11 November 2018, 13:19 | #1 |
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Will 3.x ever get a modern browser
I remember browsing the web on my Amiga with a 33.6k modem in the mid 90s. Cool as it was, even back then, web pages broke and the experience left something to be desired compared to its archrival PC that sat on my desk at work.
I have only recently returned to the Amiga scene after 20+ years and am more than impressed with what you guys (the amiga die hards) have done. I am aware that there are other evolutions of the OS with some browser support, but for me, 3.1 rendering a modern web page in 24bit with 30fps video would be a sight to see. It might even make a grown man cry. When Flash was the prevailing tech, I wrote the amiga off, but now that HTML5 is here and PPC or FPGA boards helping with the ram and speed limitations, I think it is now possible to have a browser experience that I could live with, even if I had to resort to using i7/AmigaForever. Or am I crazy... |
11 November 2018, 13:34 | #2 |
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"Will 3.x ever get a modern browser"
No, it won't. |
11 November 2018, 14:36 | #3 |
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Netsurf might fit your needs.
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11 November 2018, 15:32 | #4 |
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Trevor from Aeon said that after LibreOffice, he wants to put together a team and look at the browser situation. We can only hope that he has 68k in mind.
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11 November 2018, 15:42 | #5 |
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Nope
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11 November 2018, 16:53 | #6 |
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Porting one version of browser is not a solution, it will quickly become obsolete/vulnerable. Browser has to be constantly updated. There is no manpower for this in the Amiga world. Not to mention RAM requirements of the modern browsers - but since just about everybody moved to 64-bit, and 8 GB RAM in a smartphone is not considered insane anymore, upstream probably does not really care.
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11 November 2018, 17:52 | #7 |
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Browsing on Raspberry Pi is not great and it has eleventy billion times the resources as your average 68k amiga. So I also predict no.
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11 November 2018, 18:27 | #8 |
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11 November 2018, 18:28 | #9 | |
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thanks for the suggestion, dax, i'll give it a try
Quote:
the amiga community literally kept the computer alive by sheer will and determination. at first, winuae, then the OS branches, then the hardware (PPC, FPGA,HD/floppy emulators, entire hand routed motherboards). the irony is that now we can have computers so fast that we all have to phone the sysinfo guy, but then have almost no software that takes advantage of the increased performance and is actually more likely to crash on our favorite games. but the *one* application that every amiga user on the planet uses is a web browser...on a PC... i think a classic amiga with the right accelerator (probably FPGA) and ram could be a daily driver. of course you won't be downloading at 100Mbps on a plipbox, but web pages are still kept lean, around 2MB and even HD streams are about 2Mbit/s, well within reach of even the old 2065 ethernet cards. i know decoding h.265 in real time may be a stretch, but amiga guys are smart and very clever. |
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11 November 2018, 18:30 | #10 |
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Probably far too little improvement over 68060 to make it usable. And just 128MB RAM or so would be a real problem.
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11 November 2018, 18:55 | #11 |
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There has been some IBrowse 2.5 activity very recently but I can't comment further.
Don't expect a miracle. rare_J has a very good point. |
11 November 2018, 21:38 | #12 | ||
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Quote:
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I am currently running IBrowse 2.4 on an A1200 with 16MB RAM and a 50MHz 030, and it works well enough for the sites I regularly visit. By only running 8 colors on screen and keeping pictures in FastRAM the scrolling speed and memory usage is acceptable. Won't play YouTube videos properly of course (not enough processing power) but my Vampired A600 should do it fine once I get it set up properly. The biggest problem with IBrowse is not being able to use the latest TLS encryption. Hoping IBrowse 2.5 will be released soon! |
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11 November 2018, 21:45 | #13 | |
mä vaan
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Quote:
https://ci.netsurf-browser.org/builds/amigaos3/ Vampire is about 233mhz 68060, if comparing Netsurf rendering times. It is about 4x faster than 66mhz 68060. That is not enough for general Netsurfing with any browser. Netsurf would be nearest to be useable, but Chris would need help to get it optimized. It is possible to surf web with 32mb ram, but more is better. Just to start it requires 11mb free ram. This is not a lot, compared to another possibility Odyssey, wich requires many times more just to start. |
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11 November 2018, 22:31 | #14 | |||
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Quote:
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Your best bet if you want to follow that route, is AROS. You can use that on a modern PC, browse the internet within the limitations of OWB, watch a decent level of video and more, all within an Amiga-like environment. |
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12 November 2018, 01:01 | #15 | |
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It's not ever gonna happen the "regular way" IMO, and its not only for technical reasons but as others have already mentioned.. It would be a "misdirected development effort"... there are so many other devices you already own that are automagically updated all the time to give you the perfect web experience.. ...BUT someone crazy enough might think of something wildly out of the box just to prove a point.. Say, for the Vampire 4 (which has some new connectivity options). Like porting some open source a virtualized client software where you run a "Remote Desktop" window of a browser running on a Raspberry Pi 3B (or newer/more powerful, running Linux and a modern browser) hidden in the shell of you Amiga.. ;-) But of course, that in itself would require a madman and some sorcery as well..and frankly still wouldnt be very useful ;-) |
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12 November 2018, 03:36 | #16 |
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12 November 2018, 04:04 | #17 | |
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Sure it would.. but at what cost... ;-) |
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12 November 2018, 05:21 | #18 | |||
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*I am not an engineer, so be kind when responding to the following* Quote:
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What's crazy is that the amiga community is seemingly just now realizing that the internet IS the killer app. It's not SYSINFO or AIBB or Lightwave 3.5FP, guys. You use it on your phone, your tablet, your PC, your TV, your Xbox, your PS3/4 but not your much beloved Amiga... |
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12 November 2018, 05:34 | #19 |
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12 November 2018, 10:40 | #20 |
mä vaan
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