SlipKnot Version 1.50 is now available.
This page updated on May, 5, 1997
SlipKnot is a Windows-based graphical WWW browser which does NOT
require SLIP or PPP or TCP/IP.
Designed for users of UNIX dial-up or direct connect shell accounts, SlipKnot
has a number of features included specifically for serial communications users.
SlipKnot is now compatible with (some) Freenets. For freenet
(sysop) information: see our Freenets Page
You will find information below on:
On June 23, 1995, Ziff-Davis/PC Magazine announced the winners of its annual Shareware Competition.
Over 1,300 entries were submitted, "judged for innovativeness, quality and
value", and subsequently divided into 16 functional categories.
- SlipKnot was awarded Best Shareware Communications Program of 1995.
- This year, the judges were deeply divided between between two finalists for the top honors,
and took the unusual step of naming a runner-up. Consequently, SlipKnot was announced as Runner-up
for Best Overall Shareware Program of 1995.
- For all the award winners, see PC
Magazine/Ziff-Davis Shareware Awards (SlipKnot is in the Communications section).
For reviews, testimonials and other commentary on SlipKnot, please see our SlipKnot Reviews Page.
Also, our Who Needs SlipKnot? page offers some comparisons with the
traditional SLIP/PPP approach to the Web.
Version information:
- The current full distribution version is 1.50
- If you are using a prior version, please follow the links below to the SlipKnot What's New Page to upgrade.
- Upgrades, as soon as they are released, are available through the SlipKnot What's New Page (jump down
to upgrading information).
To get Version 1.50, either:
- retrieve the full 1.50 distribution file (slnot150.zip), unzip into a temporary
directory, and install by running the SETUP.EXE file
- if you are using a prior version of SlipKnot, then use SlipKnot's
One-Touch upgrading mechanism
The full 1.50 (or the earlier 1.40) SlipKnot distribution file (approx. 1.5 MB)
is available for downloading
from the following sites (either manually through FTP, or clicking on one of the links below)
If you retrieve the 1.13 version, you can upgrade at any time to 1.50
using our One-Touch upgrading mechanism
Site/Directory/Filename
http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win3/inet/slnot150.zip
http://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/ibmpc/simtel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
ftp://ftp.uoknor.edu/mirrors/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win3/inet/slnot150.zip
ftp.netcom.com/pub/pb/pbrooks/slipknot/slnot150.zip
interport.net/pub/pbrooks/slipknot/slnot150.zip
In Japan:
ftp://ftp.iij.ad.jp/pub/simtel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
ftp://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
In Germany:
ftp://ftp.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mirrors/simtel.coast.net/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
Other sites, outside of North America may also be carrying SlipKnot versions 1.40 or 1.50. If
so, you might try:
Site/Directory/Filename
In the U.K.:
sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/systems/ibmpc/simtel/win3/internet/slnot140.zip
In Australia:
archie.au/micros/pc/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot140.zip
If you have any downloading problems we strongly encourage you to get the SlipKnot FAQ file to answer special installation questions
and overcome installation problems. The FAQ is at:
ftp://interport.net/pub/pbrooks/slipknot/sntfaq1.txt
If you have installed the program, then you will find this FAQ file in your SLIPKNOT directory.
SlipKnot is being released as restricted shareware. This means that users
will be given approx. 1-2 months (depending upon usage) to evaluate the
product before the evaluation period expires, and registration is required.
The cost of registration is:
- US $29.95 for commercial users
- US $29.95 for individuals in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Western Europe
- US $20.00 for individuals not in North America, Japan or Western Europe
- Note: 10% of SlipKnot registration fees are donated to refugee
relief organizations.
- Does not require SLIP or PPP or TCP/IP in any form -- it makes use of an
ordinary dial-up UNIX shell session. Does not use TIA or remsock, and
places no executable binaries on the UNIX system.
- Allows you to switch between SlipKnot's Web browser and its UNIX terminal
window at any time (except when documents are being retrieved).
The terminal window allows:
- scripting -- to automate login and logout
- file uploads and downloads
- any other UNIX operation you would normally use
(mail, news, WAIS, archie, etc.)
- Can save entire documents -- including the embedded pictures -- in your
own local directories. These documents can be redisplayed at any later time, including offline.
This allows you to demonstrate the WWW even when not connected to it, since the document
links to each other are saved with the documents.
- Documents are retrieved in the background, allowing you to scroll through
other displayed documents or print, etc. during retrieval.
- Displays up to 10 documents on the screen (user choice between 2 - 10).
- "Get All Links": SlipKnot can be told to retrieve all or some of the links inside any
particular document and allows you to choose those
links you wish to retrieve ahead of time -- no other browser we know of
has this feature. (Feature restricted to registered SlipKnot users).
- The text of the documents will be displayed first.
- Document windows can be resized.
- Displays most graphics formats, and will play sound files (if you have sound capabilities)
- Documents are saved with your comments attached, to make them easier to
find later.
- Screen fonts and printer fonts are changeable.
- Keeps an unlimited session cache (limited by available disk space) of
retrieved documents.
- You can ask for more than one document while waiting -- requests are
automatically queued up.
- Since SlipKnot is also an offline document renderer, so you can use it to display
your own home pages while they're in development.
- SlipKnot will retrieve files via anonymous FTP for you.
- SlipKnot will run Gopher for you, although access to this feature is
limited to registered users.
- SlipKnot will send outgoing mail (supports "mailto:" HTML tag).
- Last, but definitely not least: SlipKnot has built-in upgrading capabilities (see below).
When new versions are released, SlipKnot users can click on a built-in SlipKnot link, which
will retrieve and upgrade the product itself.
Design Note: SlipKnot was specifically designed for modem and serial line users.
Unlike many other World Wide Web browsers, SlipKnot understands that its users
will have to wait a while for each document to be retrieved from the
internet, no matter which browser they are using. Therefore, we included
many features to allow multiple documents to be seen, stored, and printed
so you don't have to retrieve documents unnecessarily, and so retrieval can
be performed in the background.
We are committed to improving SlipKnot, and have designed the software to make it very easy to
upgrade with its One-Touch Upgrade feature. Since SlipKnot was released in late November, 1994,
we have released numerous upgrades, each with additional features and bug fixes.
Since SlipKnot is an Internet communications program, it has built-in code to upgrade itself. Here's
how it works:
- The SlipKnot Local Home Page (part of SlipKnot) appears every time
you get into the Web. There is a built-in link on this page to our
"What's New Page" on the Internet.
- The What's New Page announces the latest released upgrade for SlipKnot. If the new version is more
recent than the one you are using, you can get the upgrade file (for free until version 1.99) -- there is
a link in this What's New Page to retrieve the SlipKnot upgrade file. This upgrade file is much smaller
than the full distribution file (containing only changes).
- SlipKnot has a built-in upgrade program that will take the changes file and apply them to your version.
The entire upgrade process can be accomplished with about 7 button
clicks and normally takes 3-15 minutes (depending upon modem speed).
The SlipKnot What's New Page also contains announcements of interest to SlipKnot
users and the status of the product.
- SlipKnot retrieves documents automatically via http or ftp or gopher only.
No newsreader or mailreader or WAIS yet. However, you can always switch to the
UNIX terminal window to perform these services.
- SlipKnot does not support 286 PCs.
- SlipKnot may run a little slower than some fast SLIP-based browsers -- a consequence
of the additional steps SlipKnot needs to retrieve documents. However, unlike
other browsers, SlipKnot retrieves
its documents in the background, allowing you to browse other documents in the foreground.
PC System requirements:
- Microsoft Windows (tm) 3.1+ running in 386 Enhanced mode, or Windows for Workgroups,
Windows NT, Windows 95, or OS/2-Win.
- We believe that SlipKnot will run with the new SoftWindows 2.0
emulator for the Mac.
- A UNIX dial-up account (with or without modem) with shell access (or BBS or Freenet -- see below under UNIX requirements). You must have write
permission to your UNIX home directory. Shell access is required -- SlipKnot
will not work with UNIX systems that trap you inside of menus.
- At least 4 MB of RAM memory; recommended 8 MB. Since SlipKnot is a
graphics program, the more memory you have, the better.
- At least 2 MB of available hard disk space. SlipKnot itself takes
approx. 1.5 MB, but since it allows you to save your documents, more free
space is much better.
Requirements of your UNIX system:
The UNIX system must:
- provide you will a shell account (the type of shell makes little
difference: SlipKnot has been tested with sh, csh, ksh, bash and tcsh).
- have Internet access
- offer either one of two standard programs: "lynx" or "www". It is
preferable that your UNIX system have lynx version 2-4-2 or
2.4-FM or later. If you have an older version of lynx (you can find
out the version by executing "lynx -version" at the UNIX prompt), you can
get information on getting the latest version from the Lynx Home
Page.
- offer uploading and downloading of files via Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem or Kermit.
- offer anonymous FTP capability (to retrieve SlipKnot itself).
or, if it is a BBS or Freenet:
- You will see an option for "SlipKnot" on one of your menus.
- If you don't, and you know that you are on a Freenet using the
UNIX operating system, please have your sysop contact us for a special
Freenet/BBS version of SlipKnot (reach us at:
pbrooks@micromind.com)
SlipKnot does not deposit any executable binaries on your host. It makes
use of only the following UNIX commands: "ls", "echo", "rm", "chmod", either
"lynx" or "www", and whichever programs you offer for X, Y or Zmodem or Kermit file
transfers.
Because SlipKnot is able to save entire documents (including the
embedded pictures) on the user's local PC, your users do not have to
retrieve any document more than once.
SlipKnot 1.50 is now available for site licensing and volume discounts. Please send inquiries to:
pbrooks@micromind.com
MicroMind, Inc. is a New York City-based software development company with
six major products developed and released for the international market,
including:
- RUN/C -- the world's first interpreter for the C language --
20,000 copies sold in the U.S. and Japan at $250.
- OL2 -- a product to duplicate the functionality of Sharp Electronics'
Wizard Electronic Organizer on a desktop computer -- marketed by Sharp
worldwide. Over 215,000 copies sold at $100.
Note from Peter Brooks, President of MicroMind and developer of SlipKnot:
SlipKnot was created because there was, at that time, no other alternative
to accessing the World Wide Web graphically if you did not have SLIP or PPP
or TCP/IP access. Having analyzed Mosaic and some of its competitors, I
concluded that all of these browsers were designed for people with very
rapid communications channels into the Internet, not modem or serial line users. Even if
you have SLIP access, many of these browsers do not allow you to save
entire documents (with the included pictures), forcing you to retrieve the
documents again whenever you wish to take a full look at them -- eliminating
the possibility of demonstrating WWW without being online. It takes a while
to retrieve any document by modem with any browser, and you shouldn't have
to do this more than once.
The Web is a remarkable human construct and a truly a wondrous place. I
hope that SlipKnot brings you the magic of the Web, and that you become
as astounded by it as I am.
In addition, since SlipKnot was released in late November, 1994, we have received thousands of
messages from thankful users. Some of these messages can be seen in SlipKnot Reviews. We
would, in turn, like to thank all of those folks who have sent us their suggestions, concerns, bug reports, and words
of encouragement.