NetSurf OS3.x Issues

[chris]

I just realised that NetSurf would not run on Workbench 3.1... Is 3.5 the minimum? Is that a strict requirement? (For example, could I hope to make it run on my 3.1 if I copy some of the 3.5 libraries?)

3.5 is the minimum - it needs all the Reaction classes and newer icon.library, picture.datatype.

[chris]

Tested, it seems to disable png images? Somebody else should test this also. Even in startup page has a png image, if it is trashed problem is with all AGA users. I tested it without FBLit didn't help.

Which version of datatypes.library do you have?  And picture.datatype whilst you're checking version numbers?

Bad that speed is degraded so much from summer version.

I doubt I can do much about this unless you can point to some glaring error I've introduced several months ago.  I have no idea what state the bitmap code was in in that build, I only tried it here in a new build but I know I had been changing the bitmap code inbetween.  Probably there was some quick hacky code I'd put in for testing and replacing it with a working implementation has slowed it down.  Also note that fonts aren't being cached, there are so many different parameters for each open request that I'm not sure how to keep track of them... or if it is even neccessary.

Am I right but time calculator is now in bottom of Windows and it is "displayed" outside of window, so that it is not visible?

It should be in the window border but border gadgets appear to be completely broken in OS3.  I've added a non-border status bar in the new build (usual place).

Could it be possible / easy to make so that quitting is fast any time? If Netsurf is doing somethin, it doesn't allow quiting, it can take minits before it quits.

It's single tasking, so if busy you have to wait.

There a still some display / rendering problems, like amigaworld menus.

Yes there are, exactly the same amount as in the early builds, as I've made no attempt to fix them.
The bitmap font layouting is slightly broken too.

[chris]

OK, I think the image problem (and the aw.net menu bar corruption) is related to the tiled rendering, and caused by the same bug which causes the previous page to show through on the amiga.org homepage.

I don't know how to fix this though.

You can turn off tiled rendering by setting the tile sizes to the same as your screen size (or 0, possibly).

btw, I'm pissing about with this on an (emulated at real speed) 020/AGA and it's perfectly usable.  It's only the fetching/processing speed that is annoyingly slow.

[chris]

Downloading amigaworld.net takes 45.4 seconds (22 seconds) and surpricingly my 040 amiga does it same time 45.9 seconds.

I can log on to the amigaworld.net, but it takes about a 5 minits.

Shows up in 15s here (using NetSurf's timer).  It logged in quick, and then infylooped during layout (bitmap font layout bug).  5 mins would probably be because of a timeout.

 Also after that there is starange screen corruption. See attached picture. Nothing like this hasn't happened before with this version.

That's the same plotter bug again.

Is it possible to make it stop, at least downloading page?? After that Quit would be fast?

Acting on the close gadget click already happens as fast as it can.  If it is doing heavy layout work it doesn't necessarily yield to the GUI very quickly.  All the layouting, downloading and GUI events happen on the same process.  Most people don't decide to quit a web browser whilst it is still downloading the last page they requested!

My datatypes.library is 44.47

And picture.datatype?  You're using OS3.9, right?  That at least explains why the datatypes loader doesn't work.

Maybe you could fix preferences?

Yes, that should be relatively easy but time-consuming as I'll need to go through and figure out what it doesn't like by trial and error.

Note also, that you are best to say what to put users/choises file

The defaults should be sensible now.

[chris]

I concur with the bug about it freezing up now, however.  As a test I left it sitting at one page for about an hour while I went off and did other things, and when I came back to it it was completely frozen.  Wouldn't exit, wouldn't refresh, etc.  The system was still operational, I could load other programs, but no sign of life from NetSurf.  Had to give it the three-finger-salute to shut it down.

Yeah, that's the infinite loop layout bug.  I hate that code so much I'm not keen on fiddling with it.

Another probably obvious question for Chris - since this is built off NetSurf source, there's no possibility of you ever going commercial with it, is there?

No.

[chris]

Picture.datatype is 45.17

Ta.  So the bitmap scaling should be working correctly (not that I've noticed any problems with v44), it's just the datatypes linking up that won't work.  I should be able to work around that, but it's not a priority as I don't think it'll solve anything.

Reinstalled Netsurf and noticed that it is slow, amigaworld render took 80 seconds. I made changes to choises file, it was fast again.

My choises file is :

theme:PROGDIR:Resources/Themes/Default
pubscreen_name:Workbench
window_simple_refresh:1
redraw_tile_size_x:100
redraw_tile_size_y:100
use_diskfont:1
font_sans:Topaz
font_serif:Topaz
font_mono:Topaz
font_cursive:Topaz
font_fantasy:Topaz

That can only be down to your choice of fonts; Topaz is always going to be faster for a number of reasons.  The rest there are defaults (actually the top two are added by the install script).

You can see your running config by visiting about:config

Should friend_bitmap be ON or OFF? 0/1 or totally removed from choises file?

Whatever works best.  1 is the default.  If that works, I'd leave it like that as it could makes blits faster.

How do I do this : You can turn off tiled rendering by setting the tile sizes to the same as your screen size (or 0, possibly).

redraw_tile_size_x:0
redraw_tile_size_y:0

0 will either turn it off or make NetSurf crash.  Please let me know which!

I checked Chris' home page, there is no donate button.

Actually there is, although it took me a while to find it.

[chris]

Tile size y/x 0/0 doesn't work it has miniums and maximum size.

Set them to your screen size then.  There's definitely no maximum (or at least, the maximum isn't any smaller than the screen)

But I noticed that from menu Browser - > Images and disable background images, solves prety much every display problem. Even Amiga.org looks about right. Menu text are readable etc. nothing is in wrong place etc. Even logging to amigaworld.net doeasn't take more than 87 seconds, or is this just a coinside?. Hope this helps.

No, probably not.  A lot of the background images are repeated tiles - on OS4 I use layers.library's backfill functions to tile plot very efficiently.  On OS3 I can't do that, so it's probably my old slow (and seemingly broken) code.  That would certainly explain some of the performance problems.  I don't know why it fixes the rendering, but that's interesting useful information, thanks.

There is no config under the about, there is a credits and license.

I mean, browse directly to "about:config"

You have hidden that donate button very well in your home page.

It's only there because some people were asking, and it's on the most relevant page!
If you donate then it's for work already done, not future progress.  But, actually, the feedback is more motivating and useful than donations.

[chris]

Would use of Thomas Richter's back port of OS4 layers.library help and make things significantly easier?

Possibly - I didn't know such a thing existed.

I've just uplaoded a new version with some of the text layout problems fixed.  It's still broken (missing text on the welcome page!) but shouldn't go into an infinite loop any more.

[chris]

I think this is the one he's referring to.  Long thread about it here:  http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=67649

And download here:  http://aminet.net/package/util/sys/layers

Interesting.  I've had a look at it, and at my code, and... it appears I only use one OS4 function, which is avoidable.  I've ported it over to OS3, and the annoying layout problems have gone!  Hurray!

Is http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk/index.php?pg=netsurf  is the best place to download your latest builds?  Thanks!

Yes, although it only points to the same place as the other link I've been giving out.

New version there now with the layers-based tile plotter.

[chris]

If you check about:config, there are a couple of lines which don't add up:

PROGDIR:Users//FontGlyphCache
PROGDIR:Users//Cookies
PROGDIR:Users//URLdb
PROGDIR:Users//Hotlist

This would mean these files are in progdir: instead of 'users'.

There should be a "Default" or some other value between those two slashes.  Does GETENV USER return anything?

[chris]

Setting user to 'default' works now.
Still some (most ?) of the options aren't working/loaded yet I guess.
For example: homepage_url works, but enable_javascript doesn't.

JS isn't compiled in, because GCC optimisation issues I can't fix.

[chris]

That was just an example. Netsurf should still be able to read the option and show it in about:config. Same with block_advertisements & do_not_track (and others ?).

Yes, it should, but the Javascript option is forced off if it isn't compiled in.

block_ads and dnt should be read, are you sure they're not?

Still have to find out what caused the crash when reading fonts the first time though (changed all the fonts with another set).

I know the outline font scanner was crashing on OS3 at one point, but that isn't even called when bitmap (diskfont) fonts are set to be used.

[chris]

Found AGA only problem. No problems with text with previous build and no problems with amiga.org at least with fast test. PNG problem is still on with AGA.

[edit] Seems that AGA has problems with also a gif pictures

There are no problems with AGA here.  Try switching friend_bitmap off.

Note the black corruption nonsense on aw.net is because that site insists on overlaying everything with a graphic that has alpha transparency.  On OS3 I convert this to a mask at the 50% point.  You can change this with mask_alpha in Choices (takes a value between 0 and 100)

[chris]

And the font handling, hmmmm. Seems to only like/put 1 font at the time in the cache file.

0x0020 "CGTriumvirate"
0x0021 "CGTriumvirate"
0x0022 "CGTriumvirate"

or

0x0020 "LetterGothic"
0x0021 "LetterGothic"
0x0022 "LetterGothic"
0x0023 "LetterGothic"

That's correct.  This isn't really a cache file per se, but a fallback lookup table.  The CG fonts don't have a very diverse range of glyphs, so the first font scanned is pretty much all you'll see.

You will only get this file if you have switched off using diskfont - use_diskfont:0
The default for OS3 is use_diskfont:1 (if you're using the latest version).

If that isn't setting itself for some reason please tell me.

[chris]

Downloaded latest version, there seems to be problems again with layout? Amiga.org looks like it looked some versions ago.

I'm getting some weirdness with the bitmap font layout here, it isn't doing what it's supposed to and I don't know why.  It is at least consistent on OS4, but on OS3 how it lays out the welcome page changes every time I run it.  I suspect an uninitialised variable is getting used, but GCC warns about those and it hasn't picked anything up.

Seems that it does kill my Network, need to quit and start genesis to get online again. It doesn't happen so often with 060/RTG, but lefting netsurf open for a some time kills a Network with both Computers.  Goining offline and back online doesn't help, need to quit and start again.

Almost certainly memory trashing.  If you can find it (with Enforcer or something) let me know where it is.  Might need Matthey's disassebling skills.

Tested some fonts and noticed that using Xen font keeps all tekst readable. Topaz has some problem when scaled to small.

No bitmap fonts scale particularly well.

I've put a new version up, but there's not much change.  I've changed the way it calls the font code which might speed it up a tiny bit, but really I want to get to the bottom of those layout problems.  It's something in http://git.netsurf-browser.org/netsurf.git/tree/amiga/font_diskfont.c if anybody wants to look at it.

[chris]

Current version doesn't display fonts at all, but you propably know that already.

edit 3 (deleted previous versions of this post!)
Should be fixed now, found the bug that was causing inconsistent layout and font sizes (and in some cases no text at all).