Mozilla Heading to Mobiles 206
mu22le writes "CNET News.com has an interview with Doug Turner, the project leader of Minimo, the version of Mozilla for small devices. The article (also commented upon at mozillazine) roams from the challenges a small devices browser presents to the competition with Opera for Mobile. Brace yourself for the forthcoming Minimo 0.3, due in January."
Eventual PPC port? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Eventual PPC port? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Eventual PPC port? (Score:3, Insightful)
In theory porting a Win32 app to CE should be fairly straightforward since much of the API is similar. In theory. But in practice anyone faced with porting Moz to CE would probably ground down by hundreds of little issues - porting NSPR, libjpg, libpng etc and other dependent libs first, flags and APIs
Re:Eventual PPC port? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Eventual PPC port? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Eventual PPC port? (Score:5, Informative)
Mobile Opera is tiny (like 200k!!) and super-efficient, but only runs on smartphones right now.
It looks like we have a chance of seeing Opera on the iPaq sooner than Minimo, even though Opera too doesn't care much for Pocket PC.
In the meantime, try NetFront 3.1 - it's sweet. But it doesn't work on 2003SE in landscape mode.
Re:Eventual PPC port? (Score:2)
Off the subject a little bit, but.... I really like the form factor of my h4355, bluetooth and wireless together are very handy, but being stuck in PPC hell is kind of annoying. I though this model witht he keyboard, and connectivity would be a system admins dream.
But no Linux (yet) and the lack of an escape key, limit the usefulness. Plus I'd like a free application to rotate the
Palm in the future? (Score:3, Interesting)
This is my first Palm, and to get it to do the really interesting things you have to spend 29.95 on this application, 39.95 on that, etc. After spending as much money on a Smartphone, I am hesitant to shell out more money for expensive applications. Heck, I am unwillingly. (Lets not mention bluetooth accessories)
The CNET interview makes it sound like the Minimo team knows how to make a worthwhile portable browser that I would immediately jump to. Shrinking the unimportant images, zooming in and out quickly on a page, and providing better support for Javascript and frames can only be steps in the right direction for small browsers.
I didn't see Palm mentioned in the article, so its only a hope. If this wouldn't work on Palm based devices, I wonder if Palms latest linux initiative rumblings would eventually lead to compatibility down the road? Tabbed browsing on the crisp 650 display would be nice.
I'd use it if... (Score:5, Informative)
My cellphone, my pda, hell probably my digital camera can probably get on the Internet. But if you think I'm browsing webpages on that kind of screen your nuts.
My hats off Doug Turner and to the guys programming Minimo but I just don't browse the web on my micro devices. I use them for their other features.
Re:I'd use it if... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I'd use it if... (Score:2)
I browse the web with OmniWeb (and sometimes Opera) on my Zaurus (C750) - the screen is more than enough to handle something like the mobile version of Slashdot, as long as you block the flash ads (which are 20-30x the size of the content).
It's great since it talks to the bluetooth cell phone in my bag and the batteries are good for over two hours each way
Re:I'd use it if... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'd use it if... (Score:2)
Re:I'd use it if... (Score:2)
Whoa buddy! No-one's screening my nuts.
Ummm... (Score:4, Informative)
Man that seems like a pretty heavy memory requirement.
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
though, the most important feature on the series60 opera for one example is the small screen rendering mode - which does a pretty good job of displaying info from fullblown websites.
Re:Ummm... (Score:4, Informative)
PDAs tend to come in 16,32,64, and the occasional 128MB models.
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
My Palm 1000 has 128K of ram.
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Palm_Pilot_1000__5378332 [ciao.co.uk]
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
I guess the old saying that programs will expand to fill the available RAM, CPU speed and or bandwidth is true. But..... Look at Google. Do we need that much eyecandy to get work done?
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
besides.. one would be able to use fucking internet explorer for desktop windows with those memory amounts i suppose.
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
Not there yet (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not there yet (Score:2)
I still need to install Opera on my Nokia 3660. The small-screen rendering features I've heard mentioned in this discusion make it all the more tempting.
a light browser (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:a light browser (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:a light browser (Score:3, Informative)
Re:a light browser (Score:2, Informative)
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
5146 mpalczew 15 0 135m 57m 35m S 7.6 13.2 7:45.43 firefox-bin
3016 mpalczew 15 0 126m 41m 32m S 0.0 9.4 0:17.09 mozilla-thunder
Re:a light browser (Score:2)
Re:a light browser (Score:2)
Dillo? (Score:2)
Straight from their page:
# Dillo is small: source is less than 400 KB, and the binary is around 350 KB !
# Dillo aims to be a multi-platform browser alternative that's small, stable, developer-friendly, usable, fast, and extensible.
I don't do much coding, but wouldn't it be trivial to take such a small code base and use it for the phone or pda? They have it available for the iPaq here [dillo.org] It looks l
Re:Dillo? (Score:2)
Graphics are not a priority. Anyone knows if w3m under emacs works ok with Unicode? 8)
Re:Dillo? (Score:2)
Minimo is fine and good, but how about "Tweety?" (Score:5, Insightful)
HotSync is the killer app (Score:2)
I think HotSync is arguably the killer app of the palmtop. I program for a living, but do I back up my data properly? Are you kidding? (Um, is my boss reading? n/p, she doesn't back up either)
But my Palm Pilot gets backed up daily, sometimes several times a day, because all I have to do is set it i
If you want to compile Mozilla... (Score:2)
I'm working on a small "embed Mozilla in a GTK window" project, and some helpful fellow on IRC suggested this configuration.
Incidentally, if you're doing something like that, be sure to check into gtkmozembed. It encapsulates all the XPCOM stuff, so all you have to do is include it and do a:
banner ads (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:banner ads (Score:3, Interesting)
Opera has a proxy service [opera.com] that resizes images and stuff to make web pages on mobile devices faster to download.
When you buy Opera (at least for a Series60 Nokia phone) you get a 90 trial. It is well worth subscribing to.
Re:banner ads (Score:2)
Re:banner ads (Score:2)
You could set up a proxy on your computer and set it up to resize images and block known ad hosts (can squid be programmed to do stuff like this? It couldn't be too hard to customize a proxy to resize all images...). It would work with Opera (since you can set the proxy) but I don't think it would work with the Sidekick (stupid closed platform).
Re:banner ads (Score:2)
I recently picked up a Zaurus SL-C3000 and was using it for web browsing on a trip last week, and I totally agree with your point about the pain of rendering ad-heavy sites. I don't know if this is an option for the SideKick, but I found that the Privoxy [privoxy.org] proxy would compile and run fine on the Zaurus, and helped with gettin
Will it work on cell phones? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Will it work on cell phones? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Will it work on cell phones? (Score:2)
Easier done than said... (Score:3, Funny)
I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:4, Funny)
How long before all the geeks are using Minimo and proclaiming firefox as bloatware?
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
client-side scripting, layers, and a bunch of other crap that turned HTML from a markup language useful for conveying content to a layout language useful for conveying ads.
Seriously, there's nothing on Slashdot, or Amazon, or my online bank, or ESPN, or Google, or any other site I visit that couldn't be well served by the HTML of that era in a tenth of the memory footprint if Web developers were interested in
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
Layers are dead or should be they were replaced with CCS. But the layer concept is used to place text over a picture. So you can have a diagram and you can change the text for language on it.
What a this does is prevents having to download tons of graphics in your page. Yes they can be over done, used for adds. But when used when it is the right job. They improve the experience in the page
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
I recall several months (possibly a couple years) back in Zaurus dev newsgroup a thread about porting Mozilla to the Qtopia/ARM platform and it was determined that it just simply couldn't be done and maintain efficie
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
Hell, anyone who uses IE knows that firefox is bloatware. 48 megs on my system, to keep 4 tabs open.
4 open IE windows takes 27 megs. That's only slightly over half as much memory to do the same job.
Firefox has a long way to go.
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
It also has to do with firefox's cross platform XUL interface, IE has a much lighter interface that just calls OS functions, firefox can't do this so easily as it would become far less portable..
Also, firefox has a far more complete rendering engine, including proper support for png and much better css/css2 support, support for these extra features obviously require additional code, compare the size of a really o
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
No, actually that's not true. While I'll grant that this argument works in favour of why IE seems to start so much faster than Moz-based browsers do, if anything, this probably reduces the amount of memory that IE is using, as those 'part of the OS' bits are probably shared with other processes than "iexplore.exe" ones -- with the result that the actual increase in memory usage from having IE running compared
Re:I thought Firefox was Streamlined (Score:2)
It's NOT streamlined. It's barely even in beta! Why this article is here is totally beyond me.
Try running firefox in 32Mb and see how far you get. How streamlined it is depends where it came from, as much as where it is going...
Dandy, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Come on folks, it was built into Netscape 4.7, why is it so hard to build it into Firefox and the Suite?
Re:Dandy, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
I use open source software where I feel it's the right tool for the job, I do not (can not) code. The bottom line is, as the developers' "customer" it is their job to make the software usable for their customers.
Re:Dandy, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
You presume that most people using Open Source application $X are also skilled enough programmers that they could implement any desired missing features themselves, given the inclination. That has the mark of a self-fulfilling prophecy to me -- if non-developers are made to feel unwelcome, then only developers will bother using Open Source projects.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, ask those who can nicely to consider adding the features you want for you. If you can prove your idea is good, someone will be willing to help.
Small Browser Content (Score:2, Interesting)
Sites with scheduling content (movie times, game schedules etc.) would be ideal, but there's not enough of that out there to drive the popularity of these browsers up yet.
I'm sure the day will come though...
Got to feel sorry for the guys at Opera (Score:3, Interesting)
So, whilst I am looking forward to seeing what Moilla can do, I wish the Opera guys all the best and hope that the money they made in the mobile market lets them develop something spectacular to keep them going until the commodity stuff catches up again
*Do you see any lawsuits? Threats? Whining? Almost unbelievable in this day and age.
Re:Got to feel sorry for the guys at Opera (Score:2)
Very cool.
It's a race to the bottom (Score:3, Insightful)
After since these Mozilla folks can give it away for free, why shouldn't the Opera folks? It doesn't matter that the pay
Re:It's a race to the bottom (Score:2)
Re:It's a race to the bottom (Score:2)
OSS is a race to devalue the non-innovative end of the software market and to create a free platform for developers and users alike. The faster that ordinary software is commoditized, the faster the industry will move away from wheel re-inventing to actually improving the state of the art. Proprietary software has been a shackle on true progress for the last 25 years thanks to M$ and friends. That's not
Re:It's a race to the bottom (Score:2)
This is nonsense. It is the desktop version of Opera which spearheads new technologies, that in turn find their way to mobiles.
Opera is actively developing desktop software. In fact, there are long public beta tests/technology previews with new functionality and lots of fixes. Currently, the latest version is 7.60, and it is available for the desktop.
Re:It's a race to the bottom (Score:2)
Atleast if an opensource product becomes dominant, there will still be some incentive for new features, since oss software is written by and for users, those users who desire new features and are capable of writing
Re:It's a race to the BUTTON (Score:2)
Misconceptions about Opera on Slashdot. (Score:2)
Don't tell me you were taken in by the Slashdot FUD about Opera's quarterly results [slashdot.org]?
Opera's bigger than ever on the desktop, and that's a fact. It's never been a major player on the destkop at all, but right now, the PC revenues are higher than they've ever been. So what you are saying about getting "their market on the desktop eaten" is simply not true. How can they get a market eaten if
That doesn't sound right at all (Score:2)
The 7 series has had significant development and innovation over it's lifetime and continues to do so.
Opera already _is_ a small and efficient browser despite having a mail/news and irc client built in. If you don't want to use those clients they just keep out of your way.
Many of the changes in the current 7.6 beta are specifically to make it more attractive and easy to understand for new customers.
Re:That doesn't sound right at all (Score:2)
A mass misinformation campaign happened which I am not aware of?
Note I don't like Mozilla or Firefox or the concept of opensource at all but I don't post "Mozilla is dead" stuff.
Reading all those awfully misinformed posts, I am really amazed and couldn't resist not to post.
Opera comes with ALL Nokia phones as "web browser" or "www", Nokia licensed it. For open source fanatics hating Opera being "closed source", FYI Opera is one of the la
Minimo! (Score:4, Funny)
Late? (Score:2)
Anyway, their site says "The primary focus of Minimo to date has been system with ~32-64 MB of RAM, running Linux and using the GTK toolkit". Think that the latest Nokia based on Symbian OS 8.0 comes with only 7MB available, and most Pocket PC come with 64MB (sometimes only 50MB available after all loaded). This browser needs to be at most 5MB to be usable. Try using Access Netf
Re:Late? (Score:2)
Model; amount of SDRAM; amount of ROM
221; 64 MB; 0 MB
1710; 32 MB; 32 MB
3715; 64 MB; 128 MB
2750; 128 MB; 128 MB
2410; 64 MB; 64 MB
2110; 64 MB; 64 MB
They are all inside or above the specs mentioned in Minimo project page, and just one has less than 64 MB of memory.
minimo, (Score:2)
*ducks!*
But seriously folks, you'd probably do better to start with links, w3m, arachne, dillo, Contiki [www.sics.se], HyperLink [armory.com], The Wave [videocam.net.au] -- any codebase that was designed to be relatively lightweight from the start. Or, especially in the case of the last three, probably just write a new one.
Now on my desktop, I use konqueror because it's snappy; of course the mobile device game is totally different, but I'd expect that people would want some of the same things--notably, a responsive, un-bloated
Surely we can reach small devices. (Score:2)
I mean, if Mozilla can be ported to the Amiga [mozillazine.org], surely I can run it on my shiny new Treo 650. :)
Minimo? (Score:2)
VGA PPCs (Score:3, Informative)
Define port (Score:2, Interesting)
Opera has been ported to Linux, cell phones, PDAs and embedded devices. What platform is he refering to when he says Opera can't be ported to it?
Re:Define port (Score:2)
mostly the ones that don't yet exist. Like UNIX for iPaq, and Mobile BeOS, and the Duke Nukem Forever Desktop.
CSS for handhelds (Score:2, Interesting)
compare to Konqi (Score:2)
Makes little sense with Dillo around. (Score:2)
I dont want to pay $500 for a pda when something like this could run on a $100 one.
http://www.dillo.org/
I like mozilla but its not the right platform for all problems. Just try it on your desktop and you will see what I mean.
Cool, maybe it will run well on my old libretto (Score:2)
Lightweight browser on the desktop (Score:2)
If, however, I decide I want to open a browser to do som
Re:How long before Opera starts enforcing patents? (Score:2)
Re:Opera gestures (Score:2)
Also, the gestures are a plugin to FireFox. So anyone could distribute them separately.
OT to this thread, is 32MB required really minimal enough for a device? Sounds like it might barely run on my old PC
Re:How long before Opera starts enforcing patents? (Score:4, Funny)
You, sir, are an ass monkey.
Why? (Score:2)
Cheering on?! (Score:2)
Re:How long before Opera starts enforcing patents? (Score:2)
Re:How long before Opera starts enforcing patents? (Score:2, Informative)
Mod this guy up (Score:2)
Re:Why Mozilla will fail. (Score:2)
Re:Why Mozilla will fail. (Score:2)
there's this little cage for you called "OS/X" ... whose default browser is Internet Explorer.
You're probably trolling but did you mean MacOS X? If so the default browser has been Safari for some time. Also, I think you underestimate the world's dislike of America right now. IE will die in the next 10 years if only because it comes from an American company.
Why am I feeding a Troll? (Score:2)
The first thing I did with my "cage" of an OS is install Firefox and Tbird, though I still use Safari from time to time for a change.
On my Windows Box I use Firefox only, with TBird and Gmail for email. Sure IE came bundled with it, but that doesn't actually mean anything except Microsoft p
Not many (Score:3, Insightful)
Netfront is also used as the engine behind the browser supplied with Palm OS.
To summarize parent, (Score:4, Insightful)