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Author Topic: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?  (Read 20716 times)

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Offline NinjaCyborgTopic starter

I work with a team of professional webkit porting experts. Wondering if there's any interest in raising a fund to pay for them to port WebKit to OS4 (OS3 is probably a stretch even on a vampire, partly because of RAM requirements and partly because Cairo lib and some others are not available)
 

Offline Skateman

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Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2018, 08:16:10 PM »
I would love to fund a browser that would support the G Suite apps like Drive, Docs Mail etc..  It would solve a lot of the productivity issues.
PS Odyssey webbrowser is based on r155188 WebKit (October 2013)

« Last Edit: November 13, 2018, 08:23:13 PM by Skateman »
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Offline slygon

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Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2018, 09:17:14 PM »
Yes,

I would absolutely help fund that.

-Slygon
 

Offline Everblue

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Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2018, 09:17:56 PM »
This would be great but I think the biggest problem is not the port itself but keeping it up-to-date.
 

Offline NinjaCyborgTopic starter

Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2018, 10:11:11 PM »
I agree ongoing updates is a problem. However, unlike in 2013 or 2010 or previous, web technologies have stabilised and matured - HTML5, CSS3, ECMAScript 6, websockets, webgl and so on. So, a good port now should last a long time even if it didn't get regular support. Also the guys I work with maintain official webkit ports for a major embedded platform so hopefully that work could sustain ongoing updates.
 

Offline Skateman

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Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2018, 10:13:07 PM »
Could this be helpful?

https://sourceforge.net/projects/leopard-webkit/

Updated recently..
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Offline Everblue

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Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2018, 10:13:29 PM »
Cool. And how much do you reckon they would be asking for?
 

Offline Steady

Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2018, 11:09:27 PM »
I'd be up for helping fund that.
 

Offline gregthecanuck

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Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2018, 03:03:45 AM »
Would be cool to see it happen. I would support it. However, past experience with the Firefox port may make some users rather wary.

The trick is having the fortitude to see the project through to the 'end' (whatever that is) and not get stuck at the 80% complete stage when things get hard with dependencies, UI, endianness, etc...

Would the plan be to have the changes go back upstream or would this end up as a permanent extra port? I presume it would end up on github or some other public git repository?

Cheers!


 

Offline Hans_

Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #9 on: November 14, 2018, 06:00:07 AM »
I work with a team of professional webkit porting experts. Wondering if there's any interest in raising a fund to pay for them to port WebKit to OS4 (OS3 is probably a stretch even on a vampire, partly because of RAM requirements and partly because Cairo lib and some others are not available)
How many on the team are familiar with AmigaOS APIs? IIRC, someone familiar with LibreOffice was given an AmigaOS machine, with the task to port to AmigaOS. However, he wasn't familiar with AmigaOS APIs, and he never completed the port.

Funding a big WebKit update would be great. Just be aware that the project will have a much higher chance of success if those doing the work are familiar with AmigaOS APIs. That way they know what they're getting themselves into...

Hans
http://hdrlab.org.nz/ - Amiga OS 4 projects, programming articles and more. Home of the RadeonHD driver for Amiga OS 4.x project.
 

Offline NinjaCyborgTopic starter

Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #10 on: November 16, 2018, 01:39:22 PM »
Hi all I wanted to accumulate a few replies before replying.

  • Budget would likely need to be high 5 figures, realistically
  • Skillset - this team is very, very good and there is Amiga (and even 68k assembler) knowledge, albeit not up to date
  • JIT - their other versions don't use JIT, there isn't a good Big endian JIT implementation to lean on
  • Yes it would remain open source, unlikely that it would be accepted back into upstream though
  • UI - here's a thought, what about using the existing AWeb UI but replacing it's rendering engine and JS library?
  • A Patreon model would work better than a bounty or kickstarter
 

Offline kreciu

Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2018, 03:51:19 PM »
It would be great, but before seeing their CV/resume/work experience etc. I would not give a dime to anybody :), especially 5 figures.
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Offline NinjaCyborgTopic starter

Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #12 on: November 16, 2018, 04:04:01 PM »
Obviously, if we're going to do it we'd publish a 'prospectus' of why the team is credible and do some initial work to prove it.
 

Offline wawrzon

Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #13 on: November 16, 2018, 04:31:32 PM »
why to use most outdated and cumbersome ui such a as aweb if there are much more advanced and up to date front ends? such as odyssey, aros owb, netsuf mui gui on aminet might be possible to adapt or be used as reference.

also, why not simply help with updating odyssey to latest webkit engine. what might not be a trivial task, considering apparent endiannes issues becoming more problematic in later versions.

having mui frontend would made the source potable between all amiga(like) platforms: amiga, os4, orphos and aros (all flavours).
 

Offline Kronos

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Re: Any interest in a crowdfunding for a WebKit based browser for OS4?
« Reply #14 on: November 16, 2018, 05:22:26 PM »
I see a few possibilities here:

a) NinjaCyborg is just trolling for lulz

b) he hasn't done his homework in terms of what is available already, what would be needed and what wanted

c) he has done his homework and came to the conclusion that the crowd around here is gullible enough and rife for another picking
1. Make an announcment.
2. Wait a while.
3. Check if it can actually be done.
4. Wait for someone else to do it.
5. Start working on it while giving out hillarious progress-reports.
6. Deny that you have ever announced it
7. Blame someone else