summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffabout
path: root/help/dipstick.xml
Unidiff
Diffstat (limited to 'help/dipstick.xml') (more/less context) (ignore whitespace changes)
-rw-r--r--help/dipstick.xml115
1 files changed, 115 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/help/dipstick.xml b/help/dipstick.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6e0748
--- a/dev/null
+++ b/help/dipstick.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
1<?xml version="1.0"?>
2<winhelp>
3 <topic id="About" title="About Dipstick" keywords="about">
4 <heading scroll="no">About <kin>Dipstick</kin></heading>
5 <p><kin>Dipstick</kin> is our award-winning freeware that allows you to evaluate <term>mirror sites</term> to figure out which one has currently the least traffic.</p>
6 <p/>
7 <p><b><i>Enjoy!</i></b></p>
8 <license years="1996, 1997, 1998, 2002"/>
9 <credits/>
10 </topic>
11 <topic id="News" title="What's new">
12 <heading scroll="no">What's New</heading>
13 <newsfor version="3.00" date="August 19st, 2002">
14 <ni>Change of <a href="#About">license</a> and opening the source.</ni>
15 <ni>Minor cosmetic changes</ni>
16 </newsfor>
17 <newsfor version="2.52" date="June 3rd, 1998">
18 <ni>Now works properly with Winsock 2 for Windows95. Also may start working with non-Microsoft TCP/IP stacks.</ni>
19 <ni>Fixed bug that caused GPF when removing all URLs after testing is over and you picked the URL of your choice.</ni>
20 </newsfor>
21 <newsfor version="2.5" date="December 30th, 1997">
22 <ni>Ability to export/import sets of URLs.</ni>
23 <ni>Copy URL menu command in the Main Window and button in the Best URL window.</ni>
24 <ni>Multiple URLs dragging or pasting. Works only for MSIE4 browser.</ni>
25 <ni>Annoying ToolTips removed.</ni>
26 </newsfor>
27 <newsfor version="2.00" date="July 1st, 1997">
28 <ni>Drag'n'drop source added to the Best URL window.</ni>
29 <ni>Completed/Total URLs counter added to <kin>Dipstick</kin> drag pad.</ni>
30 <ni>You may now drag'n'drop URLs from main <kin>Dipstick</kin> dialog window.</ni>
31 <ni>Added ability to paste URLs into <kin>Dipstick</kin> instead of dropping.</ni>
32 <ni>New install program now lets you install <kin>Dipstick</kin> to the location of your choice.</ni>
33 </newsfor>
34 <newsfor version="1.01" date="March 13th, 1997">
35 <ni>Resizable main <kin>Dipstick</kin> dialog window.</ni>
36 <ni>Come up with the best URL automatically.</ni>
37 <ni>Workaround for redir.dll</ni>
38 <ni>No more <product>MSIE</product> 3.0 requirement.</ni>
39 <ni>Remembers window positions and size as well as columns widths.</ni>
40 <ni>When manually adding locations - you may specify the URL, not host name as it was before (I still wonder how it came to my mind)</ni>
41 </newsfor>
42 </topic>
43 <topic id="Using" title="Using Dipstick">
44 <heading scroll="no">Using <kin>Dipstick</kin></heading>
45 <p>To use <kin>Dipstick</kin>, please follow these steps:</p>
46 <ul>
47 <li>Load the page that contains links into your <product>MSIE</product> or <product>Netscape</product> browser.</li>
48 <li>Drag'n'drop desired links to <kin>Dipstick</kin> window.</li>
49 <li><a name="UsingManual"/>(Optional) you can also manually add as many links as you want by selecting <b>Manual Ping</b> option. You can enter <term>url</term>, <term>hostname</term> or <term>IP address</term> there.</li>
50 <li>You will see rain going thought <kin>Dipstick</kin> window. After the rain stops, <kin>Dipstick</kin> will show you results either by suggesting the best URL or by sorting results in a table (which can be viewed by clicking on <kin>Dipstick</kin> window).</li>
51 <li>After you are done, you can reping all selected URLs by clicking <a href="#MainWindowRA"><b>Reping All</b></a> button in <kin>Dipstick</kin> window.</li>
52 </ul>
53 <note>Small note for newbies (all others, please do not get mad): To drag'n'drop the URL, you need to move your mouse to the link on the web page, press and hold the select (usually - left) mouse button, and drag the mouse (with the selected URL to <kin>Dipstick</kin> window and then release mouse button.</note>
54 </topic>
55 <topic id="MainWindow" title="Main Window">
56 <heading scroll="no">Main Window</heading>
57 <p>The main window consists of -</p>
58 <ul>
59 <li><b>Brilliant ListView with the following columns:</b></li>
60 <li>Host Name - host name as it was specified in the URL or resolved from IP address.</li>
61 <li>Host IP address - host IP address as it was specified in the URL or resolved from host name.</li>
62 <li>Min RTT - Minimum Round Trip Time. <kin>Dipstick</kin> sends a few echo requests to remote host and calculates minimum, maximum, and average Round Trip Times. The less the better.</li>
63 <li>Avg RTT - Average Round Trip Time. About the same meaning as in Min RTT, but this is the average one. The less the better. By default locations are sorted by Avg RTT.</li>
64 <li>Max RTT - Maximum Round Trip Time. About the same meaning as in Min RTT and Avg RTT, but this is maximum one. The less the better.</li>
65 <li>Pktloss - Percentage of the requests lost somewhere in the net. The less the better.</li>
66 <li><b>Buttons:</b></li>
67 <li><a name="MainWindowMP"/>Manual Ping - lets you add location manually (usually you just drag'n'drop locations into <kin>Dipstick</kin> window.</li>
68 <li>Reping - Test selected location again.</li>
69 <li><a name="MainWindowRA"/>Reping All - Test again all locations in the list.</li>
70 <li>Remove - Remove selected location from the list.</li>
71 <li>Remove All - Remove all locations from the list.</li>
72 <li>Help - I think you have a clue on what this button does.</li>
73 <li>Options - Set <kin>Dipstick</kin> options</li>
74 <li>Exit Dipstick - Close <kin>Dipstick</kin> program</li>
75 </ul>
76 </topic>
77 <topic id="Options" title="Dipstick Options">
78 <heading scroll="no"><kin>Dipstick</kin> Opions</heading>
79 <p>Options are:</p>
80 <ul>
81 <li><a name="OptionsPPH"/><b>Number of pings per host</b> - number of echo requests to send for each location.</li>
82 <li><b>Maximum number of threads</b> - number of locations to process at the same time. adjust this if you have unusually fast or slow connection and/or computer.</li>
83 <li><b>Ping Timeout</b> - number of seconds to wait between sending echo requests.</li>
84 <li><b>Interval between pings</b> - number of seconds to wait between sending echo requests.</li>
85 <li><b>Ping size</b> - number of bytes to send in each echo request.</li>
86 <li><a name="OptionsIM"/><b>Test innermost URL</b> - in case of nesting <b>redir</b>ed URLs test the innermost one. Some strange companies refer to their mirrors using <b>redir.dll</b> so that the URLs for files located on different machines look like they're all here. Like <b>http://www.punchcards.com/redir.dll?target=http://www.punchcards.mirrordudes.com/file.exe&amp;puchcards=advanced</b></li>
87 <li><a name="OptionsBU"/><b>Come up with the best URL</b> - pop up with a suggestion about the best URL (after all locations have been pinged and have nothing left to do other than to start dowloading).</li>
88 </ul>
89 </topic>
90 <topic id="Properties" title="URL properties">
91 <heading scroll="no">URL Properties</heading>
92 <p>URL Properties are:</p>
93 <ul>
94 <li><b>URL</b> - the URL itself if present.</li>
95 <li><b>Host name</b> - host name as specified in URL (or the innermost URL in case of <b>redir</b>ed URLs in the <a href="#OptionsIM">appropriate option</a> is turned on or resolved by <kin>Dipstick</kin>.</li>
96 <li><b>Ping times</b> - minimum, average, and mmaximum round trip times if available.</li>
97 <li><b>Packet loss</b> - percentage of packets lost in transmission.</li>
98 <li><b>Status</b> - description of last error occured (if any).</li>
99 </ul>
100 </topic>
101 <topic id="SelectURLs" title="Select URLs Dialog">
102 <heading scroll="no">Select URLs dialog</heading>
103 <p>If you're dragging or cut'n'pasting selection from <product>MSIE4</product> browser, you're supposed to chose which URLs to test.</p>
104 <p>There are two options you may want to change when selecting URLs from list:</p>
105 <ul>
106 <li><b>Smart adjust selection</b> - let <kin>Dipstick</kin> adjust current selection when you're clicking URL based on the URL you click.</li>
107 <li><b>Adjusst by innermost URL</b> - use the innermost URL when adjusting selection.</li>
108 </ul>
109 <p>The default values for these options are also available from the <a href="#Options"><b>Options</b></a> dialog box.</p>
110 </topic>
111 <topic id="Autobest" title="Dipstick Report">
112 <heading scroll="no"><kin>Dipstick</kin> report</heading>
113 <p>When <kin>Dipstick</kin> has finished testing and there's nothing left but to start your download, you're presented with a suggestion about the best URL. From this dialog you may chose to browse to the location you like using <b>Previous Location</b> and <b>Next Location</b> buttons, <b>Open this URL</b>, <b>Copy URL</b> to clipboard or drag it to wherever you want.</p>
114 </topic>
115</winhelp>