Browser for low end computers

[Member jbeck]

Having to work on an old and slow laptop with only 1.5GB RAM, I tried the Opera browser instead of Firefox ESR.
Do not know why, but Opera seems much faster and less prone to disruptions due to heavy swapping than Firefox

With Antix 19.3

[Member PPC]

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Browsers that I use on my 1 gb RAM netbook- Firefox ESR (that is too slow on your device), BadWolf (you can install it from Package Manager, activate JavaScript clicking the JS button if you want to use a JS website), Seamonkey (is comes out of the box with antix 21 beta- is a browser forked from Firefox in the Dawn of Time). If you are using a 64 bits computer, you can try Chromium (also available in Package Manager) or even better Ungoogled Chromium (google it :-), pun intended).

Note- Badwolf is very spartan- it’s a secure browser- it always run in what most browsers call incognito/anonimous mode, and has no bookmarks, history, etc. But antiX’s version is customized to have a search box, a nice start page and favorites. Without JS on (it’s off by default)- it’s very light and lets you navigate through most regular web pages. Turn on JS and you can use complex pages like Youtube, webmail, social networks (ouch). It does not play DRM video, like Netflix, HBO, etc.

P.

[Member calciumsodium]

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There are full service browsers and quick service browsers. By that I mean: full service browsers have all the main features and can accomplish all the tasks that a modern browser can do. They take more RAM and resources. Quick service browsers consume less RAM and resources. They can accomplish some tasks, but not all tasks. For me on my low resources computers, full service browsers are seamonkey and palemoon; quick service browers are netsurf and links2. I hope this helps.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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calciumsodium wrote:

There are full service browsers and quick service browsers. By that I mean: full service browsers have all the main features and can accomplish all the tasks that a modern browser can do. They take more RAM and resources. Quick service browsers consume less RAM and resources. They can accomplish some tasks, but not all tasks. For me on my low resources computers, full service browsers are seamonkey and palemoon; quick service browers are netsurf and links2. I hope this helps.

These are good choices; the older the computer is the more difficult it becomes to have sufficient resources for Firefox or Chrome.

I ran the latest antiX build on my Thinkpad X201 laptop and it’s recent enough to handle all of the browsers. But if you use 15-20 year old hardware then resources are a great challenge. For those systems your recommendations are good ones.

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Brian Masinick

[Member oops]

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“… They can accomplish some tasks, but not all tasks. For me on my low resources computers, full service browsers are seamonkey and palemoon; quick service browers are netsurf and links2. I hope this helps.”

FI: For full service browsers, I use palemoon (an old Firefox) with add-ons: Lull the tabs, No HTML5, Toggle Java-script, U-block Origin (option: decentraleyes).

For quick service browser, Otter (an old Opera) is fine too. (is into the MX repository)

[Member seaken64]

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32-bit? antix-19? Single core processor?

1.5 GB of RAM is a LOT from where I come from. I usually use Chromium when I have that much memory.

Otherwise, especially for 32-bit, I use SeaMonkey and Palemoon. Badwolf and otter-browser have also been good for my Pentium-III system, along with Netsurf and Links2.

If 64-bit could try Falkon and Chromium.

Seaken64

there’s an old post with my experiments with browsers on old computers. But I can’t find it. The forum is not showing any links to my user history.

[Anonymous]

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> The forum is not showing any links to my user history.

Currently, we cannot search “posts by:” any specific user. I noticed this a week or so ago but kept quiet, hoping it was a temporary glitch.

[Member seaken64]

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Thanks skidoo, I did manage to find a way to search using the advanced search. I had to use a search term in addition to my user name but I did get results. And christophe showed me how to use the “hover over avatar” feature to find my missing history page. But I still didn’t find the topic I was looking for. Maybe I mis-remembered. Happening more often.

Seaken64

[Anonymous]

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palemoon is ok, also midori, sea monkey, opera work ok on older
machines. seems you tube needs firefox or chromium.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@seaken64: said “Maybe I mis-remembered. Happening more often.”

I resemble these remarks! 🙂

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Brian Masinick

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