Zoom Search Engine FAQ - CD / DVD Search option comparison

Wrensoft has a number of different technical options that are available for adding a search function to a CD, DVD or USB key drive. This page briefly describes the options and compares the advantages and disadvantages of each.

The available solutions below apply to CD's, DVD's, USB drives and memory sticks. The process is the same in each case despite the media being different. Each of these options require the Zoom Search Engine.

The available options are,

1. Use our FlyingAnt webserver on a CD with the CGI option. FlyingAnt is available as a seperate product.
2. Use the Zoom Javascript option to fully run the search in a browser
3. Use third party IE plugin DLL to use the ASP scripting language on a CD
4. Use third party webserver software to use the PHP or CGI scripting language on a CD
5. Use our free Zoom Front End software on a CD with the CGI option

The following table compares the available options.

	FlyingAnt + CGI	Javascript	3rd Party IE Plugin + ASP	3rd Party server + PHP or CGI	Zoom Front End
Script option used	CGI	Javascript	ASP	PHP or CGI	CGI
Search Speed	Very fast	Slow	Medium	Medium	Very fast
Initial Startup time	Fast	Medium	Medium	Medium	Very Fast
Capacity	Huge (Approx 10GB of content or 1000000 pages)	Low (Approx 50MB of content or 2000 pages)	Medium (Approx 1GB of content or 65000 pages)	Medium (Approx 1GB of content or 65000 pages)	Huge (Approx 10GB of content or 1000000 pages)
Space requirements on CD	Low (< 2MB)	Low	Low	Moderate (> 30MB)	Low
Implementation	Mini web server	Fully contained in browser	Internet Explorer DLL plugin	Full Apache Web server	External application run from desktop.
Browser support	All	All (Javascript support required)	IE only	All	Browser not required
Windows O/S support
Mac OSX Support
Linux Support	Most Distros
Exact phrase search
Context from document
Can run 3rd party PHP scripts from CD
Can run SQL database from CD
Wrensoft Tech. Support
Technical knowledge required	Medium	Low	Medium	Medium	High
Source code available	Only CGI script		Only ASP script	Open source
Summary	Fast cross platform high capacity solution. RECOMMENDED	Low capacity but most compatible solution	Only recommended if you have additional 3rd party ASP scripts to run on CD	Only recommended if you have additional 3rd party PHP scripts or SQL to run on CD	Fast windows only solution that doesn't need a webserver.

Return to our Zoom Search Engine Support page