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MobileGaim: Standalone WinGaim on a USB-stick

Tijmen
2005-05-12
2013-01-14
  • Tijmen

    Tijmen - 2005-05-12

    I run, for about half a year now, WinGaim from an USB stick. I plug in the stick, click on "start mobilegaim" and Gaim starts.

    I have a couple of questions:
    A) are there others who have tried and succeeded in this?
    B) I use a standalone gaim and GTK, which total 25M. I could trim it to just over half that, deleting locales and some unused libs, but I don't have the programming knowledge to do it cleanly.
    C) It only works on XP (i.e.: not on ME) and it sometimes doesn't start properly using autorun.inf.
    D) Could someone tell me how I could make an installer, as right now I have to install gaim and gtk separately, and add some scripts manually.

    I'll post how to buid it later on my weblog, when I do so I will repost it in my thread. People can contact me at crap AT mail DOT iivq DOT net.

     
    • Ant

      Ant - 2005-05-16

      Would be interested in hearing how you get on. Plz post a followup here when you can or let me know the url of your weblog.

      Cheers.

       
      • smartidiot1

        smartidiot1 - 2005-05-20

        Got it down to ~6.5MB by deleting all the locales and a bunch of the DLL's I don't remember which ones but I have a list somewhere.  I only use AIM myself so I didn't need many of the plugins.

        Also I used UPX to compress everything else, useful program that saves a lot of time when programs need to be read off flash drives.

        BTW your install guide is great stuff, iivq.

         
    • Tijmen

      Tijmen - 2005-05-18

      Sorry, my log is acting up and I'm busy.

      I made a quick "as-is" howto without checking it (No win here).

      Installing MobileGaim:

      X: is the USB drive letter, change this to the actual drive letter.

      1.    Create the following directory structure on your USB stick:
          X:
          +- Home
          |  \- .gaim
          \- Software
          +- Gaim
          \- GTK+
          Change the structure at will, but then adapt all scripts below.

      2.    Download WinGaim (Without GTK), and the standalone GTK+ installer.
          Place them temporarily in X:\Software\

      3.    Go to a command prompt on your stick. Execute te following commands:
          - gtk-runtime-2.6.7-rev-a.exe /L=1033 /S /D=X:\Software\GTK+
          - gaim-1.3.0-no-gtk.exe /L=1033 /S /D=X:\Software\Gaim
          (or other versions if there are newer, or other Language codes)

      4.    In the X:\Software\Gaim directory, create the following file and call it "gaimstart.bat":
          @echo off
          echo Creating Gaim Environment...
          set GTKPATH=%GAIMDRIVE%\Software\GTK+\bin
          set RELATIVEGAIMPATH=..\..\Gaim
          set GAIMHOME=%GAIMDRIVE%\Home
          set GAIM_NO_DLL_CHECK=1
          cd %GTKPATH%
          echo Starting Gaim...
          start %RELATIVEGAIMPATH%\gaim.exe
          exit

      5.    You can now run MobileGaim by executing gaimstart.bat.
          Doing so, you'll see a flash of a dos box and then nothing for some time.
          Relax, gaim is starting (Check your USB activity to confirm this).
          After a while you see the Gaim startup window.

      6.    In the root of your stick, create the following file and call it "autorun.inf":
          [Autorun]
          Action=Start MobileGaim
          open=Software\Gaim\gaimstart.bat
          icon=\Software\Gaim\gaim.exe,0
          label=MobileGaim Drive

      7.    To run MobileGaim on computers which don't execute Autorun.inf from sticks,
          create a "Start MobileGaim" shortcut to gaimstart.bat, but don't include the
          drive letter. I've found no way yet to keep the icon on this link when the driveletter
          changes.

      8.    Now set up Gaim or just copy all the .XML-files from your PC .gaim dir to the stick.

       
      • sal[at]soychicano.com

        Anyone have any information for setting this up on a Windows Environment? I have followed the instructions but it seems that I can not get the BAT file to run properly. Instead, it opens the directory in which the gaim.exe file is located.

         
        • Tijmen

          Tijmen - 2005-05-24

          It's meant for windows only.

          In the batch file, change the last two lines from:

          start %RELATIVEGAIMPATH%\gaim.exe
          exit
           
          to just

          %RELATIVEGAIMPATH%\gaim.exe

          in which case the dos-box will stay open. You can close this manually.

          On what OS did you try this? This doesn'nt work on ME (Well, the batch file does but gaim doesn't), actually I only tested in on Windows XP professional.

          What are the actions you take when it opens the directory?

          Tijmen

           
    • Christoph

      Christoph - 2005-05-24
       
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