Recently, I ordered four 32 MB USB drives. It was one of those impulse buys because they were so cheap. Once they arrived, I then thought, “OK. Now what?” So, I thought I would give these drives away in a contest!
The purpose of this contest is to come up with the four best, unique ideas for a small 32 MB USB drive. The four best ideas will have their ideas created by me on one of the USB drives and mailed out to them! The USB drive system will also be named after the creator. Here are the rules:
- Everything that you want to use for the USB drive must fit into the 32 MB drive.
- The drive can be used in conjunction with software installed on the computer as long as the software either comes with a default installation of the OS or can be installed from the USB drive.
- Any software used on the drive must be available as either freeware, open source, or something that I could cook up quickly with AutoIt.
- You may enter as often as you wish but each time must be with a unique idea.
- All components required for the USB drive must be described in detail.
- Only entries submitted in the comments at http://www.dailycupoftech.com/32-mb-usb-drive-contest/ between the dates of December 4 and 8, 2006 will be eligible.
- Winners will be selected by votes collected between the dates of December 11 to 15, 2006.
- Winners will be contained via e-mail for the mailing address so that they can receive their prize.
So, put on your thinking caps and lets see what you can come up with! Good luck!
Contest Submissions
Here are the project ideas that have been submitted up to now.
1. Web Server System
alforaba writes:
Not my own idea, but it serves the contest (almost);
The (dutch) site describes the bundling of Apache, MySQL, PHP & PHPMyAdmin on an USB-stick. There is an english version + manual,
that says you need 33,3 Mb (so almost).
There you have your travelling design-environment.
I think I could get this going using a few tweaks I am aware of. Excellent entry!
2. Application Control
This is one of my ideas so if it end up in the top four, it will not count (but I will still build it).
I want to build a system that monitors whether or not a specific USB drive with a key file exists on the system. If it does, everything runs normally. If it does not, then specified applications will not be allowed to run.
This could be a good way to monitor or restrict access to things like web browsers or mail clients.
3. Remote Access System
Steve suggests the following:
How about a drive which includes the ultra vnc single click setup with the encryption addon to allow end users to connect for product support. This could also include the help manual for the product, hashcalc or the like to calculate checksums, an upload utility (or a link to the upload page on a website) and a keystore for the encryption keys. This would dovetail nicely with the idea to utilize the drive to control licensed access.
This sounds like a cool idea. But, Steve, I’m going to need more information about the upload utility and the keystore as they sound like they may be application specific. Send me an e-mail and I can get some more details.
4. CD Burning System
PJ would like to be able to burn CDs from her USB drive:
Well I think a usb with some cd burning software on it would be great. Maybe cd xp burner portable. Alot of times people only have lite versions on there systems and if you need to burn from it this would work well. And if possible throw in SIW, great tool for seeing what is really behind the scene of your computer. It can tell you more than you know.
I don’t know if CDBurnerXP Pro comes in a portable version but I do know of other burning software that does. There are some other utilities that I would probably add to this system as well.
PJ responded with:
How about Deepburner portrable instead of the cd xp burner.
Sounds goof good (sorry for the bad typo) to me!
As for SIW, it is a great tool but I do not think it fits into the whole CD burning theme but it could easily fit into a different system (nudge, nudge, wink,wink!)
5. Web Developer System
Steve comes in with his second submission, a web developer system. Steve suggests:
How about a web designer/developer key with nvu, filezilla, notepad++ some open source paint or graphics program, denim a sitemap tool, link checker and portable firefox with the web developer plugin
Nice idea. I think that I may even be able to expand on it a bit with a few other tools I have found along the way. Good one, Steve!
6. PC Repair System
Decoy want to fix computers with his system:
I was thinking a PC Repair/Toolkit would be nice. There are a variety of free and/or open-source tools for file recovery, anti-virus, anti-spyware, system info & system maint.
Always a handy thing to have. Decoy, if you could get a list of applications that will run from a USB drive (with links if possible), that would be very helpful.
7. Wiki System
Chris wants his wiki to go where he goes:
You could put a wiki on a stick..the required web and database servers installed, configured and run under various versions of Windows in 10 minutes after downloading 2 files totalling 7MB in size.
Because the installed and configured software and databases use less than 21MB of storage, everything fits on 32MB
Believe it or not, I actually worked on a variation of this a few months ago so I know it will work. Good job, Chris.
8. Traveler’s Companion System
PJ’s second contribution plans to help those away from home:
WELL THOUGHT ABOUT ANOTHER SUITE TIM, MAYBE FOR THE TRAVELER, HOW ABOUT SUNBIRD PORTABLE FOR A SCHEDULER AND NOTETAB LITE AND A LITTLE PHOTO DISPLAY EDITOR TO SEE THE FAMILY WHILE ONE IS ON THE ROAD. THE SCHEDULER WOULD BE HANDY FOR THE TRAVELER AND NOTETAB IS GREAT FOR ANYTHING AND THE PHOTO EDITOR JUST TO SEE THE KIDS OR THE FAMILY POOCH FOR THE HOMESICK TRAVELER.
You’re coming through loud and clear, PJ. This should be easy to set up.
9. Graphics System
In light of the fact that Steve could not get everything into the web developer system, he suggests another system:
Since we can’t fit this on the web app drive How about a graphics app key with gimp portable, paintbox and snico edit
There are a few others that I can thing of adding to that list. It sounds like a good one.
10. Audio System
Five minutes after Steve submitted the graphics system (literally), he came up with this little gem:
How about an audio/podcast key with audacity, winlame, xmplay/winamp, mp3 direct cut, and mp3 bookhelper
Again, little pain for big gain!
11. Gamer System
Moshe is all about getting into the game:
How about a gamer USB key? Ya know, you go to your college professor brother-in-law, and all he’s got are Solitaire and Minesweeper. Put a couple of older, classic, free games, like Doom, , Nethack, Tetris, and so on. It should have automatic backup capability, so you can backup your saved games, and the autorun file should bring up a list of all the games after a gamer-appropriate splash screen. Just for fun, there should be some retro MIDI 80s arcade game music, to listen to while in middle of Nethack. If there’s still room, (I know I’m pushing it) you can have an installation of Firefox portable with a bookmark list of sites to waste time on (www.bored.com, www.cruel.com, or, failing that, an html doc that lists them all for your browsing pleasure.
Very cool idea. I think the hard part will be finding appropriate games that can reside on the USB drive.
12. Internet Security System
Matthew wants to keep his kids safe on the Internet:
My idea: It is maybe a combination of the second item in the overview-list (the app-stick, apps don’t run if stick is not present).
How about a stick that protects kids online in multiple ways. You did a piece on content filtering not so long ago and I am now hooked to the freeware/opensource(?/?) app called NAOMI.
Hand out this stick to a kid and it can only use a (specific) computer online with the stick plugged in.
Filtering/protection I would like to see in a stick:
* Time-keeping: how long is the kid online, what apps are used.
* Time-limiting: passing the allowed time-online a day kills the connection…
* Time-focusing: Kid can only go online between certain hours.
* Regular filtering: Adult/Violence/Drugs/Dating etc.
* App-limiting: Kid can not (or limited) run certain apps/websites
* Privacy filtering and auto blocking giving out personal info.
* Easy limiting specific sites: ( I know of a familiy who wanted to kick any access to the website Runescape.com because all three kids got heavily addicted…)
I know some of these are pretty drastic but so is some kids online behaviour
A very good idea, Matthew. If you could send me some links to some of this software so that it can be easily integrated into a system, that would be very helpful.
13. Crucial File and Setting Backup System
Mr. Steve (not to be confused with Steve) wants to have his files and settings wherever he goes:
How about a Sync Toy, or something like that, where when you insert your thumb drive, it auto syncs your documents, ie bookmarks or something like that, I hate it when I am at work, and I need a document at home… so I am trying to come up with a way to do that.
With only 32 MB of disk space, you would not be able to carry around a lot but you sure could keep some critical files and settings on the drive. Any particular settings that you are interested in, Mr. Steve? Let me know.
14. Video Encoding System
Video work would be a cool use of a 32 MB drive. This is what Phobos would like to see:
I’m not sure if someone had this idea before, but what about an portable video encoding system? It could contain e.g. VLC as player, TMPGenc as MPEG encoder, etc.
To be honest I dont know if this would work on a USB drive, but at least it’s an idea.
Well, Phobos, if we can’t get everything on one drive, we can sure get some of it. Good idea!
15. Shortcut Systems
Plasma wants an entire system dedicated to shortcuts. Here’s his idea:
I got a good idea…. heck, i even tried to do it myself already, haha.
I know its been mentioned above a few places in certain ways, but how about a drive made STRICTLY for shortcut purposes. And they could be integrated into the Windows popup menu through use of the autorun.inf file. Look at the screenshot of what i tried to put together already…
http://loader.schwippy.com/schwippy_drive.gif
Clicking the links prefixed with ‘web’ obviously launch the default internet viewer with whatever web page is in the inf file. Clicking the link prefixed with ‘run’ will launch a program. (I have it launch a pc fixing program)
The real beauty is if there was an actual program that was added to the drive that would parse and be able to manipulate that autorun.inf file so that it would be extremely easy to add shortcuts and the likes to the file. I did the above by hand, but i would have loved a program that did it all for me. Think about it…. it would keep an entire bookmark list all in the autorun.inf file!
A pretty cool idea but I think it could be an addition to on existing system. But I world be wrong! I’ll make it a part of the contest and let the readers decide!
16. PDA System
Karen would like to replace her PDA with a USB drive:
I think a USB stick would be perfect for a calendar and address book. Kdepim 225 For Memory Stick weighs in right at 30MB and syncs with both Outlook and KOrganizer.
With about 2 MB free for some tweaks, this looks to be a good one! Thanks Karen!
17. Client Meeting System
Karen also suggests a system to help the on-site consultant:
I sometimes design websites for friends, and during the planning stages I may find myself at their computer looking at other websites they find attractive. While I would probably not to do any actual editing or coding at that time, a couple of tools could be handy to show the possibilities. I would probably like to have CSS Tab at less than 10MB along to give an idea of tab styling options and the concept of style sheets in general. Color Calculator at 868 KB would be indespensible for demonstrating color harmonies. website and download.
Like it or not, while I am there my friend will probably ask a specific question about her computer, and I will be glad I have SIW along at 1.20 MB for general process info, password recovery, and all kinds of odds and ends. At only 460kb Idisk does a great job of showing where all that disk space has gone.
Treeline at 10MB would be nice to have along for notes and also to import any CSV or XML files my friend might happen to have, and also to hold my bookmarks.
Any extra space could hold a pretty good sized photo.
Definitely aimed at the web/desktop consultant but a good idea none the less.
18. Bootable DOS System
Steve wants access to non-bootable systems:
Since a full bootsble copy of windows won’t fit and linux shouldn’t write ntfs disks, how about a dos bootable key with fdisk that could be used in an emergency (happened last week) to boot a floppyless laptop to the command line and copy a clean copy of the corrupted file to the harddrive might even make sense to include a memory test app to debug a bad memory chip
Definitely doable with room to spare!
19. Emulation System
Phobos is back, itching to play some games:
Another idea that just came into my mind would be a portable Commodore 64. There are several C64 emulators out there, would be nice having some of them on a USB drive. Even on a 32MB drive there would still be enough free space to store many disk images and maybe some tools to manage those.
If there is still some more free space you could add a SID-Player and many SID-tunes so you could always listen to the C64 music.
Of course something like this could be done for other systems as well, maybe Atari or Amiga, or even consoles like NES, SNES, etc.This idea is similar to Moshe’s Gamer System, but more focused on emulation. Therefore I don’t know if this idea will count for the contest.
Definitely a different concept than Moshe’s so I believe that it is a go! I think that I will focus on the C64 since it is the first one you mentioned but the other systems are all possibilities (but not as contest entries). Phobos, if you could get me some links, that would be really helpful!
20. PDA Emulation System
If Tom’s PDA goes belly up, he wants to be able to work with a virtual version of it:
PDA emulation software (Palm’s POSE in my case) and a batch file to copy the last sync’d data from your computer to the USB drive.
Useful if you need to run something that is only on the PDA.
Nice idea, Tom. Could you help me with come links? Thanks!
21. Mini Linux Bootable Browser
xxFelixx has found the limits of my technical experience with his entry:
mini linux system bootable off the 32mb usb drive designed specifically for surfing the internet and maybe if there is enough space you could include a word processor like notepad or somthing
This would be awesome but if we are to make something like this, I’m going to need a lot of help. Just a warning that I may not be able to actually do this. (Actually, there is a pretty good chance I can’t do this but I would still be willing to ship you the USB drive!) But, I don’t want my lack of skills to be the reason that an entry is rejected. This is still a great idea.
22. Must Have Utilities System
OnePiece slips one in just in the nick of time:
-http://portableapps.com/apps/games/sudoku_portable
Sudoku Portable
0.4MB
Sudoku On The Go!-http://www.photofiltre.com/
Photo Filtre (install, then copy to folder of your choice)
I Think Under 3MB (approx: 2MB)
Photo Editing-http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html
Process Explorer (useful when CTRL+ALT+DEL is blocked)
1.5MB
Handy For Monitering what is happening-http://www.pegtop.de/start/
PSTART
Under 1MB (Approx: 0.5MB)
USB Launch Pad-http://www.opera-usb.com/operausben.htm
OPERA
Under 10MB (approx: 9MB)
Portable Web Browser–Some type of a small sized calendar/planner (under 5MB) from:
—http://www.portablefreeware.com-http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
Portable 7-Zip
2.1MB
7-Zip-ing On The Go!
I think that is a good one, OnePiece. You’re in!
23. Hardware Testing System
Our final entry is from Thierry:
And why not a mini system (linux, dos) and some free utilities to test screen, disk, memory, audio,benchmark,… of a second hand PC before purchase
Nice idea. I can probably put together the DOS version easier than the linux one but the linux version would be a very interesting challenge! Fire me off some links ASAP so that I can put together something useful.
Contest Entries Closed
We have 23 excellent contest entries! I think some are going to be more difficult than others to make, especially into 32 MB but it will be a very interesting challenge! I will not be accepting any more entries but feel free to continue adding links to applications that you want to see in each of these systems.
The voting for the 32 MB USB Drive Contest will begin on Monday. I am working on a page that will let everyone vote and also see what each of the projects is about. Each person will be able to vote once for one project. So, rally your friends and get as many votes as possible for your favorite system (This is so American Idol!)
I had someone ask if these projects were going to be made available to everyone once they are complete. My answer to that is, of course! I will work on them as I have time with priority given to the four winning systems. But, there are so many good ideas here that it will give me a lot to do over the next few months (years?).
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December 5th, 2006 at 5:12 am
So does this mean we make programs that will fit onto 32mb that have everyday functions?(notepad, e-mail)
OnePiece
December 5th, 2006 at 10:51 am
You can have whatever you want on the drive as long as it fits into 32 MB. I would suggest that putting notepad on the drive would not be a good use of space since notepad is pretty much on every windows system out there but maybe a notepad replacement would be a nice idea!
December 5th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
How about a drive which includes the ultra vnc single click setup with the encryption addon to allow end users to connect for product support. This could also include the help manual for the product, hashcalc or the like to calculate checksums, an upload utility (or a link to the upload page on a website) and a keystore for the encryption keys. This would dovetail nicely with the idea to utilize the drive to control licensed access.
Sorry for the duplicate post ut I originally posted in the comments of the original announcement not here.
December 5th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
Well I think a usb with some cd burning software on it would be great. Maybe cd xp burner portable. Alot of times people only have lite versions on there systems and if you need to burn from it this would work well. And if possible throw in SIW, great tool for seeing what is really behind the scene of your computer. It can tell you more than you know.
December 5th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
Have another idea, how about putting a FTP Client on a usb. There are a lot of freebies like filezilla or maybe bladeftp. This to me is a handy little piece of software to tote on a usb drive. But that is my thought.
December 5th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
PJ,
I’m looking for more a suite of applications with a theme behind them rather than just one application. I like the CD burning idea (I’m going to make it one of the entries) but the FTP client, while it may be a good addition to a system, I don’t think it would be enough to constitute a proper entry for the contest. Sorry.
But, I think with a bit of thought you could probably come up with a really great USB drive based system that could include the FTP client. Don’t give up!
Tim
December 5th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
How about a web designer/developer key with nvu, filezilla, notepad++ some open source paint or graphics program denim a sitemap tool, link checker and portable firefox with the web developer plugin
December 5th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
OK this is what I understand:
‘It can be any application’ ok i got that. But does it need to be 100% yours or are you allowed to find other small programs and use them in a ’suite’?
E.g: PortableApps.com suite base plus Portable 7-Zip…
If were allowed to do this please tell
December 5th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
OnePiece,
They do not need to be your applications that you created but they do need to revolve around a common theme. Take a look at the other submissions and you will get the idea.
Tim
December 6th, 2006 at 1:08 am
Ok got ya.
I am making a webdesigner page kit. I hope I am not realy copying the other guy but I do have some of the same apps. Hope it’s okay.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:16 am
So far:
7-Zip: If you own a 32 MB usb drive this is a good idea.
NVUPortable:Following my ‘webdesigner’ theme.
PortableApps suite: This is the base launcher. Has backup because you don’t want your website to go ‘BOOM’. Contatins the picture folder, for… well… pictures.Video folder for, i gues swf videos or normal mp4’s etc. Music for mp3 either for your webpage or for fun.
still working on imaging program. Any good you think?
Sorry for the big blob of writing.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:20 am
Sorry for the repitive post but am i alowed to comment on the others.
‘Steve Says:
December 5th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
How about a web designer/developer key with nvu, filezilla, notepad++ some open source paint or graphics program denim a sitemap tool, link checker and portable firefox with the web developer plugin’
Is this over 32 MB looks like to me. No i am not saying it is bad.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:36 am
OnePiece Entery No. 1
Web Designer 32MB Suite
APPS
7-Zip: Ziping on the go. Usefull for tiny (32MB) usb’s.
NVU Portab;e: Your ‘frontpage’ or “dreamweaver’ style, portable html editor.
PIXIA: Image editing (using other programs is suggested but this is only good one that fits)
Colour Wheel(named: Shockwave Flash): Find a colour on the colour wheel and it will give you its HTML code.
PortableApps Menu Base: A type of start menu. The ‘wiaac does nothing and not sure of PIXEP. It has Back-UP utilites.
———————————————————————-
Other stuff
-For storing some files that you might want to store, try going to esnips.com
———————————————————————-
Approx. used space: 25.8MB
Approx. free space: 4.2MB
Approx. total space: 30MB
(Again i do not own a 32MB USB, only guessing)
———————————————————————-
-Replace the launcher with PStart.
-Try Deleting some files (keep a backup)
-Zip files you don’t use often
-whatever else you can do…
———————————————————————-OnePiece
______________________________________________________________________
December 6th, 2006 at 8:26 am
Hey tim found a portable burner for the usb drive, How about Deepburner portrable instead of the cd xp burner.
December 6th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Sorry, OnePiece. Steve beat you to the punch. But, you have some great ideas (I’ve already looked at your other comments before I posted them). Would you be willing to let them stand along side Steve’s ideas?
If so, I will let the rest of your comments show. Otherwise, I won’t.
Don’t give up! You have done some excellent research and have some wonderful ideas. You think very much like I do when it comes to various ideas.
I look forward to your next submission.
Tim
December 6th, 2006 at 9:35 am
PJ,
Thanks for looking this up. I was looking at using it or one of the other ones out there.
Tim
December 6th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Steve,
OnePiece may have a point. How big do you estimate this will be and if it is over 32 MB, how to you think we can cut this down?
Tim
December 6th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
You could put a wiki on a stick..the required web and database servers installed, configured and run under various versions of Windows in 10 minutes after downloading 2 files totalling 7MB in size.
Because the installed and configured software and databases use less than 21MB of storage, everything fits on 32MB
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_on_a_stick
December 6th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
I was thinking a PC Repair/Toolkit would be nice. There are a variety of free and/or open-source tools for file recovery, anti-virus, anti-spyware, system info & system maint.
Do you need links to specific programs or just the general idea?
-Decoy
December 6th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Decoy,
The general concept is fine but the more information you can provide me with, the better. This way I do not have to do all of the dirty work myself.
That being said, you’ve got dibs on the PC Repair System in the contest.
Tim
December 6th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
WELL THOUGHT ABOUT ANOTHER SUITE TIM, MAYBE FOR THE TRAVELER, HOW ABOUT SUNBIRD PORTABLE FOR A SCHEDULER AND NOTETAB LITE AND A LITTLE PHOTO DISPLAY EDITOR TO SEE THE FAMILY WHILE ONE IS ON THE ROAD. THE SCHEDULER WOULD BE HANDY FOR THE TRAVELER AND NOTETAB IS GREAT FOR ANYTHING AND THE PHOTO EDITOR JUST TO SEE THE KIDS OR THE FAMILY POOCH FOR THE HOMESICK TRAVELER.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
I wiould probably lose filezilla since nvu can replace that functionality
December 6th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Ok on second thought the full version of portable FF requires 25 mmb so lets eliminate the browser and plugin and do nvu, filezilla, notepad ++, denim - since a browser is probably available on any machine not owned by a security agency. On a bigger key I would include the browser and portable gimp.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Thanks Tim.
I will try to get you a list, with links, for the apps that seem best suited to the 32MB size limit.
I am still researching it, but, hope to have it for you by tomorrow.
-Decoy
December 6th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Since we can’t fit this on the web app drive How about a graphics app key with gimp portable, paintbox and snico edit
December 6th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
How about an audio/podcast key with audacity, winlame, xmplay/winamp, mp3 direct cut, and mp3 bookhelper
December 6th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
How about a gamer USB key? Ya know, you go to your college professor brother-in-law, and all he’s got are Solitaire and Minesweeper. Put a couple of older, classic, free games, like Doom, http://compactiongames.about.com/library/free/bl_doom95_free.htm, Nethack, http://www.nethack.org/, Tetris, http://tetris.games-here.com/, and so on. It should have automatic backup capability, so you can backup your saved games, and the autorun file should bring up a list of all the games after a gamer-appropriate splash screen. Just for fun, there should be some retro MIDI 80s arcade game music, to listen to while in middle of Nethack. If there’s still room, (I know I’m pushing it) you can have an installation of Firefox portable with a bookmark list of sites to waste time on (www.bored.com, www.cruel.com, or, failing that, an html doc that lists them all for your browsing pleasure.
December 6th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
(OK, drop FF Portable - I didn’t realize it was so big. Just the html doc, then.)
December 7th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
My idea: It is maybe a combination of the second item in the overview-list (the app-stick, apps don’t run if stick is not present).
How about a stick that protects kids online in multiple ways. You did a piece on content filtering not so long ago and I am now hooked to the freeware/opensource(?/?) app called NAOMI.
Hand out this stick to a kid and it can only use a (specific) computer online with the stick plugged in.
Filtering/protection I would like to see in a stick:
* Time-keeping: how long is the kid online, what apps are used.
* Time-limiting: passing the allowed time-online a day kills the connection…
* Time-focusing: Kid can only go online between certain hours.
* Regular filtering: Adult/Violence/Drugs/Dating etc.
* App-limiting: Kid can not (or limited) run certain apps/websites
* Privacy filtering and auto blocking giving out personal info.
* Easy limiting specific sites: ( I know of a familiy who wanted to kick any access to the website Runescape.com because all three kids got heavily addicted…)
I know some of these are pretty drastic but so is some kids online behaviour
Do you thing! Good luck.
Matthew
December 7th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
If you need a smaller Portable Browser, try , Portable Opera, it weighs in at just under 7MB.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Ooops!! That last link was Opera USB, though the size is correct.
Here is the link for Portable Opera: Portable Opera Site
it weighs in at just under 4.5MB. It has the drawback, or advantage, of being more self contained. It is more difficult to add plug-ins and such to it.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Good addition, DecoyFlier.
December 7th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
How about a Sync Toy, or something like that, where when you insert your thumb drive, it auto syncs your documents, ie bookmarks or something like that, I hate it when I am at work, and I need a document at home… so I am trying to come up with a way to do that.
December 7th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Mr. Steve,
I’ve actually been working on something like this called BU-Stick. You plug the drive into your computer and it automatically backs up whatever you want on the system.
The only issue I would have with youor suggestion is that 32 MB is not a lot of data these days. But, if we were to aim for something relatively small such as your favorites, bookmarks, and some select documents, then 32 MB might fit the bill.
I’ll add this to the contest.
Tim
December 7th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
In case I run out of time, which seems to happen often, here is a link to many resources that might fit the bill for helping to create any of these projects… Wikipedia Portable Application List
I am still trying to pick out the best of the many portable tools I am playing with, for my suggested project.
December 7th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
I’m not sure if someone had this idea before, but what about an portable video encoding system? It could contain e.g. VLC as player, TMPGenc as MPEG encoder, etc.
To be honest I dont know if this would work on a USB drive, but at least it’s an idea.
Phobos
December 7th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
I was thinking of bookmarks.. or a particle folder.. but I have a folder on my desktop called notes and I would like it to be backed up everytime I insert my thumb drive so when I got home I have my folder called Notes.
December 7th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
I got a good idea…. heck, i even tried to do it myself already, haha.
I know its been mentioned above a few places in certain ways, but how about a drive made STRICTLY for shortcut purposes. And they could be integrated into the Windows popup menu through use of the autorun.inf file. Look at the screenshot of what i tried to put together already…
http://loader.schwippy.com/schwippy_drive.gif
Clicking the links prefixed with ‘web’ obviously launch the default internet viewer with whatever web page is in the inf file. Clicking the link prefixed with ‘run’ will launch a program. (I have it launch a pc fixing program)
The real beauty is if there was an actual program that was added to the drive that would parse and be able to manipulate that autorun.inf file so that it would be extremely easy to add shortcuts and the likes to the file. I did the above by hand, but i would have loved a program that did it all for me. Think about it…. it would keep an entire bookmark list all in the autorun.inf file!
December 7th, 2006 at 9:25 pm
I think a USB stick would be perfect for a calendar and address book. Kdepim 225 For Memory Stick weighs in right at 30MB and syncs with both Outlook and KOrganizer.
December 7th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
I sometimes design websites for friends, and during the planning stages I may find myself at their computer looking at other websites they find attractive. While I would probably not to do any actual editing or coding at that time, a couple of tools could be handy to show the possibilities. I would probably like to have CSS Tab at less than 10MB along to give an idea of tab styling options and the concept of style sheets in general. Color Calculator at 868 KB would be indespensible for demonstrating color harmonies. website and download.
Like it or not, while I am there my friend will probably ask a specific question about her computer, and I will be glad I have SIW along at 1.20 MB for general process info, password recovery, and all kinds of odds and ends. At only 460kb Idisk does a great job of showing where all that disk space has gone.
Treeline at 10MB would be nice to have along for notes and also to import any CSV or XML files my friend might happen to have, and also to hold my bookmarks.
Any extra space could hold a pretty good sized photo.
December 8th, 2006 at 12:40 am
Tim let others see it. Give me an idea that was my only ‘Good’ one.
ONEPIECE
December 8th, 2006 at 12:43 am
Only if this was a 1GB contest. Um how about inlcuding something like ‘Ceedo’ (it is my idea this time, don’t steal it anyobody)say if ceedo costs money would you buy it and then put it on? or atleast the trial. i was thinking ceedo (with install anything™)and instal a few everday app. you know your gaim & skype whatever fits. You can (i think) put gaim, skype, and some others without paying for install anything. and there are some games which also don’t require installAnythin™
Thats my second entry but i dont think the other one counts…
ONEPIECE
December 8th, 2006 at 12:44 am
Only if this was a 1GB contest. Um how about inlcuding something like ‘Ceedo’ (it is my idea this time, don’t steal it anyobody)say if ceedo costs money would you buy it and then put it on? or atleast the trial. i was thinking ceedo (with install anything)and instal a few everday app. you know your gaim & skype whatever fits. You can (i think) put gaim, skype, and some others without paying for install anything. and there are some games which also don’t require installAnythin
Thats my second entry but i dont think the other one counts…
ONEPIECE
December 8th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Here it is in more easy-ness
______________________________________________________________________
Ceedo (Power to go) [trial version is fine]
———————————————————————-
High Usage
———————————————————————-
-Gaim
-Skype
-Others
———————————————————————-Medium Usage
———————————————————————–WinRAR (Ceedo Version)
-What-ever is in the games section
-Some type of a web browser (Ceedo Version)
———————————————————————-
Low/Others
———————————————————————-
-An FTP client perhaps
-Get InstallAnything and install your own apps [45 day trial is good]
-Usb Searchers
-What ever i missed
———————————————————————-No, you don’t need everything basically take what you want
————————-OnePiece————————————-End
______________________________________________________________________At: Tim,
1. Does this entry count?
2. If i win, would i get payed version or trial)?
3. Do you want me to send you (e-mail attachment or other way) the complete package containing the ‘Web Designer 32MB Suite’?.
______________________________________________________________________THANKS
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\
December 8th, 2006 at 5:41 am
Since a full bootsble copy of windows won’t fit and linux shouldn’t write ntfs disks, how about a dos bootable key with fdisk that could be used in an emergency (happened last week) to boot a floppyless laptop to the command line and copy a clean copy of the corrupted file to the harddrive might even make sense to include a memory test app to debug a bad memory chip
December 8th, 2006 at 8:36 am
Another idea that just came into my mind would be a portable Commodore 64. There are several C64 emulators out there, would be nice having some of them on a USB drive. Even on a 32MB drive there would still be enough free space to store many disk images and maybe some tools to manage those.
If there is still some more free space you could add a SID-Player and many SID-tunes so you could always listen to the C64 music.
Of course something like this could be done for other systems as well, maybe Atari or Amiga, or even consoles like NES, SNES, etc.
This idea is similar to Moshe’s Gamer System, but more focused on emulation. Therefore I don’t know if this idea will count for the contest.
Phobos
December 8th, 2006 at 8:59 am
Sorry, OnePiece. Great idea but the contest requires only freeware or open source software. No trial versions allowed. But, if you can find an open source version of Creedo, then you are in business!
Tim
December 8th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Hi Tim,
You got the numbers wrong on the list, after 15 you started with 14 again. Currently it looks like this:
14. Video Encoding System
15. Shortcut Systems
14. PDA System
15. Client Meeting System
16. Bootable DOS System
Regarding the C64 system, I will get some links for you later today.
Phobos
December 8th, 2006 at 10:50 am
A variation on the PDA. An “Oops I broke my PDA”.
PDA emulation software (Palm’s POSE in my case) and a batch file to copy the last sync’d data from your computer to the USB drive.
Useful if you need to run something that is only on the PDA.
December 8th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Tim, here are some links for the C64 system:
WinVice (C64-Emulator):
http://www.viceteam.org/
Quick64! (Game QuickLaunch):
http://www.gamebase64.com/oldsite/quick64.htm
sidplay2/w (SID-Player):
http://www.gsldata.se/c64/spw/
And of course there is http://www.c64.com for the games, and http://www.hvsc.c64.org/ for the SID-tunes.
Even if it is not related to the C64, but DOSBOX (x86PC emulator) would also be a great addition to an emulation system: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net
Phobos
December 8th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
my idea:
mini linux system bootable off the 32mb usb drive designed specifically for surfing the internet and maybe if there is enough space you could include a word processor like notepad or somthing
December 8th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
Tim… Oh man!
Give me an idea…(you killed all my others.)
December 8th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
my idea:
a mini linux system bootable from the 32mb flash drive designed only to use the internet and maybe if there is room left on the drive you can include a word processor
December 8th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
um lets see. how aout a grpahics pack? Gimp Portable + 7zip + PStart
IS This VAILD!!!
Or what about a network security one with a port scanner + NMAP + PStart?
ONEPIECE
December 8th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Sorry, OnePiece. Steve beat you to the punch on the graphics one but the network security one is a great idea
and I’ve added it to the list!
Tim
December 8th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Did you edit that post? Thank for sugestion. *takes Tim out from ‘To Be Killed’ list and puts him in ‘Friends’.
December 8th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
I am no Network-Guru But you got my mind thinking.
______________________________________________________________________
Let see what i might be able to get…
-http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/gaim_portable
GAIM
10.2MB
-http://www.opera-usb.com/operausben.htm
OPERA
Under 10MB
-http://www.pegtop.de/start/
PSTART
Under 1MB
-http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html
Process Explorer (useful when CTRL+ALT+DEL is blocked)
1.5MB
-http://www.photofiltre.com/
Photo Filtre (install, then copy to folder of your choice)
I Think Under 3MB
-http://portableapps.com/apps/games/sudoku_portable
Sudoko Portable
0.4MB
______________________________________________________________________
Time to mkae something up.
ONEPIECE
December 8th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Draft Entry
______________________________________________________________________
-http://portableapps.com/apps/games/sudoku_portable
Sudoku Portable
0.4MB
Sudoku On The Go!
-http://www.photofiltre.com/
Photo Filtre (install, then copy to folder of your choice)
I Think Under 3MB (approx: 2MB)
Photo Editing
-http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html
Process Explorer (useful when CTRL+ALT+DEL is blocked)
1.5MB
Handy For Monitering what is happening
-http://www.pegtop.de/start/
PSTART
Under 1MB (Approx: 0.5MB)
USB Launch Pad
-http://www.opera-usb.com/operausben.htm
OPERA
Under 10MB (approx: 9MB)
Portable Web Browser
–Some type of a small sized calendar/planner (under 5MB) from:
—http://www.portablefreeware.com
-http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
Portable 7-Zip
2.1MB
7-Zip-ing On The Go!
______________________________________________________________________
So that equals
0.4+
2.0+
1.5+
0.5+
9.0+
5.0+
2.1
____
20.5 MB USED
30.X MB CAPACITY
________________
Approx: 09.5 MB Remaining
______________________________________________________________________
OnePiece
December 8th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ACCEPT THAT.
:) 
:p
December 9th, 2006 at 2:53 am
And why not a mini system (linux, dos) and some free utilities to test screen, disk, memory, audio,benchmark,… of a second hand PC before purchase
December 9th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Tim,
How about including the network suggestion one piece made with nmap etc. That was a great idea, but it looks like he started down that road and then changed his mind, and change some other apps
December 10th, 2006 at 4:40 am
For a DOS system there is a fantastic software to test hardware : Navrátil Software System Information (+/- 500K) on www.navsoft.cz/products.htm. I use it on a diskette. For a mini linux system, I don’t know utilities software, only experience with linux is Ubuntu automatic installation.
December 11th, 2006 at 9:19 am
PalmOS supplies POSE for Palm emulation. It is the next version of Xcopilot and was initially developed outside Palm, Inc. for free. I used it to see what a Palm 128k would be like before I bought mine. It’s been around for a long time.
http://www.palmos.com/dev/tools/emulator/
You need to download POSE, skins and a ROM.
After you get it running, you will need to tell the emulator to load your data and application(s) from
C:\Program Files\palmOne\\Backup
Under Linux I can automate this by creating a link to the files in the backup directory and starting pose like this:
pose -load_apps AddressDB.pdb,MemoDB.pdb,ToDoDB.pdb,DatebookDB.pdb
January 31st, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Hi,
I made a 31,5 Mb stick-suite, with about 90 applications, for generic purposes. Below a part of the programs, managed by PSStart in different categories:
A43
Essential Pim
Office: Copywriter, CSVed, Spread32, Foxit, PDFProducer, MDBV …
Graphics: Eve, Analyzer, Faststone Viewer
Net: OB1, iFtp, nPop, genControl, MegaIRC, Webdownloader…
Privacy: Eraser, MOK, DPWiper, IE Privacy Keeper, Boss, …
Recovery: Restoration, Unstoppable, Datarecovery,MPRecover, …
Security: Yodabyte PW, XPY, API guard, portmon, Keylog detect, …
Audio: MP3DirectCut,1by1, Audiograbber
Video: MPUI
Files: XFind, Ntouch, Dtouch, Flexible Renamer, Compare, Split,…
Storage: HDHacker, JKdefrag, HDDScan, ImgBurn, VirtualCD, LCISO, …
Utility: , SafeXP, XPSysPad, Safarp, regshot , MVReg,RegSeeker, …
Information: SI, brute benchmark, Whyreboot, TResmeter, NTDrivers
Help files and text files have been removed. Almost all files are compressed with UPX.
I miss a WYSIWYG HTML editor and a tiny visual programming language.
What do you think?
I compressed it with 7zip and the package is 24 Mb…
Bye,
AlephX
March 21st, 2007 at 5:55 pm
i would like an automatically running mini-Linux that can run securely inside of windows (and if possible Mac OSX too) with Firefox, truecrypt, 7-zip, notepad, room for a few extensions for Firefox, and capability to read/write to another flashdrive.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Due to computer problems, I had to run Trend Micro Security Suite in safe mode to see what the problem is. The program identified the files within PCREPAIRSYSTEM.ZIP as viruses. You might want to check that out.
May 21st, 2009 at 10:13 am
I know Hollywood Bob posted a long time ago but, many applications in the package may be detected as a virus such as ProduKey here is a quote from their website:
“When running produkey.exe, Some Antivirus programs displays an alert and/or block you from running it.”
Before downloading try to stop your anti virus from running this may be as simple as stopping the process in Task Manager or, for some users, as hard as stopping it in the Services list.