Hi DC-Folks,
If you are in need to distribute and/or use a full website or web application that runs offline directly from a CD or USB-Thumbdrive without installation on the local computer, there are a lot of such standalone webservers out there.
But today i stumbled upon a new "product" that was new to me and looks very interesting:
Server2Go (
http://www.server2go-web.de/index.html).
Server2Go v 1.3.0 is based on WampOnCD and extends it with features that Wamp is lacking. It uses Apache 1.3.35 (there is a version for Apache 2.0.58 in experimental state too) provides access to PHP 5.1.4, SQLite and MySQL 4.1.20.
The user of the CD only needs a browser installed on the local PC. And for donators there is even a very small, simple browser available that can be put on the CD too, so nothing has to be installed on the local PC. This simple browser has no controls and no possibility to enter the url or use back/forward functionality. So you have full control over the user actions from within your application and makes the usage of your app for the user very simple.
Oh, and if i forgot to mention
: Of course Server2Go is FREE for non commercial use and Donationware for commercial use and people that want to donate. Donators, the author suggests a donation of only Euro 10,00, get an user id and password for accessing some non-public pages of the site with some more programs that can be used to add more whistles and bells to Server2Go or to make it more easier to configure and build your customized version of Server2Go.
From the authors website:
What is Server2Go
Server2Go is a Webserver that runs out of box without any installation. That means it is a webserver that can run directly from cdrom, usb stick or from any folder on harddisk. Server2Go allows you to create a standalone working web site or PHP application on a CD-ROM. Server2Go was primary developed for the usage on CD-ROM but there is no problem use it from other drives too. Using a web browser, a user can run php programs as well as view html files on the CD-ROM. He only need to insert a CD with Server2Go under the supported Windows operations systems. The server starts automaticly and opens a browser with the Website of the CD-ROM.
Server2Go was build to replace a tool called WampOnCD that lacks some important features and isn't activly developed.
Server2Go supports PHP5, SQLite and MySQL.
Features
* Free! No royalties
* Complete WAMPP Server
* Runs directly from CD-ROM, USB Stick or Harddisk without installation
* Full featured webserver (based on apache)
* PHP 5.1.4 support with many extensions installed (i.e. gd)
* Supports SQLite databases
* Running on all Windows Win 98 and newer
* Support for MySQL Databases
* Supports many PHP extensions (GD-Lib, PDO...) by default
* Support for Perl 5.8
Hope this will be interesting for some of you.
Greetings
JoTo
