IDE on a USB Stick

drawmack

I have done it. I have an entire website developement environment on a USB stick. I do not have a server on this as we all have access to a server we can use for development.

Here is how.

1) get jext - http://www.jext.org/ and install it to the USB Stick. All the install does is put files there.

2) get firebird - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/ and unzip it to the stick.

3) get unlimited ftp - http://www.unlimitedftp.ca/uftp/index.jsp put that on the stick and create an HTML file that configures the applet however you like. You can now carry your work in progress around with you and work on it from any computer with USB and Java.

LordShryku

How big is this stick? I think they come in 512mb sticks now, so that wouldn't be such an impressive feat :p

piersk

Also, wouldn't you need something telling the browser to point to the stick? I've never tried this so I'm not entirely sure.

LordShryku

Does sound cool. Kinda makes me sad I spent all that money on this damned laptop 🙁

piersk

They're not hugely expensive. take a look here if you're in the UK or here if you're in the US.

drawmack

it's a 128 meg chip.

It's not impressive because it all fits,

it's impressive because none of it needs to be installed.

So I can take my stick and put it in any java enabled windows machine and blam-o my ide is there and ready to go.

Firebird - no install

unlimited ftp applet based just needs a java enabled browser to run

jext - java based comes as an install but if you install it to the usb stick it will run from there on a system that has not had the program installed, i.e. no registry entries.

I just think it's cool that I can carry my ide around my neck.

drawmack

Originally posted by LordShryku
Does sound cool. Kinda makes me sad I spent all that money on this damned laptop 🙁

actually what I wanted was to not have to use different environments between my laptop, desktop and uni computers. So I had the following requirements

1) I cannot install software on uni-systems
2) Must run on XP, 2K and 98se
3) Must run on everything from a 233 with 64 megs of ram (laptop) up.

I honestly couldn't believe it when I plugged the stick into my laptop and it worked. I am psyched. I haven't tried it at the uni yet but I will on monday and I'll let everyone know how it works out, though I'm sure it'll work as my laptop didn't have any of this software installed.

LordShryku

Sounds good to me...have you tested it on Linux yet?

drawmack

No I have not, as all the system I use are windows. Though the applet will work on linux and I know jext works on linux - is there a linux version of firebird?

LordShryku

Yeah, Mozilla is pretty standard for Linux. I don't forsee any problems, was just curious.

drawmack

my stick, in particular, will not work on linux as I use the windwos version of firebird. Though I'd really like to find a good java based browser so that I can do this in a truely os independent way.

LordShryku

I'm thinking to do that, you may need to have a compiler handy. I remember hearing good things about Sun's HotJava browser. May be scalable...

http://java.sun.com/products/hotjava/

Weedpacket

Originally posted by drawmack
my stick, in particular, will not work on linux as I use the windwos version of firebird. Though I'd really like to find a good java based browser so that I can do this in a truely os independent way.

One of the nice things about Mozilla browsers is that you can have more than one "installed". Is it feasible to have both a Windows and a Linux Firebird on the stick?

drawmack

Weed,
Yeah I know that, but I am looking for a solution that doesn't require duplication of software. I know there have been some java browsers in the past but none of them are really full featured that I know of.

Merve

Originally posted by LordShryku
How big is this stick? I think they come in 512mb sticks now, so that wouldn't be such an impressive feat :p

I read that they came out with a 4 gig one...not too sure if that's even possible...maybe just hype?

LordShryku

4 gigs on a stick no bigger than my thumb. gotta love technology

drawmack

Originally posted by LordShryku
4 gigs on a stick no bigger than my thumb. gotta love technology

"Can we make it fit on the head of a pin? I love it when we make stuff fit on the head of a pin."

What impresses me more then the size/data ratio is definately that it is solid state technology. 6 years ago I spent $15.00 extra to get a solid state touch pad instead of a mouse with a moving ball that would wear out in 6 months. Today I still use that touch pad even though every other piece of computer equipment on my desk has changed. Though I must confess I'd like to try out an optical mouse.

LordShryku

I'll stand by the optical mouse. I bought a dual optical a year ago, and the lack of cleaning alone made it worth it. No more tearing the ball out and cleaning crud off all of the rollers. Liked it so much, I replaced all my work mice too. And you can pick them up for about $5-10 anymore

drawmack

Lord,
Yeah I know that but really it has no advantage over my touch pad and actually since the buttons on the mouse are moving parts they will break which makes my touch pad more reliable. I'm only thinking of switching because my touch pad case needs to be taken apart and cleaned, which leaves me with no pointer for a day.

LordShryku

How much does the touch pad cost? Can't say I've ever seen on of them...