Hi everyone,

Has anyone ever thought that it is difficult for beginners to get a
working copy of OpenQM for them to try? Yes - I know it isn't difficult
to install a Windows version, but if someone wants to install the GPL
version on Linux, then there is a lot more to do.

I've often thought that it would be good to provide a ready made Virtual
Machine with everything already installed and ready to go - a virtual
machine "appliance". But the size of the downloads have always been a
stumbling block. The lightweight Linux distro that seems most talked
about is Puppy Linux - but even that weighs in at 125 MB on its own. By
the time that is converted to a VM with OpenQM installed, you are
probably looking at a 200 MB download.

But, then I found Slitaz - a TINY Linux distro - just a 30 MB download.
Included in this is a graphical interface, a web server, an SSH server,
a wiki, various other server components, and a basic set of Linux
utilities. I've added samba, and installed OpenQM along with its help
files and documentation. After zipping the VM, the download size is a
bit less than 60 MB!

This VM is now available for download at www.rushflat.co.nz . There are
links on the home page, and on the downloads page. There are some readme
notes too - but the link is only on the home page.

Have fun!

Brian Speirs

Hi Brian,

Whilst your work on this is much appreciated, reading the accompanying
documentation leaves me with the impression that there is still quite
a bit for a potential user downloading this to do before they have a
working QM demonstration system.

The "USB demonstration" downloadable from the openqm.com web site was
intended as a quick and easy way to get QM up and running on Windows
without installing anything on the PC at all. It also includes
AccuTerm and associated files to demonstrate the GUI features of this
terminal emulator.

I have just installed this and brought up the demonstration
environment in under two minutes, excluding the actual download time
(another couple of minutes). This is still quite an old version of QM
and I have made a note that we need to update the demo soon. On the
other hand, installing the Personal Version of the current release on
Windows or Linux takes about the same time as the USB install.
Applying a four user evaluation licence takes a few moments to
register.


Martin Phillips, Ladybridge Systems

On 2011-07-06 03:23:22 -0400, Brian Speirs <bss59 (AT) btinternet (DOT) com> said:

Isn't this version pretty old and missing many features of the current
version? I suppose if someone is really interested in the GPL version,
the appliance might make sense.

Personally, I do like VMs for testing various types of software that I
don't wish to clutter my system. I use various *nix VM stacks for this
type of thing, but a dedicated VM download for OpenQM is a good idea
that has been mentioned before in the OpenQM forums.

--
Kevin Powick

Hi Kevin,

Yes - this is an old version - really old now - and that is noted in the
readme file. In fact, that note recommends that if people want this for
commercial purposes, then they should get a commercial license so they
can get the later features as well as support.

Cheers,

Brian

On 6/07/2011 5:51 p.m., Kevin Powick wrote:

Hi Martin,

See below:

On 6/07/2011 1:10 p.m., Martin Phillips wrote:
Indeed. Firstly, you need to install the VM software if you don't
already have it. And even if you did have VM software, it might be
VMWare rather than VirtualBox.

Secondly, there is the issue of networking - and with VM's you have to
deal with that.

And finally, there is NO demonstration here - just a bare bones system.
And that may be difficult for some people.

And as I noted on the OpenQM list, this requires a commercial licenced
version of AccuTerm to work with the networked VM. And because I
couldn't guarantee that anyone using the VM would have a copy of
AccuTerm, I didn't install any of the AccuTerm host programs on the system.

So, that is quite an advantage for the USB install.

Cheers,

Brian