As promised by the developers of Etherpad, the source code for it has been made open. You can view the source code here, as well as read known issues and comments from others who have already created their own versions of etherpad.
Looking through the source code it doesn't seem too difficult to set up your own clone - although you'll need to find some webspace (preferably with a MySQL server included), and be willing to make changes to much of the coding provided.
Now, given time (and a spare database setup), I could probably get my own etherpad up and running - but I'm trying to avoid taking on extra work and the stresses involved with it after my unintended extended summer holiday earlier this year. What I really could do with finding are two things;
(1) A great coder, who is wanting to take on the challenge of setting up an etherpad clone (preferably a closed / password protected system for edu use), and
(2) A company that has server space willing to be given over to an edu-etherpad system.
However <sigh> I can't see that happening anytime soon, and so it looks like I am going to be reliant on another etherpad hosted service as before (along with the risk that it could stop functioning at anytime without warning).
Oh the joys of playing with new tech!
Oh, and here are a few examples of etherpads that are already up and running following the release of the source code;
http://ietherpad.com | http://netherpad.com |
| http://piratepad.net | http://primarypad.com |
Update (21/12):
Good news! I don't need to worry about trying to set up an etherpad clone suitable for use in school!!
The Primarypad system mentioned above has been built and is currently being tested. It is aimed squarely at educational use. Primary Technology - the company behind it - are asking educators for the features they would like to see made available through this publically available primarypad (or via twitter), and the addition of the password protect feature seems to be high up on the list of requests. If that is implemented, then I would be happy to use it in school, and recommend it as the replacement for etherpad, which will be disappearing completely on March 31st 2010 (thanks to @johnmclear for finding out this information and passing it on).
Why is password protect so important? Well, IMO, if a pad is publically available and pupils are using it, then there is the potential risk of the pad being spammed with unwanted text inappropriate for pupils to see. Password protect reduces this risk, therefore safegaurding pupils who will be using the pad. Etherpad came with this option - and was one I used regularly when setting pads up for the class to use.
Update (22/12):
PrimaryPad now has pro accounts, public pads, and password protection for pads. It is exactly the same as the former etherpad was now, working just as well. Perfect for use in the primary (and secondary classroom). The work put in by @johnmclear during the evening of Dec 21st to get pro accounts up and running with password protection was amazing.
