World: r3wp

The updated manual, which is quite extensive, if I may say so, and 
explains the key abilities of the system step by step:

http://web.syllable.org/Server/README-SyllableServer.txt

It's on OSNews now:

http://www.osnews.com/story/23427/Syllable_Server_0_4_Released

When will you have an install script for the server?

That will still take a while. Before that is useful I need to produce 
a live CD, and many other things also need to be done

Manual installation is really not difficult with Syllable, though

so the vm I downloaded yesterday is really old??

So, how about a screencast of the manual installation?

Server 0.4 was already published yesterday, but the VM version is 
still really old, yes

A screencast would be nice. I don't have time for it, though. It 
would be a nice thing for someone to contribute

So the install takes a really long time??

No, one last week took fifteen minutes to unpack the files on a very 
old 266 MHz P2

(Which is running our ten AltME worlds, by the way)

I love turning machines that were discarded as a firewall appliance 
into worldwide groupware servers :-)

So, doing a screencast of a vm installation on virtualbox might take 
less than 15 mins which you don't have?  :)

That was the graphical version, mind you. It would unpack Server 
in five minutes

You asked about installation, not about making a screencast

I make operating systems, not movies, so I'd have to arrange a film 
education for myself

Hence, a perfect opportunity for a volunteer with the right qualifications

screencast to me just means copying the screen as you do things .. 
doesn't imply the need for sound or anything else unless you want 
to get fancy.

Sounds like you have the right qualifications and computer setup, 
then

not the right qualifications

Well, to be honest, the entire Server manual after the installation 
is pretty much like the installation section, so someone who needs 
a screencast to get through the installation would also need a screencast 
for every aspect of operation after that

Now it's on DistroWatch:

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=06126

With this release we've entered the month ranking at place 100 after 
a day:

http://distrowatch.com/stats.php?section=popularity

We've topped out at position 57 in the above DistroWatch month list

CongratsKaj :)

Thanks

Is it possible to put the bootable ISO image onto a USB key to install 
from that? I would like to try both Syllable Desktop and Server on 
my Acer Aspire One. It doesn't have a CD-ROM, though.

It's a netbook.

Sorry, not yet. We've been working towards installing from and to 
USB sticks, but it's not complete yet. Syllable Desktop can install 
from a USB CD player with the regular install CD, so that's the normal 
way to install on a netbook or other machine without a built-in CD 
player

We don't have an install image to put on a USB stick to install from 
there, but the steps from a USB install CD should be small. There 
is some preparation for it on the install CD, so if you know your 
way around such things you could try to complete that configuration

However, there's still a limitation in Syllable Desktop involved:

http://web.syllable.org/news/2009-10-27-21-08-Acer-Aspire-One-ASUS-EeePC-USB-installation-targets.html

The situation with Syllable Server is much easier, although at the 
same time a bit more difficult. It doesn't have an installer yet, 
so although the installation procedure is clear and straightforward, 
it's manual. But that also means you can move the installation package 
from anywhere to anywhere

If you can manage to make an extra partition on your netbook you 
could even install Syllable Server from the included Linux (if you 
have that installed)

I tried to install the older Syllable Server 0.3 on an EeePC once 
on the second, external storage card. That's accessed as a USB device 
and Server didn't have the complete support for that. So it's likely 
that you need to install on a partition on the main storage (which 
is accessed as an ATA drive even if it is a memory chip)

If you don't have Linux or want to use the entire netbook drive, 
you can boot from some Linux live USB stick and handle the Syllable 
Server installation package from there

There are ways to do installations that are not possible in the above 
ways, but they are more complicated. You could start the install 
CD in a virtual machine after you have mounted a physical disk or 
partition in the VM, and install to that. Then afterwards, you'd 
have to configure the bootloader on the physical disk to start that 
installation

Kaj, thanks for the advice.

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

for creating usb bootable distros

This works by installing SysLinux, so it may work with Syllable Server, 
but not with Syllable Desktop

For Server it's not needed, so although it's an interesting project, 
it works no magic for us

I tried that tool with Syllable Server and couldn't get it to work, 
but it's very possible that I was doing something wrong.

I just got Syllable Server running on an old 2003 Dell laptop today. 
Very snappy performance and easy on memory usage.

Congratulations, and thanks for the report. Unetbootin is dependent 
on the particularities of a Linux distro, so it's quite possible 
that it wouldn't work with the current Syllable Server

Specifically, Syllable's filesystem layout is quite innovative, so 
Unetbootin probably can't find the files it needs