RailsInstaller for Windows 2.0.0 Preview Release

• railsinstaller 2.0.0 preview release

  RailsInstaller for Windows is a ‘welcome kit’ that allows you and your friends to quickly get up and running with Rails on Windows. In just three minutes you’ll get set up with all the common packages necessary for a full Rails stack, with git and ssh setup thrown in for free!

Feedback from Windows users has been along the lines of “wonderful”, “joyful”, and “thanks!” Non-users have asked “why did you use Ruby 1.8.7 instead of Ruby 1.9.2?” This is the dual nature of the feedback received since we released RailsInstaller a few months ago.

Our original reasoning for not shipping 1.9.2 from the start was because our initial research indicated that 1.8.7 provided a better ‘out of the box’ experience on Windows. This was mainly due to the various state of affairs with gem differences between RubyGems on 1.8.7 versus 1.9.2 on Windows. We have since received feedback from several individuals that they firmly believe those issues are in the past and would like to see Ruby 1.9.2 shipped with RailsInstaller.

In response to this we have devised a plan to propel this forward. We most definitely agree we should be moving everyone along to Ruby 1.9.2 and future versions. In order to help facilitate this we are now releasing a RailsInstaller for Windows 2.0.0 preview release.

RailsInstaller for Windows 2.0.0 preview release includes new features such as:

• Ruby 1.9.2
• Rails 3.1.0.rc2
• activerecord-sqlserver-adapter 3.1.0.rc2

Everything else remains the same. For a quick introduction review the RailsInstaller Demo. In this screencast demo, I walk through the installation workflow of RailsInstaller. I also demonstrate how to put your newly generated ssh public key on github and how to signup for an Engine Yard AppCloud trial account. (If you haven’t heard about the AppCloud free trial, you can learn more in the announcement post.)

For more info on RailsInstaller, drop by the website, and join the discussion group to help us continue to improve it. You can also watch Dr. Nic’s Getting Started with RailsInstaller for Windows webinar for a good overview.

Remember folks, please share RailsInstaller with your colleagues, friends and family!

Click here to download the preview release now!