General Discussion

As lots of you probably noticed, the PortableApps.com server was inaccessible today from around 3:30AM to 5:30PM New York time. This was due to an odd chain of events. But the issue has now been corrected and the server should be operating even faster than it was previously. For those interested in the technical details, read on...

Technical Details

As I'd mentioned previously, one of the hard drives on the server failed. This isn't normally a huge deal as the server uses a RAID5 drive array (multiple hard drives acting as one so that if one fails, the server keeps on going and a new drive can be popped in). While the drive was being replaced this morning, the box needed to be rebooted as a RAID BIOS update was applied. While shutting down, mySQL apparently failed to properly close 3 tables used by Drupal: cache, accesslog and sessions. When the box was brought back up with the new drive in place, the RAID array rebuilt itself as expected. mySQL on the other hand attempted to recover from a crash and failed to recover the 3 tables that weren't closed properly. So, whenever someone attempted to access the site... they either got nothing... or a page (or 1/2 a page) after about 2 minutes.

One of the hard drives in the server has failed. The server has a RAID5 array so no data has been lost. The drive is being replaced but the site will perform more slowly than normal while the array is rebuilt with the new drive. This process will take 1 to 2 hours. Not sure when they're going to start on it.

not to mentioned impressed to hell.

PFF 1.5.07
You know I was in two minds to bother upgrading the loader, hell I could just do an insitu upgrade, I decided to upgrade the loader anyway.

What a difference!!!

I can't believe how fast it loads up once it "remembers" where you last started from, and havent changed that.

I've been on here for a while and kinda got used to the fact that I can expect a 30 sec wait after the splash screen comes up, well not any more, I blinked and it was there, how about that.

John I don't know what you did, and i know a USB stick aint the fastest thing on the planet, but well done buddy.

To my mildly geeky eyes, the defining difference between portable apps and regular ones is that portable apps are not installed.

I am a Firefox enthusiast, but was getting frustrated by often losing multi open tabs (I use session saver), after my wife would have several FF windows open, then close them in the wrong order. As she was impossible to train, I added Firefox Portable to my desktop HD, gave it its own unique icon, and use it exclusively, while she continues to use the original. I am careful to close my FF Portable after a session so that she can't mess with it. I have also briefed her (with some success) to close my FF and open her own (the original), should I forget.

Hi all, I have a couple of questions about PA gaming, so I'll just dive in!..

1: Anyone who plays snes/nes emulators: do some games play with only the mouse? I like to play a little game while at work to take a break and clear my mind. This actually increases my productivity, but I don't think it would be appreciated if I unrolled a gamepad in my cubicle 3-10 times a day. LOL!

2. Does zbattle work with emulators run off your USB? Does zbattle (or any alternative) work and/or is it worth it?

3. I'm looking for a fun, skill oriented game, with decent graphics that I can run windowed off my USB drive. Sports, strategy or action genre preferred. Something I can just click onto when I get stumped for a few minutes. Something I can just dive into, then leave! Anyone got any suggestions.

I'm currently using sandisk titanium 1G

1. There is a LaunchU3.exe file in the root directory of the drive. Is it an important file and does it matter if this file is deleted ?

2. If I format the disk (LaunchU3.exe deleted), can the U3 system still be used?

3. Can the disk with U3 system co-exist with portable linux?(reference: www.pendrivelinux.com). Will the U3 system be altered if the disk becomes bootable ?

I appreciate you effort of giving advices on these issues, thank you.

A couple of quick questions . . .
Where did the icons on the Apps page come from? Are they free to use in other apps and redistribute?

Regards

I found this neat ftp server, smallftpd http://smallftpd.sourceforge.net/
and it works pretty well. It doesn't require installation, only ftpd.ini which makes it very portable. It is only 185kb in size. I think it's worth checking out, it could easily run from a portable device. It runs extremly fast and has support for virtual directories. (I was able to show my c and d drives as folders within the root folder)

I am about to go out and get a 4 to 6 gig usb pocket HD. I have a usb drive with U3 and am looking for something that can password protect the drive so you cannot even access it like the U3 app. is there anything out there that will do that?

Also which is better a portable pocket hd or another usb drive? im looking for the best performance since i run a lot of apps from it.

Ok...I am not trying to sell anythig here...but I thought you guys might like to check out this MojoPac

I have been testing it in beta and it works pretty well. You can install most of your programs and it is not terribly slow. Unfortunately, it only works on Windows XP machines right now.

It is along the lines of indi but is here now...

btw, John yeah it's me the same tracon...love what you've done with the place