About the PocketPuddle^™

Read Me File in
PocketPuddle Package

Welcome to the PocketPuddle; a portable web server that uses the same code as the SignPuddle web servers. The PocketPuddle is for individual use only and not intended for groups and organizations. Please see SignPuddle.com for more information about groups products like the SignPuddle Workstation and Server.

Using the PocketPuddle

The easiest way to use the PocketPuddle is to plug the USB stick into any Windows computer. The PocketPuddle will automatically be recognized as an external drive and labelled as the next available drive letter, such as drive E.

Starting the server

Once the PocketPuddle has been assigned a drive letter, open windows exporer and double click on the "Server_start.bat" file located in the root directory of the new drive. This will start the portable webserver and automatically open the SignPuddle Home page in the default web browser. As long as the portable webserver is running, you can access it by using the URL Address https://localhost.

Stopping the server

After you are done with the PocketPuddle, you need to stop the webserver. Open windows explorer and double click on the "Stop.bat" file located in the root directory of the new drive. This will stop the portable webserver and localhost will no longer accept requests.

Removing the PocketPuddle

Before you remove the PocketPuddle USB stick from the computer, you must stop the drive by telling the computer to eject the drive. There are 3 ways to do this.

Open windows explorer and right click on the drive letter and select "Eject" from the context window.
Open windows explorer, click once on the drive letter, and use menu option File >> SIGNPUDDLE (E:) >> Eject.
In the system tray (lower right), click on the USB symbol to safely remove hardware and then click on the message to "Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive (E:)"

After you get the message "Safe to remove hardware" you can pull the USB stick from the computer.

Firefox

The PocketPuddle works best with Firefox. There is a noticable speed difference with other browsers.

Conditional Lifetime Code Updates

The PocketPuddle is made available at a significant discount compared to the other SignPuddle products and is intended for single users. The PocketPuddle involves a one time fee and include conditional lifetime code updates free of charge.

Please do not post the code online or share the code with other people. Each PocketPuddle has a unique SignPuddle ID that is used for updates. If a SignPuddle ID is used for piracy, it will be removed from the authorized automated code updates list.

You can check for code updates using the URL Address localhost/update. If code updates are available, they will automatically be downloaded and installed.

Backup and recovery

Since the PocketPuddle uses portable technology, it is possible to copy and paste the entire directory structure. You can create a zip file backup of the drive, and restore the drive by unzipping the backup file.

It is permissible to move the PocketPuddle code to the hard drive of PC for improved speed performace. It is also permissible to have multiple copies of the PocketPuddle code on multiple machines as long as they are intended for use by a single user.