I just replied Andrei in the Mirage group and I thought it would be relevant for you too. Andrei asked if I considered using the source code of CMIOS9 instead of PHP.
Here's my reply.
I've studied the source code of CMIOS9 a lot and it's a very powerful tool. All respect to CMIOS9!
However, I'm actually a web programmer and for me creating the tools in objected oriented PHP (my native language) felt more natural. I think it's they are two different "products" with totally different purposes. CMIOS9 would end up bloated if I'd add all my stuff.
While CMIOS9 has the complete disk management, I've put the weight on translating features and other stuff that I personally need. My project has no intention to ever replace CMIOS9 or to replicate all its features.
On using PHP - it has both pros and cons.
Some of the cons are:
- Requires a web server
- No compiled executable
- No possibility to access hardware like floppies, scsi, usb etc
Pros:
- Platform independent
- Easy to create a web GUI (as you can see on nattvard.com/iix)
- Easy to connect to a database (in my case a MySQL server with all disk images in)
- Object oriented
I will be releasing the source code when it's cleaned up. I'll also include instructions how to run it on your own computer using a portable web server like Xampp on PC, or the built in Apache on Mac and Linux.