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iDisk Utility for Windows XP
mister_tim writes "
Apple has released an iDisk Utility for Windows XP. It could be useful under a mixed environment or those (like me) stuck using XP at work and such." Is there a way to mount iDisks on Linux, too?
You can connect to iDisk using the cadaver software which is an open source WebDAV tool that makes it like FTP. It runs under Linux just fine.
.Mac) There's a few O'Reilly articles at the http://macdevcenter.com
.Mac iDisk tool on Mac OS X. The main advantage is you can direct users to download the tool and it will be easier than having you tell them how to use Web Folders.
Other Linux WebDAV tools must be available, I haven't looked lately. Last I looked, the cadaver command line tool was the most compatible and it feels just like FTP with a few minor changes. Most Linux users are savvy enough to setup a WebDAV client. BTW, you could setup the Apache WebDAV module and configure it to be your own iDisk. (you'll have to override the idisk.mac.com hostname to use the Apple tools and make it think it's really
WinXP does not actually need the iDisk tool, as Web Folders can connect to an iDisk with no problem. Just add a network place and away you go! The tool makes it easier for clueless users. It also adds the ability to adjust public folder permissions and it has a nice little disk space bar along the top to let you know how much space you have, etc. It's the same as the
Of course if you are using iDisk then you most likely have a Mac so you don't really need the tool. MSIE adds the Web Folders feature to older versions of Windows so again, you can attach to iDisk in a fairly easy fashion.
Since an iDisk can be viewed via the WebDAV extensions to HTTP. I've used an iDisk under win me (shudder) and win2k (see this link. Wonder why the pastel coloured OS needs something extra. On linux, you should be able to mount the iDisk via WebDavFS. I haven't tried this, but it should be possible. See this sourceforge page
"Is there a way to mount iDisks on Linux, too?"
Well, I've always had good experience with finishing nails and a 16 oz. rip hammer.
TLoM: Nerds + DDR + Rednecks for the win!
When you bought a Mac you got free .Mac access. This included webmail, webspace, and iDisk a location where you can trade files, upload your webpages, etc.
.Mac subscription at $99 a year. For that high fee, you get a whole lot more disk space and features. You can backup data to the iDisk, etc. Those users who already had signed up for the free .Mac got it for half off the price. Many graphics artists use it to trade images and other files. I use it for all sorts of stuff. Primarily to upload a file to and then email a friend an HTML link to download it. I need to do this all the time because of the shifts in security policies at my company and at many others that are stripped executable attachments. It makes it very easy to file transfer just about anything (providing you have the disk space on iDisk 100MB by default - you can pay for more as well.)
iDisk is a mountable over the Internet drive volume. It uses WebDAV to accomplish this. Basically, it's a WebDAV drive with more spit and polish to it then you generally see.
Now Apple has chosen to charge for the
Apple now provides the XP iDisk tool to make it easier for the clueless to connect to the iDisk and manage it from a WindowsXP computer. But any version of Windows can attach to the iDisk using MSIE Web Folders because Web Folders supports WebDAV.
There are several Linux or Java WebDAV tools out there that will work as well. CaDAVer being a very nice FTP like client that uses WebDAV instead of FTP.
iDisk uses the standard WebDAV protocol which has always been supported by Windows XP. You can add an iDisk to your "Network Places" just like FTP or Samba.
They have exactly *zero* reason to release iTunes, Safari, or any number of other things for Windows. They have very good reasons for releasing a utility such as this.
.Mac account and give them more incentive to buy into that, which is just icing on the cake for Apple.
If they released iTunes w/ iPod support for windows, what does it gain them? There is already a company (SoundJam IIRC), producing software that interfaces with the iPod, so they aren't going to sell more of those, they aren't going to turn a profit from it if they give it away for free (they already sell a "windows" version of the iPod), and they aren't going to influence more people to buy macs (more the reverse, actually).
If they release Safari, what does it gain them? They would be going into a situation where there is a monopoly on the browser and they have no quick way to fix it, and by providing an *outstanding* browser on the Mac, they give windows users one more reason to Switch.
Finally, Safari and more and more of iTunes have been written in ObjC w/ Cocoa. This would make porting slightly difficult, since they would have to be rewritten almost from the ground up (Apple would not likely use OpenSTEP to make the switch just yet).
Meanwhile, this utility gives a clear and very public way for Windows XP users to move their documents over to the Mac, easing the Switch when they do decide to make it. It is one more reason *to* make the switch: they are easing the transition. It also gives them the ability to take greater advantage of a
Repeat to yourself over and over again until you burn it into your memory: Apple is a Hardware Company, Apple is a Hardware Company...
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Apparently Konqueror can access webdav...
webdav://www.something.com
Havn't tried it though...
It's open standard - WebDav.
( Actually there are no less than three seperate working groups working on WebDav!)
p ://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3253.txt
/idisk -u username -p password
The volume is not propriatory in any way, it has not been 'embraced and extended' by Apple.
This is a WebDav IETF working group:
http://ftp.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/webdav/
There are also a couple of RFC's on WebDav:
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2518.txt
htt
There are open source utilties for dealing with serving (mod_dav for Apache) and mounting (cadaver) WebDav volumes - it's fair to say that it's assumed Linux, BSD and other Unix users are knowlegeable enough to work out that they can go to freshmeat.net (or Google) and search for the term WebDav.
You can find a list of WebDav related utilites at http://www.webdav.org/.
It should also be pointed out that you don't even need this utility to mount iDisks under Microsoft Windows 98 or newer (or even Windows 95, with MS IE 4.0 IIRC) - the OS supports mounting FTP and WeDav volumes as mapped drives out of the box, this is mearly a slightly more user friendly interface (which will no doubt be a boon to Macintosh users who rarely interact with Microsoft Windows based PC's).
So to answer the questio you posed:
Where's the Linux version?
If you can sucessfully do this:
mount.davfs http://idisk.mac.com/username
The answer is 'already compiled on your system'.
This is just a user friendly interface to make mounting idisk WebDav volumes easier for users.
WebDav volume support is something that has been built in to Micrsoft Windows since Windows 98 (and is avalible under Windows 95 if you install MS IE 4.0).
It's not 'beta', it's something that's been supported under Windows for the last 5 years.