Run MP without installing a thing - It works (1 Viewer)

[BennieBoy]

Hi again,

I just stumbled onto a piece of software where you can encapsulate everything you need for running an application without installation. It is called Thinstall and I used MP to try it out.

With the result, you can run MP:
- Without installation of the .NET framework
- Without the installation of ffdshow
- Without installation of MP itself
A fresh installed XP or Vista will do fine (probably W2000 and W2003 will do fine too)

It will run without any modification of your system from:
- CD/DVD
- USB-stick
- Network share
- Even from your harddisk

Unfortunately I am not able to post the executable.
So I only can post the success.

Greetz,
Ben

 

[shacknasty]

if you are using thinstall or project north star you might want to check the license details before you provide links to your exe. as far as im aware you are NOT allowed to distribute thinstalled executables built with an evaluation or developer version of the software.

edit: just downloaded and had a look. you really need to remove this post asap cause its blatantly obvious what release of thinstall you used for this!

ps, it also doesnt actually work, you might need to check some of the isolation settings in the build ini file.

Perhaps a guide on how to package a thinstalled version of MP using the latest publicly obtainable beta 2 build of project northstar would be more appropriate.

 

[Marcusb]

Sorry BennieBoy, I removed the link until I can get some more information on whether it breaks any forum rules.

I can't download the exe to check for myself, since I have limited net at the moment, but am reading up on the details of distributing exe's created with trial versions of thinstal at the moment.
I'll re-instate the link if all turns out ok, but I'm afraid I doubt that will be the case.
Please feel free to give any justifications if you feel this is in error.

Regards,
Marcus.

 

[Marcusb]

Hi BennieBoy,
It seems the version of thinstall you used was a craked downloaded version.
Sorry but the link has to stay removed.

I didn't delete the post, because I think you are on a good idea and I am hoping someone may be inspired to do the same with the required thinstall version or you may have access to this yourself.

Thank you for your efforts but please bear in mind for next time that using illeagal software may get the project in trouble.

Again, if I am mistaken and the version you used is a legitimate version, then contact me via PM or post here and we can resolve this.

Thanks,
Marcus.

 

[PHansen]

This sounds like an interesting idea, will it work with different TV tuners on a different machine? If so this is something i think i'll investigate a bit further.

 

[shacknasty]

You can grab the public beta 2 of project north star from the vmware site at the moment. Exes will work for 60 days I think!

It really is a great application, although ive never managed to get tv server working properly under it. In this new version you can share resources between thinstalled executables. eg you can package .net as an independant exe so that you no longer have to package the framework within every exe.

 

[BennieBoy]

PHansen,

I think Thinstall is better suited for the distribution of the Client and not the server part.
The reason for this is that the client is, as I can see it for now, is hardware independent while the server part isn't.

Startup costs are quite High (€ 3500,-).
Afterwards, each PC where you use the packaged software will cost about $13,-. (you can package as much software as you like for a specific PC), so if you repackage an update of software for the same set of PCs, you do not have to pay again.

Greetz,
Ben

 

[4Fred]

Anyone have instructions how to use ThinApp (previously named thinstall) with MP?
I want codecs and things inside the packadge, just one .exe or .msi to distribute to clients that is correctly configured with some settings.
My basic thoughts is kind of like this...
Start with a clean XP, start the capture.
Install .NET
Install codecs
Install MP
Configure MP
Finelize the capture
Build the application
Done.
One big app containing it all with our settings.

At work we use ThinApp for some small business critical applications, but we are free to use it for everything on licensed computers. Up next is the possibility to play TV, Movie clips and picture slides at the different reception areas.
The basic setup we want is a small computer in "kiosk mode" with isolated applications, MP being one of them.

I can see that some of you have played around with this a bit, but it was some time ago and and not much info about it... so anyone?

 

[BennieBoy]

I did exactly what you described, but only with Thinstall.
Last time I used ThinApp it was even easier to do all those things (I created an package for Office (very nice)).

So, when you follow the steps above, you should be able tocreate a portable MP.
As you already said, use a new install of XP to start with.

Greetz,
Ben

 

[4Fred]

I gave it a testrum and it works!
With compression the application ended up at 93 MB, I know that there is some $uninstall crap in there that I can clean out. This was just a testrun, "proof of concept" if you like. This is sweeeet

One of the main things when we have looked at different solutions for this type of setup have been simple management and setup management for people out in the reception area, these people don't know computers and not many at work know anything about this stuff. They where more or less ready to buy a solution from another company for more than $15 000 for five display areas. Their requirements are fairly simple.

Display a pitcure slideshow from a specific folder, people adding/removing pictures should be able to do this from a network share and never touch the actual displaysystem.
Display a collection of movie clips from a specific folder, in looping or at random.
Display one TV channel in all five places at the same time.
Maybe in the future play music (for some reason)
MP will do this nicely

I will simply build the application, remove all the other stuff from the menus so they only see what they need. Pre-configure it to talk to our soon-to-be TV-server and network shares containing the stuff they need and let them run it as a test for a few days.


For all you people who dont know what ThinApp is and what it does, Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
You probably have heard of packing applications to .msi files, doing silent installation and trying to use scripts and stuff to install the application pre-configured for the enduser. This sometimes work and sometimes not... and managing the application when it is installed suck most of the time.
Computers or users somehow screw things up, settings change and you have no idea what have happened, dependencies with .DLL files and other things change in the computer when hotfixes/servicepacks are added, applications are installed or upgraded and one of your applications all of the sudden don't work anymore. Troubleshooting things like that can take hours, or even days...

With ThinApp I can put everything in to a virtual bubble and just run the .exe file, and inside this file is the area where the application lives with all the stuff the application need, like .net and codecs and all that cool stuff that makes MP great Yes that's true, I don't even need .NET framework installed on the computer where I run MP, it's already in the bubble, so MP have access to it! This goes for codecs and all that other stuff too! I even start the configuration program and make all the selections I need to make to actually run MP and test that everything works when things work and settings are ok I compile it to an .exe, and my settings are still there!
But hey folks, it don't stop there, If I want I can allow users to change things inside MP, change skin or whatever they want to do, and when they have screwed things up I just delete their settings (just a couple of files) and we are back to my default settings when they start the application again - how sweet is this? No more "I have to re-install cuz I screwed up some settings". I'm going to place the .exe file on a network share, use a startup script to copy it to the client computers, so if I need to upgrade to a later version I just create an .exe of this and replace the file at one location and ALL computers running this application will run the new application after next reboot.

ThinApp is a commercial product and is owned by VMware, it is waaayyy to expensive for home use but for a company worth every buck! So if you are looking for something like this in your company above is what I believe to be a good way to go.
And hey, don't try to do this with the TV-server installation, I cant imagine that would work to well...