Multiple machines, one document.

Jump to First Reply
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I am soon to become the proud owner of yet another mac besides my iBook and my server. It will either be a mini or a Powermac. I have used my server as a back up machine for my iBook but now that I will be working on two machines I wonder if I could do it smarter.



I want to have my documents on the server but be able to edit from both computers. It wont be a problem from my new desktop, I just mount the drive of the server on it and go from there. But what when I have been out of range with my iBook and want to update the documents and add the new ones?



I would really like it to behave like a self-updating .mac folder but is it possible to my own server and will I confuse it when it is updated by two computers? Am I making any sense here?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Yeah, two solutions come to mind:



    1) Subversion. It's a version control system that lets you keep files in sync, with documentation of changes if you wish. Pros: Free, files are always available on all machines simultaneously. Cons: Need to set it up yourself, and checkout/checkin changes manually.



    2) MacOS X Server's Backpack (is it still named that?) feature. Pros: Ready out of the box, supported. Cons: $499.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 2 of 5
    rongoldrongold Posts: 302member
    Or... you could wait for new .mac features that will certainly become available with the new SDK. I just started a thread about this a couple days ago but no one responded.



    Anyway; I did some checking and you can read what I discovered over at:



    http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...threadid=56060
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 5
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Kickaha: Thanks, but if I understand it correctly both solutions are WAY overkill for my purposes. One because of the cost and the other because I am talking about word, excel etc. files, not the next PS killer :-), But I will look for X Server student discount since I discover more and more small nifty functions, even if my grande network will consist of an old G4, an iBook and a Mini :-)



    Quote:

    Originally posted by rongold

    Or... you could wait for new .mac features that will certainly become available with the new SDK. I just started a thread about this a couple days ago but no one responded.



    Anyway; I did some checking and you can read what I discovered over at:



    http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...threadid=56060




    I know what SDK means but I get off from there. Protocols build on top of .Mac? Isn´t it the other way around (.Mac being a user friendly way of using protocols that makes them accessible for the average user but also restricting their use)?



    Do you have some more info somewhere about the SDK?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 5
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Thinking about it the SDK probably aim to integrate 3rd apps to the .mac services. What I want to do it to take some of the functionality from the .mac part of OS X and integrate it with my own server (and make it work with more computers). The exact opposite of what (I imagine) I can do with the SDK.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 5
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Well Subversion can be used for *ANY* files. Doesn't have to be code.



    Heck, I use it to keep a constant backup of my dissertation - the code, the papers I download, the dissertation document chapters themselves, the support scripts, the makefiles, the OmniGraffle diagrams... you name it, it's backed up in there. And, I can grab any *old* version of the documents at the same time in case I screw something up.



    Anytime I need to collaborate with someone (ie, keep files in sync when being worked on in multiple places), I use an approach like this. Once the server is up, it only takes a few seconds to set up a new share point. And neither person can screw things up irrevocably. Considering that I don't trust *myself* not to screw things up, this is my favorite approach for important files that I'm working on solo as well.



    Think of it as a backup with a history. (The history changes storage is pretty efficient too, so it's not like you're storing N copies.)



    Oh, and as far as I can tell, they killed the Server Student Discount with 10.3. If you find differently *PLEASE* let me know.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
Sign In or Register to comment.