Portable App Development

Alright kids... here's the deal. I'm planning on integrating support with a documents folder in the next version of the suite as well as the apps. The goal is to make it easy to load from and save to the portable media. So, for instance, rather than 'Desktop' being the default setting in Portable Firefox, it would default to the documents directory on the portable drive (if it exists... otherwise, it would set it to desktop).

Here's the dilemna. What do we call it? And where do we put it? The original suggestion was to just have a Documents folder in the root of the drive alongside the PortableApps directory. This would mostly work well... but there are some issues with that approach... some software requires a directory located there. U3, for instance. As well as some portable CMS software (with which I'm not familiar).

I'm not sure if this has been suggested or considered before, but I think it could add a new dimension to this wonderful app.

I relaise that Portable Firefox is designed to run off a usb device or similar, but I actually run mine from my remote filestorage in college as well as when I use my usb key.

Recently when swapping between the 2 circumstances I've taken to archiving the "profile" folder and saving it to my gmail account so I can just download the updated version of it if I switch situation.

I think it'd be great if the option was added to Portable Firefox to compress and export the profile folder to remote storage (it'd probably only be about 1Meg or so, maximum).

I just wanted to know if you were planning on creating any Portable Apps for Linux. I have a Linux laptop and this would be very helpful.

-Justin

Is an Update planed for the portable suite?

Hi everybody,

I made a simple utility that install, and uninstall, the required registry keys to install plugins.

You can download it from here.

Usage:
1 - unzip "MozRegKey.exe" on Portable Firefox's installation folder;
2 - run MozRegKey.exe and clic on "Install" button;
3 - run plugin installer;
4 - clic on "Uninstall" button and then "Exit"

Test on Windows Xp with the following plugins:
-Macromedia Flash Player 8.0.22.0
-Macromedia Authorware Web Player 2004.0.0.73
-Macromedia Shockwave Player 10.1.0.11

Thank you John for all your hard work on creating Portable Apps. I use them throughout the week and look forward to the new Thunderbird 1.5 once it's adjusted for portability.

I've thought about asking for information on your Portable builds so I can make a PortableFirefox and PortableThunderbird for Mac OS X. I also use a Mac at home, and most of my family uses them.

But what I've really wanted a Cross Platform PortableFirefox & Thunderbird since I use Macs, Windows and Linux platforms - at home, work, family & friends.

Luckily, I just stumbled across this and thought it should be listed - PortableFirefox for Windows & Mac OS X. Seems them extended your work.

I'm working on a couple ways to make OpenOffice.org smaller. It turns out that I'd left in the UNO-Python bridge, which isn't necessary, which saves some space. A couple other options, like TestTool can be removed. Also, I'm considering removing the help files from the base install and then having them be an add-in as a seperate download. Removing the help files along saves over 16MB from the final installed version.

All told, with the above changes removing some unused features (at least when portable), making help optional, and then adding in a default set of settings (to alleviate the long path issue mentioned on the product page), we'd wind up with a 120MB package. The help files would then be a 16MB addon download, if desired.

You could make AbiWord ultra-portable if you hosted it online. Is there a way to make it available for use online with save and open functionality? This may seem a little far-fetched, but it would eliminate the need to carry it with you on a drive. In fact, if it is possible with AbiWord, then you could put OpenOffice online, (OOoO) and it would even eliminate the need for office software installed on a machine.

-Justin

JUST SO YOU ALL KNOW! Winace runs off a flash drive. If you need it for somehwere that doen't have it installed (like SCHOOL!) it runs off the flash drive w/o installing anything on the comp.

Email services such as netscape and hotmail are not able to be used for portable thunderbird but it is possible to check hotmail on outlook. I would like to see PTB with the ability to check http email.