Showing posts with label google drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google drive. Show all posts
Friday, October 30, 2015
Official Google Drive Linux Client Screenshots Leaked
There are almost three years since Google Drive launched and we have yet to see an official client for Linux. While there are various unofficial clients, none of them is perfect, with Insync probably being the best option, but it costs $15 per Google account and not everybody wants to pay for something Google is offering for free on Windows, Mac and mobile.
After such a long period of time, some may think that an official Google Drive Linux client is never going to be released, however there are a couple of screenshots which indicate otherwise:
The screenshots above are bundled with the official Google Drive Mac client and they first appeared with version 1.18.7821.2489 (I checked the previous version and some random old versions and none contained these screenshots), released on October 30, 2014, which isn't long ago and it most probably means that Google is testing Drive for Linux internally. So we might actually see an official release pretty soon.
Those who want to see this for themselves can download the latest Google Drive for Mac, mount it and look under Google Drive.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python2.7/resources/images/
We'll let you know if we find out more.
Thanks to Francisco!
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Insync For Linux Gets Nested Selective Sync Support (Unofficial Google Drive Client)
Insync is an unofficial Google Drive client which "extends Drive's web functionality to your desktop by integrating tightly with Windows, Mac and Linux so you can get work done".
The app is not free: it costs $15 per Google account (one-time fee) and there are separate plans for 3 Google accounts and for business - see the Insync pricing page for more info. Also, there's a 15 day trial if you want to try Insync before purchasing a license.
For those not familiar with Insync, here's a quick list of features:
- supports multiple accounts;
- share files via file manager;
- Google Docs conversion;
- share files outside your Insync folder from the file manager (uses symbolic links, at least on Linux);
- supports external & network drives;
- recent changes feed;
- desktop notifications;
- selective sync;
- proxy support;
- more.
On Linux, Insync comes with notification area (systray) and Ubuntu AppIndicator support. Furthermore, it integrates with most file managers - there are extensions available for Nautilus, Nemo, Caja, Thunar and Dolphin.
Insync 1.1 was released about a week ago, bringing various bug fixes and optimizations such as faster initial sync and fixed stuck metadata syncing issues, as well as nested selective sync, a long-awaited feature for many users. Nested selective sync allows you to selectively sync sub-folders and files.
This feature was missing on Linux, until today, when according to the Insync G+ page, Insync for Linux was updated with nested selective sync. Here's a screenshot with the Insync Linux settings UI, updated to support nested selective sync:
Insync 1.1 was also supposed to bring a file compare feature but unfortunately this was delayed for a future release, due to "how complex the file compare technology has proven to be".
Download Insync
Download Insync (available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X)
The Linux downloads page provides packages for Ubuntu / Linux Mint, Debian and Fedora as well as unofficial Arch Linux AUR packages portable binaries.
After installing the Insync package, the app will try to detect your desktop environment and offer to install a file manager extension. However, you can install any of the available Insync file manager extensions manually (for Nemo, the extension is called "insync-nemo", for Nautilus: "insync-nautilus" and so on).
Sunday, October 25, 2015
gdrive: A Simple Google Drive CLI Client (Cross-Platform)
gdrive (not to be confused with Grive!) is a simple command line Google Drive client written in Go, available for Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac OS X.
The tool was created for uploading and downloading files from/to Google Drive and it doesn't support any kind of synchronization. In fact, gdrive can't even download multiple files at once.
However, gdrive is still useful for one-off uploads / downloads (for automated uploads of a backup archive for example), especially since Grive, another command line Google Drive client (which does support sync) that's quite popular among Linux users, wasn't updated since May, 2013 and looks pretty much dead.
gdrive features:
- upload/download single files (and optionally, it can convert uploaded files to Google Docs format);
- upload folders;
- create folder;
- share file or folder from your Google Drive;
- generate preview and download url;
- show shared status;
- search your Google Drive;
- cross-platform.
Update: the latest gdrive now supports recursive directory uploads and resumable uploads.
Using gdrive
To use gdrive, you must firstly authenticate it with Google. Do this, simply run "drive" in a terminal (this assumes that you've installed the gdrive binary as "drive", by following our installation instructions - see below):
driveA link should be displayed in the terminal, which you need to copy and paste in your web browser. In your web browser, click "Accept" and copy the resulting code and paste it in the terminal where you ran "drive".
To be able to download files from Google Drive to your computer, you must use the file id. To find out this id, run the following command to get a list of recent files (and their ids) available in your Google Drive:
gdrive list$ drive list
Id Title Size Created
0B0tRrdcY7CwJZHh5ZmVpZHRMYW8 drive-linux-amd64 10 MB 2014-09-25 17:47:08
0B0tRrdcY7CwJY2lNS2x3NC1lQUU drive-linux-386 8 MB 2014-09-25 17:47:01
0B0tRrdcY7CwJR3lmZnlRaFZwOHc drive-linux-arm 9 MB 2014-09-25 17:46:57
0B0tRrdcY7CwJQlRfQUVxY2hkWUE drive-linux-rpi 9 MB 2014-09-25 17:46:52Now you can download a file from Google Drive, by using the following command:
drive download --id FILE_IDFile download example:
$ drive download --id 0B0tRrdcY7CwJZHh5ZmVpZHRMYW8
Downloaded 'drive-linux-amd64' at 10 MB/s, total 10 MBTo upload a single file or a folder to Google Drive, use the following command:
drive upload --file /PATH/TO/FILE_OR_FOLDER_NAME$ drive upload --file drive-linux-amd64
Id: 0B0tRrdcY7CwJZHh5ZmVpZHRMYW8
Title: drive-linux-amd64
Size: 10 MB
Created: 2014-09-25 17:47:08
Modified: 2014-09-25 17:47:06
Owner: Alin Andrei
Md5sum: 82333d9c678af60a727779349a310a4e
Shared: False
Parents: 0B0tRrdcY7CwJWjFOTzd0YkpOTms
MIME Type:
Uploaded 'drive-linux-amd64' at 1 MB/s, total 10 MBImportant: gdrive can't upload multiple files unless you place them in a folder and pass the folder path to gdrive - for instance, you can use wildcards to upload multiple files in the current directory at once (so for example, "drive upload --file *.txt" won't work).
To see all the supported commands, use the following command:
drive --helpFor more information and examples, see the gdrive GitHub page.
Download gdrive
Download gdrive (binaries available for Linux - 32bit, 64bit, Arm and Raspberry Pi -, Windows, Mac and FreeBSD as well as the source code)
To report bugs, help with its development, etc. see the gdrive GitHub page.
Install gdrive in Linux
The gdrive GitHub page offers binaries for Linux (well as Windows, etc.) for 32bit, 64bit, Arm and a binary especially for Raspberry Pi. To install it, download the binary, place it in your home folder and run the following command to install it to /usr/local/bin/ as "drive":
cd && sudo install drive-linux* /usr/local/bin/driveThat's it.
Also see:
Grive2: Grive Fork With Google Drive REST API And Partial Sync Support [PPA]
Grive was an unofficial, open source command line Linux client for Google Drive. I say "was" because the tool no longer works due to Google changing it's API recently and Grive not being maintained any more (there are no commits on its GitHub page since May, 2013).
To get Grive up and running again, Vitaliy Filippov forked it and named his fork "Grive2". The fork supports the new Google Drive REST API and it also includes a new feature: partial (directory) sync, along with bug fixes.
Compared to the original "Grive", Grive2 comes with the following changes:
- supports the new Drive REST API
- added partial sync
- major code refractoring: a lot of dead code removed, JSON-C is not used any more, API-specific code is split from non-API-specific
- some stability fixes
- slightly reduce number of syscalls when reading local files
- bug fixes
Also, just like the old app, Grive2 does NOT support:
- continuously waiting for changes in file system or in Google Drive to occur and upload. A sync is only performed when you run Grive, and it calculates checksums for all files every time;
- symbolic links;
- Google documents.
Install Grive2 in Ubuntu or Linux Mint via PPA
Since there are quite a tools that rely on Grive, the Grive2 binary and package continue to be called "grive", so installing Grive2 from the main failsdownloads PPA will overwrite any old Grive versions it may find on the system (just as if it was a newer Grive1 version).
To install Grive2 in Ubuntu, Linux Mint and derivatives by using the main failsdownloads PPA, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/failsdownloads
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install griveArch Linux users can install Grive2 via AUR (it's actually the old "grive" package, updated with the new Grive2 fork).
For other Linux distributions, see the Grive2 GitHub page.
Using Grive2
1. Grive2 will download / upload new or changed files from the directory you run it. So firstly, let's create a new folder - we'll call it "grive" -, in your home directory:
mkdir -p ~/grive2. Next, navigate using the terminal into the newly created "grive" folder:
cd ~/grive3. The first time you run Grive2, you must use the "-a" argument to grant it permission to access your Google Drive:
grive -aAfter running the command above, an URL should be displayed in the terminal - copy this URL and paste it in a web browser. In the newly loaded page, you'll be asked to give Grive permission to access your Google Drive and after clicking "Allow access", an authentication code will be displayed - copy this code and paste it in the terminal where you ran Grive2.
That's it. Now each time you want to sync Google Drive with your local "grive" folder, navigate to the "grive" folder (step 2) and run "grive" (this time without "-a" since you've already authenticated Grive with Google Drive).
Grive2 comes with some advanced features as well. For instance, compared to the original Grive, the new Grive2 fork supports partial sync. To only synchronize one subfolder (a folder from your ~/grive directory) with Google Drive, use:
grive -s SUBFOLDERTo see all the available options, type:
grive --helpTuesday, October 20, 2015
Insync 1.2 Released With New HTML5 UI
Insync 1.2 was released today, bringing a new HTML5 UI along with improvements such as an ignore list, improved nested selective sync and more.
For those not familiar with Insync, this is an unofficial Google Drive client which "extends Drive's web functionality to your desktop by integrating tightly with Windows, Mac and Linux so you can get work done". The application is not free: it costs $20 per Google account (one-time fee), along with plans for 3 Google accounts and for business.
Insync features optional Google Docs conversion, selective sync, desktop notifications, proxy support, multiple accounts, option to share files via file manager, support for external and network drives, recent changes feed and more. It's also worth mentioning that on Linux, Insync integrates with most file managers: Nautilus, Nemo, Caja, Thunar and Dolphin.
 |
| Insync Nautilus integration |
Changes in Insync 1.2:
- new HTML5 UI;
- added an ignore list which can be used to disallow uploads or downloads based on file extensions;
- Insync now shows nested folders in one view making it easier to selectively (un)sync deep directories;
- conversion to both Microsoft Office and OpenDocument is now available on all platforms;
- "Recent changes" has been renamed to "Feed" and now includes a "how long ago" timestamp;
- syncing progress has an updated UI and can be seen in real-time;
- various other improvements and bug fixes.
Here are a few screenshots with some of these changes:
Now that Insync uses a MEGAsync-like UI, the functionality was moved from the indicator to this new UI. As a result, the Insync 1.2 indicator has only two items: one which allows you to open your Google Drive folder and another one for opening the Insync app window (and of course, it continues to indicate the sync status):
Also, with the latest Insync 1.2, the price has increased from $15 to $20. However, Insync 1.2 is a free upgrade for existing customers. Existing Pro and Business customers can add new accounts at the same price they started with.
Download Insync
Download Insync (available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, Raspberry Pi CentOS/RHEL as well as portable binaries)
Note that after installing the Insync package, the app will try to detect your desktop environment and offer to install a file manager extension. However, you can install any of the available Insync file manager extensions manually (for Nemo, the extension is called "insync-nemo", for Nautilus: "insync-nautilus" and so on).
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Marker: Tool To Take Screenshots And Share Them Via Google Drive
Marker is a cross-platform screenshot tool which allows you to easily annotate and share screenshots via Google Drive.
The application is developed by Insync, the company behind the popular cross-platform Google Drive client 'Insync' and it's not free and open source software but it's free to use.
Marker features:
- capture fullscreen or area screenshots;
- annotations: add text and shapes to your screenshots;
- screenshots are synced across computers;
- supports multiple Google accounts.
Marker comes with an Ubuntu AppIndicator / tray icon which can be used to pause the screenshot synchronization or to open the app window which displays recent screenshots, some Google Drive stats (free space, space used by Marker screenshots).
From the app settings, you can set Marker to use a proxy, enable/disable desktop notifications or set the app to start on login.
Note that there's not button / appindicator menu entry to take screenshots - Marker relies on keyboard shortcuts only so to take a fullscreen screenshot, use Alt + Shift + 3, for area selection use Alt + Shift + 4 and to capture an area and annotate it, use Alt + Shift + 5.
After you take a screenshot, Marker automatically generates a link and saves it to your clipboard so you can simply paste the link to share it. Also, the screenshot is automatically added to your Google Drive account.
Marker is nowhere near Shutter when it comes to features, but you should find it very useful if you share screenshots frequently. There is one pretty important feature that Marker lacks though: delayed screenshots. Hopefully this feature (and maybe others) will be added in a future release.
Download Marker
Marker is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux - Ubuntu 14.04/Linux Mint 17 debs only.
Important for Ubuntu 14.04 / Linux Mint 17 users: make sure "update-notifier-common" is installed or else the Marker installation will fail:
sudo apt-get install update-notifier-commonArch Linux users can install Marker via AUR.
For bug reports, feature requests, suggestions, etc. see the Marker Support center.
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