Subject: RE: Z50 browser?
To: None <port-hpcmips@netbsd.org>
From: Tim Underwood <TimU@hightouchinc.com>
List: port-hpcmips
Date: 08/18/2004 11:21:06
>=20
> > This is a shame as I simply needed to access various webmail sites=20
> > (https and spa) - if this isn't possible on the z50 I will=20
> relucantly=20
> > have to go down a standard laptop route probably with windows - oh=20
> > well
> > - least I tried ;-)
>=20
>   Would a text browser work?  I think both links and lynx have https
> support.   A MIPS opera would be nice (and not too=20
> horrendously large),
> but unfortunately they seem to only support i386, sparc, and=20
> powerpc.  I don't know if any other commercial browsers are=20
> available for MIPS platforms that might be used under=20
> emulation.  There are a few java based browsers available.  I=20
> don't know if a good java runtime or a java compiler could be=20
> made to work, but if so then this might be a good=20
> possibility.  I don't know if any support https, but I would=20
> imagine some do.  One I came accross (but have not tried yet)=20
> is multivalent (at sourceforge), however it does not seem to=20
> have https support.  As a somewhat extreme possibility it=20
> might work to run a commercial microbrowser under emulation=20
> if none are available for MIPS, however I don't know if there=20
> are any particularly good such browsers or if they would=20
> perform reasonably.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much of anything available.  The
reason I installed netbsd on my MobilePro was due to the lack of a
browser on the CE platform that would:

1) support https (with a patch, CE will support 128bit)
2) support the ability to "fool" a website by replying as a different
browser (can't be done with older versions of CE).  You can't access
many secure (webmail, etc.) web sites without at least IE 4 or better -
even though they don't need many of the features provided.  They simply
are keeping out "low-end" browsers.
3) while javascript and java in general would be nice - they aren't a
specific requirement (probably too slow on that platoform anyway).

So, I find the same basic situation with Linux/netbsd.  Nothing is
available that will support both item #1 and item #2.  While a text
browser might work in limited circumstances, I'd prefer a graphical
browser and simply turn the images off when I don't want them.

Java browsers exist, but none provide support for https.  A commercial
version of HotJava browser from Sun did, but it was only available for a
short time, and can no longer be purchased/downloaded.  And they are
slower than Dillo.

Virtually anything that appears to have promise, turns out to be an
abandoned project, abandoned at least 3-4 years ago.  While I could
probably get one fired up with some of those features - I simply don't
have time to add a bunch of code.  And while most features of the
browser aren't that bad, forms and tables are the real tough areas.

The only project I've currently seen that seems to hold a bit of promise
is Dillo.  As soon as they add https support, and the ability to modify
the return string - we might have something.  Unless Opera support can
be had.

Speaking of Opera - that brings up an interesting question - why is it
still listed in the pkgsrc listing (as if you could compile it) when you
can't get the source to compile?  I tried :o)