PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Beta 5 Released For Testing

John T. Haller's picture
Submitted by John T. Haller on July 16, 2010 - 4:39am

We've just posted the Beta 5 of the upcoming 2.0 Platform (codename: Leo) release for testers and translators. The main purpose of Beta 5 was to debut the PortableApps.com Updater so you can keep all your software up to date, start testing our brand new theming engine (with 32 themes built-in) so you can make the menu look the way you want it to, and greatly improve multilingual support so you can use any language you want wherever you want. This latest beta represents a large behind-the-scenes effort to upgrade many of the underpinnings of the PortableApps.com Platform on the road to 2.0. So, let's get on to what's new...

Read on for more details...

PortableApps.com Updater - Keep All Your Apps Up To Date

One of the biggest new features is the first public test of the PortableApps.com Updater. The updater can track all your apps and ensure you're running the latest release. It can download and automatically install any apps that are out of date including the PortableApps.com Platform itself. For apps available in multiple language packs (Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, etc) it will download the appropriate language pack based on the language you have the PortableApps.com Platform set to. Just click Manage Apps - Check For Updates! Check out the updater in action (click for larger versions):

New Theming Engine - Multiple Colors and Images, 32 Themes Included

We've also debuted a first look at our new theming engine. The theming engine combines a powerful colormixing system allowing themers and users to easily select a menu look they like. We're still using the old-style theme selector until the Options window debuts in Beta 6, but our two built-in themes (Default White and Dark) are included with 14 colors each as well as a Rainbow and Texture theme in both White and Dark to show what's possible with the new engine. Here are some examples of the new theme sets (click for larger versions):

Full Unicode Support - Use Your Favorite Language On Every PC

Another big feature we're debuting is full Unicode support. This means we can add support for languages like Serbian and Vietnamese; and that we can support running any language even if it is different from the language Windows is set to. That means that if you like your apps in Japanese, you can set the platform to Japanese even on an English Windows PC. Here are screenshots of the menu running in Japanese, Korean, Arabic and Simplified Chinese, all on a standard Windows 7 English PC (click for larger versions):

The Road To 2.0

From this point forward, we'll be releasing a new beta every week or two until we hit 2.0 final. Upcoming features include those we announced in the 2.0 Preview including the full theme switcher, improved options screen, file associations, full category/folder support with smart app organization and lots more. Once you're on 2.0 Beta 5, you can just check for new versions and you'll know as soon as Beta 6 is available for you.

Download The Beta Today

You can download the new test version from the PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Beta 5 forum topic. Get it today!

Make a Donation - Please help support PortableApps.com's development and hosting

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Comments

solanus's picture

There are additional entries in the PATheme.ini file for background color, custom background, and chrome files.
The background.png is also different. The obvious change is that the DriveSpace bar at the bottom is longer and positioned differently.
There's an additional icon for Manage Apps on the right side, so the area under those icons is smaller.

Still, it shouldn't be too hard to adapt your theme to work in 2.0.

Check out https://portableapps.com/node/24556

Be aware that this is valid for 2.0 beta 5. There may be more changes before the final release of 2.0.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

dan43's picture

I see what you mean about the drive space slider being different in the preview images. But I think you're right in the sense that it shouldn't be that hard to adapt the theme for the new version. Thanks for the info! 8)

btw I had a look at some of the themes you've made and they are fantastic! I might even use one of those themes instead.

HP v210w 8gb usb drive ~30mb/s read ~15mb/s write

Hi John, all,

I just wanted to let you know what a GREAT HELP the updater is for me. 95% of my more or less daily-use applications are PortableApps, and updating them is so much more convenient than before, which was clicking links, saving files, running/extracting them and adjusting the path (because I don't use a top-level folder).

I put a shortcut to the updater.exe into my quick launch bar which is even more comfortable Smile

Thanks a bunch,

NiMhurchu

Super awesome, i love this suit!
Respect!

I just want to congratulate the team here for such a wonderful work they are doing. I have been following portableappps for quite some time now but never posted any comments. So today I wanted to add a few words. I am so pleased to be using this wonderful platform 2 beta 5. I can see how much work has been put into this platform and I just can't wait for the end result for this version. Many more features will be added in the future that much I can tell :). Guys you are great. Thank you so much for the great work you are doing here. Keep up the great work.

Kind regards

Manuel Ballesta Ruiz

I hate to rush you like this, but according to your quota, you were supposed to have beta 6 out far by now. What's going on?

If you look back in the comments, you will see that I asked basically the same question on August 24, 2010 at 1:28pm.

The next day (August 25), Jimbo replied with this comment...

"... the post that you missed about the schedule was that there isn't going to be a specific release date, but that each beta will be here when it is ready, with the features added that have been completed at that point.

The delay in beta 6 is mainly caused by a couple of subtle misbehaviours in the updater which meant that it didn't handle some error cases well, sometimes deleting the current version when it was unable to download the new one, and such like. These, and some issues with storage locations for temporary downloaded files, have meant that the entire PortableApps installer has had to have its design and spec adjusted, tested, re-released, and a number of the apps may have to be re-released in the updated installer form, in order to allow the "bug" in the updater to be properly resolved.

Sometimes the simplest of problems can have staggeringly long-winded solutions.

It will be done when it is done, which will hopefully be soon"

John Haller further commented and said...

'Correct. One change, "a number of the apps may have to be re-released", should read "all apps have to be re-released".'

solanus's picture

And evidence of all his hard work is the fact that a steady stream of apps is currently being released as we speak:
https://portableapps.com/news
Notice that in the 6 days since the Portable Apps Installer 2.04 was released, 15 apps have been released!
THAT'S what's going on!

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

I think we still have advantages if we also have installers downloaded. Since we need them for backup. Sometimes to recover from virus or malware infections, we must reinstall them again.

irwanwr

I keep my installers for redistribution, not for backup. A much simpler way to backup your PortableApps, is simply to use your normal backup system to backup the entire PortableApps directory. This way, I can restore the entire app with all the changes I've made to my profile/settings/whatever as well without bothering to copy those changes over manually.

PS. I like Areca Backup (http://sourceforge.net/projects/areca/), for a Windows backup utility. Only problems are: It's not portable and it doesn't backup locked files.

[Edit: I've added the PS.]
[Edit: Repaired the link. Sorry, I usually preview but this time I didn't.]

Could this current version handles non PAF portable application as well?

irwanwr

I wonder if going to add more in the Normal & Beta version in the future?

I really like TeamViwer, Opera, On-Screen Keyboard, Virtual Magnifying Glass, PortableApps.com Installer, PortableApps.com Launcher, Blender, Cornice, VCL Media Player, 7-Zip, Pea-Zip, &/or FreeCommander in?

I wonder if there is going to be another version higher than Suite Standard version?

I am going to DigiPen next year in 2011 & add new games for PortableApps.com for everyone.

I don't think there'll will be any major changes to the applications included in the Suite. The whole point of PortableApps is that you pick and choose what you want to download. Suites are mostly pointless because there are almost always some applications included that you will never or very rarely use.

I think the Suites are meant more as an introduction for very new users. Once people are more familiar with the apps then there's no need for them to download the Suite anymore, simply the apps they need and then use the menu/platform to update them.

and now that we have the updater built into the suite (2.0 beta 5), it is even easier to download additional apps.

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

The best way to do this in the future is for JTH to build the suite selections into the installer/updater.
So, you would install the platform only, then run the installer/updater and choose your starter suite of apps. I'm sure this could be handled with ini files.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

I really wish that my favorite opensource & freeware programs are added to the list. I really like Paint.NET, Project64, VisualBoyAdvance, Jnes, Dolphin, ZSNES, DeSmuME, Red Dragon, Free Download Manager, Pivot Stick Figure, and Anim8or, so much. They were awsome. But Opera just came out yesterday at October 7, 2010.

What would happen if the Suite series have a couple of new pre-loaded applications added in the non beta 2.0 or higher version in the future?

Like VCL Media Player or SMPlayer (video player), PortableApps.com Launcher, PortableApps.com Installer, PortableApps.com AppCompactor, SpeedCrunch (calculator), 7-Zip or PeaZip (file archiver), and/or Java (system requirement) added in?

Will the Download icon added to?, because that my flash drive have Music, Videos, and Pictures have the icons, but the Download folder doesn't?

It is in many ways far better than previous version. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit, and noticed that even though the platform runs in the System Tray, it also keeps the window in the Taskbar, also it takes longer to load that in previous versions.

Lan Somber's picture

Yesterday I was playing with my platform and I thought "I wonder if I can put something that is not a PortableApps program on the platform." So to find out if I could, I made a folder for my DeSmuME and it worked. XD

solanus's picture

In PATheme.ini the setting for DividerColor does not work.
In PAM 2.0b4, you can set the HTML color of the Button Applications.
In PAM 2.0b5, the color is always a light gray, no matter what you set it to.

Also - IconTransparentColor doesn't seem to do anything in any version, so why is it there?

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

Whenever an update fails, the updater nevertheless reports it as successful, and will not allow me to attempt another update.

I have two installations of FirefoxPortable - one "standard" for regular office work and one "web development" with all the add-ins I need for that.
The "standard" version is installed in the default directory, the "web development" version is (obviously) installed in another directory with a slightly different name (FirefoxPortable4dev).
The updater only updates the installation in the default directory, but not the other one.
OK, this wasn't a problem before, because I knew I always had to install the the new version twice.
The updater - a brilliant feature, by the way - has made me lazy. I run it and trust it to do what it is designed for and it hasn't let me down so far. I regularly forget to update the second installation and I find it now tedious that I have to go to the site, get the new version and install it by "hand". Seems kind of quaint now.
Anything in the pipeline to address that issue?
(That's what you get when you spoil your users!)

Signature automatically removed for containing links

Chris Morgan's picture

Currently there's a restriction in the way the installers work that when in silent mode they can only install to a directory of their own AppID. I believe this will be being removed soon in one way so that the Updater can do it otherwise. Anyhow, you should refer to Using a Second (or Third) Profile with Firefox Portable for the correct way of having multiple profiles without needing to duplicate all the app.

I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

Chris, John, thank you for your replies.
The second profile for FFportable is not the solution I use because of the limitation of multiple instances.
Quote:
Note that only one profile can be used at a time, even with MultipleInstances turned on in the advanced launcher INI. This is a limitation of Firefox itself.
End Quote:
If I do it my way, I can launch multiple instances of FFportable, but it requires a second "installation" of FFportable.
In the second installation I changed the MultipleInstances parameter to ON.
I then can have two active instances concurrently of both my FFportable for browsing and FFportable for development.
Something I cannot do with Second Profile.
So: I do not launch the same installation multiple times, but I launch different installation. Important is, that at least the second installation must have the MultipleInstances parameter set to on.
I could also set the MultipleInstances to ON in my browsing version of FFportable, but then I run into another glitch (that's why I don't): everytime I click on a link in a document it opens a new instance of FFportable. With MultipleInstances disable the click on a link ends up as a tab in my active FFportable session, which is what I want.
When I want multiple instances, then I have to watch the sequence of launching, of course: first my browing FFportable and then my FFPortable for Dev.

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John T. Haller's picture

As Chris mentioned, switch to using a secondary profile. Then both FF itself and the 2nd profile launcher will be updated as new versions come out and you'll get a few MBs back on your flash drive.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Hello,

I've tested this software under German Windows. Firstly I set the Russian and clicked on the menu 'Backup/Backup files'. The application 'Backup' appeared with unreadable text. To use this application I had to choose English or German. So all application should be in unicode. Otherwise, the application in English (or in this case in German) should be called.

After this I installed Firefox 3.6.10 to test the update function. I always use the US-English version of this program to install German and Russian language add-ons with a language switcher. I set German for 'portable-apps platform' and started update. The progress bar of the updater froze by 50%. After I started the new version 3.6.11, it turns out to be the German version although I wanted to update the US-English version.

Moreover, I would like your software has an option to collect the application entries in groups.

Best regards
Alex

John T. Haller's picture

The backup utility is a separate EXE and is still ANSI. It will be Unicode in an upcoming beta.

Whatever language you have the platform set to is the language your app will be in. As the updater bar is frozen, Firefox Portable is installing silently in the background (you'll see your drive light flickering consistently).

Categories (aka folders) are coming in an upcoming beta.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

maybe have an update to the app updater to make it have a feel of the Apple software updater? you know where on the top portion it shows you what apps/programs you have that need to be updated and then on the bottom portion have any new ones that are out. also on the bottom there is a description area that shows you a brief changelog/release notes about the program. that will be a good thing to have. hope this gets implemented! Smile

Thats planned. In face its already partly implemented.

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

When is the new version of the website coming? I am excited to see how you will harness the new web technologies to make this site amazing.

Make the world portable! Please.

I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I would like to be able to group applications into categories (eg. Firefox, Google, Thunderbird under Internet) similar to the way ALL PROGRAMS menu in Windows XP. This would be especially helpful when you're using many programs.

Second, currently, the only way to open a given app is to scroll up or down using the up/down arrow or PgUp/PgDn keys. You can't use either "Home" or "end" buttons to move to the top or the bottom of the programs list. I find this frustrating.

Moreover, I want to jump straight to the application in question by simply pressing the first letter of the app (eg. "f" for Foxit).

ПРОГРАММА КОНФЛИКТУЕТ С NTFS СИСТЕМОЙ USB ДИСКОВ

Данная программа PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Beta 5 Released For Testing на usb flash drive (было проверено на Kingston и Transcend, думаю от марки и модели флешки это не зависит) вызывает ошибку в ОС Windows XP SP3 Rus (скорее всего это не зависит от операционной системы) вплоть до того, что вылетает usb диск с системы и потом очень долго не удается его определить системой (помогают только многократные вставка/вытаскивание из разъема с последующим форматированием), так как флешка была отформатирована в NTFS (New Technology File System) формате. Причем ни где упоминаний о тот, что её нельзя запускать/устанавливать на флэшки с NTFS системой не написано/указано.
Уважаемые администраторы, прошу Вас устранить эту проблему, она очень критична и отпугивает потенциальных пользователей этой программы.
Поэтому мой вывод такой: пока не сделают вполне рабочую версию программы, использовать эту программу можно только на флешках, которые отформатированы в файловой системе FAT32, других альтернатив нет.
P.S. Так как на сегодня идет бум на большие размеры флэш носителей, то мне кажется не стоит пренебрегать такими файловыми системами как NTFS (Размер одного файла в ней может достигать и более 4 Гб, что просто критично для некоторых данных, например СУБД).

John T. Haller's picture

If you format a drive as NTFS, you *MUST* disable security descriptors. Otherwise as soon as you move to another PC, some of the files won't have permission to be accessed or updated.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

John T. Haller's picture

Disabling security descriptors is only available when converting a drive from FAT32 to NTFS, oddly. You should be able to accomplish the same thing by right-clicking on the drive, selecting security and setting "Everyone" to "Full Control" and then removing all other user permissions.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Just in case a file or folder below the top level of the drive had permissions applied, you should go into the advanced settings and check the box at the bottom to "replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object". That wording is from Win 7, Vista or XP may be slightly different, but the location and concept is the same.

Also, XP home and possibly other flavors may not have the security tab available to set the permissions. Try rebooting and starting up in safe mode. I know that works in XP home.

It's working very well for me at the moment. Good job man.

I have wondered what the chances of allowing users to put their own text at the top of the portable app menu. (Instead of "PortableApps.com") One of the potential uses would be that it would provide a quick way to know what device that instance of portable apps is running from. (If you were to input the device name) I often have multiple devices running portable apps. I know that the name of the device is displayed at the bottom of the menu, but it just is not very visible... the "header is really the first thing the eye is drawn to.

Thanks for all the awesome improvements already on their way, and the updater!!!! Awesome stuff!!! Smile

solanus's picture

The PortableApps logo is not removable, but there are other ways to add identification to the different menus you have running:
1. Add a personal picture to the top:
https://portableapps.com/support/portable_apps_suite#personalpicture
That's the easiest way to add your own "brand" to the menus.
2. Choose a different built-in theme for each menu. Of course, these just change the color, so it's not exactly what you are looking for.
Options>Theme>select one of the built-in themes.
3. Create your own custom theme, and put your text in the blank space just below the "Help" icon.' For your purposes, you would only need to tweak the background.png file. There are a number of posts that discuss theming.
I have an app I am developing that helps you build a theme:
https://portableapps.com/node/25260
It works pretty well, even in beta stage. There's a small bug, but the workaround is that when you package your created theme, don't save it to your desktop or users folder - I recommend saving the theme to your portable device instead.
After you create a theme, installing the new theme to the menu is as easy as Options>Theme and selecting the ... which lets you browse for the .patheme file.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

I have actually toyed with all of your suggestions in the past, but was never fully satisfied. Ironically, I had started developing themes that you could paste in to replace the default background way back before theming was even possible as a built in function. I had tried using different themes, like you said, putting text in the theme image (using Photoshop), also like you suggested, and honestly always thought the personal picture was kinda worthless... *My opinion only. Smile Thank you though for taking the time to answer.

BTW, Would love some tips on how to change the icons used. (I saw that you have succeeded to do so on your homepage.)

I noticed that in your editor you can edit png's to change the icons... is there now way to use .ico files? (other than converting them to png's)

solanus's picture

While I was building my app, I delved into the source code for the menu.
The icons are loaded using specific filenames, and all are png.
So if you want to change the Documents icon, the filename HAS to be documents.png.
Check my Homepage for an overly long blog on icon creation.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

How can I get the source code for the PA.c Platform? Also, what would be the best application* to edit it in? Thanks. Smile

*Preferably a free application.

solanus's picture

and there's a link to the source on the Download page for the platform
https://portableapps.com/download
the link is at the bottom of the page.

The only application to edit it in is Delphi, which is not free at all. I'm not sure of which version you need, but they all cost $.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

wolfdeus's picture

There's only a couple of little issues I've noticed with it:

1. Seems to be just a tad "Resource Heavy". The only Drawback was slowing on my portable applications and Hi memory usage by the service. (Which I'm sure it's just not "Streamlined" yet due to being "Beta")
2. Really I'd love to see an "option dialog" / "option GUI" for "Automatic Embedded Wallpaper Swapper" settings.
3. Also I'd like to see an "option dialog" / "option GUI" for "Check Drive For Errors" Settings. I like to have the "/F" option to the Chkdsk commandline.

I'm one of the laziest users out there. I'm sorry. I like to tick boxes and press buttons (L.O.L.). I know you probably have this all in planning as well so i'll let you be.

Other than that, this is Awesome, Functional and Elegant. Can't wait to see the new themes people will come up with. Great Job!

WolfDeus

Orion Lam's picture

i have just use it. What a great platform i ever used, the colors were good even the eject-ion was faster than before.(i think so.)
Awesome!

Orion

Is it possible to install version 1.6.1 and version 2 beta 5 side by side on one device?

HP v210w 8gb usb drive ~30mb/s read ~15mb/s write

solanus's picture

They each need to be in their own subfolders, so install one to
X:\PAP2B5
and the other to
X:\PAP161

for example.

If you try to install both directly to the root, the second one will overwrite the first.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

Unknown, this might be possible. It is unknown when the Original 2.0 comes? There might going to be new pre-loaded apps? Not Sure?

Darkbee's picture

Yes, it is unknown when the final 2.0 will be released. Purely guesswork on my part but it doesn't seem like there are too many more features that need to be added to version 2 though, so I can't see that there will be many more betas released (the next big feature will be categories, one of the most requested!). However, I am not a developer so I cannot be 100% sure of such things.

No, I don't think there are any plans to add new pre-loaded apps, simply because the whole point is that the user gets to pick and choose what he or she wants. It is annoying if you download something and then have to "uninstall" all the components/modules/applications you don't want or need. It is better to let the user decide.

Okay. I know that you guys over at portableapps.com probably get a million requests a day just from IMs, so I don't expect a reply the next day. I just wanna get some ideas out.

Well first off i'd like to suggest a portable icon launcher. I know that there is this program in the BETA section of the forums, and it's wonderful, but it's function's and usability would be a lot easier if it were part of the PAM. The link is https://portableapps.com/node/17634

Then there's the portable desktop, which is also in the Beta section, and would also function better if it were part of the PAM. link:
https://portableapps.com/node/22090

For the themes, they're a wonderful addition. I would just like to make the "Change Theme" menu a little more like a window/ and a lot less like a right-click menu. Maybe it could show a thumbnail of all the themes installed, along with an "Install theme" button and a "Delete theme" button much like the mozilla suite. (Firefox, Thunderbird, ect.)

Finnaly there's the ability to change/edit the folder buttons on the side of the Menu. At least change, if not add buttons, anyway. There have been multiple posts searching for this feature. I'm hoping that someone will also implement this into the Menu at some point.

I understand that the PortableApps team is probably really busy just finnalizing the PAM 2.0 but these are just some things that I'm hoping will become possible in the near future. If anybody reads this post, please reply with your ideas. I've searched the forums, and the internet long and hard, and I don't see any alternative that is easy to do as an unexperienced coder/programmer. Mojo pack and all the other programs I have looked into, but I feel that it would be beneficial if PortableApps.com added these features.

"Welcome to the Internet, where men are men, women are men, and children are the FBI."
--Matthew Tam

"It is better to take what is not yours, than leave it there, neglected..."
--Mark Twain

solanus's picture

Yes you are!!!!

Happy Holidays.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

Even with the problems they have experienced, it is hard to believe that it has been almost 5 months since Beta 5 was released. I never even dreamed for a second that it might be around Christmas or even 2011 before we would see another release.

Good day. I am sorry for wrong English. Very good program (shell), thank you. But it would be desirable, that the necessary functions were yet added:
- editing of folders (name, amount, icons, path);
- show categories!!! (for example: media, system, utilities etc.), and that I could change them (add, delete, rename).
With kind regards. Beforehand thank you.

Darkbee's picture

No problem with your English.

These two features are the most requested! Categories is coming in the next version, and I think custom folders is coming in a later version. Watch for new versions of the PortableApps menu!

I'm pretty sure that Darkbee is correct about the status of those two coming features.

However, I love PortableApps and cannot believe that it has been over 5 months since Beta 5 came out and we still are waiting for another beta or final release. Therefore, don't hold your breath. This is proving to be quite the test of patience.

All of that said, it is really nice to see new versions of the Installer being released regularly along with updates to apps.

dzjepp's picture

Hello,

It appears that the updater does not fetch programs that are new to portableapps. It fetches programs that I already have just fine, but it would be convenient for the updater to fetch programs that I do not yet have, instead of having me download them myself from the site.

Thanks!

horusofoz's picture

It doesn't list the newly available apps however this is a good idea for a feature. Maybe split the field on the main updater page and list the latest three apps from the RSS feed or something similar.

PortableApps.com Advocate

Yes, an ability to browse available apps that you don't have would be a nice feature. I'm not sure how easy it would be to implement or how much overhead it would require. You would need to be on a PC with an Internet connection for PortableApps Platform to go out and pull the information from PortableApps.com to provide a listing/catalog for the user of currently available apps as well as to be able to download the ones you selected to install.

Maybe this could be a version 3.0 feature.

Davecrowder's picture

Best thing I have come across. Great for on-the-go work, and can browse qwithout leaving a trace and have all my favs. Love the auto update concept and am looking forward to the final release with all of the features you are planning,. keep up the great work! That is why I donate from time-to-time

jwyanze's picture

Hmm since the last time i've posted on this site u guys have made alot of changes, practically showing off tons of new apps new menu etc... must say im impressed good work guys

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge. Wink

Long time user, first time poster... this site has saved my life many a time

Software Engineer trapped in Web Development hell - however, currently working on in-house CMS system utilising ASP.net(C#), XML/XSLT, Linq, AJAX etc.

I have a new fresh out of the box HP 3Terabyte external USB 3.0 drive. Installing the latest and greatest PortableApps was the first thing I wanted to do with it.

When I try to install an app. with the Beta5 installer every app. says "Not enough space on this drive". Clicking on OK then installs the app. Annoying, however the real problem comes when trying to do 'updates' via Beta5.

When doing an 'update' the out-of-date files are downloaded, then each one in sequence says "not enough space on drive" and aborts the install. Rather catastrophic. Sad

I've not looked at the source code to the installer, however I've run into problems like this before where casts of 'long' or 'long long' are used rather than the proper 'size_t'.

I have seen someone said file association will be implemented, and if I'm not wrong, in 2.0 beta 5... I have it, but I don't see that option anywhere. Is it actually planned for beta 6 or final 2.0 version?
Also, I'm sure this was answered before many many times but I can't find definitive answer, categories are a must. Somewhere it said categories ready or something like that. I see where appinfo.ini files do have that entry, but when will it be actually used/enabled, which version?

Great work John and the gang!!!!

A "File Associations" feature is not yet implemented as of 2.0 Beta 5, and AFAIK is a feature planned for a future release; I don't think it would be a good idea to put a specific release number, or a date on it until it's been implemented in one of John's Development versions (which may or may not be released as a beta, at his discretion).

Categories are planned for the 2.0 release which is due very soon.

PortableApps.com Status Update (2011-04-10)This release [2.0 Final] will consist of the current features of the 2.0 Beta 5 release plus a finalized app updater, the ability to automatically download and install apps via the updater interface, categories/folders which work automatically with the app categorizations as well as manual classifications, polished versions of the 2.0 Beta 5 themes, numerous bug fixes and stability improvements and an improved installer.

Hope you find this helpful, and watch John T Haller's Blog for Status Updates ;).

~3D1T0R

Finally took the plunge and tried the updater beta 5 super stuff! Thanks for that worked a treat, even when I accidentally knocked out the flash drive half way through! A few little niggles but nothing compared to the joy of the update. Thanks!

Just for information - the niggles - maybe it will help:
1. When the apps are updating the text in the updater box says the updater is being installed rather than the app is being installed.
2. Whilst updating lots of apps on a flash drive several of the apps required me to click the install button as per a manual install. Can't remember which apps.
3. I would love some BRIGHT colours in the themes.
4. There sometimes appears one of two error messages. one is a write error and the other is a url is incorrect error - not sure why!

I've tried the PAc's backup utility for quite some time now and I realized there is a bug when backing up the program data from a 2GB flash drive and restoring the backed up data into another, 8GB flash drive. I think it's safe to say that this bug must be checked off from Portableapps.com beta5's bug list because the same happens when I manage to make a manual backup from acronis true image. No matter the way the backup is done, the result is the same. Of course, there's a difference: while acronis' trueimage copies the whole PA.c program's directories, I formatted the 8GB flash drive and installed the pa.c again; from there I restored the backed up data using PAc backup manager and got this issue. PA.c still recognizes the overall available space from previous flash drive, probably because it registered the flash drive space in some text and just gets that data from somewhere, instead of checking it again.

It took me a little while to figure out exactly what your issue is, so forgive me if I still don't understand it correctly. Is this what you are saying?

  • Your old drive was a 2GB, your new drive is 8GB.
  • You tried using Acronis TrueImage to back up your data from the 2GB and restore your data to the 8GB
  • When you were done, the free space listed at the bottom of the 8GB was the same as the space in the 2GB
  • The same thing happens if you use the PortableApps backup to do a complete backup
  • You also tried reformatting and using Acronis to restore the programs and you used PortableApps backup to restore the data, to the same result (incorrect free space)
  • Have I got the sequence of event right?

OK, I see a couple of possible issues here.
Depending on how you use Acronis, it could be copying the partition (including the size) from the 2G and restoring the partition in the same size to the 8GB. In Windows, does it show up as an 8GB drive?
Also, some cheap flash drives have been surfacing that claim a larger size, but are actually smaller drives.

PortableApps Backup is driven by 7zip, so it essentially creates and unzips files to do its backup. Therefore, if there were some persistent data that retains the old drive size, you would see the same behavior if you just copied the whole thing using Windows Explorer.

Try restoring the complete backup to a different drive, using Portable Apps backup (not Acronis) and see if you see the same problem. If the problem is still there, then try just copying everything over (you don't need to reformat the target drive, just delete the files) and see if the you get a different result.

Myself, if I want to migrate my data to a new drive, I usually just zip the whole old drive and unzip into the new drive, where it always shows the correct drive space.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

" Your old drive was a 2GB, your new drive is 8GB.
You tried using Acronis TrueImage to back up your data from the 2GB and restore your data to the 8GB
When you were done, the free space listed at the bottom of the 8GB was the same as the space in the 2GB
The same thing happens if you use the PortableApps backup to do a complete backup
You also tried reformatting and using Acronis to restore the programs and you used PortableApps backup to restore the data, to the same result (incorrect free space)
Have I got the sequence of event right?"
Yep you got that right Wink
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I now realize there is a DEEP difference between copy and zip files, and then extract it into the flash drive. So this:
"Therefore, if there were some persistent data that retains the old drive size, you would see the same behavior if you just copied the whole thing using Windows Explorer." perfect applies.
-----------
"Try restoring the complete backup to a different drive, using Portable Apps backup (not Acronis) and see if you see the same problem. If the problem is still there, then try just copying everything over (you don't need to reformat the target drive, just delete the files) and see if the you get a different result."
Yeah, that worked out. Using PAc's backup solution from now on, and letting go of acronis(in this case).

Thank you!

So let me get this stright, we were supposed to see 2.0 released a couple weeks after this post was made, and now a YEAR later its STILL not done yet???!! sounds kind of fishy to me....can't tell me it takes a whole year to do translations! and even if it does, why can't they release the product before all the translations are completed? why do we have to wait a whole freaking "year" for translations to all these different languages when most of the world speaks english anyway? I mean think about it, even if we do have people from other languages here, this site is in ENGLISH, so naturally if you visit this site at all you must know english right? doesn't make any sense to me

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