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Show HN: Open source alternative to LaunchRock

74 points by codelitt 11y ago

bshimmin 11y ago
If you're going to the trouble of setting up and deploying a Rails app, which you will then inevitably need to customise and style to match your content, how much more effort is it really just to start from scratch..? (Personally I'd probably use Sinatra for something like this and I would expect the front-end prettifying to take longer than the back-end...)
- codelitt 11y ago
  You're right. I think if I were to do it again I would use Sinatra. I built this a while ago. Live and learn. I actually opened an issue here to discuss: https://github.com/codelitt/launchpage-rails/issues/9 https://github.com/codelitt/launchpage-rails/issues/9
- alfonsodev 11y ago
  Somebody with ruby knowledge could create a Docker image.
  - codelitt 11y ago
    Yup. Here are Dockerfiles that should work for both the DB and the Ruby app (in their respective directories): https://github.com/codelittinc/dockerfiles https://github.com/codelittinc/dockerfiles
uniclaude 11y ago
That's cool and was very much needed. Good thing they decided to go with Ruby, which makes it possible to run cheaply on Heroku. For those looking for an even more simple solution to this problem (with less features, of course), buy a domain name, host an HTML page on Amazon S3 and use the Mailchimp form.
- codelitt 11y ago
  You're absolutely right. You could. You could also use https://formspree.io/ https://formspree.io/ which is quite good.
  - uniclaude 11y ago
    Wow, formspree looks even more hassle free than mailchimp for this purpose! Bookmarked!
- niftylettuce 11y ago
  Very cool project OP. @uniclaude: the HTML page on S3/CloudFront and MailChimp direction is built into my project called Gulp AWS Splash, which is another LaunchRock open source alternative at https://github.com/niftylettuce/gulp-aws-splash https://github.com/niftylettuce/gulp-aws-splash. I did a similar Show HN not long ago for this. Adding in Heroku 1-Click Deploy and purify-css today!
  - codelitt 11y ago
    Woahhh! That is awesome. Looks like you've put a lot of work into it.
jakejake 11y ago
Forgive me but why go after LaunchRock? It seems like the point of LaunchRock is to serve people who wouldn't have the tech skills (or desire) to deploy a Ruby app, or possibly even a static HTML app by themselves?
- codelitt 11y ago
  No intention to go after anyone. Yes, LR and this project serve completely different audiences. It was just the least-wordy way I could think of to describe it.

74 points by codelitt 11y ago

If you're going to the trouble of setting up and deploying a Rails app, which you will then inevitably need to customise and style to match your content, how much more effort is it really just to start from scratch..? (Personally I'd probably use Sinatra for something like this and I would expect the front-end prettifying to take longer than the back-end...)

codelitt 11y ago
You're right. I think if I were to do it again I would use Sinatra. I built this a while ago. Live and learn. I actually opened an issue here to discuss: https://github.com/codelitt/launchpage-rails/issues/9 https://github.com/codelitt/launchpage-rails/issues/9
alfonsodev 11y ago
Somebody with ruby knowledge could create a Docker image.
- codelitt 11y ago
  Yup. Here are Dockerfiles that should work for both the DB and the Ruby app (in their respective directories): https://github.com/codelittinc/dockerfiles https://github.com/codelittinc/dockerfiles

uniclaude 11y ago

That's cool and was very much needed. Good thing they decided to go with Ruby, which makes it possible to run cheaply on Heroku. For those looking for an even more simple solution to this problem (with less features, of course), buy a domain name, host an HTML page on Amazon S3 and use the Mailchimp form.

codelitt 11y ago
You're absolutely right. You could. You could also use https://formspree.io/ https://formspree.io/ which is quite good.
- uniclaude 11y ago
  Wow, formspree looks even more hassle free than mailchimp for this purpose! Bookmarked!
niftylettuce 11y ago
Very cool project OP. @uniclaude: the HTML page on S3/CloudFront and MailChimp direction is built into my project called Gulp AWS Splash, which is another LaunchRock open source alternative at https://github.com/niftylettuce/gulp-aws-splash https://github.com/niftylettuce/gulp-aws-splash. I did a similar Show HN not long ago for this. Adding in Heroku 1-Click Deploy and purify-css today!
- codelitt 11y ago
  Woahhh! That is awesome. Looks like you've put a lot of work into it.

jakejake 11y ago

Forgive me but why go after LaunchRock? It seems like the point of LaunchRock is to serve people who wouldn't have the tech skills (or desire) to deploy a Ruby app, or possibly even a static HTML app by themselves?

codelitt 11y ago
No intention to go after anyone. Yes, LR and this project serve completely different audiences. It was just the least-wordy way I could think of to describe it.