Tiny Apps 318
box2321 writes: "There's a time and a place for large and feature-filled software. And there's a place for tiny apps - in fact, there's tinyapps.org. This is a mighty-fine resource for free and shared Win/DOS programs that weigh in under 1.44 MB. I learned of TinyApps from a pleasant source."
Re:These guys have got the right idea. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why only Windows... (Score:2, Insightful)
How many people use all of the functions in an office package? Open Office is as much to blame as Microsoft Office for unnecessary tools, as are many other software packages. Why should I give up 200+ megs of disk space so I can type a couple of letters, an e-mail, and make a simple bar graph, and have it look like someone over the age of four did it?
A small, clean word processor that has the capability to snap in additional functions, like dictionary, thesaurus, forms, and html editing, or several grades of the program, tailored to different classes of users would save a lot of disk space, and remove confusion. It would also go a long way to creating and enforcing standards among the different OS'es and programs which are available.
Re:GEOS (Score:3, Insightful)
QuantumLINK is AOL. Back in the late 80's the people who ran QuantumLINK realized that running a service for a steadily decreasing number of C64 and C128 wasn't a good long term strategy. So they shutdown Qlink and reinvented themselves as AOL. The rest, as they say, is history.
in case of /. effect (Score:1, Insightful)
TinyApps.Org provides links to software available on the Internet. The listing format is generally:
App Name (linked to its website) [file size]
Codes Description
Codes: $ = shareware {S} = source available + =
no install necessary
What is a tiny app?
As defined by this website, a tiny app
(application) is software weighing 1.44mb or
less. This ranges from the tiny WipeCMOS (a
mere 2.4kb!), to the awe-inspiring QNX demo
disk which pretty much fills a floppy.
What qualifies an app for this site?
1. Not more than 1.44mb in size (but generally
*far* less).
2. Not adware.
3. Preference is given to apps which are 100%
self-contained, requiring no runtime files,
installation, DLLs, registry changes, etc
(though
same directory are fine).
4. Though not strictly a requirement, most of
these programs happen to be free; that is,
they require no payment to be enjoyed. (See
this article for why "free" is not really an
appropriate modifier.)
Why tiny apps?
I have never been a big fan of bulky programs
that spawn conflicts, malfunctions, crashes,
etc. Windows has enough of its own problems
to contend with - why add fuel to the fire?
But more importantly, I simply prefer
simplicity.
Why DOS/Windows?
Let's face it - Windows is currently the most
widely used desktop OS. I recently (Sep 2001)
saw on Google Zeitgeist that 90% of their
visitors are running Windows. Not only are
there more people running Windows than any
other OS, there is simply more software for
Windows than for any other platform. Plus, it
is the OS I use most. If you are a *nix, Mac,
BeOS, Amiga, OS/2, QNX, etc user who would
like to contribute to these pages, you are
more than welcome to do so. Please drop me a
line.
I wrote/know of a cool tiny app.
Please let me know about it.
I wrote one of the apps listed here.
Thank you for stopping by! If you would like to
change the comment associated with your app,
have it removed or updated, please let me
know.
One of your links is not working/An app is no
longer available.
Please let me know. We can probably dig up a copy
of any apps that have disappeared from the
Net.
Who is behind TinyApps.Org?
That would be me, Miles Wolbe. I am a freelance
consultant, Japanese translator, web
designer, and teacher. You are welcome to
check out my brief but revealing resumé if
you feel so moved.
Do you have a disclaimer statement?
Yes. You are 100% responsible for your own
actions. Using this site, visiting a link,
downloading a program, in short, living, is
done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
Special thanks to:
DigitalSpace - web hosting ($3/month)
FreeLists.Org - mailing list (free)
Atomz - search engine (free with small banner)
Ushikai - groovy icons (free and commercial)
BNBform - form processor (free)
~z
Re:Small Unix utilities written in assembly (Score:4, Insightful)
No offense or anything, but I bet you've never played with making single-diskette Linux images.
Quite frankly, an app like busybox(which is written, for the most part, in C) does a *hell* of a lot more to conserve space by including a bunch of apps in one binary than by writing less than a dozen (extremely trivial) tools in ASM. Hell, almost all of those tools are basically wrappers for single kernel syscalls. The approach that fellow has taken may work for extraordinarily simple stuff like that, but as soon as you try to get into anything more complex(like, say, a #!/bin/sh implementation), you're pretty much out of luck.
I suggest you take a look at busybox(search Freshmeat) if you're interested in single-floppy Linux installs.
Tiny ? Risc ! (Score:4, Insightful)
RiscOS is around as old as Windows3 but has always been well designed, quick, compact and responsive.
But I understand such tinyness might seem mythical for PC users.
Re:4k java demos (Score:2, Insightful)
I take it you're not counting the 14Mb runtime that you need to make that Jar file work?
Simon