VFP packaged versions of QupZilla and Otter Browser

Is there anyone interested in testing the VFP packaged versions of QupZilla and Otter Browser.
It’s just a case of adding a new source to PackMan. It should make it a lot easier to install and keep updated.

I’m up for that… :)

Yep, me too.

Might be worth backing up the !Packages and !SharedLibs folder first just in case.

Add this to PackMan sources,

The package names are Otter-Browser-VFP and QupZilla-VFP.

It’s just a case of clicking install on either Otter Browser or Qupzilla. All the dependencies should get selected automatically.
Anything installed outside PackMan will get backed up first before being overwritten.

All went well on my Pi3B, I also backed up Hunspell, UnixFC and UnixFont just in case. Conflict manager did its job… GCC, MuView, Mplayer and Python3 are all working after the install. Otter took around 16 mins to init and start-up, second time running 1 min. Thank you! :)

I’ll now give Qupzilla a spin and report back if anything goes wrong… *EDIT Thumbs up! All went well… :)

Installed QupZilla, it loads but no text is displayed.

https://imgur.com/a/Br36y2H

Sorted! !Unixfont & !UnixFC were not in !Boot look at. I would of never known if it wasn’t for Andrew McCarthy’s comments so thanks to you.

I’ve started adding more VFP packages. Ghostscript 9.27 should now appear after an ‘Update Lists’.

I’ve started adding more VFP packages.

Forgive my ignorance: ‘VFP’ as in Virtual Floating Point? And the advantage is?

‘VFP’ as in Virtual Floating Point?

No. As in Vector Floating Point. The advantage is speed – doing lots of arithmetic operations in one instruction instead of doing them all separately.

Which of the new machines can handle VFP?

Which of the new machines can handle VFP?

All of them post March 2009. Depending on SOC either VFP2, 3 or 4.

So Beagleboard, Risc PC, Virtual Risc PC and Iyonix excluded but Beagleboard XM included? As well as PandaBoard, Wandboard, Titanium, OMAP5, allvarieties of Raspberry Pi etc.

I think it’s “everything that came after the Iyonix”.

To put it into context, old floating point is emulated with many ARM instructions. So a million multiplies might take several seconds. While using the hardware floating point allows dedicated hardware to perform the calculations independently of the processor, so it’ll take maybe several hundredths of a second.

I think it’s “everything that came after the Iyonix”.

First light for Beagleboard was March 2009. So everything from then on has VFP support.

Add this to PackMan sources,
https://www.riscosports.co.uk/packages/vfptesting

I’ve done this, but get ‘SSL certificate problem: unable to get local user certificate’ when I select Update Lists. ‘Packman-Advanced-Sources’ shows the new packages/vfptesting source, and it’s ticked.

I’ve done this, but get ‘SSL certificate problem: unable

Install CaCertificates first on it own. Reboot and try again.

Install CaCertificates first on it own. Reboot and try again.

Did that. Same result. Uninstalled CaCertificates, reinstalled it, rebooted: same result :-(

Did that. Same result. Uninstalled CaCertificates, reinstalled it, rebooted: same result :-(

Check the date to make sure it’s correct.

*time

Also check if the folder has been ‘seen’.

*filer_run <CaCertificates$Dir>.ca-certificates/crt

Date was correct. *filer_run <CaCertificates$Dir>.ca-certificates/crt produced about 20 screens of gobbledygook (example below of first entry), which presumably is correct?
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-—END CERTIFICATE——-

EDIT: still getting the same error message after reboot and retry of PackMan-Update Lists.

FURTHER EDIT: removing the riscosports/packages/vfptesting entry from PackMan-Advanced-Sources allows Update Lists to run to completion as formerly.

Everything looks OK. The only other thing to check is the version of PackMan. 0.9.5 is the latest.

Hi Chris,

The uodate to PackMan 0.9.5 from 0.9.1 fixed the SSL Certificate issue repoted here for me.

Thanks

Doug

Update: the update to PackMan worked (I was running 0.9.1). Inserting /packages/vfptesting in Sources also worked (it was not possible to drag or copy/paste the URL into the ‘Sources for packages-Add’ dialogue box, I had to type it in), the vfp version of Otter was visible, was duly installed and is now running. It needed launching tout seul – OBrowser does not work here. I like the otter-in-a-circle splash screen on startup! It seems more responsive: I’ll try some notoriously slow-to-load sites and report further. Tried Qupzilla but it failed with ’can’t load library ‘LibQupZilla.so.1’ error.

I’ve been using Otter-VFP as my main browser for several days now. The following comments are relative to ‘normal’ Otter (in my case with a !Boot file dated 14 Oct 2017), running on a Pi3, RO 5.24. It seems quite stable. It takes roughly twice as long to launch from hard disc (SSD in my case): 54 seconds compared to 24 secs. Launching from RAM disc with !Scrap and !SharedLibs also in RAM reduces this to 17 secs, compared to 11 secs formerly. The VFP version feels more responsive in use – pages scroll more smoothly and faster, but I haven’t noticed any dramatic speed-up in loading pages on a strictly timed basis, whether running from RAM or HD: www.Autosport.com still takes 40-60 seconds to load fully (the lower end being from RAM). Obrowser seemingly doesn’t work here with the VFP version of Otter, and there is no iconbar icon, so you lose the ability to copy and paste URLs from other browsers such as NetSurf. All things considered I won’t be reverting to the non-VFP version.
HTH.

and there is no iconbar icon, so you lose the ability to copy and paste URLs from other browsers such as NetSurf

You can use Clipper to paste URLs.

To get data out create a Note and paste any required text/URLs into it. The notes are stored in !Boot.Choices.Qt5.config.otter.notes/xbel.

To speed things up a bit disable the Disk Cache and Content Blocking.

Type abount:config in the URL bar and search for,

DiskCacheLimit
Set to 0

EnableContentBlocking
Set to No.

but I haven’t noticed any dramatic speed-up in loading pages on a strictly timed basis, whether running from RAM or HD: www.Autosport.com still takes 40-60 seconds

Takes 8-12secs to load on a Pi4.

If you have a spare Raspberry Pi install Raspbery Pi OS and set up a proxy server and install https://pi-hole.net/ to block Ads.