Rev's Portability

[Robert John Warren]

One of Rev's great characteristics is its portability. A Rev standalone 
doesn't need a setup. If you create an app in Windows, you can easily 
load up the same project in Macintosh, create a new standalone, and 
provided no adjustments to the handling of the file system are needed, 
the app will run just as well on Mac as it does on Windows. Great!

But, to use a phrase I know Dan loves, there is a fly in the ointment. 
The Windows file system is different to the Macintosh file system is 
different to the Linux file system is different to the ..... So if your 
app makes heavy use of the file system, to run it anywhere, you either 
have to make it detect and adjust to the specific operating system it is 
running on, or you have to produce different versions of the app for use 
on different operating systems. Damn!

Please correct me if I am wrong. One very easy way around this problem 
is to use Linux. And only Linux. You don't need to install Linux on your 
HD, or Rev/Linux for that matter. Get yourself a pendrive. If you want 
to, you can get one with Linux (e.g. Mandriva) already installed on it. 
Personally, I prefer to install my own version of Puppy Linux on the 
pendrive. It is so easy that even I can do it very quickly with no 
hassle at all. Just follow the simple instructions at the Puppy site. So 
now you can carry the operating system, Rev/Linux and your apps around 
in your pocket. And you really do only have to create a single version 
of your app. By this method, Rev is not "cross-platform", it is the 
operating system itself which is "cross-computer"!

Strangely, a great number of quite modern computers cannot be booted 
directly from the USB device. In practice, though, this problem is very 
small. In Puppy, it takes about 1 minute to produce a fat16 diskette for 
Windows. Use this to boot your pendrive. In other pre-prepared systems 
(e.g. Mandriva) you can create a CD to do the boot (possibly for 
Macintosh too, I can't quite remember).

For further info you might like to visit http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Regards to all,
Bob Warren