Amiga web surfing woes

[mbob]

I put my Amiga online tonight with an EasyNet wireless card from amikit and installed IBrowse.  I had installation issues all over but I eventually got it to work.  Having never surfed from an Amiga before, now I can see why lol.  It was slow and poorly formated.  It's a shame Netscape never ported a version back in the old days...  
 
Is an Amiga 1200 with Falcon 040 25mhz really that much slower at processing or is this just a poor browser?  I only have 16MB RAM so that has to be part of it.

[Rebel-CD32]

The web has changed a lot since the early 2000s when IBrowse was still being developed. Since it doesn't support CSS, most modern websites won't display properly, but you can at least use the proxy to browse Amiga.org at http://aoproxy.extropia.co.uk/

If you have a PC connected to the net as well, you could always use TwinVNC to connect to it and browse the web with your favourite PC browser on an Amiga screen or window.

[save2600]

Nah, 16MB should be plenty. I bet the cache settings in your iBrowse config don't even come close to filling that up. Surfing the 'net on the Amiga must have been something else in the mid to late 90's Early 2000's maybe, but...

When I had an 060 and graphic card in my A2000 a couple of years ago, certain sites that weren't all junked up yet with modern languages and flashy crap displayed properly and were fast as hell. In some cases, even faster than my 2.1ghz G5! Couldn't say the same using just AGA on a 50mhz 030 equipped 1200 though.

This is just my strong opinion, but since the Internet has been ruined by the mainstream in all its ADD, social and  commercial "glory", be nice if old-style BBS's made a comeback for those of us that can't tolerate all the stupidity and the incessant "upgrading" going on most of the social sites that render even modern computers and browsers sluggish and buggy. Some call that "progress" and I guess they're right. The more the internet changes for the worse, the more compelled I am to find something else to do with my time.  

[mbob]

Cool thanks, that twinvnc will be handy for other things too.  

Its shocking how much tech has changed. I'm typing this on my phone which has a great browser

[fishy_fiz]

Unfortunately your best options are probably to use Netscape or iCab through a mac emulator. Neither are perfect in todays world either, but provide better rendering than IBrowse/AWeb/Voyager.

There's also a version of Netsurf for 68k, but it requires a gfx card and an '060 to be anything approaching usable (and it lacks javascript).
In addition to that there's also OWB, but it also requires a gfx card, and a heck of a lot more processing power (only really suitable for emulated systems). It's quite immature and raw as well, but it has saved my butt a few times on my amithlon box.

[MelbourneBen]

This is just my strong opinion, but since the Internet has been ruined by the mainstream in all its ADD, social and  commercial "glory", be nice if old-style BBS's made a comeback for those of us that can't tolerate all the stupidity and the incessant "upgrading" going on most of the social sites that render even modern computers and browsers sluggish and buggy. Some call that "progress" and I guess they're right. The more the internet changes for the worse, the more compelled I am to find something else to do with my time.  

Agree, it would be great to see Amiga.org have an Amiga friendly version i.e. no graphics just a plan web based BB. EAB have a mobile version of their site which looks great in Ibrowse its just a shame you can only view posts rather than login and reply.

I've been thinking of setting up a traditional BB for some time but I dont see me having the time for a while... what with work and decorating the house ready for the Melbournesben's first child ;-)

If someone wants to take the lead and set something up, I may be able to offer some of my time/skills.

[Rebel-CD32]

Amiga.org displays perfectly in IBrowse through the proxy http://aoproxy.extropia.co.uk
Far better than the mobile version of EAB, and it's completely usable. In fact the regular version of EAB, without any tricks, subdomains or proxies, works better than the mobile version does in IBrowse! Don't pay attention to the recycled swill the users on EAB love impulse-post without having actually used a real Amiga with IBrowse to test it. I don't know who started the whole "mobile version of EAB works better in IBrowse" nonsense but the regular version of the forum works fine, you can log in and post, images and avatars are displayed and the whole thing is formatted better than the compact and confusing mobile version. Take it from someone who never stopped using Amigas, not these Windows lovers on EAB who pretend to know what they're talking about because they read and repeated someone else's uninformed opinion.

[utri007]

Only possibilyt to get semi modern web browser wich is actually usable with classic amiga is Netsurf.

It has proven to work with 030 eqvalent ARM CPU with 16mb ram. Thoug 16mb IS problem, most of web pages are just too big for it.

I really wish that somebody could port it to 68k. There is SDL version wich is actually more like proof of concept than usable practigal solution.

1. Chris has made OS4 version so that backporting should be easy
2. All depencies has already ported to 68k by Arthut/Bern

[MelbourneBen]

Amiga.org displays perfectly in IBrowse through the proxy http://aoproxy.extropia.co.uk
Far better than the mobile version of EAB, and it's completely usable. In fact the regular version of EAB, without any tricks, subdomains or proxies, works better than the mobile version does in IBrowse! Don't pay attention to the recycled swill the users on EAB love impulse-post without having actually used a real Amiga with IBrowse to test it. I don't know who started the whole "mobile version of EAB works better in IBrowse" nonsense but the regular version of the forum works fine, you can log in and post, images and avatars are displayed and the whole thing is formatted better than the compact and confusing mobile version. Take it from someone who never stopped using Amigas, not these Windows lovers on EAB who pretend to know what they're talking about because they read and repeated someone else's uninformed opinion.

It may work on your Amiga but my 68020 6 meg Amiga 1200 really struggles with any graphics which is why I use the moby version of EAB. Whilst I can display Amiga.org in Ibrowse through the proxie it is very slow and un-useable.

[Xanxi]

Unfortunately your best options are probably to use Netscape or iCab through a mac emulator. Neither are perfect in todays world either, but provide better rendering than IBrowse/AWeb/Voyager.

I do not agree. IBrowse 2.4 is better and faster than Netscape 4 or iCab on my setup, with a better rendering of webpages and working security certificates. Netscape can't even connect to GMail, even in http mode.

[Cammy]

Hey guys, I have made a special links page for classic Amiga users, it has sections for different types of sites and they should all work well in IBrowse and AWeb. Some of the sites require you to have Javascript enabled, but to keep processing times down I have Javascript turned off by default on my A1200, same with image loading. Thankfully IBrowse has that quick and easy Load Images button for the pages I like to see in full colour.

Here's the link, please let me know if you can suggest any additional websites or if you have some style tips to make the page look a little nicer, but I'd like to keep it in pure HTML with little or no images so it loads faster.

http://home.exetel.com.au/~amiga/AmigaLinks.html

[Rebel-CD32]

It may work on your Amiga but my 68020 6 meg Amiga 1200 really struggles with any graphics which is why I use the moby version of EAB. Whilst I can display Amiga.org in Ibrowse through the proxie it is very slow and un-useable.

Fair enough on a low-memory system you're a bit limited to the pages you can load, but at least you can turn off Javascript and image loading to try and load A.org through the proxy. Also keeping the screenmode in 16 colours might both free up a small amount of RAM and at least make page scrolling faster.

I haven't tried it yet, but some news groups should be viewable through Thor or some GUI mail readers, which might make a good alternative to forums on a low-end system.

[fishy_fiz]

@Xanxi

You must have a unique IB then    The simple fact is iCab does support css and a few other standards classic amiga browsers dont, ergo it renders better than amiga browsers. Its not perfect, but significantly better than any of the amiga browsers.

[runequester]

I guess other than speed being a bit slow on an 030, I haven't had so many problems with it.

I only browse a few sites on the amiga but it works decently enough.

Maybe Im just used to shooting my crap cell phone