Filed under: WWDC, Interviews, Developer
WWDC '08: Jeff Mancuso (Magnetk)
ExpanDrive made a pretty good stir when it was released. If you haven't seen it, it's an application that allows remote SFTP servers to be mounted (using MacFUSE) and used seamlessly as part of the filesystem. We've been following it as it develops and I wanted a chance to talk to its developers about what's up next.
I caught up with Jeff Mancuso of Magnetk last week and did just that. I found out where Amazon S3 plans are at, and what ExpanDrive has to offer Flickr, Facebook and other web applications. The video (after the jump) is very nicely lit, too, just for you.
Update: Magnetk was kind enough to hand us a coupon code for $5 off of an ExpanDrive license, good for the first 50 TUAW readers who use it. Enter SHFVRDEFO1SGA3QI at checkout.
[Viddler Link|QuickTime Version]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Frank said 11:31AM on 6-25-2008
Hmm, how is this different from MacFusion which has done this for a long time (also uses MacFuse)?
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/08/mgorbach/MacFusionWeb/
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Kit said 12:03PM on 6-25-2008
Frank, MacFusion, while nice and free, suffered from some stability, speed, and reconnect issues that ExpanDrive addresses for the most part.
I tried the ExpanDrive demo and was impressed enough to buy it even though there was a free alternative in MacFusion.
Frank said 12:07PM on 6-25-2008
Ahh I see, I have noticed some speed problems at certain times. I use it mostly for SSH at work on a LAN and it's speedy enough but when I do some of that thru the net it is a bit slow. I'll give it a look. Thanks!
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JRBTempe said 12:39PM on 6-25-2008
I've been looking for something like this for awhile now and was amazed at how quickly it installed and was up & running on my Dreamhost account! Bravo guys and thanks for the discount!
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Michael Gorbach said 4:36PM on 6-25-2008
Hello all,
Author of Macfusion here. Indeed, Macfusion does do this for free. They are also correct in that the have introduced optimizations above SSHFS, which Macfusion uses. It would be great to see similar optimizations introduced in the open source Macfuse/SSHFS/Macfusion stack, thereby benefiting many existing open source filesystems rather than requiring proprietary software and additional work. If anyone is interested in helping with such a process, please do contact me.
Michael
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Caitlin said 5:10PM on 6-25-2008
Does it still give you the spinny beachball every so often when live editing?
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Magnetk said 5:46PM on 6-25-2008
Caitlin - email us at support@magnetk.com if you're having any troubles!
hehehaha said 2:45AM on 6-26-2008
This would be even better if we could use ssh mounted drives for Time Machine.
For MacFUSE, is there a way to get drives to show up in Finder or on the Desktop (in Leopard)? Using sshfs & MacFuse, my drives were mounted in /mnt/...., but never showed up in Finder.
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Anon said 10:17AM on 6-26-2008
Ha! I had a drink with Jeff at An Event Apart in Boston on Monday night. I hadn't heard of his product until then.
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