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Simple Cross-Platform File Sharing with Chungles

rammerhammer writes "Sharing files amongst different platforms has most always resulted in using samba -- a program based around the windows file sharing protocol. Chungles aims to provide a nice, graphical, easy configurable file sharing alternative. It's written in Java, uses SWT for the UI, and JmDNS (Rendezvous/ZeroConf/Bonjour) for discovery of computers running Chungles."

75 comments

  1. Re:Chungles by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

    Because Kermit is not a file share service?

    I mean why don't they just use pkzip? Or how about tar! Maybe a good smattering of defrag.exe or how about EMM386! ...

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  2. Looks nice by Kalak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This looks like a great idea, but the one thing that it seems to lack is to actually work on files on the remote computer. You can transfer files, which is good, but working from a shared volume has a lot of benefits. Also, speed of transfer is something I'd like to see compared (I could test it, but I'm in for a busy morning and should stop slashdotting unless I lie down.)

    --
    I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by .hack)
    1. Re:Looks nice by cs02rm0 · · Score: 1

      I'd be happy to test it for you... except it doesn't run on my system.

      Some bright spark forgot to package chungles.gif in the linux package.

    2. Re:Looks nice by DarkTempes · · Score: 1

      Just a note, Chungles is pretty much Alpha so the file transfer stuff just got put in, I doubt it'll be as fast as it will be in the end.

  3. Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by Stevyn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In KDE 3.4 (may have appeared in previous versions, not sure) there is a protocol "fish://" that uses ssh. KDE treats it like a regular konq window and you can copy and move files around. Since it works over ssh it's already popular and easy to set up. Another nice trick they've done is you can open a text file from the remote computer, edit, and when you click save it saves it back to the remote computer.

    It's easy to use and integrates well into the rest of KDE.

    1. Re:Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by gregmac · · Score: 2, Informative

      It works in at least KDE 3.3. Far superior to using ftp.

      I also use WinSCP from my laptop quite a bit, and although it's not directly integrated (feels more like using an ftp browser), you can open files in any program and just hit save, and it will save it remotely (I think it just watches to see if the local temp file it creates is modified).

      --
      Speak before you think
    2. Re:Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by dago · · Score: 3, Informative

      shfs works also quite well & enable to mount "scp shares" and make them use by any program.

      --
      #include "coucou.h"
    3. Re:Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by tbuskey · · Score: 1

      Emacs has something (I forgot the name) that works like that over rcp, ftp and scp. I was using it around '97 at least.

    4. Re:Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by snorklewacker · · Score: 1

      That would be tramp. I use it every day from my windows box. It's not the most robust thing in the world, but it is damn convenient, since it also works with plink (NOT recommended, it can corrupt data) and pscp (seems reliable)

      --
      I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
    5. Re:Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by neiras · · Score: 1

      Yeah. In GNOME I can 'mount' remote sftp (ssh) locations just like any other drive. This kind of thing seems to be a pretty standard feature in modern Linux desktop environments.

    6. Re:Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by stevey · · Score: 2, Informative

      shfs rocks!

      I wrote an introduction to using shfs for Debian users which might be useful for people who've never used it before.

    7. Re:Slightly OT, but fish:// is pretty cool by RevAaron · · Score: 1

      Windows can't do SSH, but if can do FTP filesystem browsing. It's what I use as a cross-platform means of sharing, at least in my personal behind-the-firewall network... The insecurity of FTP would make me avoid doing it over the greater internet, but at home it works great, and what can't do FTP? Ubuntu, Windows and OS X all give you a nice GUI for FTP with the finder-equivalents.

      I used to work the University helpdesk... When folks would call in to find out how to FTP something to their web accounts, I would just tell them to type "ftp://username@www.d.umn.edu" and login- they were always so happy to find out that FTP doesn't have to be hard. Most folks in IT just would explain how to use the command line client. :P

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
  4. Java???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would I want to install Java just to copy some files?

    1. Re:Java???? by Reverend528 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because old ideas magically become new and better when you implement them in java.

    2. Re:Java???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Because old ideas magically become new and better when you implement them in java."

      So SLOWER now means BETTER?

    3. Re:Java???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean your OS is so shitty it doesn't have Java?

    4. Re:Java???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      woooooosh!

  5. Runs on any platform?!? by physeter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From the Chungles web site: "It's a file-sharing program for local networks that runs on any platform."

    Chungles uses SWT instead of Swing. SWT being available on a fewer platforms than Swing, Chungles is even less portable than a pure Java application.

    Don't take me wrong: I love SWT but it is definitely not an option if we want to make an application available on as many platforms as possible.

    1. Re:Runs on any platform?!? by $1uck · · Score: 1

      I think I may have to check this out and see if it can't be re implemented in swing. I'm assuming this is an FOSS software (didn't read the article, I just assume its FOSS its on /. and isn't negative ;) I'm thinking I've touched upon most the concepts neeeded to implement such a program (in my limited experience) with the exception of the "discovery" of other machines running the app which is something I'd like to learn, the idea of clients communicating directly to eachother vs straight client/server is something I'd like to get more into as I think communications on the "edges" are often more beneifical but I'm rambling....

  6. watch out samba? by dns_server · · Score: 1

    It sounds like quite a resonable idea, as an alternative windows networking. Bonjour provides a simple discovery service, and with something like this it could provide a really easy to setup network. it should not be hard to port this to other languages/platforms. Everyone has had to struggle setting up a home network, with something like this you do not need to do anything because bonjour does the hard work.

  7. No thanks by m50d · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A java program is still a separate program, and there's the obnoxious java license to worry about too. I find samba really nice to use, so much that I even use it for nix-to-nix transfers. And if you don't like it there's always http, open protocol with tiny servers and clients available for every OS (far more than the JRE runs on, in fact. And I think samba has been ported to more systems than JRE)

    --
    I am trolling
    1. Re:No thanks by fbjon · · Score: 1

      Hm, excuse my Unix-noobity, but how would you do it otherwise for nix-to-nix?

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    2. Re:No thanks by messju · · Score: 1

      with NFS

    3. Re:No thanks by m50d · · Score: 1

      NFS. It's harder to configure though, so I tend not to bother, samba works and is more crossplatform in practice.

      --
      I am trolling
    4. Re:No thanks by fbjon · · Score: 1

      So what are the differences anyway, except configurability? Authentication seems to be one thing, and compatibility with winpc's another.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    5. Re:No thanks by Terrasque · · Score: 1

      eff-tee-pee :-)

      Great speed, simple to work with. More clients than you can shake a stick at.

      --
      It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
    6. Re:No thanks by DarkTempes · · Score: 1

      if you just mean the JVM, which I do believe an open source one is in the works, Chungles may be natively compilable with GCJ (i haven't checked)

      I find samba (or rather the windows protocol) to be clunky, alot of times it lagged for no reason, shares didn't have reliable announcement cross-platform, and all around not fun to use.

    7. Re:No thanks by fbjon · · Score: 1

      Isn't it a bit kludgy for a filesystem though. In fact, it isn't one, but it certainly wins in simplicity.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    8. Re:No thanks by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 1

      nfs can be used on windows (with microsoft services for unix [free download])

      in unix, the attributes of a file are different (there's no hidden bit, but there's an execute bit, etc) so samba has to use the bits on windows computers to mean what they should to unixes, etc.

      i happen to like nfs, and if i remember correctly, its easy to setup (one share = one line in /etc/exports and one lines in /etc/fstab) although this time round im having problems (permission denied errors)

    9. Re:No thanks by m50d · · Score: 1

      It's supposed to failover better, and perform better, and a few other things I forget.

      --
      I am trolling
    10. Re:No thanks by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      WebDAV strikes me as much more useful in this regard, especially since mounting WebDAV sites is a built in feature of most OS's already.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
  8. iFolder by ultrabot · · Score: 1
    --
    Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
  9. Java? by SenFo · · Score: 1

    Sounds like it could be a good idea; but (and please no offense to Java programmers) why Java?

    1. Re:Java? by DarkTempes · · Score: 1

      because there was already bonjour (an OSS apple lib I believe) for very nifty fast multi-cast announcement of 'shares'.

      well and Java makes it easy to have on most major desktop systems with SWT, so it currently will work on Mac OSX (powerpc) or Windows/Linux/BSD (typically x86/amd64) without really any code modifications.

      it's also currently rather lightweight, last time i checked it only used 2megs or so of memory, even though it runs through the JVM.

    2. Re:Java? by pyrrhonist · · Score: 5, Funny
      Sounds like it could be a good idea; but (and please no offense to Java programmers) why Java?

      You must be new here. The choice of programming language to use on a certain project depends entirely on the reaction you want from Slashdot. This is the key, as there are absolutely no other important factors that affect the choice of programming language. That's right, none. Certainly, when a group is trying to decide on what language to use for a project, there will be all this talk about what a certain language provides, available implementations for the target platform, programming skills of the group, etc. Do not fall for this malarky. Like communism, this is just a red herring. Because every language is simple, does everything, and is available on every platform, the only reason to pick one language over another is how it will be received by the Slashdot community.

      To help you pick a language based on the Slashdot reaction you wish to invoke, I have compiled this handy list:

      • Ambivalence: C
      • Ennui: C++
      • Hatred: C# (.NET)
      • Ebullience: C# (Mono)
      • Depression: FORTRAN
      • Apathy: Ada
      • Elitism: Lisp
      • Paranoia: Scheme
      • Confusion: Prolog
      • Nostalgia: 6502 Assembly
      • Nausea: 386 Assembly
      • Silence: Sh
      • Testiness: Tcl
      • Puerileness: Ruby
      • Blindness: Perl
      • Laughter: VB
      • Ecstasy: Python
      • Ejaculation: PHP
      • Total Protonic Reversal: COBOL
      • Captious Whining: Java
      So there you have it! You should probably print this out now and have it laminated so it will be handy when you need to pick a language for your next project.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    3. Re:Java? by rammerhammer · · Score: 1

      Ha, that's about right. Why Java? A few reasons. The biggest being libraries. I haven't really found anything quite like SWT for other languages. To be quite honest, I'd rather write it in D but it hasn't really gotten anywhere yet. C is also a great language but I ruled it out because I'd rather deal with something a little more high level for this task. C++ was ruled out cause I flat out hate it. I don't think any slashdotter has justified truly why not to use Java.

    4. Re:Java? by SenFo · · Score: 1

      Thank you! I'm sure that will come in handy some day ;-).

    5. Re:Java? by RevAaron · · Score: 1

      Joy: Smalltalk

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    6. Re:Java? by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      "I don't like the memory footprint of Java programs"

      How's that?

      Don't tell me how you can write small footprint Java programs and big-footprint C programs, I know already.

      What I mean is that *most* Java programmers don't seem to care about memory usage the way C programmers do.

      I prefer Python myself of course.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    7. Re:Java? by Reverend528 · · Score: 1

      Actually Joy is Java. You're thinking Kay.

  10. free publicity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the story poster is the the author of the program, see http://chungles.sourceforge.net/contacts.php

    anyway, i wouldn't see it as a replacement of samba which is a true file sharing system, it's more of a file transfer tool.

  11. sigh, why re-invent by DrSkwid · · Score: 2


    9p has been around for 15 years and reference code is even Open Source these days.

    v9fs on sourceforge for Linux alows mounting remote 9p servers and u9fs is a 9p server for other unix likes.

    I use plan9 to edit files on my hosted Linux / FreeBSD / OpenBSD boxes at the co-lo and on the LAN. plan9 usefully mounts the remote file system into my file tree so one can grep sed awk cut join etc. as normal as though the files were local.

    Excuse me but I must just say one thing : fuck java, fucking fuck off and die

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  12. Use scp by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

    Just use scp. I mean, when you're typing in an xterm, who wants to be bothered with a silly cartoon graphics program that takes 30 megs of RAM just to wake up? Oh wait... oooooh that interface is pretty and shiny! Aaaaaaaahhhhh!

    --
    Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    1. Re:Use scp by DarkTempes · · Score: 1

      just a note, last time I checked chungles barely took 2 megs of ram when I used a build from CVS.

  13. It sounds great, but ... by snorklewacker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... it's called chungles.

    I mean, it's useful ...but it's called chungles. It could be exactly what I'm looking for. But it's called chungles. You've maybe even read my posts, which I've written several times, about how naming shouldn't be a barrier to acceptance, that a PHB who dismisses a product by its name alone probably wasn't serious about it, that the names are whimsy but the product should be evaluated on its merits...

    But it's called chungles .

    My boss is very much not a PHB, and is very easy going and technically oriented. But I am not recommending to him or my co-workers that they install something named chungles.

    I have my limits as well.

    --
    I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
    1. Re:It sounds great, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My thought exactly.

      It's quite a colorful word, and while its complete nonsense, evokes less-than-desirable mental imagery.

      I mean, who would want to use something that sounds like 5AM, bent over the rim of the toilet, after an all-night bender.

    2. Re:It sounds great, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, my graphical front-end called SHNOOGINS is right out then?

    3. Re:It sounds great, but ... by mhesseltine · · Score: 3, Funny

      No offense, but to hear someone calling themselves snorklewacker complain about the name chungles made me laugh. After all, could you imagine introducing your boss to someone called snorklewacker? Or, mentioning to your boss that someone online named snorklewacker helped you fix a problem?

      --
      Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
    4. Re:It sounds great, but ... by snorklewacker · · Score: 0

      This might come as a surprise to you, but I don't use my name on slashdot at work.

      But oh hey aren't you clever ha ha.

      --
      I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
    5. Re:It sounds great, but ... by Spoing · · Score: 1
      No offense, but to hear someone calling themselves snorklewacker complain about the name chungles made me laugh. After all, could you imagine introducing your boss to someone called snorklewacker? Or, mentioning to your boss that someone online named snorklewacker helped you fix a problem?

      Agreed, mhesseltine, except...you haven't considered Google.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    6. Re:It sounds great, but ... by mhesseltine · · Score: 1

      Touché. Although, to be honest, I don't really work in IT, networking, etc., so I wouldn't expect you to find my name searching like you did.

      --
      Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
    7. Re:It sounds great, but ... by Spoing · · Score: 1

      Worth a try...

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
  14. most always Samba? by dougmc · · Score: 1
    Sharing files amongst different platforms has most always resulted in using samba
    It has? Since when?

    SMB is only one of many file sharing protocols. Samba is generally only used when you want a Windows machine to use filesystems on a *nix fileserver. That's it.

    But Windows is hardly the whole world. There's also NFS (pretty much the standard in the *nix world), Appleshare (what Macs use. To mount *nix filesystems on a Mac, you generally run netatalk on the *nix box, though OSX supports NFS natively too.)

    Actually, you can get NFS clients and servers for Windows from several places, and they generally work pretty well once one realizes how NFS differs from SMB.

    To mount a Windows file system on a *nix box, you can use smbfs if it's a Linux box -- and note that smbfs is not the same as Samba. Another option is Sharity (previously Rumba) which takes SMB and converts it to NFS.

    And in addition to SMB, Appleshare and NFS, there's also Netware, Coda, InterMezzo, DFS, AFS, and many others, and nowadays they're all pretty much multi-platform. This page gives a nice summary of some of the more popular network file sharing methods.

    Of course, network file sharing is not the only way. Sneakernet still works, for example. People have been taking floppy disks out of one computer type and putting them into another computer type for as long as computers have had floppy drives, though it probably didn't usually work until both Macs and PCs had 3.5" drives and the Macs learned to talk FAT. And today, USB and firewire drives, if formatted FAT, generally work in Mac, Windows and *nix systems and probably others, and are often used to share files ...

    1. Re:most always Samba? by dougmc · · Score: 1
      Of course, looking at Chungles (awful name, by the way) ... it doesn't look like anything more than a GUI wrapped around a ftp client and server.

      (Well, I assume it doesn't use the ftp protocol, but it serves the same purpose -- it copies files from host A to host B. rsync, scp, rcp and sftp all do the same thing.)

      If so, then it's not even really giving the same functionality as SMB, NFS and others, and they're really doing Samba a disservice by comparing themselves to it.

      Chungles appears to just be a GUI for copying files from host to host, but you can't use the files on a remote host as if they were local, like SMB and NFS and others let you do. The distinction is subtle, but important.

    2. Re:most always Samba? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget that you can always just mount it with the common internet file system chosen.

  15. Simple Asynchronous File Transfer by shapr · · Score: 2, Informative

    I use saft, the simple asynchronous file transfer system. I don't know if it has a windows implementation, but it's great for sharing files with someone else directly.

    Far far better is SFS, the self-certifying filesystem. It's more trouble to setup (unless you use Debian) but it allows you to create a secure NFS mount that can safely be mounted and used across the internet.
    I've used it in the past to give read-only anonymous access to a directory, and I could still fly around the world and securely mount the SFS share somewhere else. You probably don't want to mount an SFS share on insecure hardware that might have a keylogger, but it's a great way to have access to all your source code (and research papers in my case) from a friends house in another country.

    --

    Shae Erisson - ScannedInAvian.com
  16. Slightly more OT, but WinSCP is pretty cool by SeaEye420 · · Score: 1

    Hey, great tip! I use WinSCP all the time and I didn't know you could do that. Sweet. Thanks!

    --
    Wort Wort Wort!
  17. Name? by FurryFeet · · Score: 1

    "From the same people who brought you project names like Ubuntu and Ogg Vorbis... we now present.... CHUNGLES!"

    Really, WTF?

  18. I want it all... by KILNA · · Score: 1

    I want something that is easy to set up, secure, easily tunnelable, cross platform, and allows my users to easily map network drives on windows. Editing files directly is important to me, it takes a whole layer off the support onion (and just seems to be the right thing to do).

    WebDav Drive-mountable in windows through certain versions of web folders... still haven't located how to do that mapping in WindowsXP Home. Set up under Apache is a pain in the butt. I just want to set up home directories for users using standard filesystem permissions and let it go. Plus, under Apache you have to either run the server as root OR have users open r/w permissions to the web server user for all files. Is there a rock-secure, easily set up WebDav implementation for Linux/Unix out there that I just haven't managed to find yet? FTP/SFTP There are drive mounting tools for FTP, but since FTP isn't block oriented it doesn't map well. I haven't seen one FTP drive mounting proggy for windows that does SFTP or FTP/S without some sort of problem. The protocol is so inconsistently implemented it's a wonder that FTP clients and servers can talk at all. Samba/SMB Not easily tunnelable (at least for windows boxen). I can't give simple instructions to a user on how to make a secure connection to a remote SMB share from windows. NFS Shares most of the same problems with Samba, with the disadvantage of most windows clients for it being costly. iFolder, Chungles, etc. Looks promising, but apps like these invariably lack drive mounting.

    Is it too much to ask for a great file sharing protocol that windows users can edit files directly on, that can be securely routed through firewalls without too much trouble?

    --
    Error: PANTS NOT FOUND. Press <F1> to continue.
    1. Re:I want it all... by Sexy+Bern · · Score: 1
      WebDAV: Novell NetDrive will map a drive letter, and it works very well indeed.

      Up until recently, it was available from Novell directly for free, but they seem to have taken it away.

      Google around for it and download it from a respectable source (plenty of universities have it on their web servers).

      I've used it within Windows explorer, with RoboCopy, with Notepad++ etc. without glitches.

      As a bonus, it works using https:/// URLs too, so you can be a bit more confident about moving stuff across t'internet.

    2. Re:I want it all... by Sexy+Bern · · Score: 1
      Sorry, mean to finish off with the whole SMB thing. Use OpenVPN if you absolutely must use native Windows networking. It really does work very well.

      Typically you must configure the client to use the server for WINS. Other than that, Outlook/Exchange work just fine, as do RDP, network drives etc.

    3. Re:I want it all... by rammerhammer · · Score: 1

      Actually, this is a major plan for Chungles. I'm looking to get a stable version up before I add native mounting, but it's definitely something needed.

    4. Re:I want it all... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how will you add native mounting to windows using java only code ? its not possible.

    5. Re:I want it all... by Motherfucking+Shit · · Score: 1
      Error: PANTS NOT FOUND.
      Cool, Paul Shaffer posts on Slashdot! Ask Dave, he'll give you some worldwide pants.
      --
      "BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
  19. Re:Chungles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then what is it? I've used it to transfer many megabytes of files. Grandparent is not flamebait - parent is clueless!

  20. Curiosity by Mark_MF-WN · · Score: 1

    Just out of curiosity, how does fish:// differ from sftp:// ? I've used the latter but never the former, and am curious if it's superior or advantageous in some way.

    1. Re:Curiosity by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 1

      fish is an ssh kioslave, sftp is a sftp kioslave.

      afaik, fish uses ssh (cd, ls) to browse and scp to copy files

      sftp connects to a sftp server and speaks the ftp protocol, but its encrypted (ssh?/ssl? - not sure)

  21. Non free, but works... by Phil+John · · Score: 1

    WebDrive by SouthRiver works nicely with sftp and it doesn't really break the bank (~$50).

    --
    I am NaN
  22. the bigger diff by willCode4Beer.com · · Score: 1

    I don't think this is really a product to compete with samba (except maybe file transfer).
    With samba, you can mount a remote (windows) file system, and work with it as if were local. This tool isn't going to provide the capability to do that. It will give you gui'ish directory browsing and file transfer.
    As for using mini http servers, it would definitly provide more security, control, and understanding of what is shared. But, if the files are on someone else's box, you don't really have the option. On this topic, Mandrake has this neat little feature where you can right-click/share a directory, and it does just this, starts an http server, you pick the port and amount of bandwidth you're willing to dedicate.
    This program would be a good tool for non-techies to just grab files from remote windows boxes and not have to deal with the vagaries of windows networking. Think graphic designer on a mac, a secretary on windows, an intern on a linux machine...

    --
    ----- If communism is a system where the government owns business, what do you call a system where business owns govern
    1. Re:the bigger diff by m50d · · Score: 1

      That's part of KDE, not mandrake-only. Mini http servers like that are a better alternative than this program, because the receiver can just use their web browser.

      --
      I am trolling
  23. But, c'mon, by toby · · Score: 1

    Your handle is snorklewacker, for the love of Gatsby. Why should we listen to YOU?

    --
    you had me at #!
  24. if you want to do cross-platform sharing.. by BigGerman · · Score: 1

    ..over the net (not just local) you may want to try http://www.jetfolders.com./

    Java web-start here