Here at Peppermint Linux OS some of the main focuses of the operating systems that we offer is to increase your mobility, portability and ultimately to increase your productivity. Today I’d like to take a little bit of time and provide some useful tips in increasing your productivity as it relates directly to our Peppermint Ice OS. And, in doing so, I’ll be using everything that Peppermint Ice installs with right out of the box and will require little to no tweaking. This is my own personal set-up for getting the most out of my day by using Linux and freely available software alone.
Dropbox
Peppermint Ice has built-in integration with Dropbox, which is my personal preferred method of backing up and sharing important documents over the web. I have two laptops now, one is a Lenovo Y series that is dedicated Peppermint One and now I have a new Lenovo ThinkPad which is running Peppermint Ice. The beauty of Dropbox is that whatever machine I am on, no matter where I am at, all of my files are backed up and constantly syncing between them.
And to better increase my organization I went ahead and created a short yet efficient folder array within my Dropbox folder which is synced automatically. No matter which machine I am on, the work flow for documents and files stays consistent. This alone is a great efficiency boost. There’s even a Chromium / Chrome extension for Dropbox, making it an even more omnipresent tool if you wish.
Just before I published this article Mashable posted a very nice article with some more ingenious implementations of DropBox
Chromium Browser
If you didn’t know, Peppermint Ice was designed specifically around the open source web browser Chromium. Chromium [the open source brother of the Chrome browser by Google] is chock full of features and seamless integration with Google services. I have been using Google products and services for a number of years and continue to marvel at the advancement of the free tools that they offer.
The most important feature of Chromium and Chrome browsers is the Sync capabilities which can be enabled in the Tools > Preferences > Personal Stuff menu. Just like Dropbox, no matter where I am, as long as I am signed in, my browser set-up remains the same: Bookmarks, Extensions, the whole nine yards. Even if I am working at a Windows workstation with Chrome installed, once I’m signed in, all of my particulars are right there with me. To me, keeping everything familiar and consistent from one workstation to another is a huge boost to my productivity.
Googlicious
You bet. I’m here to ‘Rah, Rah, Rah’ a bit more about Google’s services. At this point in time, and in my own personal opinion, the combination of Google Mail, Docs, Calendar and Reader are simply the best mobile productivity suites available. To me this is what a more Cloud centric life is all about: Speed, mobility, integration, portability and synchronization. Where all others fall short, Google has their finger on the pulse and continue to make improvements, much like we do at Peppermint HQ: By listening to the needs of our user base. Love them or hate them, Google services are the current top dog and have had a huge positive impact on my daily work flow.
I’ve become more immersed in Google Reader recently. Its not just an RSS feed aggregator anymore. Since the news that social bookmarking service Del.icio.us will be eliminated soon, I wished there was some way to do this effectively with Google Reader. Seems someone else already figured that one out so I read their short how-to and have now let Reader absorb the duties of keeping all my bookmarks logged. Read more here
Seesmic Web
I can’t help it. I’m a ‘Beta-phile’. I hop around from App to App for thrills, just to see what the next new thing on the block will be. However, the one social networking tool that does everything I need and provides me all those great ‘Cloudy’ things that I desire is Seesmic Web. I have quite a number of followers on Twitter and I interact with a large majority of them throughout the day. Seesmic Web allows me to organize many social groups into their own custom columns so I can interact more efficiently. By utilizing Twitter’s ‘List’ function I have columns for close friends, my local community, tech news, and even my Facebook news feed.
Seesmic web is the hands down winner when it comes to mobility, portability and synchronization in the social media playground. And that’s why they are always a constant in my mobile toolkit.
Ultimate Mobility
With the combination of Peppermint Ice, these tools I mention above, and my Android smart phone, there is nothing I can’t accomplish, no matter where in the world I happen to be. Each and every one of the tools I mention above has an App for my mobile device and all of them are Free. At this point in time in my Iife I am closer to what I have always dreamed and desired for myself: Ultimate Mobility.
These are just a few ways that I have improved my work flow and productivity with Peppermint Ice. If you would like more specifics about my set-up or have your own suggestions we’d love to hear from you about the efficient space you’ve created for yourself.
Looking toward the future
Shane Remington