Chipster.org

I have Uniform Server running quite well from a USB key. Starting it using the "UniController BOTH" syntax generates Windows Firewall alerts. (Which would be a pain in the fanny for our users who lack computer skills...) I've looked at using UniService, but it requires the user to select the services to install. Can all of this be done from a command line via a batch file? Alternatively, since I note that Windows Firewall alerts don't pop up on subsequent starts, I'm wondering about making the firewall rules in advance so users are not prompted. Is this possible? How are these rules set (or generated) in US? What parameters would I need to define to create rules from an elevated batch file? Thanks! -- Cliff

Thanks, Sudeep! In terms of portability, Uniform Server is just one component of our Chipster project, literally a folder within a larger folder that will always be moved as a complete set. I know that somewhere in Uniform Server is code that will detect the full path of the US executable and assign it to %UniConPath% because I move my project folder (containing US) from device to device and anywhere in my hard drive's structure and the full path in %UniConPath% is always correct. So I'm assuming that same code could potentially be used to identify the parent folder of Uniform Server. Or, perhaps, I could parse the %UniConPath% to get the detected full path, and then do some string manipulation to create a new variable. My coding skills are suspect, but I'd gladly hire someone to figure this out for the greater good. Best, -- Cliff

I would like to store my error pages outside the UniSeverZ folder structure (making it easier to upgrade UniServer without losing my custom error pages.) My error pages are in the parent directory for UniServerZ. I don't see how to indicate the parent directory in the construct of an environment variable. This keeps me inside the UniServer directory structure... MyErrorPages=%UniConPath%\MyErrorPages This gets me nothing... MyErrorPages=%UniConPath%\..\MyErrorPages Any ideas? Thanks! -- Cliff

P.S. Love the paper napkin collection!

Thanks, Sudeep! I unchecked the startup pages and found that Palemoon no longer starts when Apache is loaded. Cool. I just moved the default page settings to Palemoon itself and things seem to be working swimmingly from m y batch file.

I have a set of batch files I use to start Uniform Server that manually starts the Palemoon browser and then shuts down the Apache and MySQL when Palemoon closes. Works fine. However, using Unicontroller to start Apache automatically starts Palemoon when it is installed in the Core folder. This defeats the batch file functions. Is it possible to have Unicontroller NOT automatically start the Palemoon instance in the Core folder? I've moved the Palemoon folder elsewhere to make my batch files work. However there's one drawback: MySQLAdmin is programmed to open Palemoon from the default folder. With Palemoon missing from the Core folder, it opens MySQLAdmin in my computer's default browser, which is not configured to use the US proxy. Is there a way to change where MySQLAdmin looks for the Palemoon browser? Thanks, -- Cliff

I'm wrestling with starting Palemoon with Unicontroller. If I start a fresh install and use a US_PAC file, I get the sites I want proxied flawlessly. However I have three consistent problems: First: while the home (startup) page is set to "http://samplesite.org", the browser tries and fails to open "http://samplesite.org:8080". Palemoon does not seem to remember me previously changing the Preferences to use "http://samplesite.org" as my home page, so I have to reset this. Afterwards, everything works as expected and my Apache rewrites do their thing. Second: I would like to allow the end user to fire up Palemoon from a batch file, like Apache and/or MySQL. But I don't see any way to do so, which means I have to familiarize my users with the control panel (awkward.) Third: If I try to open the Palemoon-Portable.exe file from a batch file, it opens but does not employ my rewrites and goes straight to the Internet. Thereafter, running Palemoon from the Unicontroller panel also disregards the Apache rewrites and Palemoon preferences. I have to reinstall Palemoon to return to normal use. I'm assuming that I may need to use a separate browser, unless, of course, someone can point out the error of my ways...

Oh, and the PAC file I'm editing is UniformServer/home/us_pac/proxy.pac It reads, function FindProxyForURL(url, host) { if (isPlainHostName(host)) { return "PROXY 127.0.0.1:8088"; } else { return "PROXY 127.0.0.1:8088"; } }

Friends, I want all PaleMoon requests to go to my local Apache instance without any leakage to the Internet. I know my Apache is configured correctly because when I submit the request "127.0.0.1:8088" I get results from my server. In Palemoon, I can change the Preferences|Network to use a manual proxy server (as above) and everything works great until I close and reopen PaleMoon, when it defaults back to using the PAC file. When I try to use a PAC file, I get inconsistent results, but they usually ignore the proxy and go out to the Internet. My two options seem to be: a. make the manual proxy server settings stick b. write a PAC file that only serves p content from my Apache instance Any ideas as how best to do either of these things? Thanks, -- Cliff

Our non-profit is using Uniform Server to distribute educational documents on USB drives to people who lack access to the Internet. Uniform Server is working wonderfully. But Windows Defender is being cantankerous. Whenever starting US, the user is confronted by three Windows Defender pop-ups (Control Panel, Apache, and MySQL.) Whether they approve or cancel on the pop-up, the firewall rule is created, so this problem is more annoying to me, but likely disconcerting for users with little or no experience with computers. Not only that, but if they remove and reattach the USB drive, the drive can be assigned a new drive letter. This again presents the three pop-ups and creates six more firewall rules. Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas how I might get rid of the pop-ups or at least reduce the number?