Mac vs. Windows differences

[Craiglea]

When I last tried running iSiloX on both OS X and Windows I noticed some differences in the files created. I previously posted on this issue early in 2005.

Out of interest I tried building the same document on both platforms again to see iff this issue was still present. Again I found that the Mac file was around 25% larger (8.5M vs. 6.7M) and additional material had been pulled in at the back end of the document (139 chapters vs. 72 chapters).

Interestingly the problem only occurs on more complex documents. The document in question is a complete Sherlock Holmes and the IXL file builds the individual books plus a single complete version. This latter version is more complex in structure.

As before the IXL files are from a common source with paths etc editied to match the platform requirements. Both are build as UTF-8 but have also been built as Windows-1252.

[Craiglea]

It looks like I have found a fix to this problem, allowing me to build iSilo files on my Mac. It's not a straightforward process though.

I've recently moved to an Intel-powered Mac and can run the Windows version of iSilo using Crossover for Mac. This produces an iSilo output file size that matches that produces natively under Windows.

[Pride Of Lions]

I have both platforms, but I'm a Mac guy primarily. It sure would be nice to have the smaller file sizes to conserve space on the card. I could always use more space, even on my 8GB Microdrive.

[Craiglea]

It's not just the additional space. From what I remember (this was a problem some time back now) the problem also generated duplicate sections within the iSilo document generated on the Mac platform.

The Crossover/iSiloX (Windows) combination is still the best option for me but you do need an Intel Mac.