Wikipedia on the Propeller

SciNemo

I'm really excited about this new application that I have developed for my little baby, the PropComp. It is an HTML browser written in Spin that is set up in such a way to allow articles in Wikipedia to be read off of an SD card.

Basically all the articles from the entirety of 2003 Wikipedia (turns out Wikipedia from that year just barely fits within the 2 gig SD card that I have) are placed on an SD card and accessed from a simple search box. You enter a search term and the browser shows a list of up to 25 of the top results. From there you can choose one of the articles just by moving a cursor with the arrow keys and hitting enter. The article loads, and you can scroll up and down it using the arrow keys. When you are done you just hit escape and it takes you back to the search box.

It is very usable in its current version, although there are issues with readability, and I haven't really addressed getting any of the actual HTML formatting to display on the screen, really too small a number of characters on the screen to allow that. Any input on this is welcome, I can go in any direction from here.

Here is a Youtube video of the whole thing in action (pardon the 8bit music, a favorite of mine):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1TelXmRQs0

The 2003 Wikipedia dump can be had here:
tp.funet.fi/pub/doc/wikipedia/wikipedia-terodump-0.1.tar.bz

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No reference to the fish.
http://sites.google.com/site/bitwinproject/

localroger

Holy carp, is that a cathode-ray tube? You can get portable DVD players on eBay that have lost the ability to play DVD's but still play external AV for around $30. I just got a Sony 8-incher for $20 because it wouldn't power up through the AC adapter (no doubt lightning victim) but would work from the not-supplied battery. I hotwired a AC adapter to the battery contacts and walla, 8 inch Sony LCD monitor for $20.

The WIKI browser looks like a cool app. Does need some formatting though.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

Well Done!!

Glad to see you continuing with PropComp.


(Don't knock that CRT! It adds "charm" [noparse]:)[/noparse]

OBC

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New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.

Timothy D. Swieter

Way cool. At first I was picturing a portable applications for carrying around Wikipedia offline, but that monitor makes it just a little more cumbersome than I was picturing.

Great job and really nice video.

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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
www.tdswieter.com

Rayman

That's actually pretty cool! Very interesting.

Adam Wiesler

All I have to say is Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cant believe that Wikipedia can fit on an sd Card. I wonder how much space it takes up now.

TreeLab

Sharp! Now if you added a Fresnel lens in front of the CRT, it would like the systems in the film 'Brazil' (one very cool film)!

Cheers!
Paul Rowntree

SciNemo

I used the crt television because I love the way it looks, so fuzzy and buzzy and slow with little flickers and sounds of its own. I almost am sad I muted the sound in the video, because that monitor really does make music.

For size, the whole thing, including batteries and the screen (using a disassembled lcd screen) can fit under the keyboard. So you could carry it around, but I have to address some issues with battery life and case design.

Glad you guys like it, and Brazil was an awesome movie.

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Not the fish.
sites.google.com/site/bitwinproject/

parsko

Nemo,

This is very cool. Great work!

-Parsko

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

Congrats on making Hackaday.

hackaday.com/2009/05/02/wikibrowser

OBC

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New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.