Version 8 of Demonstrating Starkits

Updated 2003-04-14 09:05:12

In the course of my consulting, I often have the opportunity to demonstrate Starkits to people and wanted to document a few steps that show their power and flexibility.

I try to get someone else to actually drive the keyboard, since I want to emphasise just how easy the process is. I start by getting them to visit the Starkit Distribution Archive [L1 ], and from there to the Tclkit Download page.

I first show a download of the UPX compressed version of tclkit, then the Wikit Starkit - wikit.kit -and get the victim^Wuser to drag/drop one on the other. They see how easy it is to get started with just two files, but then I show Wikit running in "httpd" mode - once they realise that it contains a full web server - tclhttpd - (even on Windows) it blows them away.

Next I grab another Starkit, typically tkvnc - to emphasise that once you have Tclkit it is a small incremental download to get a lot of functionality.

Then, I go to the Fractal Mountains page on the wiki and cut/paste this code into a running tclkit console. This also tends to make people sit up and take notice - cutting and pasting a graphical application isn't something one sees every day :-)

Finally, I talk about Starpacks and get them to download the Wikit Starpack - just to emphasise that you can "seal" the application and interpreter for safe keeping.

And, of course, I try to remember to mention that this fits on a single floppy :-)

stevel - April 11, 2003


Steve Blinkhorn makes jaws drop with tclhttpd-as-a-starkit-on-a-floppy-with-the-exe-and-the-entire-website-plus-code.