MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How does Plucker (free) compare to iSilo (commercial)?

Alexander Turcic · 03-31-2003, 03:54 PM

Test 1: Small Channel, Low Graphics

CNN: http://wireless.cnn.com/avantgo/cnn/index.html

Plucker:

Link-Depth: 3
Image Settings: Include Image (1000s of colors), thumbnail for images > 320x320
Other Settings: ZLIB
Target: PALM\PROGRAMS\Plucker
Conversion Time: insignificant
File Size: 84,994 Bytes (get file <a href="http://www.turcic.com/forums/supplements/isilo-plucker/CNN Pluck.pdb">here</a>)

iSiloX:

Link-Depth: 2
Image Settings: Include Image (16-bit 64K colors), Compress
Other Settings: Process table formatting
Target: PALM\PROGRAMS\iSilo
Conversion Time: insignificant
File Size: 47,382 Bytes (get file <a href="http://www.turcic.com/forums/supplements/isilo-plucker/CNN iSilo.pdb">here</a>)

Observations:
There is a bug in the current Plucker Desktop Parser. As apparent from the Log (get file <a href="http://www.turcic.com/forums/supplements/isilo-plucker/CNN Pluck.log">here</a>), Plucker downloaded and saved each page twice here. This explains why the resulting file is almost twice as big as the converted iSiloX file. If I reduce the Link-Depth for Plucker to 2, it would not download the pages twice anymore, but the “<< Main” link in the header of each CNN article would link to an unresolved URL.

Note that for Plucker Link-Depth always starts at 1 (=retrieve starting page only), whereas for iSiloX Link-Depth starts at 0.

In both cases, conversion time was below 10 seconds.

Screenshots:
CNN Home iSilo:

CNN Home Plucker:

CNN Article iSilo:

CNN Article Plucker:

03-31-2003, 03:54 PM	#3
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Test 1: Small Channel, Low Graphics CNN: http://wireless.cnn.com/avantgo/cnn/index.html Plucker: Link-Depth: 3 Image Settings: Include Image (1000s of colors), thumbnail for images > 320x320 Other Settings: ZLIB Target: PALM\PROGRAMS\Plucker Conversion Time: insignificant File Size: 84,994 Bytes (get file <a href="http://www.turcic.com/forums/supplements/isilo-plucker/CNN Pluck.pdb">here</a>) iSiloX: Link-Depth: 2 Image Settings: Include Image (16-bit 64K colors), Compress Other Settings: Process table formatting Target: PALM\PROGRAMS\iSilo Conversion Time: insignificant File Size: 47,382 Bytes (get file <a href="http://www.turcic.com/forums/supplements/isilo-plucker/CNN iSilo.pdb">here</a>) Observations: There is a bug in the current Plucker Desktop Parser. As apparent from the Log (get file <a href="http://www.turcic.com/forums/supplements/isilo-plucker/CNN Pluck.log">here</a>), Plucker downloaded and saved each page twice here. This explains why the resulting file is almost twice as big as the converted iSiloX file. If I reduce the Link-Depth for Plucker to 2, it would not download the pages twice anymore, but the “<< Main” link in the header of each CNN article would link to an unresolved URL. Note that for Plucker Link-Depth always starts at 1 (=retrieve starting page only), whereas for iSiloX Link-Depth starts at 0. In both cases, conversion time was below 10 seconds. Screenshots: CNN Home iSilo: CNN Home Plucker: CNN Article iSilo: CNN Article Plucker: