About Arachne WWW browser

Arachne WWW browser was written and distribution package was created by xChaos software, using third-party freeware components (see file README.TXT for details). The browser itself is shareware and you have to register it if you want to use it. Arachne is distributed by company Network and fiction.

Some links in this document are working only if you are connected to Internet. Most important online link for you is Arachne online homepage, where you can get the latest version of Arachne. More information: info@main.naf.cz. Distribution and licensing: sales@main.naf.cz.

Author of the Arachne WWW browser:

xChaos software (CZ)
Michael Polak - author of most of the code (including HTML rendering and xSwap (TM) memory manager) and of all documentaion. Designer of user interface (including all animations, icons and the "error message skull" ;) Inventor of DOS Gateway Interface (DGI). xChaos software is oriented on developing component-based, highly customizable applications. Visit homepage of xChaos software homepage for more information. e-Mail: xchaos@main.naf.cz

Arachne is partly based on work of following companies and individuals:

IBASE group (CZ)
- Ing. Zdenek Harovnik - X_LOPIF, DOS graphics library for EGA, VGA, SVGA and VESA cards, XMS and EMS memory management, conversion of TTF fonts to DOS enviroment, virtual screens, code optimizing. e-Mail: haro@main.naf.cz
- Ing. Ivan Polak - color palette optimization algorithm, images in 16 color modes. e-Mail: pola@main.naf.cz
- Ing. Jan Vlaciha - memory management.
IBASE is powerful database capable of keeping multimedial data, which has currently been ported to Unix (Linux) and can output data stored on server to the World Wide Web - if you are online, see demo.
Erick Engelke (Canada)
WATTCP - free TCP/IP library routines sources
Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 Erick Engelke Used with permission.
Portions Copyright (c) 1993 Quentin Smart
Portions Copyright (c) 1991 University of Waterloo
Portions Copyright (c) 1990 National Center for Supercomputer Applications
Portions Copyright (c) 1990 Clarkson University
Portions Copyright (c) 1983, 1986, Imagen Corporation
Antonio Lopez (E)
PPPD.EXE - port of Linux PPPD to DOS, see details. Used with permission.
New Wave Microtechnology (CZ)
Portions of WWWMAN.EXE - utility for surfing local drives. Portions of MAILMAN.EXE - utility for converting e-mail messages to HTML. Both utilites were developed directly for xChaos software. e-Mail: shaddack@main.naf.cz
Merit Networks (USA)
PPP.EXE - public domain PPP dialer for DOS, see details.
Independent JPEG group (USA)
DJPEG.EXE - public domain convertor of JPEGs to GIFs, see details.
xChaos software NL (NL)
- Cliff Albert - BBS2HTML.EXE, conversion of FILES.BBS files to HTML.
Jan Patera (CZ)
JPNG2BMP.EXE - fast decompression of JPEGs and PNGs to bitmaps. Used with permission.
Bill Neisius (USA)
PLANY.EXE - public domain sound player, see details.
Clarkson University, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (USA)
TELNET.EXE (CUTE) and FTP.EXE - public domain telnet and ftp programs.

Credits:

All registered users of Arachne

All members of Arachne mailing list

Authors of Fast Tracker II - program with the best graphical user interface in DOS. I would never even think about writing Arachne without experiencing Fast Tracker II.

Linus Thorvalds - author of my favourite operating system

Caldera - for buing Arachne source code license ;-)

NAF - for internet connectivity and online disk space

Hynek Med - for numerous comments about Arachne (in)compatibility with RFC documents, for administration of our server (without knowing root password ;-).

Notes:
LZW algorithm in GIF files is implemented in IBASE group graphics library X_LOPIF since 1992.
Arachne was written in C language and compiled using Borland C++ 3.1 compiler. It was developed originaly on my old noname computer, which doesn't exceed minimal configuration: 386DX/40, 8 MB, 600 MB HDD, Trident 512 kB SVGA, 14" color monitor, 14400 noname faxmodem, MS-DOS 6.22, Desqview. Development now continues on noname AMD K5/133, 32 MB, 2.5 GB HDD, S3 Virge 2 MB and OpenDOS 7.02, but we are still testing Arachne on slow PCs with 386 CPU. We are not testing Arachne on 286 based PCs and XT compatible PCs, but Arachne is reported even in this enviroment.

In Greek language, Arachne means spider. According to ancient Greek legend, Arachne was a name of woman, who dared to compete with godess Athena. Arachne won, but Athena punished her - Athena turned Arachne into a spider.