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Arctic Fox web browser for 10.6 (32 & 64-bit)
- Thread starter wicknix
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What's making you stay with the excellent Snow Leopard out of interest?
This machine has only 1 gig of RAM, and my experience is that updates always, always, always make demands requiring more memory. I'm not sure if I can update to a newer OSX without creating a whole new set of problems, and even if I do, I may find that other things no longer work, and then I'm on another update/compatibility/troubleshooting treadmill with an uncertain outcome. I'm not a software engineer, and I have limited troubleshooting capability.
I just want things to work with minimum hassles. Right now, I have a limited number of things that I want to be able to do on this machine, and everything seems to work fine except internet browsing has become impossible with Firefox or Safari. Many sites wouldn't work at all, and others required constant "command-option-escape" tinkering to deal with hang-ups.I'd run out of options with updates for other browsers, and was wondering if this machine was just going to be useless for internet browsing from now on. But so far, Arctic Fox is working very well, and page loading is very fast. I realize that "planned obsolescence" appears to be part of the computer industry, but it seems really stupid to have to replace a machine that is less than 10 years old and is otherwise working just fine. (It's a whole 'nother subject, but I've got stereo equipment that I bought 45 years ago that still works, and still gets used every day. Ditching stuff that works perfectly bugs me.)
So, once again, THANK YOU. I really appreciate it.
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Glad it's doing what you need it to do. If you're interested, click on the link in my signature for 2 more browsers for snow leopard (spiderweb and interweb). They are both great secondary browsers for sites that might give arctic fox the finger. I say secondary because they don't see regular updates like arctic fox does.
Cheers
Cheers
Thanks. I did try downloading the other two browsers, but neither one would open: both gave an error message when I tried to start them. But no matter, since Arctic Fox is working jus' fine so far!
@johnebravo What is exactly your iMac ?
If it's 7,1 it's 13 year old not 9 year old !
The first thing to do is to get the max Ram, 6 GB for a 7,1 !
If it's 7,1 it's 13 year old not 9 year old !
The first thing to do is to get the max Ram, 6 GB for a 7,1 !
If you upgrade to 4 GB (2+2 GB, cheap) or 6 GB (4+2 GB, more expensive) RAM you can run El Capitan which gives you access to the latest version of Firefox ESR (78). This is something to consider in the long run as Arctic Fox might begin to creak at some point (no offence intended, wicknix).
Even if you plan to stay on Snow Leopard, upgrading to 4 GB RAM is strongly recommended as said in the previous post - Firefox/ArcticFox just loves RAM.
I looked into that, but haven't quite figured out just how to do it. When I unzip the downloaded files, there are libc++.zip files, which when unzipped, create libc++ folders, which contain files, but I don't know how to put them in the /usr/lib folder, or even where that is exactly . . .
You could be right; I am inferring that age from the fact that the "About This Mac" box gives a software copyright date of 1983-2011, so I assumed that the latter date must be roughly the date of this machine when built. Hitting the "More Info" button indicates that it's a iMac 7,1, etc.
I haven't really seriously considered adding more RAM, mostly because it seems like investing more in this machine might become a "good money after bad" situation. But if doing that will keep it useful for a lot longer, it's something to look into.
EDIT: I just saw that you can get 6 GB for $35! I remember putting 4 MBs in a Mac Plus or maybe an SE a million years ago, and I'm sure each 1 MB chip cost more than that!
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In the Finder, do +Sft+G (Go to Folder), enter “/usr/lib”, drop the two files in that folder, restart.
Me, I'd be dead if I didn't have the native 16 Gb on this machine. Or rather, I wouldn't be able to run 10-15 applications simultaneously, which is close enough to being dead
@johnebravo, I own a 2008 iMac 8,1 about the same than yours, just a year later same generation.
You can't work on this iMac 7,1 with only 1GB. Everything loves Ram, your CPU, Snow Leopard, El Capitan, etc. It's like the air we breathe.
El Capitan with a hard disk needs 8GB to works well and there's a risk to damage the GPU. Systems since Yosemite use too much GPU with older machines as ours. It's just an advise that I apply myself, including the 2010 MacBook Pro 6,2 of my wife I maintain under Mavericks.
If I have to give up Snow Leopard, I could install El Capitan on my fast HD, a SSD would be best.
So, I consider that thanks to @wicknix, our heroe, internet is good using both Arctic Fox (default browser for me) and SpiderWeb sometimes on stubborn sites.
You can't work on this iMac 7,1 with only 1GB. Everything loves Ram, your CPU, Snow Leopard, El Capitan, etc. It's like the air we breathe.
El Capitan with a hard disk needs 8GB to works well and there's a risk to damage the GPU. Systems since Yosemite use too much GPU with older machines as ours. It's just an advise that I apply myself, including the 2010 MacBook Pro 6,2 of my wife I maintain under Mavericks.
If I have to give up Snow Leopard, I could install El Capitan on my fast HD, a SSD would be best.
So, I consider that thanks to @wicknix, our heroe, internet is good using both Arctic Fox (default browser for me) and SpiderWeb sometimes on stubborn sites.
You need DDR2 SO-DIMM modules - are the ones you found of this kind?
[automerge]1594651794[/automerge]
Do these iMacs also suffer from GPU failures? In any case, you can enable the Reduce transparency option to cut down on the effects. It makes the OS look fugly tho.
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Aye!Me, I'd be dead if I didn't have the native 16 Gb on this machine. Or rather, I wouldn't be able to run 10-15 applications simultaneously, which is close enough to being dead
Thanks for the reply. I tried to drag'n'drop into that folder. An error box comes up which says "The items can't be moved because "lib" can't be verified." Clearly, I'm not getting something here . . .
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It's not just about an UI effect, since Yosemite and the machines of that generation CPU considers you have enough Ram, often a SSD, and it uses GPU power to work. Our older machines don't have enough powerful GPU and iMac or laptops have the same soldered GPU that don't appreciate this amount of power, temperature, so many failures...
Mavericks is the latest system to behave with our collectors. I don't use it on my iMac because I need Rosetta. If I tell about Appleworks some are going to laugh.
Here's a set that look like the right kind at Amazon for $25:
parts-quick 4GB 2 X 2GB DDR2 Memory Compatible with iMac 7,1 Mid 2007 20" inch 24" inch Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz PC2-5300 667MHz 200 pin SODIMM
4GB Total. Two 2GB PC2-5300 200 pin SODIMM DDR2 667MHz. Lifetime Warranty. Compatible with: Apple iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 20" inch (Mid 2007) Apple iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 24" inch (Mid 2007)
www.amazon.com
Yep, those look right.
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I have a 2007 MBP with 4GB RAM, SSD and a fixed GPU. El Capitan runs great on it.
Not sure, it was over two months ago, but maybe you have to be logged in as admin... Wicknix would know, he told me how to do it at the time.
Great ! You're lucky.
I had the same late 2007 MacBook Pro with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT known problem and an extended garanty from Apple to fix it. But the GPU as many others dead again one year later under Snow Leopard.
The hard drive interface is 1.5 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA) vs 6 Gbps SATA III of the SSD I guess. So, El Capitan on that machine born with Tiger I don't think it's so great compared to 2015 MBP core i7, 16GB, 1.5 GB VRAM sold with SSD and Yosemite.
In french we used to say that the better is enemy of the good.
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Mavericks would probably run better though.
They really slowed things down a lot with the visual effects in Yosemite. You can turn off all the transparency effects in accessibility, but that makes everything look super duper ugly.
Snow Leopard is great too if it's working. I am using Mavericks myself though.
Is Appleworks better than iWork '09? I've never used it, but I do really like my copy of iWork.
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@johnebravo : As mentioned, try this. I've attached pictures to help.
In the Finder, do +Shift+G (Go to Folder), enter /usr/lib in the box that pops up.
Then open the folder that contains the 2 dylibs and drop and drag them in to the /usr/lib folder. It will ask to "authenticate", click it (and enter admin password if it asks).
If all went well, spiderweb and interweb will now work.
Cheers
In the Finder, do +Shift+G (Go to Folder), enter /usr/lib in the box that pops up.
Then open the folder that contains the 2 dylibs and drop and drag them in to the /usr/lib folder. It will ask to "authenticate", click it (and enter admin password if it asks).
If all went well, spiderweb and interweb will now work.
Cheers
Correct. It is snow leopard with this theme: https://www.deviantart.com/christhenerd/art/Mac-OS-X-PearMod-Theme-166124108
All the button does is compacts the finder like so...
Cheers
All the button does is compacts the finder like so...
Cheers
Thanks, it worked! I got as far as the box before but hesitated to hit "authenticate" without knowing whether that was safe or not . . . discretion being the better part of valor.
Thanks again for the browsers; I've ordered some 4 GB RAM chips and should be able to keep this machine useful for some time to come, which is my modest goal. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!
Mavericks would probably run better though.
I agree !
The problem of AppleWorks or iWork is the (Apple)proprietary format.
LibreOffice is the best for it's ISO files format, crossplatform, etc.
IMHO the best tool is the one you use and know the best. Well you can spend many time to do the same for every tool, but when a soft is good it's Ok for me.
AppleWorks, I've been using it since my 1983 Apple IIe floppy disk, I've always my archives. Plus there is a database, not in iWork or M$ suite. I don't like Filemaker pro more complicated and limited for some fonctions with an other proprietary format.
LibreOffice has a good database tool, but doesn't open database AppleWorks files and it's complicated to convert all my archives.
There are alternatives with El Capitan on my 2005 MacBook Air : AppleWorks 6 PC with Winskin Winery and AppleWorks 6 classic under OS9 with the SheepShaver emulation, but it's limited if I have to print something.
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I've ordered a 2+2 GB set, and that should make operating with 10.6.8 a lot easier for a while even if I decide not to try out 10.11 El Capitan.
Stupid question #1: Is there any intermediate OS between 10.6 and 10.11 that's worth considering, or is it "either move all the way up to El Capitan, or don't bother -- just stick with Snow Leopard"? I'm assuming that Arctic Fox will still work with El Capitan, since I really like it. I'm not sure that it's worth bothering, at least not for moment.
Stupid question #2: When you backup with Time Machine, erase, and install a new OS X (whether you are reinstalling a new copy of the original one the machine came with or a later update) and then try to reinstall all your programs and files from the Time Machine backup, it gives you an option to leave the new OS installation untouched, right? I'm assuming it must, otherwise, there obviously would be no point.
At risk of repeating myself, I really like Mavericks (10.9). I did a lot of side-by-side testing of Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks late last winter, and I concluded that Mavericks was the best of the three. It's very fast and stable, and it has pretty good app compatibility across different eras. And it still has that Leopard-era design I really like, refined a bit compared to Snow Leopard.