SOFTWARE WE USE – DROPBOX (usually “software Sunday”) – We have a lot of computers in our shop, and we often have to share files like printing labels, or forms, or firmware to burn into chips. We used to use USB keys or email but would often have mixups and old revisions kicking around. Now we use dropbox, which is a very easy to use folder-syncing service. Install it on two (or more) computers and they can ‘share’ a folder. All the important files that are shared between computers stay in there.
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Combining dropbox with github, you can have a very nice development system!
Curious: What (if?) do you use for formal revision control? I can imagine that between the web site, board designs, and firmware you’ve got a fair amount of code and assets to keep track of.
So why not just have a small file server or NAS box in the office all the devices talk to and mount a share? Seems simpler and keeps your data for your self.
Heck, you’ve probably got one computer just sitting there for shipping, just have it share out it’s labels folder?
Sure, you might lose something for backups, but I’m just leary of having Dropbox being able to access my files. Probably too crazy actually…
As far as Adafruit’s revision control, I know they use GitHub. Not sure what other tricks they might share, but here’s their GitHub addy: https://github.com/adafruit
@john: Another benefit is accessibility anywhere, even on phones. If you’re away from the office and your fileserver/NAS goes down (assuming you’ve set it up for external access at all), you can’t access the data, but Dropbox has pretty darn good reliability.
Additionally, as someone else mentioned, you’ve got an external backup if your office catches fire. With a fileserver/NAS, you’re done.
I use DropBox and have been happy with it because I constantly found myself emailing or saving to a USB key in order to transfer files from home to work.
I was going to purchase a NAS, but DropBox is free since I get 2.75GB. I wish they offered more tiered service, because it is 9.99 for 25GB? That is a bit pricey for each month, but for now it works.
Not to mention, that an offsite backup is automatically created.
Not to mention the fact that it keeps old versions if you change a file, that’s saved my hide several times 🙂
Combining dropbox with github, you can have a very nice development system!
Curious: What (if?) do you use for formal revision control? I can imagine that between the web site, board designs, and firmware you’ve got a fair amount of code and assets to keep track of.
Love Dropbox!
So why not just have a small file server or NAS box in the office all the devices talk to and mount a share? Seems simpler and keeps your data for your self.
Heck, you’ve probably got one computer just sitting there for shipping, just have it share out it’s labels folder?
Sure, you might lose something for backups, but I’m just leary of having Dropbox being able to access my files. Probably too crazy actually…
John
@john, labels for kits, open source firmware, open source files, what should we be leary about for these items when storing on dropbox?
As far as Adafruit’s revision control, I know they use GitHub. Not sure what other tricks they might share, but here’s their GitHub addy: https://github.com/adafruit
@john: Another benefit is accessibility anywhere, even on phones. If you’re away from the office and your fileserver/NAS goes down (assuming you’ve set it up for external access at all), you can’t access the data, but Dropbox has pretty darn good reliability.
Additionally, as someone else mentioned, you’ve got an external backup if your office catches fire. With a fileserver/NAS, you’re done.
I use DropBox and have been happy with it because I constantly found myself emailing or saving to a USB key in order to transfer files from home to work.
I was going to purchase a NAS, but DropBox is free since I get 2.75GB. I wish they offered more tiered service, because it is 9.99 for 25GB? That is a bit pricey for each month, but for now it works.