Lightweight Netscape?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alan
  • Start date Start date
A

Alan

A relative of mine uses a secured site that has been revamped and no
longer supports his version of NS 4.x. Their recommendation to him is to
change to NS6 or IE5.5. He runs an old P100 with Win95 and (maybe) 64MB
RAM. I suggested he might want to go for a "lite" NS version, without
all the AOL spy/bloatware. The one I've seen is at
http://sillydog.org/narchive/sd/70.html. The site claims it will run on
95, but I'm wondering how his old box would cope with it.

Any suggestions/ recommendations for a lightweight replacement
appreciated. BTW, I suspect that the secured site he mentions is one of
those picky ones that kicks up if it gets the wrong browser ID etc., so
maybe things like Beonex will cause problems. He also uses NS for mail,
but not news. I also presume his system is too old for any of the
Mozilla flavours.
 
Any suggestions/ recommendations for a lightweight replacement
appreciated. BTW, I suspect that the secured site he mentions is one of
those picky ones that kicks up if it gets the wrong browser ID etc., so
maybe things like Beonex will cause problems. He also uses NS for mail,
but not news. I also presume his system is too old for any of the
Mozilla flavours.
Click to expand...

Maybe you could try this Gecko-based browsers :

Mozilla Firebird at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/ (Based on
Mozilla 1.4 or greater depending on the build)
KMeleon at http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net (based on Mozilla 1.2)

KMeleon is a native Win32 app and should run faster on your machine, but
Firebird is easier to use and cross-platform.

For the Browser ID problem there's only one solution ... give it a try.

Romain
 
donut <[email protected]> wrote:
Click to expand...
Firebird is all he needs.
Click to expand...

Seconded. The email is similar to Netscape mail (I used 4.79 forever)
plus it has a very effective spam sorter in it. There is no real
training, except that you mark the first few it misses as spam. It
seems to build upon this. Hardly any gets through now for me and I get
all my real mail. The browser is pretty nice too, but I usually use
Avant.

I don't see the minimum horsepower requirements.
 
(e-mail address removed) wrote in

No, I don't either. It only says that Firebird is available for Windows.

BTW, Firebird is a browser only.

Here's the skinny on Netscape 7, which is why you should be concerned if
you are going to use it. AOL/Time Warner bought out Netscape and developed
it as a real competitor to Internet Explorer. I tried 7.01, and immediately
made it my browser of choice. It was fast, suffered none of the bugs or
rendering problems that Mozilla did, and it was nice to be away from the
constant issues over IE security holes.

Microsoft apparently saw it as a real threat, so the first thing you know,
they sign a huge deal with AOL/Time Warner to make IE their only official
supported browser.

So, Netscape is there, and there is where it will stay. It is officially
out to pasture, and there will be no further development.

Nothing really wrong with that, as it works quite well. Personally, I had
no use for the mail/news part of it, and saw it only as bloat. That's why I
was happy to find Firebird, which is essentially the same browser, with no
bloat. Firebird will continue to be developed, with the express goal being
to REDUCE bloat rather than increase it.
Click to expand...


If you are familiar with it, what is your opinion of Opera?
 
And said:
A relative of mine uses a secured site that has been
revamped and no longer supports his version of NS 4.x.
Their recommendation to him is to change to NS6 or IE5.5.
He runs an old P100 with Win95 and (maybe) 64MB RAM. I
suggested he might want to go for a "lite" NS version,
without all the AOL spy/bloatware. The one I've seen is at
http://sillydog.org/narchive/sd/70.html. The site claims it
will run on 95, but I'm wondering how his old box would
cope with it.

Any suggestions/ recommendations for a lightweight
replacement appreciated. BTW, I suspect that the secured
site he mentions is one of those picky ones that kicks up
if it gets the wrong browser ID etc., so maybe things like
Beonex will cause problems. He also uses NS for mail, but
not news. I also presume his system is too old for any of
the Mozilla flavours.
Click to expand...

It's also below the Netscape6/7 benchmark, although all of
them will run on that system. They will take longer to open
and longer to carry out commands. It really is a good idea to
update the hardware: TigerDirect is selling systems for under
$300.

I'd recommend N7 compact, available at:
http://www.holgermetzger.de/net7comp.html
 
Seconded. The email is similar to Netscape mail (I used 4.79
forever) plus it has a very effective spam sorter in it. There is
no real training, except that you mark the first few it misses as
spam. It seems to build upon this. Hardly any gets through now for
me and I get all my real mail. The browser is pretty nice too, but
I usually use Avant.
Click to expand...

Mozilla Firebird is only a browser. Are you talking about Mozilla
Thunderbird, the e-mail/news project?

Fwiw to the OP, I also recommend giving Mozilla Firebird a try. On my
system, it typically about 20 MB of memory when looking at a single
page at a time.
 
I don't see the minimum horsepower requirements.
Click to expand...

No, I don't either. It only says that Firebird is available for Windows.

BTW, Firebird is a browser only.

Here's the skinny on Netscape 7, which is why you should be concerned if
you are going to use it. AOL/Time Warner bought out Netscape and developed
it as a real competitor to Internet Explorer. I tried 7.01, and immediately
made it my browser of choice. It was fast, suffered none of the bugs or
rendering problems that Mozilla did, and it was nice to be away from the
constant issues over IE security holes.

Microsoft apparently saw it as a real threat, so the first thing you know,
they sign a huge deal with AOL/Time Warner to make IE their only official
supported browser.

So, Netscape is there, and there is where it will stay. It is officially
out to pasture, and there will be no further development.

Nothing really wrong with that, as it works quite well. Personally, I had
no use for the mail/news part of it, and saw it only as bloat. That's why I
was happy to find Firebird, which is essentially the same browser, with no
bloat. Firebird will continue to be developed, with the express goal being
to REDUCE bloat rather than increase it.
 
donut <[email protected]> wrote:
Click to expand...
(e-mail address removed) wrote in news:[email protected]:
Click to expand...
No, I don't either. It only says that Firebird is available for Windows.
Click to expand...
BTW, Firebird is a browser only.
Click to expand...

That's right. I have both Firebird and Moz. It is Moz mail that I like
so much.
Here's the skinny on Netscape 7, which is why you should be concerned if
you are going to use it. AOL/Time Warner bought out Netscape and developed
it as a real competitor to Internet Explorer. I tried 7.01, and immediately
made it my browser of choice. It was fast, suffered none of the bugs or
rendering problems that Mozilla did, and it was nice to be away from the
constant issues over IE security holes.
Click to expand...
Microsoft apparently saw it as a real threat, so the first thing you know,
they sign a huge deal with AOL/Time Warner to make IE their only official
supported browser.
Click to expand...
So, Netscape is there, and there is where it will stay. It is officially
out to pasture, and there will be no further development.
Click to expand...
Nothing really wrong with that, as it works quite well. Personally, I had
no use for the mail/news part of it, and saw it only as bloat. That's why I
was happy to find Firebird, which is essentially the same browser, with no
bloat. Firebird will continue to be developed, with the express goal being
to REDUCE bloat rather than increase it.
Click to expand...

That is a very good goal! I haven't checked in for quite awhile now.
I'll drop by and pick up a newer version.
 
And said:
So, Netscape is there, and there is where it will stay. It
is officially out to pasture, and there will be no further
development.
Click to expand...

That's not entirely accurate.

NEtscape 7 is based on Mozilla, an open source internet suite.
Not only will Mozilla continue to develope its web browser and
mail/news client, AOL helped Mozilla.org (the development team)
create the not-for-profit Mozilla Foundation. The Foundation
will continue development of the applications, and AOL got them
started with a 2 million dollar donation.

So while Netscape 7.1 is the last Netscape internet application,
the actual software that it is based on is still under active
development.
 
Alan said:
A relative of mine uses a secured site that has been revamped and no
longer supports his version of NS 4.x. Their recommendation to him is
to change to NS6 or IE5.5. He runs an old P100 with Win95 and (maybe)
64MB RAM.
Click to expand...

Would using Proxomitron to change the User-Agent work?
 
BOB wrote in
If you are familiar with it, what is your opinion of Opera?
Click to expand...

I wish you hadn't asked that.

I tried to like Opera. Really tried. I found it extremely hard to set up,
and the help, while written in English, may as well be in Greek.

I found that too many pages don't render properly.

The last version I tried was 7 something.
 
He runs an old P100 with Win95 and (maybe) 64MB
RAM. I suggested he might want to go for a "lite" NS version, without
all the AOL spy/bloatware. The one I've seen is at
http://sillydog.org/narchive/sd/70.html. The site claims it will run on
95, but I'm wondering how his old box would cope with it.
Click to expand...

I'm running P90 with Win95 and 64RAM.

I use Netscape 4.08 - Browser only, and can see most of the web. The later
versions of all the other browsers require at least a P2 or better. The
bottleneck is the P chip. I've tried some of the later versions of
different browsers and the computer just locks up - the CPU can't handle
it.

With the P100 and if he want's to listen to broadcasts on the Internet use
the lower bandwidth connections, even with a high-speed connection. Again,
it's the CPU that's the bottleneck.

I can't see .css web pages but if I really want to read the text on that
page I use View Source to read it. Netscape 4.08 doesn't recognize the
later versions of JavaScript that some hyperlinks and thumbnails use. It
will run Shockwave but very, very slowly. Just be sure to surf with Java,
JavaScript, Cookies and AutoInstall turned OFF and use a third-party addon
like WebWasher or Proxomitron.

Other programs I use:

For Email: Pegasus 4.12a
http://pmail.com/

For Newsroups: Xnews 5.04.25
http://Xnews.newsguy.com

Firewall: ZoneAlarm 2.6.362
http://www.voodoofiles.com/4860

For a stand-alone Win95 there are a number of tweaks, settings and addons
that will lcckup the computer about as secure as Win95 can be locked up.
If you want I can post those. It's up to you.

Gary
 
And said:
Thanks for all the replies to this. I'll be passing on all
info. I'm sure a hardware update is out of the question for
him, but thanks for those suggestions and the possible
system tweaks. So it'll be largely a case of suck it & see.
I do know that his major requirements are e-mail (not news)
and "simple" browsing, but especially doing business on
those problem secured sites.

Sounds like the contenders are:
Firebird (but no mail )-:)
KMeleon
Netscape 7 compact
Mozilla (maybe too demanding???)
Click to expand...

If Mozilla is too demanding, then so are Firebird and Netscape
7; they are essentially the same program. That leaves KMeleon
(which I think is also Gecko-based) and Opera.
 
ms said:
I use a P166, W88SE, used to run 4.08, have been running Communicator
4.79 for about 3 years, tried Znews and Pegasus, Firebird, like Netscape
better. K-Meleon runs, but loads too slowly, Mozilla freezes. They
really need a P233.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike for the info,

I've had another look at:
http://sillydog.org/narchive/
and found:

Windows
95/98/98SE/Me/NT/2000/XP
Communicator 4.8 (mirror1) Base Install (17.32MB)
Communicator 4.8 (mirror1) Complete Install (22.75MB)
Communicator 4.7 with Enterprise Calendaring (22.5MB)

read release notes (128bit encryption)
http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/4.8/relnotes/windows-4.8.html

Min Req: PC with 486 or higher,16MB RAM
~~~

The Min Reqirement suggested that 4.8 should work on a P but if IIRC I had
tried 4.8 and it sucked the life out of my P90 and that's why I went back
to 4.08.

I've noted it will work with P166 for future reference.

Thanks,

Gary
 
BOB wrote:

If you are familiar with it, what is your opinion of Opera?
Click to expand...


I love everything about Opera except the fact that it is adware unless
you pay for it.
 
That is strange - I just installed 98SE on a P133 for an aquaintance. I
also installed Mozilla 1.4 as browser (and removed the IE 6) - no
problems at all.
OK, it takes some time to load the browser, but once it is loaded
everything runs fine.
Click to expand...


IE loads into memory at boot, so eradicating it frees some memory.

Firebird is much faster to load than full blown Mozilla.
 
Gary said:
Thanks Mike for the info,

I've had another look at:
http://sillydog.org/narchive/
and found:

Windows
95/98/98SE/Me/NT/2000/XP
Communicator 4.8 (mirror1) Base Install (17.32MB)
Communicator 4.8 (mirror1) Complete Install (22.75MB)
Communicator 4.7 with Enterprise Calendaring (22.5MB)

read release notes (128bit encryption)
http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/4.8/relnotes/windows-4.8.html

Min Req: PC with 486 or higher,16MB RAM
~~~

The Min Reqirement suggested that 4.8 should work on a P but if IIRC I had
tried 4.8 and it sucked the life out of my P90 and that's why I went back
to 4.08.

I've noted it will work with P166 for future reference.

Thanks,

Gary
Click to expand...

IIRC, the browser Navigator portion of Comm 4.79/4.8 is the same as
Navigator 4.08. I never saw any difference between them. Netscape/AOL
upgrades were mainly in the Messinger and newsreader functions.

I keep IE 5.01 around for the few pages that won't open or freeze with
4.79.

Mike Sa
 
ms said:
IIRC, the browser Navigator portion of Comm 4.79/4.8 is the same as
Navigator 4.08. I never saw any difference between them. Netscape/AOL
upgrades were mainly in the Messinger and newsreader functions.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike,

That's what I was trying to remember. I was using the Navigator portion of
Communicator for browsing and then using other programs to do the other
online tasks. 4.08 was just before AOL got involved and the bloat started.

If I want to see the javascript thumbnails at:
http://cropcircleconnector.com/2003/2003.html
then I'll have to get something more than a P90.

Maybe it really is time to get another machine.
 
Success! Firebird fired first up with flying colours... and he's rapt.
Maybe a bit slower than NS 4.75 to load, but no noticable difference
when browsing. Only drawback is the (comparitively) large size cf. NS
4.75 - he only has a 1.? GB HD.

He decided to keep NS for mail, and I set it up to open with the mail
window, and nuked all the AOL/AIM junk from the system. I don't know if
NS bookmarks are directly importable to Firebird, but noticed it
recognised IE Favorites. He never uses IE, so I found a little freeware
utility to syncronize NS and IE bookmarks/ favorites and bingo! All his
NS bookmarks were there, and he can forget IE exists once again (I think
he's picked that up from me).

One query: Firebird "insisted" that he create a profile, and keeps
asking him to select it when the app loads, despite ticking the box that
I presume is meant to override this behaviour. Any way he can bypass
this?

Thanks again to all posters for the useful input.

BTW, the problem secured sites now all work no problem.
 
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