I've tried using Plucker to clip the BBC News in Russian site that people are having problems with. It works perfectly, suggest you download Plucker (which is great anyway). (Privet iz Anglii) :rolleyes:

I am puzzled by this comment. This is an iSilo site, with a HandStory component. BBC in Russian works beautifully in iSilo - just use the source from the latest WCC compilation. I simply noted that HandStory would not convert it correctly. Plucker - an OK program -adds nothing to iSilo. Vsego dobrogo ot Njujorkjanca. PDR

Originally posted by radleyp@Mar 3 2003, 04:41 PM
I am puzzled by this comment. This is an iSilo site, with a HandStory component. BBC in Russian works beautifully in iSilo - just use the source from the latest WCC compilation. I simply noted that HandStory would not convert it correctly. Plucker - an OK program -adds nothing to iSilo. Vsego dobrogo ot Njujorkjanca. PDR
radleyp,

You're right that the site's original focus was on iSilo/X. This has to do with the fact that I am myself a passionate iSilo user :)

However, my real intention was to create a "mobile-minded" PDA community. And here Handstory & Plucker definitely deserve their place.

I am very glad to have other people by my side whose software focus is a little bit different (like gvtexas) and who help us to fully grasp what is possible with PDA's today. Every software has its pro and cons, and with everyone's support, each one of us should be able to decide what suits best for him or her.

Cheers!
Alex

I don't exactly know why, maybe it's just idle curiosity, but I decided to download the latest Plucker, and see how well BBC in Russian works. For me, it doesn't. If I set the depth to "1", it doesn't give me anything but the basic site categories. And if I set it to "2", the conversion takes forwever. Alexander, have you tried this?

Cheers, PDR

Yup. In iSiloX, we defined patter for BBC Russia. The Link Deph should be 2. But also we said that iSilo shouldn't follow any link that contains bbc.co.uk/hi. I don't think you can do this in Plucker, that is why it takes forver to download.

Personally I am not so happy with Plucker yet, it has the bad habit of crashing on me quite often :o

Alexander, why would you bother with Plucker at all? It adds nothing to iSilo save for an automatic sync setup (very similar to HandStory's). In every other respect it is less satisfactory and much less versatile.

Also, I don't understand how BasilC can state that Plucker works perfectly with BBC Russian, since we both know it doesn't.

Cheers, PDR

I don't understand how BasilC can state that Plucker works perfectly with BBC Russian, since we both know it doesn't.

Yes it does. You have to use the low-graphics version of the site and bear in mind that Plucker has a different definition of "depth" than, for instance, HandStory (in Plucker "1" = just the initial page, which HS refers to as "0").

Initial URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/russian/news
Depth: 2
Images: uncheck "Include Images"

I've just tested it. It took 20 seconds to run (broadband, admittedly), producing 19 different stories and a file size of 53kB. I use Interpilot to read it (I have Interpilot Russian or Czech activated most of the time, since it produces a more legible font in English too!)[

I don't understand. Did you read Alexander's post above? It didn't work for him either.

If I set the depth to "2", the conversion takes, as I stated earlier (on a hi-speed DSL connection), "forever". Besides, I don't understand what you mean by "stories". I just converted the site in iSilo, which as you know compresses about as well as any program, and the file size is 338K! How can you get the same content in 50+K? Do you actually get the full stories or just the abbreviated ones under the headlines?

A puzzled PDR

Hm the problem is that the Russian lowtext BBC version contains a link to the highgraphics version, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/news/default.stm. When you set link depth to 2 without restricting the urls to download to the lowtext links, you will have a lot of uncessary downloads...

I just reconfigured BBC Russian to exclude links to BBC high-resolution and it does indeed work. So I stand corrected.

I don't want to use Plucker, however, because it cannot read from a memory card.

PDR

Just discovered that I had an older version of Plucker, and that a newer one (1.2) does in fact read from memory cards. This is a true embarassment of riches: do we now keep three web browsers on our PDA's? PDR

Since you guys went into a nice discussion about Plucker, thought I'd move the appropriate posts out of HandStory and into the Plucker section...

I made an accidental discovery with Plucker. If, when you are converting files, you mount theSony (I have a 615) MS, i.e. you start the unit when it is in the HotSync stand and open MS Import, the files will not only be converted but also installed on the stick. PDR

Like you, Alexander, I start playing with Plucker, and I have to start doing resets (one yesterday, and a hard reset the day before). I have removed it. PDR

Originally posted by radleyp
I just reconfigured BBC Russian to exclude links to BBC high-resolution and it does indeed work. So I stand corrected.

I don't want to use Plucker, however, because it cannot read from a memory card.

PDR

Since when? Plucker has been reading from VFS for well over a year now. What version are you running?

We're going to be releasing a 1.4 beta shortly, which brings with it a ton of new features, including some things not seen in any other viewer yet.

Feel free to compile it from cvs if you wish to get it now, or wait until we release it, or use one of the snapshot nightlies, or grab one of Adam's Hires Plucker builds.

I've been using Plucker since mid-1998, when there were only 3 or 4 of us, and the version I'm using right now as I type this, reads and writes without any problems to my SD card in my m505. I can also manipulate all kinds of settings related to external storage, such as "Do not scan on startup", etc. The icons for documents listed in RAM look different from those listed on external storage. Even the screenshots in the Plucker gallery page shows the different icons.

I am surprised you are answering this now. I posted this comment sometime ago, and realized soon after that I was mistaken about the memory card access - and said so here. My main problem with Plucker is that, like Alexander, I get error messages when I use it. This makes me wary. PDR

Originally posted by radleyp
My main problem with Plucker is that, like Alexander, I get error messages when I use it. This makes me wary. PDR

What version of Plucker?
What device are you running it on?
Did you run CleanPlucker first?
Was this a clean install on a device that never saw Plucker before?

If you were running a previous release of Plucker, and upgraded it to one of the betas or the hires version, you probably have a conflict between the changes in preferences (which clearly were noted if you tracked the changes in the source).

Try using the hires version (if you have a hires device) from http://hires.plkr.org/ and make sure you run CleanPlucker first. The remaining versions all seem to work fine for thousands of users using 1.2 and the 1.3x cvs snapshot builds.

What error message(s) did you get? I didn't bring my crystal ball with me this afternoon.

I'll have to get back to you on that, as I have removed Plucker and at this point don't want to start playing with it. I must admit, however, that I see no benefit to Plucker now that iSilo has brought out a beta that allows for scheduled conversions. Unlike some of the others on this site, moreover, I don't want to use more than one web clipper at a time. PRadley

Originally posted by radleyp
I'll have to get back to you on that, as I have removed Plucker and at this point don't want to start playing with it. I must admit, however, that I see no benefit to Plucker now that iSilo has brought out a beta that allows for scheduled conversions. PRadley

iSilo isn't free, and until it becomes free, it will always fall inferior to the other products which are. Also, the free alternatives, superior in features and support, offer many more platforms and tools to work with them, than those offered by commercial companies like iSilo and AvantGo.

I'm all for using what works, and for me, having dozens more features, supported platforms, and tool choices available to me makes my choice Plucker, but you may not have the same needs, clearly.

Use whatever works.

I wasn't attacking you or Plucker which is indeed a fine program. I was just expressing my view, which is of course based on my needs. I just wanted to respond to your first statement, however. What is free is not "always" better, as you state, simply by virtue of costing nothing. One example: scrolling in iSilo is far better than in Plucker, as is table conversion. So if you want those two - and I do - I spend the money. As a free program, however, Plucker is one of the best of any kind that I have ever seen. Cheers, PRadley