Experimenting with Dropbox in Debian Squeeze
I've been getting closer and closer to needing a Dropbox-like utility on my Linux, Windows and Mac machines (one of each, really).
I need access to a certain subset of my files on more than one computer. I could've gone with Ubuntu One, except that I'm not running Ubuntu (and the Windows client is in beta ... no Mac client as far as I know).
I heard about SugarSync, which offers a free 5 GB of space, but SugarSync doesn't offer a Linux client. They really try hard to avoid telling you that there's a free option, instead pushing the paid plans. I don't blame them. But I can't use them due to lack of a Linux client.
I could have used JungleDisk, and I may still explore that option.
But since I needed a "Dropbox-like" utility/service, why not just use Dropbox?
And so I did.
But it's not as easy as that. Due to licensing issues, Dropbox has fallen out of the Debian non-free repository. At the Dropbox site, there are packages for Ubuntu and Fedora, as well as a source package.
I did a bit of searching around and came up with Yeri Tiete's excellent solution: Use the Linux Mint Debian Edition packages for nautilus-dropbox and dropbox. I downloaded the Mint packages, followed the instructions, then installed the client in Windows.
In about 5 minutes time, I was using Dropbox.
While I was initially not terribly happy about having to drop things into my Dropbox folder in order to have them sync, as opposed to the Ubuntu One/SugarSync/(and maybe JungleDisk; I don't know) method of allowing any folder/file to be synced, I'm surprisingly OK with Dropbox's method because it allows me to easily keep track of what exactly I have shared between my various desktops.
So for the moment, things are a bit "harder" for Debian users. For Ubuntu and Fedora users, there are instructions on how to add the repositories.
I might get comfortable enough with Dropbox that I'll be OK paying $9.99/month for 50 GB of space, but right now I'm using only 54 MB, so I have a lot of room.
11 Comments
Leave a comment
About this blog
Have you given Wuala a try?
http://www.wuala.com/
The data is encrypted.
Wuala looks pretty good. There are more pricing tiers than with Dropbox, and the prices are generally better. I'm not sure how the software itself stacks up, especially in regard to Linux. It uses a FUSE filesystem, something I've been very interested in.
However, I just took another look at JungleDisk, and now the "Desktop Edition" is $3/month with the first 5 GB free, then various fees depending on whether you choose Rackspace or Amazon S3 as your storage backend. I wish I could translate those numbers into what I'm going to actually pay.
Keeping it under 5 GB makes it easy — it's $3/month.
While Jungle Disk offers software for Ubuntu and Red Hat, I'm a little fuzzy on exactly what the options are for Debian Squeeze.
I'd be surprised if the Ubuntu version didn't install just fine on Squeeze.
And if it didn't work, just purge it back out. I like .deb
Bad advice Curt - Installing Ubuntu .debs on a Debian system will eventually break something since Ubuntu is binary incompatible with Debian.
It won't install clean on squeeze because the one of the dependencies version numbers are in a different format on Ubuntu.
I am not a programmer/developer, but I do have an idea. Wouldn't it be too difficult to write some Open Source code to host your own "Dropbox" server from home to do your own sync'ing? Your only limit would be your purchase of more storage space.
I use Dropbox all the time for school. It's essential for the computing I do really. But I would love to be free of them. That way I could store my own files that I wouldn't worry about handing over to them, such as delicate financial matters and such.
Brian,
Tonido is pretty close to what you described. It's free software, and they sell nice plug computers to host your files at home if you don't want to run a power-hungry PC 24/7 just to host your files.
Patrice
Tried Spideroak? They have nix, OSX and Windows clients, encrypted, fast, etc.
I don't use them only because I need to be able to upload using browser, and only DB does that.
I use Spideroak. Properly cross-platform, and you can choose the directories to monitor. You can use Dropbox at the same time, but the Dropbox Linux install REQUIRES nautilus (not so good for KDE users that don't already have GTK stuff installed). I'm not so keen on having only one directory for Dropbox. Seems that Spideroak are constantly looking to improve their product, whereas Dropbox are just sitting tight.
Al
Steven, you mentioned not being happy about having to drop things in the Dropbox folder to have them sync. Why not place a symlink in you Dropbox directory to the files or folders in question. It works for me. I have Dropbox installed on LMDE and LinuxMint 9.
Using symlinks is a great idea. I will give that a try.