Jon Nalewajek

For the past few months, I have been using Mozilla Thunderbird as my e-mail client. Configuring, maintaining, and using Thunderbird has been a very easy and painless experience, and I am currently using it to keep track of my three e-mail addresses.

Since the start of the Spring ‘09 semester, I have been wanting to use a calendar application to help me stay organized and keep track of things I need to do. So today I downloaded Mozilla Lightning, a calendar extension that works with Thunderbird. The best part is, it also allows you to sync with Google Calendar! This is a great feature because it allows you to sync your calendar across multiple computers or mobile devices.

Linux Users (Pre-Installation):

Note: Linux users ONLY, before installing Lightning you need the libstdc++5 library. If you are running Ubuntu, run the following code:

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

Installation:

1. Download the Mozilla Lightning extension: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/
2. In Thunderbird, go to Tools>Add-ons
3. Select the “Extensions” tab, and click install. A dialog will pop up, direct it to the extension file downloaded in step 1.
4. Restart Thunderbird.

Syncing with Google Calendar:

Install Google Provider Extension:

1. Download the Provider for Google Calendar extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/4631
2. Follow Steps 2-3 from previous example, but in Step 3, make sure you select the new extension that you just downloaded.
3. Restart Thunderbird.

Get Calendar XML:

1. Login to your Google Calendar, and select “Calendar Settings” for the calendar you wish to use.
2. Go to where it says Private Address and click XML. (Note: you can use the public address if you have a public calendar, but since mine is private (and I want it to remain private), I am using private).
3. A prompt will come up displaying the URL for your private calendar. Copy this. YOU WILL NEED THIS FOR THE NEXT PART.

Sync Google Calendar with Lighting:

1. In Thunderbird, click the Calendar icon (on my theme, it is located underneath all my e-mail addresses). A “Calendar” tab should appear in the tool bar, select that and click “New Calendar”.
2. At the prompt, select “On the Network”.
3. At the next screen, select “Google Calendar”.
4. In the “Location” text box, paste in the Google XML code, copied from step 3 in the previous instructions.

DONE!

Now any changes you make on your web based Google Calendar will appear on your Lightning Calendar. Likewise, any changes you make in Lightning will also appear on your web based Google Calendar.

jonnale Uncategorized

One common argument against the use of Linux is that is usually requires the user to have to edit some file manually to get something to work. I never liked this argument because although this might be true (it very well may not be, depending on the user), the steps required to get programs to work are usually very well defined, and can be found on the Ubuntu Forums.

However, in terms of the desktop environment, it seems like Linux has many features that every day users find appealing:

For those that are not familiar with Linux, the above video shows people’s reactions to KDE 4, one of the various Desktop Environments available for Linux users. The users are unaware that they are seeing KDE 4 or Linux and believe it is the new version of Windows, Windows 7.

If you don’t like the looks or features of Windows 7 or KDE 4, Linux users have a variety of desktop environments. My favorite, and the one I currently use, is GNOME.

jonnale Open Source, Tech-stuff kde 4, linux, windows 7

The Department of Defense has created their own version of SourceForge.net, which hosts code for military projects. According to David Mihelcic, the chief technology officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency, Forge.mil is modeled off of SourceForge.net but with much greater security. Obviously, it is not open to everyone, and is only available to DoD personel, but this is a big step for the open source movement. If anything, it shows how valuable a tool open source development can be, even in mission critical situations.

jonnale Open Source