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New release of RISC OS Firefox available

Published: 22nd Feb 2008, 22:33:16.

Tough bugs bite the dust in new version

A new version of the RISC OS Firefox 2 web browser port has been released today for punters to download. Release 3 has been significantly bug-fixed and uses the latest source code from the mainstream Firefox project. Port developer Peter Naulls is still keen for donations to fund his work on the mammoth, open source browser.

According to Peter, the latest RISC OS release uses the 2.0.0.12 upstream source including security and stability fixes, no longer has the bug that prevented it from starting up on many systems, and has had its mystery 1x1 pixel window removed. Quitting the software from the iconbar works cleanly, a bug that caused some panes to vanish has been squashed, bookmark handling is fixed, odd spacing in menu items has been worked around, and the speed of the browser has been possibly ramped up. The program was also built using GCC 4.1

More details about the release are here.

The new version is suitable for Iyonixes, A9homes, Omegas and VirtualRPC-class emulators. It will not work on RiscPCs or older RISC OS machines because the compiled program uses "half-word instructions" that will not work properly on older hardware.

Links
RISC OS Firefox port page

Discussion

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Congratulations and thanks to Peter for his work on this. It is to be hoped that any RISC OS users who haven't donated to this project now do so to encourage Peter to continue.

Once again thanks Peter (and all those in the Firefox background)

rmac on 23/2/08 12:41AM [ Reply | Report ]

Well I'll be damned! Never expected to see another RO version of Firefox, but this is very good news IMO.

bucksboy on 23/2/08 9:20AM [ Reply | Report ]

This is excellent news.

Seems smoother. And it's available via riscpkg (though it didn't work for me yet.)

jess on 23/2/08 10:33AM [ Reply | Report ]

In reply to bucksboy Yes - that was my initial thought too. The boy has come through good.

At work, I've quietly switched over to FireFox from Internet Explorer - I'm looking forward to grabing Peter's RISC OS version to see how it compares now that I have a better understanding of what FireFox is like for users on other platforms.

martin on 23/2/08 1:04PM [ Reply | Report ]

Must admit that I didn't get around to donating for Firefox previously.

I have just now done so, thinking that the guide value quoted was reasonable.

Great to know that Firefox is still being developed.

I will upgrade to "Release 3" and put it to the test tonight.

ajb on 23/2/08 2:20PM [ Reply | Report ]

Excellent News. I too never expected to see another release for RISC OS. Unfortunately I only have a RiscPC, so I am unable to test it.

OliverB on 23/2/08 2:43PM [ Reply | Report ]

This release is really good news. Thanks Peter for your continuing effort with Firefox.

sa110 on 23/2/08 7:18PM [ Reply | Report ]

Great news indeed. Has anyone had much luck in accessing www.southesttrains.co.uk or www.yourpsp.com ? Both sites kill Firefox as soon as you click on any of the links within the pages

Brian

Hairy on 23/2/08 9:45PM [ Reply | Report ]

Thanks also to Peter N. Hairy: I was able to download a timetable and have a customised table sent to me from the S.S. Trains site - seemingly there were no problems

ArthurT on 23/2/08 10:53PM [ Reply | Report ]

In reply to ArthurT: Well not having great luck here.. also went to Nationwide to transfer funds bewtween Esavings to Current Account and as soon as I enter the numeric amount the Firefox window dies and disappears..Not good as its the only browser I can use with Nationwide and been using it for around 4 months with no problems

Hairy on 24/2/08 4:41PM [ Reply | Report ]

Just been testing out the latest version on my Iyonix: initial impressions (compared with version 2 release 1 - the non-RISC OS GUI version) are very positive. It's noticeably faster and more responsive, including keystroke inputs; 'tickertape' text (e.g. BBC Sport home page) runs about 2-3 times as fast as before, as do the 5-day BBC Weather map updates, and the GUI implementation adds to ease of use. All in all, a welcome advance in RB browser functionality IMO. Well done to Peter N!

bucksboy on 24/2/08 6:25PM [ Reply | Report ]

Sorry - that should be 'RO browser' not 'RB browser'

bucksboy on 24/2/08 6:27PM [ Reply | Report ]

Wow. This is great news for RISC OS. I had given up on seeing another Firefox release on our platform. I hope there is some coverage of this release on other sites (well, it made Slashdot a couple of years back)

govind on 27/2/08 8:51PM [ Reply | Report ]

I'm in the same position as a lot of others - very surprised to see a new version, and very pleased too. It definitely seems smoother than the previous one (on VRPC, at any rate, I'll have to wait a week or so to try on my Iyonix). Previous versions felt too slow to use (to me). This one, whilst admittedly still sluggish compared to, say Netsurf, which is only to be expected, is useable, and indeed I am doing so right at this minute.

SimonC on 28/2/08 6:24PM [ Reply | Report ]

I've just tried the RiscPC version that's just been released. It's more of an 'isn't that cool - Firefox is running on my 13 year old computer' than a 'this is now my primary browser' thing - due to the speed factor. mail.yahoo.com appears to cause Firefox to abruptly quit, on my RiscPC at least. Anyone else had this problem with the other version.

gazza_fp on 28/2/08 10:20PM [ Reply | Report ]

I've been attempting to the Risc pc release4 but its unusable in any practicle sense - it will not bookmark or -'save page as' without throwing a wobbler and disappearing from the desktop :-(

jlavallin on 2/3/08 6:41PM [ Reply | Report ]

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