Resolved Any PPC browser still being updated?

[bwillwall]

I help out with computers at my poor, private school. They have some PowerPC Macs. I helped upgrade them to Leopard and keep them up to date and I set them up with some newer software like Libre Office and iLife 09. This stuff works alright, the problem is internet plugins... I work on computers that kids use to play flash games and such, and as you guys probably know flash on PowerPC is pretty awful. The games and videos lag so much. I even tried to get cut the rope bookmarked since I knew it didn't use flash, however to my surprise HTML5 almost performs worse. This has to be the software right? I mean these are pretty capable G5 machines. What can I do to help this? Are there any modern browsers for PowerPC that are kept up to date or that have better HTML5 support?

 

[Intell]

I think the latest stable one is TenFourFox. Another is Leopard WebKit, although it's last stable update was 10 months ago.

 

[eyoungren]

TenFourFox 22 is the latest beta. TenFourFox 17 is the latest stable.

T4Fx is a fork of Firefox, so treat those numbers as Firefox versions because they are equivalent.

Note that plugins on T4Fx are disabled by default and unsupported (security) and will eventually be locked out all together.

There's a version of Flash to be found in these forums that will fool websites into thinking you are running the latest version. Also, there's Mactubes, a standalone flash player for Youtube.

 

[G5-Sir Mac Alot]

Roccat is still being kept up for PPC on Leopard. Pretty fast browser as well!

 

[Dave H]

Seamonkey for PPC
Requires 10.5.

 

[roadbloc]

TenFourFox is probably the best. Its yet to let me down.

 

[MrPilot]

TenFourFox is probably the best. Its yet to let me down.

TFF is slow (uses a lot of CPU) and has no plugin system (by default) it REALLY sucks

Go in that case with nightly of aurorafox v17.+ which also based on greasemonkey, just like TFF and it's a tad faster and allows for plugins.

Seamonkey is another rescource hog. Stay away.


Roccat is based on webkit but it doesn't allow bookmark folders and it's slower than webkit for leopard.

use lastest nightly 537.69 of Webkit for Leopard for BEST speed and Nightly of AuroraFox for best compatablity

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I think the latest stable one is TenFourFox. Another is Leopard WebKit, although it's last stable update was 10 months ago.

The 537.69 nightly works very well though

 

[76ShovelHead]

I seem to recall Omni Web being the fastest on my iBook G4 1.42 and 1.25 eMac.

 

[eyoungren]

I seem to recall Omni Web being the fastest on my iBook G4 1.42 and 1.25 eMac.

Yeah, but it's not still being updated is it?

 

[eyoungren]

TFF is slow (uses a lot of CPU) and has no plugin system (by default) it REALLY sucks

Go in that case with nightly of aurorafox v17.+ which also based on greasemonkey, just like TFF and it's a tad faster and allows for plugins.

Seamonkey is another rescource hog. Stay away.


Roccat is based on webkit but it doesn't allow bookmark folders and it's slower than webkit for leopard.

use lastest nightly 537.69 of Webkit for Leopard for BEST speed and Nightly of AuroraFox for best compatablity

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The 537.69 nightly works very well though

I'm pretty sure that Cameron Kaiser would be surprised to learn that all his coding for TenFourFox is based on Greasemonkey. Unless you meant something else?

And when you say Aurorafox do you mean the nightly builds which are Intel Mac only or the actual Aurorafox browser which is at version 20 and is itself a fork of T4Fx and based on it's code?

I gave up on Seamonkey a while back. You still can't really theme it even though it does still use most extensions.

My personal problem with the other browsers you name is that those browsers can't be modified - much.

Sure, Leopard webkit and by extension Safari have extensions, but I have a personal hatred for Safari and therefore Leopard webkit. No speed dial, no themeing, no making it exactly the way you want.

So, yes, T4Fx is slow and hogs memory, but there are things you can do to mitigate that. And you can apply your own theme and use major current Mozilla addons. Such as AdBlockPlus, NoScript, etc. I have Speed dial and a bunch of other stuff that makes using T4Fx great.

I'm willing to sacrafice some speed for usability.

 

[rjcalifornia]

I help out with computers at my poor, private school. They have some PowerPC Macs. I helped upgrade them to Leopard and keep them up to date and I set them up with some newer software like Libre Office and iLife 09. This stuff works alright, the problem is internet plugins... I work on computers that kids use to play flash games and such, and as you guys probably know flash on PowerPC is pretty awful. The games and videos lag so much. I even tried to get cut the rope bookmarked since I knew it didn't use flash, however to my surprise HTML5 almost performs worse. This has to be the software right? I mean these are pretty capable G5 machines. What can I do to help this? Are there any modern browsers for PowerPC that are kept up to date or that have better HTML5 support?

Well, you could get some very lightweight flash games and make them available for them. I don't know what else to say.

What kind of PowerPC Macs they have? I am in charge of the computer lab at my school, and I don't allow gaming, nor even youtube

 

[Intell]

Don't forget Aurorafox, Seamonkey, and Roccat are all not being updated anymore. The OP which ones are still being updated, that leaves two TenFourFox and Leopard Webkit.

 

[bwillwall]

Well, you could get some very lightweight flash games and make them available for them. I don't know what else to say.

What kind of PowerPC Macs they have? I am in charge of the computer lab at my school, and I don't allow gaming, nor even youtube

Well what I am asking about is actually a couple of classrooms that have a wall of computers off to the side. They have games for when kids get finished with something early or for a reward or that sort of thing. It's up to the teacher in the individual room what the kids can do on them. They also have K9 web protection so things like youtube they actually can't get to without a password.

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There wouldn't happen to be any sort of cloud based flash solution similar to Puffin Browser for iOS? I don't have any problems with compatibility, only performance

Also, what about a Chromium port to PowerPC? Does this exist?

 

[Intell]

There's no cloud based Flash player for Mac OS X. Nor is there and Chrome like browser for PowerPC.

 

[G5-Sir Mac Alot]

Im sorry to dispute your word, but Roccat IS still being updated. Latest version was released for it last week. It works well with flash for flash games, is very stable and pretty fast. I think it would work quite well for what the poster was looking for.

 

[ihuman:D]

Im sorry to dispute your word, but Roccat IS still being updated. Latest version was released for it last week. It works well with flash for flash games, is very stable and pretty fast. I think it would work quite well for what the poster was looking for.

It just embeds the systems default Webkit so it's just the same as safari really.

 

[Intell]

Im sorry to dispute your word, but Roccat IS still being updated. Latest version was released for it last week. It works well with flash for flash games, is very stable and pretty fast. I think it would work quite well for what the poster was looking for.

It's still using the old insecure stock WebKit. That alone makes it no longer updated. Sure you can put fancy new body panels and modern interior on your 1985 truck, but it's still a 1985 truck with a 1985 frame and 1985 engine.

 

[bwillwall]

Thanks for replying everyone. These computers include Power Mac G5s, I think they are 1.8Ghz except for one that is a dual processor machine. There is also an iMac G4 20" and an eMac. The only thing I can think of that might speed them up is adding more RAM. Do you guys think this could make a significant difference? If not I guess that's just the way it is. Is this terrible plugin performance normal for these older macs?

 

[wobegong]

Thanks for replying everyone. These computers include Power Mac G5s, I think they are 1.8Ghz except for one that is a dual processor machine. There is also an iMac G4 20" and an eMac. The only thing I can think of that might speed them up is adding more RAM. Do you guys think this could make a significant difference? If not I guess that's just the way it is. Is this terrible plugin performance normal for these older macs?

I think for clarity from the posts above that its either Leopard Webkit (which I use) or TFF, try them both out and see which you prefer.

For me I have no performance issues with either, extra RAM will only help if you are running out of RAM currently, monitor how much free RAM you have and if it's getting tight then of course make the upgrade but watch your spend

 

[bwillwall]

I think for clarity from the posts above that its either Leopard Webkit (which I use) or TFF, try them both out and see which you prefer.

For me I have no performance issues with either, extra RAM will only help if you are running out of RAM currently, monitor how much free RAM you have and if it's getting tight then of course make the upgrade but watch your spend

Alright, thanks everyone.

 

[MrPilot]

I'm pretty sure that Cameron Kaiser would be surprised to learn that all his coding for TenFourFox is based on Greasemonkey. Unless you meant something else?

Stoopid me wanted to say gecko of course... haha what a nooob I am sometimes

And when you say Aurorafox do you mean the nightly builds which are Intel Mac only or the actual Aurorafox browser which is at version 20 and is itself a fork of T4Fx and based on it's code?

I meant Nightly 17.0.2esrpre because I think (and I might be mistaken) that the plugin system and or extensions do no longer work with it. Correct please if I'm wrong!

I gave up on Seamonkey a while back. You still can't really theme it even though it does still use most extensions.

Seamonkey is just so slowww for most tasks. I'll admit I havent tried the latest version that came out recently but still

My personal problem with the other browsers you name is that those browsers can't be modified - much.

Yes, I understand that...in fact on the nightly 17.0.2esrpre I have the chrome theme and download helper extension which allows me to retrieve links to either download or play flash video from youtube, tv sites like vidbull, movshare etc at high res using VLC. I think that browser allows me to do most things. But it's a little slow on heavy sites like icloud, the "new" google maps etc...

Sure, Leopard webkit and by extension Safari have extensions, but I have a personal hatred for Safari and therefore Leopard webkit. No speed dial, no themeing, no making it exactly the way you want.

It's actually your fault that I now am a "theme" junkie..lol I wish there was something like that for safari, but at least we have gecko browsers for that

So, yes, T4Fx is slow and hogs memory, but there are things you can do to mitigate that. And you can apply your own theme and use major current Mozilla addons. Such as AdBlockPlus, NoScript, etc. I have Speed dial and a bunch of other stuff that makes using T4Fx great.

Yes, I think we both share that opinion now... thanks to you!

I'm willing to sacrafice some speed for usability.

Sometimes though speed IS usability...like icloud apps work fine on webkit for leopard.

Take care

 

[eyoungren]

Stoopid me wanted to say gecko of course... haha what a nooob I am sometimes


I meant Nightly 17.0.2esrpre because I think (and I might be mistaken) that the plugin system and or extensions do no longer work with it. Correct please if I'm wrong!

Seamonkey is just so slowww for most tasks. I'll admit I havent tried the latest version that came out recently but still



Yes, I understand that...in fact on the nightly 17.0.2esrpre I have the chrome theme and download helper extension which allows me to retrieve links to either download or play flash video from youtube, tv sites like vidbull, movshare etc at high res using VLC. I think that browser allows me to do most things. But it's a little slow on heavy sites like icloud, the "new" google maps etc...



It's actually your fault that I now am a "theme" junkie..lol I wish there was something like that for safari, but at least we have gecko browsers for that


Yes, I think we both share that opinion now... thanks to you!


Sometimes though speed IS usability...like icloud apps work fine on webkit for leopard.

Take care

LOL! OK, got you on all that. I am so sorry to contribute to a theming delinquent. What can I say, I like the time I spend in my apps to be nice.

Note, that for some stuff I'll use Fluid. I have a Fluid app specifically for iCloud, Sensorly, some webmail sites, Google Play and a few others. None of the stuff I visit so much I want it hammering on T4Fx or Aurorafox, but sites that I don't visit frequently enough. So, making them Fluid apps let me use them just when I need them and keeps them out of the main browser.

Works for me anyway.

 

[Intell]

Don't forget Aurorafox doesn't fit the OP's requirement of a still updated PowerPC browser as its last update was in February and it appears to be dead.

 

[Cox Orange]

@ all: for the future, could we keep adding "10.4" or "10.5" behind the browser name or anything (applications, firmware) we are talking about. Some have said it is for 10.5, but some not. It makes it a bit easier, when you don't have to google first, if it works for which OS (because some download pages do not tell, they even don't differentiate between Intel and PPC).

I'm being not to strict on that, but it is a suggestion.

(...) They have games for when kids get finished with something early or for a reward or that sort of thing. It's up to the teacher in the individual room what the kids can do on them. (...)
side note: from a pedagogic standpoint very questionable, but I guess one can have different opinions on that.

 

[rabidz7]

Iceweasel is supported.