Hi gang, Got this today with very favorable remarks about our favorite browser. Enjoy. Regards, Dale Mentzer ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- TipWorld - http://www.tipworld.com The Internet's #1 Source for Computer Tips, News, and Gossip Proudly presents: New Product Gossip ---------------------------------------------------------------- And now for today's tip ... WEAVING ARACHNE'S WEB By Robin Garr I recently proposed Opera (www.opera.com) as an intriguing alternative to the Big Two commercial browsers, noting that this Norwegian-made application justifies its price with lean, fast code that makes Explorer and Netscape look like beached whales. But reader John McHugh points out that Opera in its turn looks like a hefty Wagnerian soprano in contrast to the truly lean and hungry Arachne browser, a DOS-based freeware product from the Czech Republic (available in many languages) that's so lightweight that it will fit on a floppy disk and run on an old 386. The Arachne for DOS full screen graphical WWW browser can be used with any DOS-compatible operating system from MS-DOS 3.3 and above through Windows 98. It requires as little as 475 KB of DOS memory (540 KB if you want a PPP connection) and an EGA or VGA video card, although even its "recommended configuration" calls for a 386 or later PC with at least 4 MB of memory. The current version 1.66 for DOS (and version 1.66 beta for Linux) is available online from Arachne Labs, http://www.arachne.cz Although the designers say they created Arachne in part to make the Web accessible to people around the world who can't afford or don't have access to modern computers, they add that "Arachne is not only 'the web browser for poor'," noting that there are plenty of cases where a small, compact, full screen, and highly customizable Web browser is useful. They claim more than 100,000 downloads and estimate that more than 10,000 people use it to surf the Web regularly. It's an intriguing alternative, even for those of us who've pretty much gone over entirely to Windows apps. It's easy to install, a little more persnickety to set up and get running, but once it's on your screen, its effective use of DOS colors and graphics gives it a surprisingly modern look and feel. Arachne is definitely worth a look for curiosity's sake alone, although in all honesty, assuming you do have a reasonably modern computer, Pentium or above, I can't make a particularly compelling case for using it in place of the standards. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Robin Garr is an early adopter who has a lifelong fascination with technology. A journalist and author, he has been associated with the online scene since the early 1980s. He is an award-winning Web developer; his own Web site, Wine Lovers' Page (http://www.wineloverspage.com) was one of the first sites on the Web and has grown into a leader in its market. You can reach him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Discuss Tech News as It Happens! Keep up with the latest happenings in high technology, home computing, and the Internet -- and discuss it with like-minded souls. Join our Technology Reboot moderated discussion today! More Info: http://www.topica.com/lists/technology Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Want to cancel a subscription, have your newsletters delivered to a new address, or have it delivered in a different e-mail format (HTML or TEXT)? You can do it all at your My Topica page (Topica registration required): http://www.topica.com/my Register at Topica here: http://www.topica.com/register To unsubscribe from this newsletter, send a blank email to this address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Tipworld or Topica at: http://www.topica.com/about/index.html?mode=contacts TipWorld may contain links to sites on the Internet which are owned and operated by third parties. Topica Inc. is not responsible for the availability of, or the content located on or through, any such third-party site. Copyright(C) 2000 Topica Inc. All Rights Reserved. TipWorld is a registered trademark of Topica Inc. ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser. This mail written by a user of Arachne, the DOS Internet Client WWWWW World Wide Web Without Windows http://home.arachne.cz Arachne DOS Browser Home Page
