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Multiple Front-End Solutions for Email and Calendaring?

USSJoin asks: "I am looking for a solution which I can install on my servers, that will allow me to run my email, calendars, to-do lists, and other groupware-ish functions. Specifically, I want a solution which allows equal access through the web and over an SSH session -- so that everything I do on one is accessible through the other. After extensive googling, I found Zimbra, which is nice and AJAX-ified, but doesn't include a to-do, and doesn't seem to have any way to deal with calendar access that is not made through the web front-end. I also found Citadel, but it seems like while it's a cute solution, it's quite cobbled-together and filled with hacks. This is especially true with its major Telnet interface, which seems dangerous to me. Has anyone on Slashdot had the same problem? What solutions have you found? Are Citadel or Zimbra really great and I just don't see their true possibilities? Are there other things I should be looking at, or different ways to approach this problem?"

11 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Horde! by Cybersonic · · Score: 4, Informative

    Cant go wrong with Horde! www.horde.org

    --
    Cybie! aka Ralph Bonnell
  2. open-xchange by Blasphemy · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.openxchange.org/ - Open Xchange should make your list of "almost what you need". It has a great interface and excellent functionality. I don't know of any command line tools, but I don't think it would be too difficult to make some. I've never tried $ links http://localhost/ for open-xchange access, but it should give you some decent functionality.

    1. Re:open-xchange by malachid69 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Are you sure it isn't http://www.open-xchange.org/ ?

      --
      http://www.google.com/profiles/malachid
  3. Scalix is the answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Battle of the Ajax Mail Packages
    By James Turner on Thu, 2006-01-26

    http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8722

  4. Re:Consider an SSH tunnel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    > Have you considered using a good web-based tool, and then using SSH to tunnel in?

    ...perhaps the web-based interface will work with Lynx (ssh in then run lynx)?

  5. Sunbird and iCal hosting? by 8086 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been using Mozilla Sunbird and iCal hosting (icalx.com) for a while - it does to-do's and calendars pretty well, synchronizing back and forth. After a lot of searching and trying things out, this seemed to work the best for me. Also, there's a new Outlook plugin called Remote Calendars (http://sourceforge.net/projects/remotecalendars/) which does the same thing as Sunbird on Outlook.
    The only downside here is the lack of SSH, but I figured being able to read and update my calendar from any PC, and read my calendar from just about anything, and having my calendar in a standard format for my iPod is totally worth the lack of security.

  6. Re:Consider an SSH tunnel by Pyromage · · Score: 3, Informative

    Excellent thought; if not lynx, then try elinks, a similar terminal-based browser that supports tables and frames. I am using elinks as I write this.

  7. OpenGroupware.org by whoever57 · · Score: 3, Informative
    OpenGroupware is a web-based groupware solution (with a closed-source, non-free outlook plugin).

    I have installed it on a couple of networks. The biggest probelm seems to be that there is no reliable calendar client that will work with it (other than aoutlook through the connector). Sunbird and other calendar clients crash or don't properly create appointments.

    Oh, and it does not provide an MTA, but there are plenty of good solutions for this.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  8. Re:Consider an SSH tunnel by martinultima · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'd say an SSH tunnel probably wouldn't be a bad idea; if you use Windows (or don't like Linux's command-line SSH interface), grab a copy of PuTTY and set up an SSH tunnel forwarding local port 8000 to "127.0.0.1:80" on the server – or whatever values would be appropriate for your case. I used it for quite a while before my school district finally caught on that I was accessing my Linux box at home :-) And doing an SSH tunnel has the added advantage of not having to use an insecure HTTP connection, and you don't have to deal with setting up SSL on your server if all you need's a simple calendar app.

    --
    Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
  9. FirstClass Groupware by darkone · · Score: 2, Informative

    FirstClass Groupware http://www.firstclass.com/ is not opensource, or free (except the 5 user version), but the server AND the clients will run on Windows, OSX, or Linux. There are also web and telnet interfaces available. This is a great GroupWare platform, with EASY client setup, and the three platforms look identical to the end user. This software also allows database (ODBC) integration and a VoiceMail piece.

  10. OBM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    OBM is a free web base groupware and crm solution with Outlook (non free) and Evolution (sunbird to come) connectors for calendar, contact and tasks.
    It doesn't provide email but can be set along with postfix, cyrus (or others) and IMP (or squirrel mail).
    It stores everything in db and is very scalable. Connectors access the server via webservices.