★ wanayoo — archive 1999 http://tom.cs.cmu.edu/intro.html

Welcome to the TOM Conversion Service

The TOM conversion service allows you to convert a file from your local disk or from the Web to a format useful for viewing with your Web browser or saving to your local disk. Anyone may use it, keeping in mind that it is still in development and beta test.

Select this link to start converting documents.

How to Use this Service

The link above will take you to a page with two forms, one for converting a file on your computer, and one for converting a file from the Web.

You can convert a file on your computer (if you're using a modern browser like Netscape 2 or Internet Explorer) with the "Convert a File" form. Enter the name of the file in the text box and then press the "Convert this file" button. Many browsers will include a 'browse' button in the form, allowing you to look through your disk for the file you want rather than type in the filename.

You can convert a Web document with the "Convert a URL" form. Enter the Web address in the text box and then press the "Convert this URL" button. This will work with any browser, as long as it understands forms.

Before converting, TOM will automatically try to determine what kind of file you're starting with. But it may not always guess correctly. If you know what kind of file you have, and want to give TOM some help, you can select a specific format in place of "Unknown" in the "From Format:" part of the form.

TOM will then attempt to convert the file to a "Viewable" format: one that you can easily work with or save from your Web browser. If there's a specific format you'd like TOM to convert to, though, select that format in place of "Viewable" on the "To Format:" part of the form.

Known Limitations

A list of known bugs and limitations of the current implementation can be found here.

It is not always possible to convert from any format to any other format. Sometimes it's because the appropriate converter isn't installed; sometimes it's because there isn't a sensible way to do the conversion.

Results of a conversion are cached on the server for a limited time (currently about 24 hours) and then deleted to make room for additional space. Do not make links to the results of conversions stored here; instead, save copies locally and link to them. Also, since it is in theory possible for other people to view the converted documents (if they can guess what session identifier was being used for you), you may want to refrain from converting any information you want kept private.

This interface is still in beta-test.

More About TOM

Select this link to find out more information about the technical details of TOM, learn about the project that is developing TOM, or try some alternate interfaces.

Feedback and Support

If you encounter problems with the TOM conversion service, please send mail to spok+tom@cs.cmu.edu. We'll see what we can do about it. Also let us know if you have any other suggestions or comments about the service.

We also have a mailing list where we announce the latest upgrades and new conversions for the TOM conversion service. If you'd like to subscribe, send mail to spok+tom@cs.cmu.edu saying so.

TOM Conversion Service (spok+tom@cs.cmu.edu)