generate a few alternatives as the starting point.

With the increasing popularity of using the “cloud”, the other alternative is to backup to one of those online backup services. A few that I had tried come to mind – Mozy, Carbonite, Wuala and here is a list with comparison.

So far none had led me to sustained use.

Now that Google is providing space to upload any file, perhaps someone will soon come up with a way backup files to Google. The price for additional space is pretty attractive too.

Do you have any other recommendation?

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• Revisiting Alternative Disk/Partition Cloning Tools
• Alternative Disk/Partition Cloning Tools
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Here is a collection of those applications I previously used on Windows and the alternatives on Linux and Mac.

There are of course more alternatives and other applications, these are some that I use on a regular basis.

Do you have something to recommend? Let me know.

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I actually did got something out of that exercise but things began to turn really busy after that. In fact using that same tool, I cloned and deployed more than 30 Ubuntu desktop.

So which is it? Clonezilla.

Halfway throght the list, Clonezilla fit the bill so well that it wasn’t necessary to try the other.

So far clonezilla has worked for me on Windows XP and Ubuntu system. It has even worked on virtual machine on VirtualBox.

How does it work?

First download a copy from the website. You can either get the ISO and burn it onto a CD or get the USB version and put it on an usb thumbdrive.

For newer PC, the BIOS can be set to boot up from a usb thumbdrive. By using this I deployed many desktops without CD drive.

CloneZilla is actually built on top of Linux (based on Debian and Ubuntu for the experimental version). So just insert the CD or thumbdrive and boot up the system.

Usage is rather simple and easy but you might want to try it out on a non-critical machine to get the hang of using it.

When using Clonezilla, there are a few terminolgies to pay attention and get to know well what they mean.

Save/Restore
This means whether to save the existing disk/partition or to restore from a copy that was previously saved.

If it is the first time you are running, you probably want save.

If you are installing a new PC and want to use a clone of another PC, you will want to restore the clone onto the new PC.

Disk/Partition
Disk means the entire harddisk. Partition means just the partition you had selected to save or restore.

Clonezilla use compression and can take care of empty spaces, so even if you have a new 1T disk with a newly installed system, the resulting image should be rather small.

If the orignial disk or partition has different size, it might still work, but be careful, especially if the target is smaller than the original. To be safe make sure the disk to be cloned is the same as the original.

Image/Device
Clonezilla can save the disk or partition as an image. An image is a set of files that can be save somewhere (see the next section on image location). This image can then be used multiple times to clone new machines with the present of the original.

Also you upgrade the system you can create new image so that new clones get the updates as well.

Alternatively, you can directly clone a device to another device. If you have two identical hard disk attached, you can clone one to the other using a device-device mode.

Image save to/read from location
One thing I like so much about clonezilla it the flexibility it offers in terms of where to save/restore the image files.

Choose from, local partition (not the same as the one being saved), usb attached storage, network attach storage via NFS, Samba or even ssh.

If you have a Linux box running on the network, simply follow the few simple steps to configure the network and save the image via ssh. To clone a new machine, simply attach the network and copy back the image.

Conclusion
For businesses or home user with more than a few PC to mainain, Clonezilla can help to deploy standard setup, manage configuration, shortern setup time, and provide an easy way to backup.

Compared to commercial application that does similar task, it easily meet or exceed the task requirement of cloning disk and partition.

If you have used Clonezilla, tried other disk cloning tools or has other recommendation, why not leave a comment.

Where to get it?

• Clonezilla is at http://www.clonezilla.org/
• Current version: Stable version is 1.2.1-53
• Function: Disk/Partition Cloning

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And finally I can declare that my desktop is completely free (well almost). When the desktop is Linux, one really breaks free from from the ultimate stronghold of commercial software – the operating system.

Ubuntu 8.10 now runs on my notebook (for those interested, a Chinese made Tsinghua Tongfang K431 with AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile).

I still have my Mac Mini as the desktop so you can say I’m still a current user of MacOSX.

For the  occassion websites that demands IE (yes there are some, like banks that uses ActiveX),  I have a VirtualBox with XP installed and standing by. VirtualBox is an amazing application that I will share more indepth in furture post.

In view of these changes, the focus of Free Biz Ware will be shifted more towards Ubuntu/Linux focus. However, since many non-technical small business users are still using Windows and the fact that I also use Mac, there will be a preference for free or open source softwares that run on all three platform – Linux, Mac, Windows.

At the personal level, I had also move from have quite a bit of time to blog, to no time and back to having a bit of time on hand now. So here I am, rekindling the urge to share more of my adventure in free and open source software with the reader of this blog.

It has been quite an exciting journey and a personal quest to use free and opensource softwares. There are so much more that I had learned but have no time and energy to put down.

So subscribe to this blog or come back soon.

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Here are a list of sites to start looking for Mac softwares:

• Apple Download – Look for Freeware in the list. A filter for Freeware, Sharewares, Demo would be good.
• Download.com
• Softpedia – a source for Windows programs and apparently for Mac too.
• FreeSoftware Mac User Group (FreeSMUG) – list free and open source Mac applications in different categories.
• Open Source Mac, Free Mac Ware also complied a list of Mac softwares.

Some of my regular applications already has a Mac version so it is easy to switch over to the Mac version of Firefox and OpenOffice. That’s was about all that I need to switch over immediately.

The Mac is a very friendly and easy to use platform that most could start using immediately without much problem. Long time Windows user may need a little time to adapt. Some may miss some application that is available on Windows only.

For me, the switch was easy, I found (and am still exploring) alternative to programs I used on Windows. So far my only real problem is that an internet banking web site that I use that required Internet Explorer with ActiveX plugin.

In an old post, I asked “What do you put on a new PC?“, now I guess the similar question is “What do you put on a new Mac?”

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The selection has certainly improved and matured since I research this topic more than 2 years ago. Back then a few alternatives (including SystemRescueCD and PartD, Partition Saving) was tested but none gives the comfort that the restore would be fail-proof should the need suddenly appears. The main problem I remembered was NTFS wasn’t well supported at that time. In the end I stuck to Norton Ghost.

Now it is time to return to this topic after installing 2 PCs in 2 days and potentially having to provision 100 more PCs to come.

Let me list the alternatives and I will get back with the result in a few days. In the meantime, if you have any experience, good or bad, with open source/free disk clone utilities, please leave a comment.

1. Partition Saving
2. SystemRescueCd
3. UBCD – Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
4. Clonezilla
5. FOG – Free, Ghost-like Cloning Solution
6. g4u
7. Trinity Rescue Kit
8. PING – Partimage is Not Ghost
9. Linux Rescue Server – this one is interesting from an overall system management point of view.

Wikipedia has a good article to learn more about disk cloning.

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Excuse the pun in the title. BlogDesk is a desktop blogging tool (also known variously as an offline blog editor, desktop blog editor, etc.)

Instead of going online and using the web interface to write your blog post, BlogDesk allows you to compose your post on your computer (even when offline). LifeHacker compared a few other blogging tools.

More small businesses are now using blog as a as a channel to engage and communicate with customers. If you maintain a blog, BlogDesk and help you in several ways which I will outline in this post.

After using BlogDesk for more than a year, I can heartily recommend it!

Why should you use BlogDesk?

There are many desktop blogging tools out there, why should you use BlogDesk?

Here are some features that could proved to be time savers and the deciding factors (they did for me).

1. Offline Editing
   You don’t have to be online to write your post. Write it anywhere – while waiting for that flight, or at the cafe.
   Even in the age of wifi everywhere, slow connection to your blogging site could be a real pain when editing.
   Simple write your post at desktop speed and post it when you are ready.
2. Image Editing
   This is undoubtably the most indispensible feature! To post an image, simple copy it and select “Insert Image from Clipboard”.
   Image size too big?
   No problem, resize it with the built in tools which can also crop, rotate, create shadows, create thumbnails. Combine this with Ifranview and you have everthing to create images for your blog.
3. Imaging Uploading
   Adding images to a post can be a real hassle. For example if you use WordPress, you have to upload each image one by one and then link to them. With a slow connection (like where I am in China) this can take an hour!
   With BlogDesk, once you paste the image, it automatically uploads it for you.
4. Manage Multiple Blogs
   If you have multiple blogs, they can be setup so that you do not have to sign in to each blog to write a post.
5. Drafts
   Just fire up BlogDesk and write a draft whenever a thought come to your mind. It is a quick and easy way to maintain regular posting.
6. Create Templates, Frequently used text blocks
   If you write certain type of article that has a fixed format (like my application reviews), you can create templates or save them as text blog.
7. Free
   Cant beat that price! Opensource would be great but thats the authors choice.
8. Great Support
   When I first started using BlogDesk I had problem getting it to work with the file upload. The author responded quickly and after sending me a few patches, locate the problem and fixed it.
   Keep up the great work Johannes!
9. Small Footprint
   Unlike some tools it isn’t a huge install nor does it require Java and run so slowly.

To be honest I have not try as many desktop blogging editors so I can’t do a comparison. BlogDesk basically met most of my requirements right away that I don’t have to look further. Let me know if there is some extremely killer feature that I definitely got to have on other editor.

Room for Improvement

Well I can only think of one and it is a feature request really. Eversince the idea of portable application caught on with me I really like the idea of running application and storing the data independently from the system. This way I can bring a portable harddisk or usb disk and use the application from any PC. It would definitely be a huge feature if BlogDesk can do this.

Until then here is what you can do to have the data saved in another location other than the user folder.

1. Go to C:Program FilesBlogDesk
2. Open the file BlogDesk.cfg with a text editor (like notepad2)
3. Change[Main]
   UserPath=
   
   to

   [Main]
   UserPath=d:your-data-folderBlogDeskUserData

4. If you have already installed BlogDesk copy the data from
   C:Documents and SettingsusernameApplication DataBlogDeskUserData

This way when you reinstall your operating system you will not forget to backup all the work you had done.

Using with Vista

Since I’m on Vista, I should add a note to the FAQ page.

Chinese support

BlogDesk does not have Chinese support at the moment.

Where to get it?

• BlogDesk is at http://www.blogdesk.org/
• Current version: 2.7
• Function: Offline Desktop Blog Editor

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Having tried many tools – from standalone applications to hosted applications, none of them lasted a month. I’m using some tools of course but I’m not settled down with them (like the way I switched to Open Office and never look back).

My requirements are really simple

• Open Source or Free would be perfect
• Would also consider hosted application and pay a small fee
• Integrated, for example
  • a date (like birthday) in the contact list would appear in the calendar and could also be a todo (send birthday card)
  • a schedule like “Meet with XYZ” will link to XYZ contact information
  • similarly a todo like “Call XYZ” will link to XYZ mobile number
• Able to import and export to some standard formats
• Must support Chinese character input

So help me. If you know THAT tool, leave a comment.

And if you still have time, read on for a chronicle of tools I had tried.

The one application that I enjoyed using was Palm Desktop, 7 years ago. Since then I lost my Palm, changed PC, reinstalled OS while Palm Desktop became a bloat. I never went back, not sure how it fare now.

MSD Organizer has a freeware version that has an excellent set of features. It wasn’t very stable with Vista and I didn’t install it again when I reinstall Vista. Nevertheless it is worth looking at if you are looking for an integrated suite.

When I got an O2 Stealth a few months ago, I defected briefly to Outlook since there was no easy way to sync between the Windows Mobile smart phone and the desktop. But it was not to last when I lost the phone weeks after. Certainly it would be a while before I get another smartphone.

For a long time I was really looking forward to Sunbird. But Sunbird wasn’t developed as fast as Firefox and I moved from Thunderbird to GMail. As of this writing, Sunbird is still not ready for prime time.

So for now, GMail just takes care my email contact list and that it. Someone at Google should really look at improving the usability of the GMail contact list. I still have plenty of data stuck at Yahoo Mail‘s contact list, which by the way, is much more usable than GMail’s. Maybe I’ll go back to Yahoo.

More dates and schedules are starting to get into Google Calendar but it just doesn’t encourage me to use it often. It takes a lot of effort just to remember, open it, enter the details. Part of the problem is also because I have a few GMail accounts for personal, work and others, so it gets messy to switch between user and or to use one as default.

My latest Todo tool is Todoist. Todoist is clean and easy to use and I like the simplicity of it all. But it is not as integrated as I hope a ToDo list would be. I should mention that there is a GMail integration though and it is a very handy feature.

The Web2.0 era introduced many interesting tools, among which Zoho looks like a serious contender to Google Apps.

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