Booktype Pro Vs. Self Hosted
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Brittany DeLongBrittany DeLong
    Posts: 23Member
    Hi, I'm interested in using Booktype for our university press's needs and have read through the website and relevant literature but am still a bit lost as to the differences between Booktype Pro and the self hosting option - those are the two options for downloading Booktype correct?

    For one, why would you use Booktype Pro over the self-installed version?

    Also, how much does the self-installed version cost? The head of our IT department claims that while Booktype is available for local installation, it is written in such a way that it requires "root" access to the server, so we would need to use a Virtual Private Server which would make it more expensive. Is this correct?

    Pardon my ignorance, I'm just getting a bit lost here and need to determine which option would be best if we were to choose to use Booktype.
  • 5 Comments sorted by
  • Vote Up1Vote Down Aleksandar ErkalovićAleksandar Erkalović
    Posts: 207Member
    Hi Brittany!

    Good to know you are considering Booktype for this. We are in the process of developing Booktype 2.0 (soon to be released) which will have brand new and improved editor with new ebook production and many other features. If there is something really missing for you in current version it might soon be fixed with new version :) 

    With Booktype Pro we take care of the hosting, upgrades and daily maintenance. With self hosting you have to do it yourself. And as everyone will tell you, with self hosting you own your data and you have better control over your server. For most users (especially smaller ones) that is not so important feature and in contact with us Booktype Pro instance can be easily modified and extended with additional features.

    Generating PDF files requires minimum of 2GB of RAM and having multiuser interface requires some additional applications. Like head of your IT said, because of that you need root access and a bit of RAM to make it work. That makes it a bit more complex than average Wordpress web site for instance. You either need to rent Virtual Private Server somewhere or install it somewhere on your local machine.

    Booktype Pro is under free software/open source license and you don't need to pay anything to get it/user it/install it/modify it.  You will  need to rent a server where you can install it, if you don't have one already.

    I am not really up to date with latest prices of VPS machines but i have smallest package on www.linode.com for instance (my private server). Smallest package would not have enough RAM for this but 2GB package could be minimal for instance. That is something like $40 each month ($80 for bigger server). There are many other and cheaper options but in general it is cheaper to use Booktype Pro than rent your own server and take care of it. You can check Booktype Pro options here - http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/booktype/booktypepro 

    Aco
    Post edited by Aleksandar Erkalović at 2013-07-25 18:40:41
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Brittany DeLongBrittany DeLong
    Posts: 23Member
    Thanks for all this information this is very helpful!

    Two quick things:

    1. So say I decide to go with Booktype Pro, where exactly is it installed on my computer? Do I just go onto the Sourcefabric website and log in? And if others are collaborating on the book, how do they then access Booktype Software?

    2. The link you included at the end of your post doesn't seem to work?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Brittany DeLongBrittany DeLong
    Posts: 23Member
    Thanks for all this information this is very helpful!

    Two quick things:

    1. So say I decide to go with Booktype Pro, where exactly is it installed on my computer? Do I just go onto the Sourcefabric website and log in? And if others are collaborating on the book, how do they then access Booktype Software?

    2. The link you included at the end of your post doesn't seem to work?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Bernd MüllerBernd Müller
    Posts: 2Member
    click here...
    Post edited by Bernd Müller at 2013-08-14 04:24:53
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Aleksandar ErkalovićAleksandar Erkalović
    Posts: 207Member
    Hi Brittany!

    Booktype Pro instance is installed on our servers and it will get unique name. For instance: http://aco.booktype.pro/. Anyone who wants to use it will be able to login and edit.

    For more info you can check link Bernard has pasted.

    Aco
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