Linux (wine?)

[zenchess]

Hello, I am very interested in Run Basic and the deciding factor on whether I will purchase or not will come based on if I can use it on my webpage or not.

The way I see it now is that I need a server that is running windows for people to connect to the server from the net.

I did a search for 'linux' on this forum and only found a couple posts. What is the eta on this? I've found 2 linux virtual machine hosting services that would probably be able to run Run Basic if it were a linux app:

www.linode.com/

RAM 360 MiB
Storage 10 GiB
Data Transfer 200 GiB/mo
Monthly Price $19.95

mirroredsolutions.com/servers/index.htm
$15/month
• 2gb Disk
• 128mb ram
• 20gb transfer)


www.rosehosting.com/virtserv.html
$29.95 /month
Disk Space: 5 GB
Transfer: 300 GB

Note on the above services: They run virtual machines where you get root access to a linux virtual machine. It's like having your own machine and usually you can completely delete your installation and reinstall a new one and get remote visual access etc. You'd have to check out the webpages for more details. I saw discussion about using amazon ecs etc. so maybe you can consider this as a possibility as well for offering cheap hosting to customers.


I'd like to get one of these hosting services anyways to run seaside and other apps.

I saw a post earlier about using WINE to run RunDb: does that mean that I can use one of the above hosting services, run Wine to start RunDB, and get RunBasic going for cheap?

By the way, I came here from the visualworks podcast. Very nice presentation of the system.

I think you have a great product here and it could really take off if you got word of mouth out, but you really need some kind of system to host the webpages. Hosting it on your personal computer is really not an option imo, for security and convenience reasons.

All that said I will probably buy soon =)

[billw]

zenchess said:

I saw a post earlier about using WINE to run RunDb: does that mean that I can use one of the above hosting services, run Wine to start RunDB, and get RunBasic going for cheap?

I haven't looked at the specific services, but if you've got root access to any sort of Linux box, virtual or real, remote or local, you should be able to get Run BASIC going under Wine. There's also the option of waiting for the native Linux version, but I'm not sure how long it will be until that is out.

[carlgundel]

zenchess said:

Hello, I am very interested in Run Basic and the deciding factor on whether I will purchase or not will come based on if I can use it on my webpage or not.

The way I see it now is that I need a server that is running windows for people to connect to the server from the net.

I did a search for 'linux' on this forum and only found a couple posts. What is the eta on this?

End of February.

-Carl

[carlgundel]

zenchess said:

I think you have a great product here and it could really take off if you got word of mouth out

Thanks.

but you really need some kind of system to host the webpages. Hosting it on your personal computer is really not an option imo, for security and convenience reasons.

Which specific security reasons?

-Carl

[zenchess]

Hmm, I was just under the opinion that broadcasting your i.p. address and offering services from your desktop computer is a little bit of a security issue. I'm not entirely knowledgable on this. For instance I run RealVNC on my computer, and other services that people could potentially break into.

Maybe you could explain this to me, I'm certainly not an expert. I do have a router for instance so I guess I'm blocking most ports. Just offering services that go directly to my home i.p. seems scary to me =)

[billw]

Run BASIC is pretty tightly padlocked. The only security issues you'll see will be when you write code that allows outside users to mess with your system with no password protection. Even the HTTP server portion is pretty tight; it's field-tested code. Also, because it's written in Smalltalk and not a lower-level language like C, there's much less risk of buffer overflow exploits, etc.

If you're behind a fairly modern router, you should be perfectly fine.

[zenchess]

Ok, thanks. Just out of curiosity, does my familiarity with smalltalk and visualworks buy me anything when using Run Basic, like the ability to make changes to it?

[carlgundel]

zenchess said:

Ok, thanks. Just out of curiosity, does my familiarity with smalltalk and visualworks buy me anything when using Run Basic, like the ability to make changes to it?

Only an appreciation for its underpinnings.

-Carl