Desperate need for lightweight browser.

What features/apps/bugfixes needed in a future Puppy
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steff99
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu 09 Mar 2017, 20:48

Desperate need for lightweight browser.

#1 Post by steff99 »

Hi Guys. after years of using puppy, I have began to noticed that ALL the mainstream web browsers are hogging very large amounts of system resources.
Firefox alone uses a minumum of 400+ mb simply to open a single page, where as Chrome can be even worse!

I have tried Opera (which is now based on chrome) and seamonkey simply wont display new webpages correctly.

I have also noticed the newer versions of firfox are also using the chrome engine. this all amounts to stupid amounts of ram simply to browse the web.... and its getting worse.

I am not entirely sure about the cause of this ram hogging or even CPU hogging, but a solution is becoming more problematic due to the availability of web browsers.

This isn't a suggestion towards puppy exactly, but a (long shot) request that maybe someone who has the knowledge, possibly look into building a new light weight browser....

I have also attempted to use K-Meleon but the 85mb instal folder is still quite large, and so far K-Meleon has similar display problems to the old Firefox versions.

is this the end of the road for web browsers? as using larger mainstream programs like chrome will force me to change to another OS, or (heaven forbid) buying a new computer with more ram, and a different OS.

musher0
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Location: Gatineau (Qc), Canada

#2 Post by musher0 »

Hello stef99.

Welcome aboard!

Yeah, some browsers have become as large or even larger than the Puppy distro...
Although some users here are happy with any of the "monsters" you mention.

As for me, I try to do as much as I can with the old opera 12.16. Some https sites
this old opera won't show, so I use palemoon for those.

If someone managed to compile the latest version of the small links2 browser with
ssl, that would be quite something. It would give links2 (and us) access to a lot
more sites.

BFN.
musher0
~~~~~~~~~~
"You want it darker? We kill the flame." (L. Cohen)

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trapster
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Location: Maine, USA
Contact:

#3 Post by trapster »

Code: Select all

root@debian:~# ldd /usr/bin/links2
	linux-gate.so.1 (0xb7718000)
	libtiff.so.5 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libtiff.so.5 (0xb7685000)
	libjpeg.so.62 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libjpeg.so.62 (0xb7626000)
	libpng12.so.0 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libpng12.so.0 (0xb75f9000)
	libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6 (0xb74a7000)
	libdirectfb-1.2.so.9 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libdirectfb-1.2.so.9 (0xb7419000)
	libfusion-1.2.so.9 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libfusion-1.2.so.9 (0xb740e000)
	libdirect-1.2.so.9 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libdirect-1.2.so.9 (0xb73f5000)
	libpthread.so.0 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0xb73d8000)
	liblzma.so.5 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/liblzma.so.5 (0xb73ad000)
	libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0xb739a000)
	libz.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0xb737d000)
	libssl.so.1.0.0 => /usr/local/lib/libssl.so.1.0.0 (0xb7310000)
	libcrypto.so.1.0.0 => /usr/local/lib/libcrypto.so.1.0.0 (0xb7111000)
	libgpm.so.2 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libgpm.so.2 (0xb710b000)
	libm.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0xb70b6000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0xb6efe000)
	libjbig.so.0 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libjbig.so.0 (0xb6eef000)
	libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 (0xb6ec9000)
	libdl.so.2 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0xb6ec4000)
	/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb771b000)
	libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libXau.so.6 (0xb6ebe000)
	libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb6eb8000)
root@debian:~# 
:mrgreen:

Debiandog Jessie
trapster
Maine, USA

Asus eeepc 1005HA PU1X-BK
Frugal install: Slacko
Currently using full install: DebianDog

musher0
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Location: Gatineau (Qc), Canada

#4 Post by musher0 »

Hello trapster.

Why don't you come up with a download URL instead of teasing us?!?!
Which version of links2 is it, BTW?

TIA
musher0
~~~~~~~~~~
"You want it darker? We kill the flame." (L. Cohen)

dancytron
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#5 Post by dancytron »

The standard links2 in Debian Stretch seems to support SSL. At least it opened a couple https pages for me, running as "links2 -g".

Not sure if it helps, but https://packages.debian.org/stretch/links2 has download links and a list of dependencies with links to them.

I don't have Debian Stretch Puppy installed right now, but I imagine it is available in the PPM.

musher0
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Location: Gatineau (Qc), Canada

#6 Post by musher0 »

Never mind, trapster! I managed it on my own with help from LinuxQuestions.org.

@all:
Please see here for a links-2.14
compiled for the 32-bit xenialPup with ssl capacity.

@steff99:
Care to try it?

@dancytron:
Thanks for the info.

BFN.
musher0
~~~~~~~~~~
"You want it darker? We kill the flame." (L. Cohen)

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Colonel Panic
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#7 Post by Colonel Panic »

If you want a lightweight browser, Dillo's worth a look as well. It comes as standard in both Puppy and AntiX;

https://www.dillo.org/

There's also Netsurf, which comes as standard in LinuxBBQ;

http://www.netsurf-browser.org/

and Midori, which is a sort of halfway house between the two browsers mentioned and the "full" browsers such as Chrome and Firefox;

http://midori-browser.org/

I agree about the bloat in Firefox and Chromium. As someone with an older computer now (2008) it's getting past a joke.

One thing you could try as well though is installing an add-on like No Script in Firefox, which stops all the adverts on a new web page from loading automatically; you can adjust the settings to say which scripts are going to be allowed to load and which aren't. Or (and this is more drastic) simply turn off Javascript in Firefox's Settings menu.
Gigabyte M68MT-52P motherboard, AMD Athlon II X4 630, 5.8 GB of DDR3 RAM and a 250 GB Hitachi hard drive running Ubuntu 16.04.6, MX-19.2, Peppermint 10, PCLinuxOS 20.02, LXLE 18.04.3, Pardus 19.2, exGENT 200119, Bionic Pup 8.0 and Xenial CE 7.5 XL.

musher0
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Location: Gatineau (Qc), Canada

#8 Post by musher0 »

Hello all.

To complement Colonel Panic's post above:

forum member Oscar Talks is offering versions of both Dillo and NetSurf for various
Puppies, .here.

BFN.
musher0
~~~~~~~~~~
"You want it darker? We kill the flame." (L. Cohen)

p310don
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Joined: Tue 19 May 2009, 23:11
Location: Brisbane, Australia

#9 Post by p310don »

As big, bad and bloated as the browsers are becoming, the site you visit affects things greatly.

Sites with a reputation for gathering your data, eg google sites & facebook struggle to load on my weakest PC, but more basic sites even netflix have virtually no problems.

This murga forum, with no tracking or ads, loads on pretty much any PC, in any browser.

watchdog
Posts: 2021
Joined: Fri 28 Sep 2012, 18:04
Location: Italy

#10 Post by watchdog »

Palemoon browser with JavaScript switch and noscript extension (plus PupAdvertBlocker) is worth a try...

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8Geee
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#11 Post by 8Geee »

I use FireFox 27 for most things in general, Youtube will work OK, but its not meant for social-websites like Facebook/Twitter. It takes about 1/2 the memory of a 'modern' browser, but is still secure and tidy.

FWIW, I'm running an Atom n270 with 2Gb memory.

I have a preconfigured version located here that is loaded, and runs in root. That makes removal easier, and there is no escalation of priviledge. There is also a text file with sum for download check.

Regards
8Geee
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
"Zuckerberg: a large city inhabited by mentally challenged people."

hamoudoudou

SSL what is that ?

#12 Post by hamoudoudou »

Dillo browses the beach, and the forum. Do you know that this forum is not secured and my browser ask exceptionnal permission ? I give it . Because i don't understand at all Questions in English, even in French. SSL what is that ?

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Colonel Panic
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#13 Post by Colonel Panic »

p310don wrote:As big, bad and bloated as the browsers are becoming, the site you visit affects things greatly.

Sites with a reputation for gathering your data, eg google sites & facebook struggle to load on my weakest PC, but more basic sites even netflix have virtually no problems.

This murga forum, with no tracking or ads, loads on pretty much any PC, in any browser.
I can confirm that. I almost never have any problems loading the murga forum in any browser or distro. It's honestly too bad that the Internet as a whole has taken the path it has; newspaper sites in particular, with tracking and ads as you say, are a nightmare to visit with an older computer.

I regularly get told in Firefox now that "this page is slowing down the browser. Would you like to close it?" No wonder add-ons such as No Script are so popular.
Gigabyte M68MT-52P motherboard, AMD Athlon II X4 630, 5.8 GB of DDR3 RAM and a 250 GB Hitachi hard drive running Ubuntu 16.04.6, MX-19.2, Peppermint 10, PCLinuxOS 20.02, LXLE 18.04.3, Pardus 19.2, exGENT 200119, Bionic Pup 8.0 and Xenial CE 7.5 XL.

musher0
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Location: Gatineau (Qc), Canada

#14 Post by musher0 »

Colonel Panic wrote:(...)
I regularly get told in Firefox now that "this page is slowing down the browser. Would you like to close it?" No wonder add-ons such as No Script are so popular.
Colonel Panic.

Your computer is infected by the "Stand-up Comic" virus!!! That sentence is a tell-tale sign. :lol:
Last edited by musher0 on Wed 14 Feb 2018, 09:03, edited 1 time in total.
musher0
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pp4mnklinux
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My vote goes to SLIMJET

#15 Post by pp4mnklinux »

You can find diferent versions at:


https://yadi.sk/d/fd8rBM0WoF9sB?force_show=1


(I'm using Versión 15.0.5.0 (basado en Chromium 59.0.3071.86)
Distro: xenialpup64 7.5 XXL
Desktop Panel: JWM ~ FbBox 5.0

wiak
Posts: 2040
Joined: Tue 11 Dec 2007, 05:12
Location: not Bulgaria

#16 Post by wiak »

p310don wrote:As big, bad and bloated as the browsers are becoming, the site you visit affects things greatly.

Sites with a reputation for gathering your data, eg google sites & facebook struggle to load on my weakest PC, but more basic sites even netflix have virtually no problems.

This murga forum, with no tracking or ads, loads on pretty much any PC, in any browser.
Yes, I agree with this. Certainly it would be nice to have a browser that uses less memory, but the main overloading issue seems to be a webpage complexity issue. Well written webpages remain fast and lean, but the most popular sites are data gathering and advertising monsters, whose processing really take a hit on system resources.

wiak

philtoutou
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu 08 Apr 2010, 17:03

lightweight browser in puppy

#17 Post by philtoutou »

Hello
to answer to steff99
I suggest testing Dillo but in text mode ( not in console )
an another one with vivaldi than I used on pi3 for 2 months in order to get rid of slowing pages
You’ll find easily their home site in Scandinavia
https://help.vivaldi.com/

I try to get memory usage : about vivaldi 300Mo

hamoudoudou

Midori is Lightweight

#18 Post by hamoudoudou »

Midori is Lightweight
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lmemsm
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#19 Post by lmemsm »

The lightest webkit browsers I've been able to find are netrider ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/netrider/ ) which is used by NanoLinux and fifth ( http://fifth-browser.sourceforge.net/features.html) which is available as a package for TinyCore. They're both webkit based, so they handle JavaScript and several other modern browser features.

I noticed several mentions of Dillo in the thread. I personally like D+ ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/dplus-browser/ ). It's no longer actively developed, but it's a highly portable fork of Dillo. I thought the code was pretty cleanly handled and didn't find it too hard to add new features. It does have https support using openssl and another library option. However, the license doesn't have an exception for libressl and I'm planning on making the switch to it. Was considering looking into how hard it would be to support bearssl as an option. One drawback of D+ and Dillo is no JavaScript support. Also, last I checked, CSS support was limited.

By the way, if you don't want to run the browsers from within X Windows, FLTK based applications can be built with nano-x and run in framebuffer mode (which is what NanoLinux does).

musher0
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Location: Gatineau (Qc), Canada

#20 Post by musher0 »

Hello all.

If you're in "desperate need for a light-weight browser", as the title of
this thread says, hearing that the good people at Twibright-Labs have
released v. 2.19 of their dual console and graphics Links browser may
come as music to your ears. http://links.twibright.com/

BFN.
musher0
~~~~~~~~~~
"You want it darker? We kill the flame." (L. Cohen)

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