dillo web browser for the iliad

[Antartica]

Hi!

I've uploaded a new version. Has better browsing experience (scroll with the stylus) URL is:

http://projects.mobileread.com/iliad..._iliad-0.6.zip

And modified Yokos connection scripts to make two entries, one for connecting, and another for disconnecting.

http://projects.mobileread.com/iliad...cripts-1.0.zip

I've incorporated Yokos manifest.xml and icons, too :-). Thanks Yokos :-b.

[The GreatGonzo]

A little help, please, for the clueless (surely there's more than just me?):

When I unzip the dillo package, I get - among other things - a lot of .gz files. Do I unpack these, too, before transferring the folder to the Iliad?

Also, will dillo run without a wifi connection present? (I don't have a LAN/WLAN connection that I can use right now, but I'd like to know if the browser is installed correctly before I venture out in search of a hotspot...)

Thanks!

[Mambo]

Antartica: I have not checked the new version but I will try.

Otherwise when I tried last time, I got so disappointed that browsing has consumed the battery of my iliad in just 2 hours (as opposed to reading was possible for 10 hours).
Now I've got the idea, that would it be possible to close the wireless every time a page has been downloaded and put the CPU in idle mode, or at least do nothing. But when you click on a link reconnect again to the wireless network in the background, download the webpage and disconnect again?
This way you could browse the net for 10 hours (with the exception of a few sites, where you need to log on and stay connected)

I hope somebody here knows how to do this and would help us to achieve this!

[Antartica]

Originally Posted by The GreatGonzo

A little help, please, for the clueless (surely there's more than just me?):

When I unzip the dillo package, I get - among other things - a lot of .gz files. Do I unpack these, too, before transferring the folder to the Iliad?

No, you should unzip the package as-is in the iliad. For example, i have unzipped both files inside the documents folder of the iliad (I have reserved the iliad "documents" folder for programs -- and moved all documents to another place O:-).

Originally Posted by The GreatGonzo

Also, will dillo run without a wifi connection present? (I don't have a LAN/WLAN connection that I can use right now, but I'd like to know if the browser is installed correctly before I venture out in search of a hotspot...)

Yes. You can open dillo without a connection present.

The problem is that you cannot use (yet) the "File->Open file" dialog to open local files (because it requires the dpid daemon, that I have not compiled...). I'll look at it at some point into the future (ugh! dillo 0.7.3 didn't had this dependency -- it opened loal files without the the dpid daemon installed :-? -- it must be a new feature of the 0.8.x series of dillo).

[Antartica]

Originally Posted by Mambo

Otherwise when I tried last time, I got so disappointed that browsing has consumed the battery of my iliad in just 2 hours (as opposed to reading was possible for 10 hours).
Now I've got the idea, that would it be possible to close the wireless every time a page has been downloaded and put the CPU in idle mode, or at least do nothing. But when you click on a link reconnect again to the wireless network in the background, download the webpage and disconnect again?
This way you could browse the net for 10 hours (with the exception of a few sites, where you need to log on and stay connected)

I hope somebody here knows how to do this and would help us to achieve this!

Hey! That was how the Apple Newton worked (AFAIK) .

If there is a way to bypass using connectionManager to do the connection, perhaps it can be done fast enough to be usable. Right now using connectionManager, it's like 5-8 seconds to connect in my setup (although I have the access point is quite far), and I don't think it'll be very usable this way if we connect/fetch page/disconnect. Anyway, in the zaurus it's like 3 seconds to connect, and I don't think that it can be done better than that.

P.S.: I had the impression that the batteries lasted more than 2h with wifi... I'll have to do some tests.

[emkay]

Nice work Antartica.

Is there any way to scroll using the up / down hardware keys? The vertical scroll bar is really difficult to use here because it's so narrow and my stylus isn't calibrated.

[Antartica]

Originally Posted by emkay

Nice work Antartica.

Thanks :-).

Originally Posted by emkay

Is there any way to scroll using the up / down hardware keys? The vertical scroll bar is really difficult to use here because it's so narrow and my stylus isn't calibrated.

Mine isn't well calibrated and I had that problem too: one of the improvements in this version, is that you can "pan" the page with the stylus.

Drag with the stylus any plain area (text or just background) and the page should scroll the amount you moved the stylus.

As for the vertical scrollbar and bad calibrated iliads: A nice thing of the wacom tablet of the iliad, is that it responds to events that are away from the physical screen. That means that you can click on the case next to the vertcal scrollbar and it will work (in fact, dragging also works this way). But I'm worried that using the stylus in the iliad case will damage it somehow... so I cannot recomend it :-(.

As to the hardware keys: the flipbar works, but there is a bug in my code that doesn't reset the busy led, so it's somewhat anoying. Personally, I only use the stylus while in dillo.

[emkay]

Originally Posted by Antartica

T
Drag with the stylus any plain area (text or just background) and the page should scroll the amount you moved the stylus.

Wow, excellent! I missed that.

[The GreatGonzo]

Thanks for the help, got one more:

<edit> Never mind, figured it out, unzipping error, sorry....

[The GreatGonzo]

Quick thank you to everybody who worked on this; runs like a charm, I'm enjoying it immensely...

[kapoira]

It's to me or the dillo browser have stopped to work in the 2.9....

now i will go to the forum of irex and see the people there ;-)

[yokos]

dillo complains it can't find the shared library "libXp.so.6".
So cping this file in the lib directory should maybe solve starting problems.

I attached a screenshot of dillo [firmware 2.8] - because there is no one in this thread.

[EDIT:] iLiad's os 2.9 likes dillo again.
Please copy the file "libXp.so.6" in the attached zip file to the subdirectory "lib" in your dillo directory.
[EDIT II:] changed zip-file [I added a short readme.txt]

[firekat]

A quick question to you techie gurus out there. I have been experimenting with some html files to view on the iLiad. To me it seems like it takes a lot of work with xml files to get them configured. I also have some that have some small javascript stuff in them for basic navigation - still trying to find some kind of self contained wiki to run on the iLiad. The thing is would dillo be a better viewer for html than the one currently installed in the iLiad? Could you just point it to a file and have it read just like you would Firefox or any browser that you would have on your PC? If this were the case it would be much more "plug & play" and "point & click" for most people and would be certainly less time consuming than messing with an xml file. Most of the screenshots that I have seen here seem to better formatted than what I have seen on the iLiad. We could even have a back button?

Thanx for any info

[Antartica]

Originally Posted by firekat

The thing is would dillo be a better viewer for html than the one currently installed in the iLiad? Could you just point it to a file and have it read just like you would Firefox or any browser that you would have on your PC?

Not yet.

The current port can't open local files, as it tries to execute a helper program (dpid) and a plugin to open such files.

In the next revision I'll try to include the helper program and plugins so it can open local files and also we will get support for https.

[narve]

Originally Posted by Antartica

Hey! That was how the Apple Newton worked (AFAIK) .

If there is a way to bypass using connectionManager to do the connection, perhaps it can be done fast enough to be usable. Right now using connectionManager, it's like 5-8 seconds to connect in my setup (although I have the access point is quite far), and I don't think it'll be very usable this way if we connect/fetch page/disconnect. Anyway, in the zaurus it's like 3 seconds to connect, and I don't think that it can be done better than that.

P.S.: I had the impression that the batteries lasted more than 2h with wifi... I'll have to do some tests.

Nice work!!!

I agree, the connection is way too slow, even on my home network (where I am about 2 meters from my AP). And even 3 seconds extra delay would be irritating when just browsing.

If you actually manage to close connection and throttle CPU, perhaps a better solution would be to close connection and power down CPU after e.g. 10 seconds of network inactivity (i.e., you actually found an article you are going to read, instead of just following links).