On Thu, 20 Jun 2002, arachne-digest wrote:
> Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 22:32:33 -0500
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Browser times {Re: bootable dos's?
>
> On Tue, 18 Jun 2002 18:47:33 -0400 (EDT)
> Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> ....
> > My main machine is an AMD K/2-500 with 64MB. Here are the
> > "load, run & quit" times (without the browsers being already
> > cached):
> >
> > Mozilla 0.9.9 - 0:19.56 elapsed 39%CPU
> > Netscape 4.79 - 0:07.88 elapsed 27%CPU
> > Netscape 3.04 - 0:05.83 elapsed 31%CPU
> > Amaya 4.3 - 0:04.39 elapsed 31%CPU
> > Arachne 1.66 - 0:02.89 elapsed 24%CPU
> .....
> > How about page load/render time?
> >
> > $ arachne http://twoloonscoffee.com/order.html
> > (load time=0:02) | After cached =0:01
> >
> > $ mozilla http://twoloonscoffee.com/order.html
> > Document Done: (4.79 secs) | After cached 3.305 secs
> ....
>
> Mozilla 1.0 is a bit faster than the release candidates; debug stuff was removed I
>guess. Have you tried the new graphical links 2.0 yet?
>
> goodday,
> sodjiin
>
Graphical Links 2.0 ? This made me curious. Fired Google and found the
link:
http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~clock/twibright/links
(I hope the link is the right one)
I downloaded the source package and built it. The system used was the
rickety old, Slackware 4.0 based, Winlinux 2000 beta (don't get fooled by
its name). Prior to the building operation, I had enabled the Javascript
and SSL support (Links uses the OpenSSL library). The process went smootly
and, to my suprise, the result was a SINGLE file containing everything
(more than 3MB big, but, still a single file).
It is Links allright with his well known interface, but fully graphical.
First tests:
-I was able to access my Yahoo account (with its secure access
issues.)
-I was able to manage my "dhptech" account (secure web interface)
-It was able to see the first page at mail.rol.ro which also contains a
weird login form.
I could not test the svgalib mode (I lack svgalib on this
Linux installation), only the X-based graphic mode
They did a good job here. Due to the fact Links can do multiple downloads
simultaneously, pages load very fast. It has also some javascript support,
but, at a first glance, I could not evaluate it long enough to get myself
an opinion. It is not as sophisticated as Arachne, but it offers enough
features to browse the web fast and comfortable. The interface is very
similar to the text mode Links, and, noticeably, there are no
graphic widgets like buttons, textareas, etc, the users having to
cope with the ones existent in text mode. The cursor keys have a different
behaviour in graphic mode. They scroll the screen smoothly now, which is
very convenient. The overall rendering of the screen is slow sometimes,
but this is balanced by fast loading process. The other features are
similar to the old Links, I won't enumerate them any further.
I think that the aparition of this little browser should give Michael a
bit of motivation to speed up things with Arachne. Arachne has a lot of
nice extra features when compared to Links. It is itself a kind of
independent environment for browsing the Internet. It still remains the
only viable solution for DOS. But Links did a HUGE
step forward on the Linux platforms (where Arachne is Alpha and crippled).
Also, due to the way I understand Links does multiple downloads, I believe
it should not be impossible for someone to try and port it to the DJGPP
platform. At
least these things should determine Michael to try and continue the
development of Arachne Not necesarily in that tremendous pace he did it
before. But, Michael, at least give us a sign of you existencee. We
haven't heard about you for more than an year!
Cristian Burneci
