nm35's blog

Just a quick release notification; if you want details, check out the forum page.

Get 0.3 from SourceForge.net here. It's just been uploaded, and may not be downloadable yet, though.

~nm35

As you may know, I've released AutoINF 0.2. Find out about it at the forum thread or at PortaSoft. I've also merged my projects (KeyUTIL and AutoINF, possibly Registry Rocker) with Libertà, so downloads are at SourceForge.net now.

One serious problem I have here is that there are way too many places I have to update things:

• In a forum post on PortableApps.com
• In a forum post on PortaSoft
• In my blog (here)
• In my blog (on my personal space, though I'm debating removing it)
• As a download on PortaSoft
• As a news item on PortaSoft
• Project page update on PortableApps.com
• Project page update on PortaSoft
• Project page on my blog (not up yet, and I'm debating removing it)
• ... Not to mention actually uploading it to SF.net, correcting any links scattered around in previous posts, etc.

You get my point. Would anyone have any ideas?

~nm35

Hello all...

As you've probably noticed, I haven't been posting in my blog very regularly. I've decided to make a few changes, so here they are: This blog will now be only for release/update notifications. I'm deciding on a blogging tool (probably NucleusCMS) to run on my space (nm35.portasoft.org); when I've set one up I'll be moving the "blog" part of things over there. (Opinions, neat links, tutorials...)

Now, for the app updates.

• AutoINF -- Autorun.INF generator.
• Registry Rocker -- Portable-App Generator, for apps using the Registry

More coming soon, I hope! I'm working on the KeyUTIL package, so if you have any ideas for USB drive utilities, shoot me an e-mail or post a comment.

~nm35

Hello all... I'm finally back. Sorry I had to leave.

Here's an update on my projects:

• Portable Notepad2 0.4 | BETA | Applied for SourceForge hosting
• PortaShell | Pre-Alpha | Likely to be cancelled, as Steve Lamerton's Libertà will take this over
• PortaFTP | Pre-Alpha | I'm hoping to do this once I can get a reliable way to use FTP connections with NSIS. Any ideas?
• Portable RemoteAccess | Pre-Alpha | A tool for users to remotely connect to VLC/RDP connections. Perhaps a collection of a few portable applications, one for each protocol?

If you have an idea for a project you want me to work on, let me know. If I offered to do a project and it's not here, I've probably forgotten about it or cancelled work on it (busy lately, sorry) -- ask nicely and I might work on it some more.

I just got a project page for Portable Notepad2. The URL is http://portableapps.com/development/projects/portable_notepad2.

In other news... I finally got something uploaded to my personal space. I used to have a test Drupal installation there; I was toying with various modules. (I still have the files, if they're needed.) Now there's a list of my projects (this will be the definitive list, so keep your eyes on it) with links; there's also a link to my blog and my e-mail address.

Keep your eyes peeled... In about two weeks, you're going to start hearing quite a bit about a few apps I've been working on (I hope! ).

After toying with it for quite some time, I've finally come up with a version of Portable Notepad2 I consider worthy of public release -- PortableNotepad2 0.4.

Portable Notepad2 lets you use the Notepad2 text editor on the go, without leaving mess behind on the current computer. Get it here.

Enjoy!

Want to learn a bit of NSIS, so you can write your own installer -- or, even better -- your own portable app? I can't provide a full-fledged tutorial -- for that you'd have to hunt around the NSIS website -- but I can provide this useful template and a few basic NSIS commands you'll find useful. Enjoy!

If you want your drive to automatically run an executable when you plug it in, and you don't want to buy a U3 drive, you're in luck. Here's what you do:

I'm taking on a new project -- "NSIS-izing" the batch files in this thread. It should be pretty interesting...

Unfortunately, I won't be able to fix this up entirely in NSIS, unless I can resolve the "REMOVE" issues I'm having (I tell it to delete a file, and I find the file is still there -- even after reboot!). It looks like I'll be using a bit of Registry Rapper and probably several different executables (unless I can fit it all into one somehow...). Wish me luck!

If you've been keeping track of my projects lately, you've probably heard of Instant FileZilla, which is currently at version 0.3. It's designed to let you run a single executable, written in NSIS, which extracts FileZilla to a temporary folder, runs it, and (theoretically) deletes it at some point.

Unfortunately, security concerns abound -- anyone who wants your passwords can use an undelete tool, and leaving junk in the TEMP folder is usually a recipie for disaster (is there enough room? can someone steal my passwords?). So, future versions, such as the -- hopefully -- upcoming version 0.4, will extract to the current directory and let the user himself ensure that it's deleted. A "file wiper," such as one of the many free ones available on PortableFreeware.com, could be bundled with it -- provided it's GPL -- and then it could be run with an EXEC command to wipe out any saved settings.

Future versions will also hopefully contain a tray menu. This doesn't seem possible in NSIS, so maybe Aestan Tray Menu could be included to do the job. The menu would let you close/re-open FileZilla, delete temp files, import/export settings, and the like. Heck -- this stuff would be useful in the ordinary Portable FileZilla too!

Only one thing is left to hammer out: settings or no settings. If security concerns could be addressed, it would be nice to let your settings be included in the actual executable. A custom version could be recompiled every time you close Instant FileZilla, but that would be too hard and too big -- it would need to include an NSIS compiler, and it would take forever to extract. The current launcher copies FileZilla.xml from $EXEDIR to $OUTDIR and back.

Congratulations for reading this far. You deserve a pat on the back . Well, I'll try and clean this up later. If you have any ideas, post a comment!