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Alternatives to OS X's Spotlight and Time Machine?

 
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Haakin
LXF regular


Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:40 am
Posts: 287
Location: Lleida (Spain, Europe)
PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:36 pm    Post subject: Alternatives to OS X's Spotlight and Time Machine? Reply with quote
Hello,

My MacBook Pro is going to die soon. I'm starting to look for a replacement. The obvious solution would be to buy a MacBook Air, which seems to be quite good and very light. The other option would be to buy a cheaper PC laptop (are they called ultrabooks?) and run Ubuntu on it.

For seven years, Linux was my main OS (SuSE and Kubuntu). Now, although Mac OS X is the OS I use most, I continue using Ubuntu in a netbook. There are two killer applications in my mac and I'm looking for good alternatives.

The first one is Spotlight. It lets me find e-mails, files, open applications in a very fast and convenient way. I use it frequently, several times per day.

The second one is Time Machine, a back-up solution. It has save me few times during the last years. It isn't something you use frequently, but the day you need to use it, you really need it.

For the rest of software I use, there shouldn't be many problems.

Javier
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arochester



Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:08 pm
Posts: 71
Location: Scotland
PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
Alternatives to Software Integral to the OSX Experience
Spotlight / Quicksilver
Initial stab: KRunner Gnome Do Katapult Launchy

Time Machine
Back in Time works similar, with nice GUIs for Gnome and KDE.

rsnapshot doesn't have any GUI, but it's easy to configure because of its very good documentation.

KDE timevault it's a promising project, more similar to Apple's Time Machine in its functionalities, but seems incomplete right now (look here for more info)

GRsync
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OSXApplicationsEquivalents
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ferrari



Joined: Tue May 03, 2005 12:09 pm
Posts: 97
PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
For a Time Machine equivalent, consider using Back In Time

http://backintime.le-web.org/

Most distributions have their own packages available.
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arochester



Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:08 pm
Posts: 71
Location: Scotland
PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
For backup you might also look at Deja-dup

http://linuxers.org/article/deja-dup-great-backup-utility
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Haakin
LXF regular


Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:40 am
Posts: 287
Location: Lleida (Spain, Europe)
PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi!

Thanks for the help.

arochester wrote:
Alternatives to Software Integral to the OSX Experience
Spotlight / Quicksilver
Initial stab: KRunner Gnome Do Katapult Launchy


I have reviewed the alternatives and they seem to be alternatives to Quicksilver. Neither of them seem to index files to let quick searches, which what I need/want.

In the other hand, the backup alternatives seem to be pretty good.

I will continue looking for alternatives to Spotlight.

During these days the thing I'm finding most shocking is that a MacBook Air is one of the cheapest options if you are looking for a light laptop with a good battery.

Javier
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shaddack



Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:03 pm
Posts: 70
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 6:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Haakin wrote:
Hi!

Thanks for the help.

arochester wrote:
Alternatives to Software Integral to the OSX Experience
Spotlight / Quicksilver
Initial stab: KRunner Gnome Do Katapult Launchy


I have reviewed the alternatives and they seem to be alternatives to Quicksilver. Neither of them seem to index files to let quick searches, which what I need/want.

In the other hand, the backup alternatives seem to be pretty good.

I will continue looking for alternatives to Spotlight.

During these days the thing I'm finding most shocking is that a MacBook Air is one of the cheapest options if you are looking for a light laptop with a good battery.

Javier


You should look into Tracker for an indexing solution. It works ok, not as good as Spotlight IMO, but good enough. Its purpose is to index documents, e-mail and other files. Not to search for and launch applications like Spotlight can do. You have the launchpad in Ubuntu for that.

The Launchpad can also display search results for your documents and the like.
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