Otter Browser and QupZilla - Javascript JIT enabled

New versions of Otter Browser and Qupzilla with the QtWebit Javascript JIT enabled are now available for testing.

First download resources.zip.

This contains all the resources needed by both browsers. Just merge the !Boot folder. !UnixFC and !UnixFont need to be ‘seen’ otherwise no text will appear.
The fonts are pre-cached so there shouldn’t be a long pause the first time either browser is started up.

Next download either Otter Browser or QupZilla.

Compatibility.

A Titanium or IGEPv5 board are recommended for best performance. They both need ‘Set Qt$NoRedBlueSwap 1’ adding to !Run to avoid Red and Blue colours being swapped.

Also runs on ARMx6, RPi1, Rpi2, PI Zero and Beagleboard Xm. At least 512MB ram is needed. Basically any RISC OS compatible machine that has a VFP and enough ram.

The Rpi3 is currently not working due a bug in Pthreads in UnixLib. It runs for a few seconds then crashes. The fix is still being worked on.
The UnixLib library in resources.zip has been updated so that both browsers now work OK on RPi3.

For best performance turn off the disc cache and disable Javascript. Turn on Javascript as needed.

Most web sites should now be accessible on RISC OS. Some for the first time.

e.g. Google Maps, Openstreetmap, GMail, most banking sites and Javascript benchmarks. You might need to be patient on some sites.

Browsing speed can still be quite slow even on the fastest RISC OS machines.

Both browsers quite often leave their dynamic areas behind on exiting or after a crash. Download and install the ‘debugtools’ module contained in the bonus binaries zip file.
The !Run files contain the required ‘removda’ commands to clear any left over dynamic areas.

On certain machines the CPU clock scaling doesn’t kick in properly. I think this is due the use of pthreads. Even though either browser is running the CPU speed stays at the slowest speed.

Will this upgrade be made available via PackMan or by manual installation only?

Hopefully soon. The JIT enabled version needsto be built with VFP support. There’s a few changes needed to support building for VFP in the GCCSDK autobuilder.

Thanks so much Chris! As you said it’s still a little slow, but it’s usable and not too irritating.
That’s on my iMX6.
Greatly appreciated!

Thank you Chris. Google Street view now works! It is indeed very slow when navigating but at least it works.

Other hitherto tricky sites (here, at least) such as Trainline and Streetmap also now work – this really is a significantly more capable version of what was already the platform’s most capable (albeit slow) browser. It is also more responsive in use than previous versions. I’m running a recent but low-vector version of 5.23 here as I need Aemulor, so dynamic areas are a problem. I’ve downloaded the DebugTools module but I have no idea where to put it, or indeed how to use it once installed. A brief instruction ‘readme’ in the zipfile (or here) would be very welcome. Thanks to Chris as ever for his efforts!

Just copy the DebugTools module into !Boot.Choices.Boot.PreDesk. It will get loaded automatically on boot. The ‘removeda’ commands in the !Run file will then get executed when either browser is run.

Following an earlier attempt to install Otter, and wishing now to try Qupzilla, I am finding some differences in the directory structure of !SharedLibs in a newly downloaded resources.zip and some different sizes and dates. For example: !SharedLibs.lib.abi-2/0.Qt is now !SharedLibs.lib.abi-2/0.vfp.Qt, and many ELFs have become smaller.

Copying new over old would produce quite some duplication and possible incompatibility, so presumably I should replace old by new completely to try either browser?

Chris, since in Packman, QupZilla is at version 1.8.9-2, but Otter is 0.9.10-dev20160328-2, are either of these the latest versions please ?

I can see that QupZilla is the same version number as detailed by your link earlier, but can appreciate that this might be an oversight.

The ‘removeda’ commands in the !Run file will then get executed when either browser is run.

Thanks for that. Early indications are positive: dynamic area does decrease when Otter windows are closed. So far it looks as if quitting Otter altogether still leaves approx 130-140k of dynamic area occupied however. Could this be the font cache, or something in SharedLibs?

To continue: Replaced !SharedLibs by newest version. QupZilla started up, but no text showing, so presumably couldn’t find its fonts. Then shortly afterwards the screen went entirely ochre with diagonal strips and power reset was required. After fresh boot, attempting to launch QupZilla resulted in lengthy inactivity followed by Alt-Break to get back control (stopping ‘Unknown’). I give up for now.

resources.zip has been updated. Just merge the !Boot folder to update.

Otter browser and Qupzilla now run on the RPi3. Previously they both crashed after a few seconds.
The mouse pointer is now context sensitive. Menus open in the correct place in Otter browser.
Both browsers no longer crash on exit. Dynamic areas are now removed correctly.

Is there a way to change the font size used for the user interface? It is rather large which wastes a lot of screen space and feels like I’m being shouted at all the time!

resources.zip has been updated. Just merge the !Boot folder to update

Since upgrading I find Otter seems prone to random crashes, i.e. not related to particular sites or high dynamic area loading. I’ll probably roll back to the penultimate resources version as it was more stable here (Pi2, 5.23 [02-4-16], low-vector).

Since upgrading I find Otter seems prone to random crashes, i.e. not related to particular

I’ve not noticed any extra instability. Used mostly on Rpi3 and Titanium. One thing missing from resources.zip was the mime data. Without this it causes Otter browser to crash on downloading a file. Updated resources here.

There’s also an updated Otter browser here.

I’ve installed the revised resources and otter versions – all well so far. Actually, I noticed after rolling back from the previous version that I had switched alignment exceptions off (this to enable !Variations to load a directory of images, which it was unable to do with AE on, seemingly). I’m now running with AE on: I don’t know if this is likely to have been a factor in the earlier Otter crashes. As ever, thanks for the constant development effort with Otter: it is sufficiently responsive on a Pi2 @ 600-1000MHz (variable) to be my default browser.

I still can’t get any images loading properly in Otter-browser, most strange.
It’s fine in Qupzilla. Anyone have ideas on that?

I still can’t get any images loading properly in Otter-browser, most strange.

Try turning off the Disk cache.

about:config

Set Cache→DiskCacheLimit to 0

Thanks Chris, that has indeed fixed the problem.

I’ve managed to access my Dropbox account using the latest version of Otter on a Pi2. Javascript must be ‘on’. Masking has to be adjusted in Website Preferences-Network: ‘Default’ or ‘Mozilla Firefox on Windows’ doesn’t work here, but Opera 12.16 on Windows does. The site is not fully functional: uploading doesn’t seem to work, but downloading does. For some reason it is impossible to scroll down to the bottom of long (30+) lists of files, as the right-hand slider does not fully minimise and allow all files to be displayed. But these are quibbles compared to the fact that for the first time in my experience as a RISC OS user it is possible to interact with a cloud service without a PC, Mac or Linux computer being required! Despite its many virtues NetSurf cannot do this, whether or not JS is enabled.

There’s an updated version of Otter browser available from here.

Main change

Pages that previously failed to download completely should now do so.

Seems to work well with RO5 and emulator.
Otter 0.9.10-dev;20160328
Why not just call the prog ‘Otter’? :-)

Is there a downloadable version that uses FPE?
Thanks

It looks like the content blocking in QupZilla and Otter Browser causes quite a few problems. Most notable are increased memory usage and slower page loading.
Sometimes images fail to display.

To turn it off in Qupzilla,

Tools→AdBlock

then untick ‘Enable AdBlock’.

For Otter Browser,

Tools→Content Blocking

then untick any that are ticked.

I’m having a regularly occurring problem with the BBC Weather and BBC News sites: elements of the page are abnormally distributed, the font sizes are too large and overlap each other. I’m using Otter 0.9.11-dev 20160521, WebKit Backend 538.1, SSL library version: OpenSSL 1.0.2h 3 May 2016. I have javascript ‘on’ by default (but turning it off doesn’t affect the page display in these cases). The other 20 or so sites I regularly access display normally. The strange thing is, the offending BBC sites /used/ to display ok up to about 2 weeks ago when I upgraded to the latest Otter version (which I’m not running any more) – I haven’t made any setup changes that I’m aware of. Other material info: the base machine is a Pi2, RISC OS version 5.23, 06-July-2016 i.e. high vector). The cache is ‘off’, and Otter is masked as Mozilla Firefox on Windows. It’s a bit mystifying.

Looking further at the BBC Weather site, a warning box at the bottom is telling me that enabling CSS style sheets will give better quality rendering (or ‘using an up-to-date browser’ blah blah, which is not an option if they mean Firefox/IE/Safari/Chrome etc). I’ve had a look in Tools-Preferences-Advanced but can’t see if or how it is possible to enable CSS style sheets – any advice welcome!