Bitstream Thunderhawk now available for HP Jornada

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.bitstream.com/hp/">http://www.bitstream.com/hp/</a><br /><br />Michael van Oosten has the scoop of the day! Bitstream has released their Thunderhawk browser, and I'm in the midst of trying it out...it can best be described as "great potential, but really odd". There's a free download trial for Jornada users, although the CAB file might work on other Pocket PC 2002 devices. Thunderhawk is a combination of browser and proxy server, so the $39.95 per year is reasonable if you use your device wirelessly a lot and dislike the limitations of Pocket Internet Explorer.<br /><br />They're working with a different paradigm here - the Contacts key is mapped to the browser, and the pop up keyboard takes some getting used to. The font technology is very impressive, however, and I'll let you know what I think of the browsing experience when I use it more.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/thunderhawk.jpg" /><br /><br />"ThunderHawk gives you the same browsing experience on a Jornada as you are used to on the desktop. You can biew the full text and images of any Web page without excessive scrolling. Because we do not rely on WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) or cHTML (Compact HyperText Markup Language), ThunderHawk does not require Web content providers to repurpose their content - or build one Web site for the desktop and another for the wireless world."<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> Thunderhawk isn't quite ready for public release, so the links above don't have the download (it was pulled). When they have their final release up, you'll be the first to know. Until then, be patient. :-)

[mvoosten]

Jason, I tested it on my Ipaq (PocketPC2002) and it works!
I admit there are some issues with some pages, but in general it rocks :P

NB. Did you notice how cool your site looks on it ;)

[Jason Dunn]

This has potential, but it also has a lot of strange quirks...I'm trying to get a screen shot, and the app has taken over all the buttons except the home button! It's also highly CPU-intensive - my Jornada is very sluggish with it running over 802.11b. It has some great features, namely the ability to track every single URL that goes through it, and the zoom is cool, but the speed is brutal. My Jornada is practically useless while it's running. Every command has a lag time with it.

Still, this is much closer to real desktop browsing than anything I've ever seen - it's a good start!

[mvoosten]

Strange, didn't experience a real problem with CPU time on the Ipaq. Did had some issues with white pages turning up, but when doing another go it showed up fine.

[disconnected]

I've been looking forward to this. I'll have to try it on my iPaq. Does it use any kind of compression, like Bluekite? And does it access sites that PIE can't handle -- like volvooceanrace.com for example?

[ledowning]

Briefly looked at the software. Seems kind of clunky to me and relatively slow. Don't like the keyboard too much. Yet another thing to learn and each character backspaces individually. Couldn't seem to highlight a whole address to enter another one. I can tell you that Thunderhawk doesn't work through the ActiveSynch pass through like IE does, in fact it doesn't work at all that I could determine.

Hopefully some of these things will be ironed out. I had thought that the software was originally going to work with Pocket Internet Explorer, not be a whole different application! The Thunderhawk web site mentions a cost of the software subscription of $39.95 a year. Is that correct? Seems a little pricey for another web browser, doesn't it? Especially at CDN prices.

Thanks

I stand corrected, it does work through ActiveSynch.

[mvoosten]

Actualy, I DO use it through activesync and it does it about 4 times faster then PIE does.
I agree on the keyboard. Besides that, it also seems to have no bookmark function (next release?)

&lt;edit>
I tested the volvooceanrace.com, it loaded within 10 sec completely with all the graphics and stuff. Seems to work fine as far as I can tell

As we are on the subject of images, you can't seem to disable the image download.
&lt;/edit>

[Charles Pickrell]

I have tried to use it through activesync to no avail. Perhaps it cannot read my proxy settings in Connection Manager.

[timothyt]

Can someone please post an alternate link to the installation file? They have apparently taken it off the page. It currently says "Note: This is not currently available but will soon be released. "

Thx!

[Paragon]

This reminds me of Compaqs Ipaq update... one minute it's there the next it's gone, no explaination nothing.

I downloaded it but could not get it to install on my PC. It said it could not find the source file although it was there when I first checked, but when I went back to double check it was gone. Weird! hopefully they will sort it out. I would like to give it a go.

Dave

[mvoosten]

Clear your browser cache. There should be a button get thunderhawk now.
or try this one to get there:
http://www.bitstream.com/hp/getthnow.html



Can someone please post an alternate link to the installation file? They have apparently taken it off the page. It currently says "Note: This is not currently available but will soon be released. "

Thx!

[burmashave]

Jason, I tested it on my Ipaq (PocketPC2002) and it works!
I admit there are some issues with some pages, but in general it rocks :P

I have had no luck running it on my Casio E200. I can get Thunderhawk running; however, I am not sure that it is connecting. Nothing seems to happen when I press "OK" on the registration screen, and I cannot access any web pages.

Did you have to do anything special to install it on your Ipaq? I am guessing that you copied the Ipaq cab file to your Ipaq and installed it directly on your device. Or does the windows installer work with the Ipaq?

It seems to me that the ARM version should work with all the current ARM devices -- with perhaps some quirkiness around button mapping, etc.



The Thunderhawk web site mentions a cost of the software subscription of $39.95 a year. Is that correct?

It seems that $40 per year is the deal. Bitstream is providing a proprietary proxy service for its viewer. The annual fee pays for the software and for the server processing that occurs each time the user requests a web page through Thunderhawk.

Personally, I am still kicking around the idea of using Apache to create a personal proxy server that would dynamically reformat HTML for small screens. This would be an open source effort. Are there any Perl developers out there who would be interested in helping?

[duncan_w]

It appears they have taken it off-line either due to demand being too much on their servers or more likely... HP got upset with them when they found out they weren't preventing it from installing on non-HP systems and they are modifying the install file to only work on the Jornada for now. :?

BTW... anyone willing to send a copy of the install file that you already downloaded? :)

[Jason Dunn]

&lt;sigh>

I really dislike it when companies pull things after releasing them. I wonder what the rationale was?

[Paragon]

&lt;sigh>

I really dislike it when companies pull things after releasing them. I wonder what the rationale was?


I could not get it to install on my PC, so I'm willing to bet I'm not alone.

Dave

[Boxster S]

What makes this any better than JS Landscape or NYDITOT?

[blt]

Hello, everybody. Thank you very much for your interest in Bitstream ThunderHawk. You stumbled into an area of our Web site that we were using for testing, and have downloaded a version of ThunderHawk that has not officially been released. Please note that we are in the final stages of testing ThunderHawk and plan to release it within the next few weeks.

During this testing phase, you will not have access to the ThunderHawk account you created and will be unable to use ThunderHawk. We are very sorry about this inconvenience.

You will be one of the first to know as soon as ThunderHawk is released. We will provide you with information by e-mail on how to download ThunderHawk and create a new account.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.

Best regards,
-Bob Thomas
Director of Product Management, Bitstream Inc.
[email protected]

[timothyt]

Bummer... After all this time waiting for it I thought it was finally here...

Three advantages with Thunderhawk:

1. Only web browsing is affected.
2. Images and text are resized and compressed before being sent to the handheld, so the total bandwidth to view a site is greatly reduced (especially when there are a lot of graphics)
3. The fonts are more readable. Thunderhawk uses micro-fonts, which look good at 4-5 point where most fonts really fall apart. With JS and Nyditot, the fonts are simply resized down which makes them somewhat blurry and difficult to read. Nothing wrong with antialiasing, but the Thunderhawk screens look a lot better than what I get with a virtual display product.


What makes this any better than JS Landscape or NYDITOT?

[Jason Dunn]

Still not available anywhere - Can anyone email the installation to me or put up a link?


That wouldn't be very legal - I doubt Bitstream wants us distributing their technology. :-) I'm sure it will be released soon!

[mgd]

I could not get it to install on my PC, so I'm willing to bet I'm not alone.


On my first attempt to install it, it failed because I did not have an ActiveSync connection. Once I started up ActiveSync it installed perfectly over my LAN.

Why would they not want it installed on non-HP devices? It seems to work properly on my 3670 and when registering they ask which PDA you are using--the IPaq is on the list.

I had problems with registering at first. Once you enter your Registration key, etc. you must close Thunderhawk, otherwise you keep getting the registration page. Once you restart it will bring up the Thunderhawk home page.

It's amazing how well you can read web pages with this software. Even "busy" pages are readable. Unfortunately, I hate the user interface and it lacks bookmarks.

[mgd]

I've just tried to connect again and have received the following message:

BITSTREAM
We are sorry!
We can no longer connect you to a ThunderHawk server. The version of ThunderHawk on this machine is out of date and is no longer compatible with the ThunderHawk servers. Please upgrade your copy of ThunderHawk.

So, maybe they don't want us IPaq owners to use their software.

[Paragon]

Thanks mdg. I tried several thing including transfering the cab. file to my Jornada but nothing worked. I guess that is why it is still in testing :-)

I'm curious to know if anyone is using 'Karls' compression proxy or Bluekite and has had a chance to compare the speeds?

Dave

[docangle]

Hello, and thank you for your interest in Bitstream ThunderHawk. You
stumbled into an area of our Web site that we were using for testing, and
have downloaded a version of ThunderHawk that has not officially been
released. Please note that we are in the final stages of testing ThunderHawk
and plan to release it within the next few weeks.

During this testing phase, you will not have access to the ThunderHawk
account you created and will be unable to use ThunderHawk. We are very sorry
about this inconvenience.

You will be one of the first to know as soon as ThunderHawk is released. We
will provide you with information by e-mail on how to download ThunderHawk
and create a new account.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.

Best regards,
-Bob Thomas
Director of Product Management, Bitstream Inc.
[email protected]

[Scott R]

Hello, and thank you for your interest in Bitstream ThunderHawk. You
stumbled into an area of our Web site that we were using for testing, and
have downloaded a version of ThunderHawk that has not officially been
released.
Whoops, looks like you guys "stumbled into" Bitstream's home page. Who would have anticipated that? ;)

Scott

[kyoung1033]

Anyone willing to send a copy of the install file that you already downloaded of Bitstream Thunderawk? THANK YOU! E-mail: [email protected]

[Jason Dunn]

Anyone willing to send a copy of the install file that you already downloaded of Bitstream Thunderawk? THANK YOU! E-mail: [email protected]


Guys, PLEASE - I don't want to see this discussion board turned into an illegal file swapping zone. Almost all software, free trials included, don't give the user the rights to distribute the file. Please be patient while they release the final version. 8)

[mvoosten]

Indeed Jason.
Besides that: All already downloaded are NOT WORKING anymore as by the message from Bitstream!!
So stop asking for the previously downloaded version.

[Aceze]

It's too bad PIE's font is tied into the system font, as I've already amassed a bunch of very nice microfonts (just as good if not better than Thunderhawks), all of which are Free. With microfonts already on my PPC (I use them for Ebooks - I have very good eyesight, and I find most of the fonts on my PPC too large), it's quite surprising how few applications support font switching (most only allow point size changes).

This was the first thing that struck me as irritating about PIE - hopefully, this will change in the next iteration of PIE (or someone else comes out with a better browser). Come to think of it, I remember a few people thinking about building a better browser - Larry Bank was one of them I believe. Wonder what became of that? Anyone know?

For the record, I was quite excited about Thunderhawk - about 2 years back when they announced it. I've since dismissed their technology (dang, 2 years to build a browser???) - mainly due to the proxy server reliance. If I had the option of proxy or realtime internet, I would be somewhat interested, but it's obvious that's not going to happen.

Wish Opera would come out with a PPC web browser... *sigh*

Aceze