trueSpace may be daunting for those who are not familiar with it’s user interface, but once you get used to how tools and tool bars are arranged, it becomes much more intuitive than you may originally think. Since I haven’t used a new version since trueSpace 5.5, looks like I’ve got some catching up to do. They’ve added tabbed interfaces for views so that you can switch between workspaces and multi-angled model views and a panel with library browser and settings tabs. One of the reasons I’ve stuck with version 5.5 for so long has been that it can import stl, igs and other industrial modeling files. I use these at work to render products that are in concept phases of production or that we can’t get samples of in time for photos we may need. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be supported under the new version. Guess I’ll have to keep digging to see if I can find out anything more about this.

I’m no real programmer, I mean, I know enough to be dangerous. I’ve got a good handle on html, css, javascript, asp etc. In the past I’ve played with the source code for Portable Firefox from PortableApps.com trying to get XulRunner portable. I didn’t have much luck. Ran into too many code errors to resolve myself. What I needed was a way to make the program portable without programming anything new.

X-Launcher

What I was able to find was X-Launcher. X-Launcher is a nifty little app that allows you to launch just about any application portably – that is, without leaving much of a trace on the host computer. I’ve been able to use X-Launcher without too much effort (hey, just my style :).

You can get X-Launcher from winPenPack.com (downloads section) along with a host of other open source software all made portable using X-Launcher or other means. WinPenPack is an Italian website, but you can get English on most pages by choosing it from the language menu. Nice site and a lot of good software!
X-Launcher itself is an easy to use program, you simply configure the X-launcher.ini file for it and you’re ready to use it. One of the things that really sets X-Launcher apart is the fact that you can have multiple launchers in the same directory. Just rename the X-launcher.ini file and the X-launcher.exe to any name you wish (just as long as both have the same file name) and you can put a second set of exe/ini files with a different set of names in the same directory together. Why would you do this? Well, for one, this allows you to run multiple versions of a program with wildly different configurations. Another thing this buys you (and more relevant to this discussion) is the ability to launch different WebRunner apps portably.

Normally if you launch a program you can pass it options through command line switches. If you’re using another program to launch the application you want to run, then you don’t usually have the option of passing switches to the second program from the first. With X-Launcher, these switches are built into the configuration file.

The default configuration file that comes with X-Launcher is loaded with information on feature settings, but it’s also a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, if you run X-launcher.exe with no like-named ini file, it will create it’s own, scaled down X-launcher.ini. This configuration file is a heck of a lot easier to read!

There are several application variables that can be defined, the most important one being the application name. This will eventually point to folder names and the application itself. Here’s the contents of a X-launcher.ini for a webapp with included explanations for most settings:

wikipedia.ini

[Setup]
AppName=WebRunner
;Application name, this will also be used below as the
;name of some of the folders.

[FileToRun]
PathToExe=$AppName$\$AppName$.exe
;This is the name and path to the file you're trying to
;launch.
WorkingDir=%HOME%
;This is the name of the directory which will be used
;by the program as it's working directory.
Parameters= -webapp wikipedia@luckydisasters.com
;List of any parameters to pass to the application, in
;this case we're telling WebRunner to load the webapp
;"wikipedia@luckydisasters.com"

[Environment]
HOME=$HOME$\$AppName$
;This folder will be used to save any user specific file
;information - like the Mozilla profiles folder.
USERPROFILE=%HOME%
;As you can see I've used the same folders for all the
;programs files, this will make it a lot easier later if we
;want to see what the program is doing or make
;changes.
PATH=%PATH%;@ScriptDir@
;This adds the @ScriptDir@ variable to the system
;path used by the application

[Functions]
DirCreate=%HOME%
;if this folder doesn't exist when you start the
;program, it will created. You can place other
;functions here as well if you need them.

[Options]
;These settings are other X-launcher application
;options, such as showing a splash screen and
;what not, feel free to make changes, but these
;should be fine as is
DeleteTemp=true
MultipleIstances=true
FixAppData=false
RunWait=true
ShowSplash=true
WriteLog=false

[SplashScreen]
;This section allows you to add a custom splash
;screen and sets the length of time the splash
;screen is shown. Leave the Image and Title blank
;for X-launcher defaults. The image path (as well
;as all paths in this ini file) are relative to the
;current location of the ini/exe files for the
;X-launcher app.
Image=
Title=
TimeOut=1500

Download the Wikipiedia X-launcher files here:
Wikipedia X-launcher

7-Steps

What I’ve done to use the above webapp portably is as follows (assume that the USB drive/portable device is drive letter “X”):

1. Make sure you have WebRunner and the Wikipedia.webapp installed.
2. Create a folder under “X:\PortableApps\” (or where ever you store your portable applicaitons) called “X-WebRunner” (“X:\PortableApps\X-WebRunner”)
3. Copy the “C:\Program Files\WebRunner” folder to “X:\PortableApps\X-WebRunner” (“X:\PortableApps\X-WebRunner\WebRunner”)
4. Copy the wikipedia.exe and the wikipedia.ini files into “X:\PortableApps\X-Webrunner”
5. Run the Webrunner.exe, this will create the user profile you’ll need to copy your webapp into
6. Now copy your webapp folder from your profile folder on your hard drive usually located about here:
   “C:\Documents and Settings\YOURUSERNAME\Application Data\WebRunner\Profiles\RANDOMSTRING.default\webapps\WEBAPPNAME”
   to your new profile folder on your portable device:
   “X:\PortableApps\Application Data\WebRunner\Profiles\NEWRANDOMSTRING.default\webapps\WEBAPPNAME“
7. Last step, start the wikipedia.exe file again, this will start the webapp that you’ve copied.

My “X-WebRunner” install:

Now you can start moving your webapps over and making X-launcher.exe and X-launcher.ini files for each one, the only line in the ini file that needs to be changed for each is “Parameters“, which gets changed to the webapp folder name for each webapp. So basically all you have to do is copy the original wikipedia.ini file, rename it and change the Parameters setting.

Next I’ll have to configure Plain Old Webserver USB (POWUSB) to run with X-launcher. Then I can carry around a nice little XUL Webserver!

Links:

winPenPack
X-Launcher download
My Wikipedia X-launcher configuration
My Wikipedia.webapp Bundle

The New Zealand government has put the review process of it’s Police Act, which is coming up for review, onto the web in wiki-format! They’ve invited not only the New Zealand public to edit and make comments, but to also upload their own versions if they’d like.

This is one of the things that is so great about the internet! The freedom that it creates and the openness it promotes are paramount and need to be protected!

I just hope that all the people of New Zealand have at least access to the internet.

“Fantom Drives G-Force MegaDisk 1TB 7200RPM USB 2.0 – External Hard Drive $269.95”

Yes, you read that right, 1TB for 269.95! Unbelievable, but true. The price of external storage keeps getting lower and lower as storage capacity keeps going up. Wonder how long it will take for other terabit drives to come out, and for multi-terabit drives to follow?

Anywho, checkout iLikeCheapStuff.com, you won’t be dissatisfied.

“Download Bonus! Get a FREE TV show download when you buy any DVD. Must redeem within 24 hours of DVD purchase. See details. “

Following the link to Amazon Unbox you get the details:

“This month, if you purchase any DVD on Amazon.com you will receive a $1.99 instant rebate on a purchase or rental through Amazon Unbox, our video download store. You need to redeem this rebate within 24 hours of purchasing your DVD. Because most of our TV downloads are available for purchase for just $1.99, you’ll be able to purchase a TV show FREE. If you prefer, purchase or rent a higher priced video download and receive a $1.99 discount. Just purchase any video download and we will automatically deduct $1.99 from the price. For more details on how to take advantage of this offer, see below. To begin shopping for your TV show, go to the Amazon Unbox video download store. “

There you have it. Amazon has 1¢ TV show downloads!

As long as you live in the US.

And, you only get one per purchase.

And, there’s a limit of one per customer.

Oh, and Amazon can cancel this at any time.

UPDATE!! 070219
Well, that didn’t take long. I checked back on this offer this morning and it seems like the promotion information line is still present for some DVDs, but not for others. When you find a “Download Bonus” promotion link, it no longer displays any information on the promotion. Guess they exercised their right to end the promotion after they figured out they’re literally giving away (without gaining any revenue from DVD sales) videos!