Big Brother runs native on 68K and PowerPC Macintoshes. It supports both of Apple's TCP/IP technologies, MacTCP and Open Transport. Its multi-threaded architecture enables it to establish a large number of simultaneous connections while preserving your machine's responsiveness.
Big Brother checks remote and local links. Whenever it detects that a remote link actually points to a local file, the link is checked directly, thus saving a connection. It can be set to check local links only, so you can verify the internal structure of your site without firing up your modem.
Big Brother works with files stored on your hard disk, but it can also fetch files from a remote Web server. It is able to follow links recursively, allowing you to check an entire site with a single command.
Results are displayed on screen for browsing. Each link can easily be opened using your preferred browser or displayed using a text editor. It is possible to save the results as an HTML file. Finally, Big Brother is scriptable, which lets you easily automate checks.
Big Brother knows about all HTML 3.2 tags, including <BASE HREF>.
Besides, Big Brother is not an HTML syntax checker. Its job is to verify links, and errors in your HTML documents will go entirely unnoticed.
Finally, Big Brother currently ignores FTP links. This limitation might be removed in a future version.
System 7.5 or later is recommended. Big Brother will work with system versions as early as 7.0, but you will then need to install Apple's Thread Manager extension. I'm told that an easy place to pick up a copy of the Thread Manager is in version 2.0.2 or later of TurboGopher. The Thread Manager has been incorporated into System 7.5, so Big Brother works right out of the box if you have System 7.5 or later.
Your Macintosh should also have network software in the form of either MacTCP or Open Transport TCP/IP. Big Brother supports both. If you have a choice, I recommend using Open Transport, because I have found it to be faster and more robust than MacTCP. Its main drawback is its large memory consumption, but this can be helped by turning Virtual Memory on. At the time of writing, the latest version of Open Transport is 1.1.2, and I have found it to be significantly more reliable than 1.1.
Note that Big Brother works even if your Mac has no network software whatsoever! Of course, you will then be limited to checking local links, but this feature could come in handy if you're temporarily working on an isolated Mac.
Big Brother loves RAM. It comes preset to use between 1.5 and 2 megabytes of memory. You can give it more if you wish, by using the Finder's Get Info command. The more memory is available to it, the more simultaneous connections it can open, and the faster it works. On my development machine, it is able to open 24 simultaneous connections with the default 2 megabyte allowance. I have actually tested it with as much as 10 megs of RAM and 144 simultaneous connections, and it still works, but I don't recommend it because it slows the machine down a lot.
Finally, installing Internet Config (version 1.1 or later) is recommended. Internet Config allows you to define a series of Internet-related preferences, such as your favorite browser application. Other applications, such as Big Brother, can then obtain these preferences directly from Internet Config. Click for more information on downloading and installing Internet Config.
Although the program has Balloon Help, a look at the documentation might be needed now and then to understand Big Brother's subtleties! The Help... menu command under the Apple or Help menus opens these documentation files using your preferred browser.
If you decide to keep Big Brother, I ask you to contribute to its development, which represents a considerable amount of work, by paying me a $10 fee. Site licenses are also available at a low cost. Click for payment details. Registering entitles you to use the software, including its future versions, and to receive email support.