For all the linux users that saw the new OSx Leopard and the new backup utility called Time Machine and said “wow”! Now there is FlyBack. For who don’t know what I’m talking about:

Time Machine, like many backup utilities, creates incremental backups of files which can be restored at a later date. It also supports limited restoration of files within applications that are specifically programmed to use Time Machine’s functionality. For more information about Time Machine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Machine_(Apple_software)

Now, how flyback work? From the web site:

FlyBack is a snapshot-based backup tool based on rsync It creates successive backup directories mirroring the files you wish to backup, but hard-links unchanged files to the previous backup. This prevents wasting disk space while providing you with full access to all your files without any sort of recovery program. If your machine crashes, just move your external drive to your new machine and copy the latest backup using whatever file browser you normally use.

Note that this means you can selectively delete specific backups and still retain files stored in previous ones. (ie., you can delete Tuesday’s backup and keep Monday’s, without screwing up Wednesday’s)

Install flyback is very easy. You have to resolve some dependencies:

After downloading flyback from http://code.google.com/p/flyback and unpacking the tar.gz with the command “tar -zxvf flyback_0.4.0.tar.gz”, enter in the new flyback directory and launch it “python flyback.py”

Screenshot:

It is very simple to configure. You have to choose what folders to backup, how many time etc. Here a screenshot of my configuration

The * mean all the day, months and years. */2 mean to do the backup every 2 hours. For the storage location i use an external hard disk and i do the backup only of my my home folder

Banshee (i use it) : with it you can manage music, podcast, ipod, burn/rip Cd’s and has plugins etc. The interface is pretty good.

For the installation if you have ubuntu use the command “sudo apt-get install banshee” or use Synaptic and search for banshee package. Main page of the project: http://banshee-project.org/Main_Page

Amarok: It makes use of core components from the K Desktop Environment, but is released independently of the central KDE release cycle. It’s very powerful.

For the installation “sudo apt-get install amarok” or Synaptic .It require a lot of space because for working need kde packages. Web: http://amarok.kde.org/

Rhythmbox offers a growing number of features like music importing, audio CD burning, album Cover display, song Lyrics display, Last.fm Support etc. It’s include in a lots of Linux distribution (Gnome) .

If Rhythmbox is already installed try it. Installation “sudo apt-get install rhythmbox” or Synaptic. Web: http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox

Also on Wikipedia I found these very interesting tables of Ipod managers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_Managers

And media players

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_media_players

I have a laptop with ubuntu 7.10 installed on, and 2 usb hard disk: 1 formatted ext2 and the other hfs+ (because I’ve a mac). IF you plug the ext2 hard disk there are no problem and ubuntu will mount it automatically in read/write mode. But for the hfs+ there are much problems. First: you have to disable the journaling and set the privileges like “chmod 777″ (from a mac). Afer all this operation you can try to mount the disk with the command “pmount /dev/yourDiskPartition /media/Folder” if after this you can’t write on it try to compile fsck.hfsplus and run it. The guide for compile this command are:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=314743

http://www.debian-administration.org/users/lee/weblog/21

After this you can read and write on your hfs+ hard disk.

The configuration of fstab is very simple. You only have to edit the file with the command “sudo gedit /etc/fstab”.

There is a very nice guide on the ubuntu forum:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131

After all i will put the example of my fstab :

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

# /dev/sda2

UUID=0252bb8a-c404-41df-b34b-a838d3c012d0 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1

# /dev/sda5

UUID=5b303261-4e1c-45cd-893b-4f986d6eb34d none swap sw 0 0

/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0

#Seagate 320

LABEL=Sega320 /media/Sega320 ext2 noauto,user,rw 0 0

#WD500

UUID=543DBDA103BB0038 /media/Wd500 hfsplus noauto,users,rw, 0 0

I will not responsible if you destroy you computer or yours hard disk.

hello word!! my new blog. Now the firth thing: I’m so sorry that my English will be very bad .In this blog i would like to speak about all my linux experience (configuration) and geek think (new tech product etc). I hope that all the will help you.

Thanks

Emanuele