Open Office Thinstall download 45% smaller than PAF version

Message

grannyGeek · #1 Post by **grannyGeek** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:27 pm

Not sure if this is an appropriate post - please delete if not.

The Thinstall site free demos page
https://thinstall.com/sales/demo.php
offers a Thinstalled version of Open Office, which is only 115 mb when installed, compared to my PortableApps version which is approx 200 mb.

So if you are counting the megabytes on your drive, the thinstall version might be worth a look. As far as I can tell, the download has no "hooks" attached, just seems to be offered for folks to check out how thinstall works.

EDITED TITLE --
ooOOOoops - typo ---
45%, not 85%
That is, 85 mb smaller!
sorry about that....

Zach Thibeau · #2 Post by **Zach Thibeau** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:02 pm

Well funny thing is that the new OpenOffice Portable by John Haller is now down to 80megs Now lets see if thinstall can beat that

denash1 · #3 Post by **denash1** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:19 am

are those thinstall programmes really freeware? as I have seen they are payware....

rilwis · #4 Post by **rilwis** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:28 pm

But when running thinstalled apps, it's unzipped and it writes settings into

.

grannyGeek · #5 Post by **grannyGeek** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:44 pm

@ thibeaz --- Maybe I am installing the PAF version in a different way than you?
I recently downloaded and installed from PortableApps.com John Haller's version OO.o 2.04 -
ZIP size is 65 mb.
Unpacked and installed file size is 169 mb.
Actual "Size On Disk" is 225 mb. (that is, the actual storage size used, not file-size.)

My thinstall version is 115 mb file size AND "size on disk".

@denash1 --- Thinstall itself (the application that *creates* the virtual wrapper for the specific app) is payware, starts at around $5,000 USD

It's really intended for corporate use to deploy software to end-users.
But they are offering as a free demo the "Thinstalled" version of Open Office.

EDIT ADDED --- they also have a thinstalled version of Firefox.
Does that tempt you?

@ rilwis -- not sure what you mean. I haven't been able to find any registry entries or files created by the thinstall version, except the Most Recently Used registry writes.
What did you find? please post back.

Zach Thibeau · #6 Post by **Zach Thibeau** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:02 am

@GrannyGeek
No I just use high compression on my usb stick using upx and other hacks I know

grannyGeek · #7 Post by **grannyGeek** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:06 pm

I might try that, but I saw comments somewhere that upx compression can slow down the app --- do you find that to be the case? Or is that only with *some* apps?

If it does slow down, how much?

(yep, I'm nosy, but that's how I learn stuff)

Andre · #8 Post by **Andre** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:49 pm

Thinstall creates a sandbox. The default address is:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Thinstall

You can see the virtual reg data there.

But it depends on which build options you use in the .ini. - if it's WriteOnly or Merged. Read more at their site (btw, well worth reading through the documentation - it really looks like they have hit on a successful solution here)

https://thinstall.com/help/index.php?isolationmodes.htm
https://thinstall.com/help/index.php?pa ... format.htm

(ahh ... it would be so nice to see and entire OS bundled as a one click portable system with it's own built in mini VM player)

grannyGeek · #9 Post by **grannyGeek** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:02 am

@ andre -
ah, ok, I see what you mean! It is so obvious now that I know it's there, I don't know how I missed that when I was checking!

I can forsee some entrepreneurs offering custom Thinstalls of users' own software --- I would be willing to pay $25 to give someone, for example, my Paint Shop Pro cd, and get back a virtualized version.

My greatest interest in all this portable stuff is the "no-installation" aspect. Stealth is my least concern.
I would love to have my entire software collection available to run from portable drive or cdrom, or drag&drop to the hard-drive, and ready to go!
I'm already 90% there, but still have three big apps that will need guru's attention (and might not be possible at all!) And since it took me a year to learn PaintShop, I am just not ready to start over again with a new graphics learning curve.

But enough babbling....

cmmehl · #10 Post by **cmmehl** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:43 am

Does anybody else have this issue when running one of the thinstalled OO-apps?

As long as it is running, I can't start any other program. Calls are put on hold. For example, if I start an explorer session with Windows-E, nothing happens, but as soon as I close down OOWrite (or any other), the explorer window pops up.

Beside, it sucks to have to agree to the EULA on each new computer you run these progs, but mercily this info seems to be written to the thinstall.ini exclusively.

Cheers
Chris

Zach Thibeau · #11 Post by **Zach Thibeau** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:25 am

grannyGeek wrote:I might try that, but I saw comments somewhere that upx compression can slow down the app --- do you find that to be the case? Or is that only with *some* apps?

If it does slow down, how much?

(yep, I'm nosy, but that's how I learn stuff)

No GrannyGeek it really doesn't slow the app down at all rather the opposite in my experiences in using it. The only real problem is that you have to find the right compression or if you compress it to the max your executable may or may not run at all.

Andre · #12 Post by **Andre** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:21 am

cmmehl wrote:As long as it is running, I can't start any other program. Calls are put on hold. For example, if I start an explorer session with Windows-E, nothing happens, but as soon as I close down OOWrite (or any other), the explorer window pops up.

Have you got Process Explorer there? Have look at what is happening. Could it be your AV ... ?

cmmehl · #13 Post by **cmmehl** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:05 am

I have checked it with process explorer, and none of the sorts. happens on two different computers the same way. It's even impossible to save a document - the program freezes when I try to select a folder to save to.

Now it seems I'm the only one having these issues - maybe I have downloaded a faulty version? Can anyone confirm to actually having *used* the thinstalled OO successfully (I mean not just downloaded and saved on the stick

...)?

It's a pity, because this version loads much faster than the Haller version.

Waiting for more feedback, cheers
Chris

grannyGeek · #14 Post by **grannyGeek** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:56 pm

I just typed my message in OO thinstall Writer to copy and paste to this post.
Meanwhile, I opened and closed Outlook, Windows Explorer, multiple instances of Internet Explorer 6, MS Office components, notepad, also created and saved some test documents in all different apps. No problems.
This pc has Norton antivirus, at home I have Avast, they haven't flagged anything on this app.

Maybe your download got corrupted somehow?

Try another download, and if that doesn't work, I will post a link for my copy.

m^(2) · #15 Post by **m^(2)** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:22 am

cmmehl wrote:I have checked it with process explorer, and none of the sorts. happens on two different computers the same way. It's even impossible to save a document - the program freezes when I try to select a folder to save to.

Now it seems I'm the only one having these issues - maybe I have downloaded a faulty version? Can anyone confirm to actually having *used* the thinstalled OO successfully (I mean not just downloaded and saved on the stick ...)?

It's a pity, because this version loads much faster than the Haller version.

Waiting for more feedback, cheers
Chris

I also tried and it seemed that everything was ok.
But don't use this version. Everything you try to save in some dirs (Program Files, possibly some other) goes to OpenOffice_temp dir

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Open Office Thinstall download 45% smaller than PAF version

Open Office Thinstall download 45% smaller than PAF version

Well

strange behaviour

Re: strange behaviour