How do you all organize the root of your Portable?
Post how you have everything organized/arranged.. or even a screenshot.
New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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Launchers in root, portable apps from here or framakey (or any thing else that is made portable with a launcher) in /PortableApps/, other programs that can run from the drive in /OtherPortableApps/.
Vintage!
how do you determine between the ones with launchers and the ones that just run from the drive? what's the difference?
i'm new at this.. but wanting to get alot of apps onto a USB with the Pstart thing..
I don't use PStart. The programs in /OtherPortableApps/ are just other programs that function from the drive, and they may not be completely portable. The ones in /PortableApps/ are programs that have been made completely portable, and use NSIS launchers, which are in my root directory as I mentioned before.
Vintage!
I shove everything into one directory. Then I use my autorun.ini to list the apps in the drive's context menu.
----
R McCue
PortaBlog Home and My Website
And before anyone complains about the grammar, I'm so jetlagged that my
hands aren't even in the same time zone...
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
What's an NSIS launcher, and Context Menu?
Sorry for the questions if they seem dumb..
NSIS is a programming language, and a launcher is a program that opens another program. John has written all of the launchers for the apps here in NSIS (as far as I know), and there are launchers for other portable apps based on John's launchers. The launchers are necessary to make the apps portable (e.g. they handle registry calls).
Vintage!
are those the only ones that can be used in Pstart?
i think i understand what they are.. kind of like shortcuts but in the root of the PortableApps folder when you download it, while the actual apps are still in their own folders?
also.. do i HAVE to use Launchers with the programs, or could I move the launchers into the programs individual folder for organizing all of my programs into one folder?
other programs i download off the net that claim to be "stand alone" should work FROM the drive, just not be "portable"?
sorry for so many questions..
The context menu is what you get when you Right-Click on something. In my case, when you right-click on the USB drive in My Computer.
----
R McCue
PortaBlog Home and My Website
And before anyone complains about the grammar, I'm so jetlagged that my
hands aren't even in the same time zone...
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I've taken some screenshots of my setup using PStart:
Enjoy!
Rob Loach [Website] [Projects] [Blog]
Does every program listed in your PStart have to be 100% portable?
Or, could I have a folder of .EXE install files on my portable.. and have a group in PStart called Un-Portable Installs.. so I can easily install my favorite Un-Portable programs if needed?
It's your drive... put what you want on it. In fact, I do have a group for installs which holds things like Windows XP SP2, Windows WPA2 patch and the like.
PStart will link to those install files though?
PStart will link to anything you tell it to.
Rob Loach [Website] [Projects] [Blog]
"Browse..." shortcut on your screenshot?
I have PStart and autorun.inf (to start PStart when I connect my drive)in my root directory. Off the root directory, I have the following directories to organize my drive:
Accessories
Communications
CruzerLock (Sandisk encryption app)
Engineering
Media
My Documents
Office Aps
Utilities
Running from a 250GB portable hard drive, so I've got a LOT of stuff on here. It's easier to transport than my laptop, and I can still access most of my stuff at work.
Folder Structure:
/books - that I am either writing or reading
/docs - misc docs and backups from home computers
/fonts - my collection of fonts
/icons - for PStart and other programs
/movies - downloaded movies
/mp3 - ripped from my CD collection, or downloaded from artist sites
/music_videos - mostly downloads
/photos - from my camera
/www - backup of my web sites
/PortableApps
/PortableApps/PStart
/PortableApps/AudacityPortable
/PortableApps/FirefoxPortable
etc
/OtherPortable -- apps not from here or framakey, which may or may not be truly portable
/OtherPortable/FeedReader
/OtherPortable/eclipseDevelopmentPackage - from IBM, with a local JRE
/OtherPortable/rssowl - uses eclipse's JRE from BAT file
The PortableApps folders are all default folder structures of the apps, as are the folders within OtherPortable.
I've got custom icons, from Everaldo's Crystal series, for the Groups and Folders. Here's a screenshot of my PStart menu. The Startup group has programs that autostart with PStart.
I use pstart because i have about 50 portable apps on my 1 gig.
I also organize my thumb drive like this
/root
/work
/Documents
/wideo
/Flash
/music
/Apps
/*the app name*
/mywebpage