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DjVu Plugin 3.5.500
Reviewed
 A review by James Rile, PlanetDjVu, September 16,
2002 The DjVu
Web Brower Plugin 3.5.5 for Window was compiled on 7/9/2002 by LizardTech
and was posted in July as Version 3.5.500 on the LizardTech
website. In this
month of September, LizardTech has re-numbered the downloadable version of
the plugin from "3.5.500" to just "3.5", dated 9-1-2002, and the
autoinstall version is now numbered as 3.5.300, with no date. It was
also this way for the 3.5.400 release. It reports that the installer is
743 Kb when it is actually 1,991 Kb. However,
in each case what you are installing is version 3.5.500, compiled on
7/9/2002. Once you have installed, you can open the readme.txt file
in the plug-ins folder of your web browser, or after opening the DjVu
plug-in, right click and select "About DjVu", to verify that you do indeed
have the 3.5.500 version. These
version numbering conflicts were also present in previous releases made
this year by LizardTech. The conflicts were pointed out here at
PlanetDjVu, but obviously the message is not getting
accross. Test
Results - Previous Problems: When we
reviewed the 3.5.300 release, we reported that we were unable to disable
the Zoom and Rotate tool buttons using CGI arguments. When we
reviewed the 3.5.400 release, we reported that these problems were still
present. Now in the 3.5.500 release, we observe that we can disable
the Rotate tool button but still not the Zoom button. When we
reviewed the 3.5.300 release, we reported that we could disable the Search
and TextSel buttons, but this was not documented in the Help file.
When we reviewed the 3.5.400 release, we reported that these will
still not documented in the Help file. Now in the 3.5.500 release,
we observe that the Search button disabling is documented, but still not
the TextSel button. Test
Results - New Problems: As
reported by a user in the Forum of PlanetDjVu, we have verified that this
release of the DjVu Plugin consumes GDI resources as DjVu files are
viewed. As you open succeeding DjVu file, the number of bitmap
handles and font handles always increases. If you open enough DjVu
files, you can cause your system to run out of GDI
resources. A bigger
problem is a memory leak when you print. As you print, memory is
consumed but is then not released. You cannot print more than about
10 pages before your computer starts running out of memory. We
suggest that you print a long DjVu document in page-ranges of 10 or less,
to minimize this memory leakage. This memory leakage can also be
described as "memory conusmption". It appears that the consumed
memory is released when you close the plug-in. Check for yourself if
you like. See
GDI-Resource Hogging and Memory Leakage for yourself: You can
download and run this tiny utility program for Windows that will show you
the problems: If you do
so, then please report your findings in the Forum Thread about this
subject. Reported Fixes in Version 3.5.500: The
following is reported in the readme.txt file for this
version: Corrected
support for rotated images (created using Editor 3.5):
a. Annotations (highlight areas, hyperlinks)
are rendered with correct orientation.
b. Images are printed with correct
orientation. I assume
that by "Editor 3.5", LizardTech is referring to "Document Express Desktop
Edition" and "Document Express Professional Edition", and not "DjVu Editor
3.5". There was a product called DjVu Editor 3.1, which disappeared
without notice last June along with the other DjVu
products. We have
asked LizardTech about the availability of the DjVu Editor product, but
have not received an answer. If you
are a Mozilla for Windows User... We
reported earlier that you could copy the Netscape version of the DjVu
Plugin to the Mozilla plug-in folder, and it would work. With the
latest DjVu Plugin release, this is no longer true. Don't know why,
sorry to say. If you
are a Linux or Unix user... Users have
reported that the Open Source plugin from DjVuLibre is now more advanced
than the one from LizardTech, so you are advised to click the DjVuLibre
Plugin link on the home page of PlanetDjVu. If you
are a MAC user... Dunno for
sure. I still hear of problems, but have not tested myself. If
you are a MAC user, please report your findings in the Forum of PlanetDjVu
for the benefit of other DjVu
users. |
