In yesterdays post on Sandisk Cruzer Micro, I was mentioning how U3 Smart technology allows you to carry your favorite PC programs on the flash drive.
Turns out that U3 is not the only technology available to accomplish this task. There is an open source project called PortableApps using which you could turn any flash drive/iPod into a “U3 smart” device.
A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your
USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.
Even though you can run the PortableApps along with U3, I decided to first test it on my iPod. There are 3 different flavors of installation available.
| PortableApps Standard | 90MB |
Includes
|
| PortableApps Lite | 30MB | Uses AbiWord Portable (word processor) instead of OpenOffice.org |
| PortableApps Base | 800KB | Stripped down package with just the PortableApps Menu, PortableApps Backup utility and custom folders, icons and autorun |
Installation
Download any of the above 3 flavors and extract the contents to the root of your flash drive.
PortableApps Menu
Unlike U3 Launchpad, PortableApps Menu does not have the ability to auto-launch when the flash drive is connected to the PC.
The PortableApp application are of “paf” format and can be installed via the PortableApps Menu. The number of Portable applications is limited and is listed on this page.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I have been trying to populate my recent iRiver MP3 player with some basic software too. . .so far firefox, a PocoMail client, a FileZilla FTP have their place there. . . .looking for more though!
yes and if your hosting supports SSH, then you might even have Putty
i would love to have the word/powerpoint reader rather than the bulky openoffice 
true true. I just found another site with small apps. most shell proggies but. http://www.xtort.net
Portable apps are most useful in office where you are not allowed to install third party software dude to administrative restrictions.
I love portableapps. Applications should be kept as simple as possible for faster running time and user friendly
Arpit, Kuang, Thanks for dropping by.
PortableApps is pretty useful, however U3 seems to be matching them with better application support. Hope to see more useful applications from the PortableApps team
“Microsoft and SanDisk on Friday announced a technology-sharing agreement that will produce a replacement for SanDisk’s U3 line of USB smart drives by the second half of next year.”
Read more here –> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2128799,00.asp