Well, I couldn't take it any longer. My Netscape Communicator v4.61 for OS/2 Warp had given me more problems than I could possibly bear, so I got off my ass and I finally downloaded Mozilla v1.4 for OS/2 (click HERE for the download area). I'm sure that there are other browsers available, such as that from Opera Software ASA, but I had heard a lot about Mozilla and decided to try it out. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Mozilla is the "open-source" version of the Netscape Communicator. The Full Installer is about 17.3mb in size and took a little while to download over a telephone line (a separate Zipfile is also available at 17.0mb). Nonetheless, it was time well spent and I am happy with the results. I first downloaded it to my IBM Aptiva E-500 (400mhz) (256mb RAM) using OS/2 Warp 4, Fixpak 9 (v9.033) and it installed flawlessly. Very important though, because of the long file names used, you should load it on to a disk with the High Performance File System (HPFS). During the conversion from Netscape to Mozilla, it properly migrated my bookmarks and profile. However, because I maintain a lot of local HTML files, I found it necessary to manually edit the Bookmarks.html file to properly read my local files (simply insert LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" after the ADD_DATE tag.Mozilla came up slowly but beautifully, just like the Windows version of Netscape v7.0. Further, I can now view small icons in the URL address field entry (like v7.0) and pesky Java-based web pages appear properly (unlike v4.61). I particularly liked the new "Pop-up Manager" tool to block unwanted pop-ups. In all, this is a much more stable and reliable web browser than v4.61. The only other thing I had to modify were my plug-ins or "Application Helpers" (under "Edit/Preferences") which wasn't migrated during the installation. I went back to my v4.61 settings and added the following "Application Helpers" to Mozilla:
MIME Type: application/pdf
MIME Type: image/pdf
MIME Type: inf
MIME Type: www/unknown
MIME Type: image/gif
MIME Type: image/jpg
* Use whatever address you used to create the application. Click HERE to download v3.0 of Adobe Acrobat for various languages. These last two entries are somewhat optional. I simply carried them forward from my Netscape settings though.
When adding the "Application Helper," there is a checkbox to:
"Always use the Netscape Plug-in Finder Server (PFS)
to get plug-ins. If this option is not checked, the PFS is used only when
a plug-in location is not specified by the web page that
required the plug-in."
Flash support was another issue and I found my older version of Flash for OS/2 wouldn't work with Mozilla. Consequently, I downloaded Flash v5.0 for OS/2 from InnoTek (Germany) and reinstalled it (which ran perfectly). The installation and customizing ran so smoothly that I decided to install Mozilla on two other older OS/2 machines I have: IBM ThinkPad 365XD with a Pentium 133mhz processor and 32mb RAM; using OS/2 Warp 4, Convenience Pak-1 (v4.51 - 14.062_W4). Installation on this machine went as smoothly as the one on my Aptiva. Brand X/486 (66mhz) using OS/2 Warp 4 (Basic load) (v9.036). Here, I replaced a much older version of Netscape Navigator v2.02 for OS/2. The installation ran perfectly but extremely slowly. You have to have the patience of Jobs to make this work on an older/slower machine. It takes me about 15 minutes to simply launch Mozilla on this machine. Small wonder, Mozilla allocates approximately 15-20mb of memory to load (you should hear my swapper file run wild when I get Mozilla going). Nonetheless, it works. Would I recommend Mozilla for older machines? Not unless you desperately need it and don't have any other alternative (I still have the old IBM WebExplorer available on it which works just fine). THE BOTTOM-LINE: Do I recommend Mozilla for OS/2 Warp? Absolutely, but it is not for the faint of heart. It is slick looking (you can use the Netscape "Modern" theme as well as others) and it works smoothly (except on older/slower machines). Yes, it takes a little longer to initially load than v4.61 but not agonizingly long (just like Netscape v7.0). Perhaps the most disconcerting part of it is the lack of end-user support (which Mozilla warns you going into it). Fortunately, I haven't found this to be a problem. The installation ran smoothly (even on the old machine) and there are adequate Help facilities available. But still: Where can you get help? Fortunately, there are quite a few alternatives:
One last note: If you look behind the scenes at the page source of the Mozilla
"Releases" page (as I often do), it appears Mozilla is planning a v1.5 release
of the product. When? I haven't a clue.
Keep the Faith! |
Copyright © 2003 M&JB