iSilo 3.0 Offers Hi-Res and VFS Support (Updated)

iSilo 3.0 is a doc reader who's new version includes an impressive array of features. It can show formated, read files off VFS expansion cards, and supports both the Clié's and the HandEra 330's hi-res screens. iSilo documents can include both tables and images. It is available now for $17.50 and is a free upgrade to previous owners.

There is also a new version of iSiloX, the Windows app needed to convert files to iSilo format.

Update:Despite what this article said earlier, iSilo 3.0 is a document reader, not a word processor. Files can not be edited on the handheld. Sorry if I steered anyone wrong. -Ed

iSilo 3.0 can show formated text, including the standard bold, italics, underline. It also supports different font sizes and colors and subscripts and superscripts.

It lets users view documents stored on VFS memory expansion cards. It can also copy and move documents from the handheld's memory to VFS accessible external media and vice versa. Files can be stored in any one of several folders on the card.

iSilo 3.0 supports the 160 by 160 screens of most Palm OS handhelds but also supports the HandEra 330's 240 by 320 screen and the Sony Clié's 320 by 320 one. It also supports the jog wheels on both of these.

Images can appear inline in between text on the same line or outside of text blocks. They can be anywhere from 2-bit grayscale to 16-bit color.

iSilo takes the size of the screen into consideration in formatting a table for display. Tables can theoretically be thousands of columns wide and millions of rows long, though memory will limit this. For wide tables or tables that have been laid out for display on a desktop monitor, iSilo provides the ability to toggle table display between single column and multi-column mode. Individual cells can span rows and/or columns and tables can be embedded within one another.

It also has built-in document security. Files can be private and masked. They can be set so they can't be beamed, changed, or even have text copied from them.

It supports smooth scrolling. drag scrolling, and screen tap scrolling.

Bookmarks can be embedded into the document and so can hyperlinks to other parts of the document. Text or images can serve as hyperlinks.

In order to handle the functions that the regular Palm doc format can't, it has its own iSilo 3.x format but can also read standard Palm doc files.

It requires Palm OS 3.0 or later, 306K of RAM for the application plus 128K for viewing documents in internal memory (256K recommended) and 256K for viewing documents on memory expansion cards (512K recommended).

Convert Files
iSiloX 3.0 allows users to convert HTML, text, and Palm doc files to the iSilo 3.x format. It can create a document out of pages on the Web for offline reading or collect a series of local files into a document.

To save room, when creating a document the sizes of images can be limited and the file can be compressed. Security levels can be set on a documents at its creation.

Once they have been created, documents can be set to be saved to the handheld on the next HotSync. They can go to either RAM or the expansion card.

Upgrading
Registered users of iSilo will receive an e-mail soon providing them with a registration number at no additional charge.

Thanks to George Kreamer for the tip. -Ed

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Nice try, but fatal flaw

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 10:07:13 AM #
iSilo isn't seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Word. You have to save Word files in HTML, then convert to iSilo. Wordsmith is every bit as functional as iSilo, yet it does instant conversion. Sorry, iSilo, but you lose...

Correction (RE: Nice try, but fatal flaw)
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 10:35:45 AM #
Each program has another area it's specialized in.
WordSmith is great for editing word documents, but it can't be used for tables (ok, it can display small tables, but it's not really usefull for big ones), images or read webpages offline.

If you want to read a webpage offline (for daily viewing, I prefer AvantGo, but for pages I store once to have them accessible all the time I really prefer isilo), it's a great tool.

To get fast and easy MS Owrd support with an included button for conversation, simply use WordDocConv ($5), which does the trick: http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=5920

Isilo is a nice doc reader, and it's own format is even smaller than doc (about 20%).

If you want to view a word documents with charts and tables on your Palm, e.g. take a report with charts, diagrams and graphics to a meeting, isilo is a great tool while WordSmith is useless.

If you want to edit Word docs or to use TrueType Fonts, you need WordSmith. So both are a perfect team for power users.

For full-featured viewing, very large docs and offline reading (take informastion from web ressources with you) I really love isilo.

zap!

RE: Nice try, but fatal flaw
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 11:53:19 AM #
I agree. Each application serves a specific purpose. I have been using the new iSilo and it's great for texts with images and hyperlinks. I would have to disagree in it having a "fatal flaw".

RE: Nice try, nothing fatal
Quik_Fix @ 10/30/2001 1:03:04 PM #
Agreed. I think the most important strength here is
VFS SUPPORT.

I'm waiting for Blue Nomad to get Wordsmith up to par with this. I would be in heaven if I could use WS with my card. Isilo may fill that gap, for the time being.

...In accordance with the prophecy...

Quik_Fix
quikfix@hotmail.com

RE: Nice try, but fatal flaw
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 4:58:19 PM #
I wrote Word2Doc converter that converts from Word to iSilo (as well as other formats), either as iSilo text or html iSilo. I will be supporting iSilo 3 format soon (only does 2.x currently). Hopefully this should fill the gap.

RE: Nice try, but fatal flaw
Kaitou @ 10/30/2001 6:45:44 PM #
I have the latest wordsmith beta, and it does have VFS support, done nicely. iSilo is my preffered doc reader, but for editing and memos, it's wordsmith all the way

Word2Doc
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 4:54:35 PM #
Where can I find Word2Doc?

RE: Nice try, but fatal flaw
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/16/2001 6:10:59 AM #

iSilo leads the doc reader pack

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 1:58:34 PM #
with it's VFS support. Unlike PalmReader, it doesn't create bulky prefs in the main memory for every doc. ISilo is a little slow opening palm text docs from cards, but FAST FAST FAST opening isilo docs from the card. AND those docs are smaller. ISilo is fast, easy to use, and has pretty good scrolling options. get it.

RE: iSilo leads the doc reader pack
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 3:41:00 PM #
Agreed. The latest TealDoc reads from the card as well, but is not nearly as fast--similar to the way MSMount is slower (but still excellent) than PiDirect.

Has iSilo™ Free disappeared?

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 2:40:46 PM #
Because I can't find any mention of it on the iSilo website. Am I overlooking something?

RE: Has iSilo™ Free disappeared?
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 3:21:13 PM #
http://www.google.com/search?q=isilo+free

No free version of iSilo 3.0

RE: Has iSilo™ Free disappeared?
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 3:30:11 PM #
RE: Has iSilo™ Free disappeared?
Ed @ 10/30/2001 5:48:49 PM #
I found this on the iSilo FAQ:
[iSilo Free] is freeware and can be downloaded from the download area at the old iSilo.com site. (http://www.iSilo.com/old/index.htm) However, please be aware that iSilo free can not yet read documents in the new iSilo 3.x format that iSiloX generates. A new version of iSilo free that will have the ability to read documents in the iSilo 3.x format is under development. It will have similar capabilities to the existing version of iSilo free and is expected to be available sometime during the first quarter of 2002.

---
News Editor

get Plucker instead

mj6798 @ 10/31/2001 3:43:14 AM #
Get Plucker (http://plucker.gnu-designs.com/) instead--it's a powerful document reading system for handhelds, and both the reader and the desktop software are free. The Plucker database format is open and documented, so you are never stuck with documents you can't access. And new features are constantly being added.

RE: get Plucker instead
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 4:49:21 AM #
Can it read from the VFS cards?

RE: get Plucker instead
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 7:27:34 AM #
Last time I checked, plucker performed s-l-o-w-l-y, annoyingly divided the document in chunks, and its (Windows) desktop counterpart was very, very far from the interactive, drag&drop abilities of iSiloX, the iSilo desktop companion.
I am not advocating iSilo, just remarking some facts.

RE: get Plucker instead
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 1:33:44 PM #
How does its features compare? The iSilo homepage has an extensive feature list, and it sure looks impressive. Things like table display (single or multicolumn), CSS, support of all popular image formats, hi-res support, tight compression and such make it hard to top. The tag support is extensive (http://www.isilo.com/old/support/html.htm). The document format is probably not much of an issue since all you really need is HTML. Convertors are fast, and available for numerous platforms (the old iSilo 2.x convertors at http://www.isilo.com/old/download.htm work fine).

RE: get Plucker instead
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 4:36:56 PM #
What nuked plucker for me was that you can't search an entire document (not just one page) from a given point forward, at least so it seemed. That makes it pretty much useless for handling my 2-meg bible file. Also, search performed very erratically, extremely fast to a point and absurdly slow afterwards. The breaking-up of documents was another big pain. Limited CSS and table stuff in iSilo is nice, but far from necessary for me. I just need more performance and a fully-functional search.

-Joshua

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