Other Chromium Legacy: Google Chrome for OS X 10.7 – 10.9

[davigarma]

The latest version of Chrome will be 130, we have Chromium 127, I think you are getting desperate too soon

Also Firefox has been updated 15 days ago with a security patch ( Mojave)

 

[Wowfunhappy]

The latest version of Chrome will be 130, we have Chromium 127, I think you are getting desperate too soon

Also Firefox has been updated 15 days ago with a security patch ( Mojave)

Well, we have a build based on the stable version of Chromium 124, and one based on an early "Canary" version of 127. But I agree it's still too early to be concerned about this!

 

[davigarma]

Well, we have a build based on the stable version of Chromium 124, and one based on an early "Canary" version of 127. But I agree it's still too early to be concerned about this!

127 "Canary" which Bluebox labels as 130. I've had it installed on a Macbook Pro 9.1 and Early Mac 8.1 for three months, many hours a day and zero bugs, zero crashes, zero problems. It's totally stable. The only problem that Chromium has always had for me is the Prime, Max, etc. platforms, the DRM. When I want to watch a movie on Max or Prime I close Chromium and go in with Opera or Vivaldi. ☺️

 

[Grumpus]

Also Firefox has been updated 15 days ago with a security patch ( Mojave)

Firefox 115 ESR reaches end of life in less than a week, if I'm not mistaken (I wish they'd give a date instead of saying it's supported "until September 2024"). So the last patch, to 115.14.0esr, is very probably the last.

 

[davigarma]

Firefox 115 ESR reaches end of life in less than a week, if I'm not mistaken (I wish they'd give a date instead of saying it's supported "until September 2024"). So the last patch, to 115.14.0esr, is very probably the last.

On August 6th they updated security holes. They don't say anything about it being the last fix but it's not long away. They've been keeping it up for a long time !.

 

[MacBiter]

127 "Canary" which Bluebox labels as 130. I've had it installed on a Macbook Pro 9.1 and Early Mac 8.1 for three months, many hours a day and zero bugs, zero crashes, zero problems. It's totally stable. The only problem that Chromium has always had for me is the Prime, Max, etc. platforms, the DRM. When I want to watch a movie on Max or Prime I close Chromium and go in with Opera or Vivaldi. ☺️

That's odd. My whole reason for getting Legacy originally was because Firefox 78 stopped streaming video. So in Legacy I can watch BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, Amazon Prime .. and I could watch Netflix until they unaccountably stopped supporting Mavericks even though I had a browser perfectly capable of streaming it.

 

[davigarma]

That's odd. My whole reason for getting Legacy originally was because Firefox 78 stopped streaming video. So in Legacy I can watch BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, Amazon Prime .. and I could watch Netflix until they unaccountably stopped supporting Mavericks even though I had a browser perfectly capable of streaming it.

Welcome to the wonderful world of DRM. There are hours to talk about it and I am not a specialist but I have understood it a little as modern platforms have entered my life as a Mac user. But I want to give you a few brushstrokes

Chromium is an open source browser

From Chromium come "proprietary" browsers such as Chrome Google, Vivaldi, Opera, Epic, etc., etc.

In 2010 Google bought Widevine. Widevine was an independent company and Google bought it to improve Android support for video streaming by protecting DRM. All Chromium-based browsers have Widevine rights, I assume paid to Google, except Chromium, which has no rights because it has no owner. Each company or playback platform has different security levels, some apply restrictions per browser and others per operating system. The levels are not equal and that explains the paradoxes you explain

 

[Wowfunhappy]

The only problem that Chromium has always had for me is the Prime, Max, etc. platforms, the DRM.

Are you using my PrefPane, and if not, have you followed the instructions on https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy/wiki/DRM? (My PrefPane automates that process.)

IIRC this doesn't work on some websites (I think Netflix stopped working a few months back), but it should work on others.

(Sorry if we already talked about this and I forgot.)

 

[MacBiter]

Welcome to the wonderful world of DRM. There are hours to talk about it and I am not a specialist but I have understood it a little as modern platforms have entered my life as a Mac user. But I want to give you a few brushstrokes

Chromium is an open source browser

From Chromium come "proprietary" browsers such as Chrome Google, Vivaldi, Opera, Epic, etc., etc.

In 2010 Google bought Widevine. Widevine was an independent company and Google bought it to improve Android support for video streaming by protecting DRM. All Chromium-based browsers have Widevine rights, I assume paid to Google, except Chromium, which has no rights because it has no owner. Each company or playback platform has different security levels, some apply restrictions per browser and others per operating system. The levels are not equal and that explains the paradoxes you explain

Though not the Netflix paradox. When Widevine was upgraded (after a while!) in Chromium Legacy, my ability to watch Prime, ITVX, and Channel 4 was restored. However Netflix stopped after that claiming they didn't support my OS (Mavericks). But since Legacy had/has the latest Widevine, there was absolutely no basis for that claim and I reckon it was simply ineptitude on Netflix side.

 

[davigarma]

Though not the Netflix paradox. When Widevine was upgraded (after a while!) in Chromium Legacy, my ability to watch Prime, ITVX, and Channel 4 was restored. However Netflix stopped after that claiming they didn't support my OS (Mavericks). But since Legacy had/has the latest Widevine, there was absolutely no basis for that claim and I reckon it was simply ineptitude on Netflix side.

You are lucky if you were able to watch Netflix with Chromium. I unsubscribed months ago and when they asked me for the reasons I told them it was the browser ban and the low quality of their products. Max follows the same path, banning Chromium 127 and has no problem letting you watch with the old Chrome 116, Opera or Vivaldi. Prime video does the same but the Chromium ban is done at the resolution level leaving you with the lowest quality of all. Each company applies its method and its restrictions per browser or operating system.

 

[MacBiter]

You are lucky if you were able to watch Netflix with Chromium. I unsubscribed months ago and when they asked me for the reasons I told them it was the browser ban and the low quality of their products. Max follows the same path, banning Chromium 127 and has no problem letting you watch with the old Chrome 116, Opera or Vivaldi. Prime video does the same but the Chromium ban is done at the resolution level leaving you with the lowest quality of all. Each company applies its method and its restrictions per browser or operating system.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'ban'?

When I go 'About Chromium' it's apparently 124 not 127.

Prime is pretty good quality, but remember that I don't have a Retina Mac. ITVX is very poor quality for about 10-15 seconds then snaps into a much higher good quality resolution. The only variable quality is BBC iPlayer, which doesn't use Widevine and whose video is not encrypted; sometimes - especially at peak viewing times at a weekend - the video can degrade to low quality; refreshing the page brings back high resolution but often this needs to be done every few minutes. I assume that this is because BBC servers have a problem with maintaining the best quality at peak viewing times. ITVX - being a commercial service - presumably has a better server situation.

 

[davigarma]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'ban'?

When I go 'About Chromium' it's apparently 124 not 127.

Prime is pretty good quality, but remember that I don't have a Retina Mac. ITVX is very poor quality for about 10-15 seconds then snaps into a much higher good quality resolution. The only variable quality is BBC iPlayer, which doesn't use Widevine and whose video is not encrypted; sometimes - especially at peak viewing times at a weekend - the video can degrade to low quality; refreshing the page brings back high resolution but often this needs to be done every few minutes. I assume that this is because BBC servers have a problem with maintaining the best quality at peak viewing times. ITVX - being a commercial service - presumably has a better server situation.

I want to tell you is that it does not matter what version of Chromium you have: 127, 124, 120 ... Chromium does not have current Widevine rights for encryption and decryption that Netflix, Max, SkyShowtime, etc. use. Cable televisions in your country or mine (Movistar Spain) use other types of security modules by IP or geolocation and not by browser, that is why it allows us to see it. By "ban" I mean the capture that I have put above, the impossibility of seeing the content. I put another capture of another platform that I have and that bans Chromium: Skyshowtime. The only platform that is "kind" to Chromium is Amazon Prime: it lets you see the content but at very low resolution and in a box on the right it tells you that this browser is not authorized for HD content.

 

[MacBiter]

I want to tell you is that it does not matter what version of Chromium you have: 127, 124, 120 ... Chromium does not have current Widevine rights for encryption and decryption that Netflix, Max, SkyShowtime, etc. use. Cable televisions in your country or mine (Movistar Spain) use other types of security modules by IP or geolocation and not by browser, that is why it allows us to see it. By "ban" I mean the capture that I have put above, the impossibility of seeing the content. I put another capture of another platform that I have and that bans Chromium: Skyshowtime. The only platform that is "kind" to Chromium is Amazon Prime: it lets you see the content but at very low resolution and in a box on the right it tells you that this browser is not authorized for HD content.

This is where bluebox made changes to Legacy. When Widevine was updated, Legacy wouldn't at first stream encrypted video, then after his changes it did.

 

[davigarma]

This is where bluebox made changes to Legacy. When Widevine was updated, Legacy wouldn't at first stream encrypted video, then after his changes it did.

Let's hope Legacy continues! The usefulness of Legacy is not streaming. Even if a current Widevine module is installed, then the streaming operators would ban you for old operating systems from El Capitan to down. The usefulness of Legacy is not having to browse in 10.6, 10.8 or 10.9 with Chrome 64 or Safari 8.

 

[MacBiter]

Let's hope Legacy continues! The usefulness of Legacy is not streaming. Even if a current Widevine module is installed, then the streaming operators would ban you for old operating systems from El Capitan to down. The usefulness of Legacy is not having to browse in 10.6, 10.8 or 10.9 with Chrome 64 or Safari 8.

??? It was the main reason I got Legacy - I couldn't stream video anywhere else in Mavericks!

 

[davigarma]

??? It was the main reason I got Legacy - I couldn't stream video anywhere else in Mavericks!

I was referring to viewing streaming platforms

 

[MacBiter]

I was referring to viewing streaming platforms

So was I; I can watch YouTube in most browsers, and any streams that are not 'platforms', or not BBC iPlayer. However, Legacy enabled me to watch all those platforms - even Netflix until they stopped allowing Mavericks for no good reason.

 

[davigarma]

So was I; I can watch YouTube in most browsers, and any streams that are not 'platforms', or not BBC iPlayer. However, Legacy enabled me to watch all those platforms - even Netflix until they stopped allowing Mavericks for no good reason.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/chromium-legacy-google-chrome-for-os-x-10-7-10-9.2283612/page-15

Had this conversation with you in February of this year. I even posted a screenshot of Netflix on my Mavericks with Firefox 78. A few days after posting the screenshot, Netflix closed my viewing with Firefox 78 and banned it . Until mid-2023 I could watch Netflix with Safari 10 with the Microsoft plug-in. As of February I stopped using the obsolete Firefox 78 and thanks to Chromium Legacy I continue using Mavericks but without platforms. Chromium Legacy is a blessed solution for systems below 10.10

 

[MacBiter]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/chromium-legacy-google-chrome-for-os-x-10-7-10-9.2283612/page-15

Had this conversation with you in February of this year. I even posted a screenshot of Netflix on my Mavericks with Firefox 78. A few days after posting the screenshot, Netflix closed my viewing with Firefox 78 and banned it . Until mid-2023 I could watch Netflix with Safari 10 with the Microsoft plug-in. As of February I stopped using the obsolete Firefox 78 and thanks to Chromium Legacy I continue using Mavericks but without platforms. Chromium Legacy is a blessed solution for systems below 10.10

If Legacy doesn't support "platforms" (as you put it, though it does for me), you might want to try a Firefox project that I've found: Firefox-Dynasty https://github.com/i3roly/firefox-dynasty/ which is Firefox 131 patched for earlier Mac OS's like ours; I realise this topic is solely for Chromium, but you could use both and get what you want and need.

 

[davigarma]

If Legacy doesn't support "platforms" (as you put it, though it does for me), you might want to try a Firefox project that I've found: Firefox-Dynasty https://github.com/i3roly/firefox-dynasty/ which is Firefox 131 patched for earlier Mac OS's like ours; I realise this topic is solely for Chromium, but you could use both and get what you want and need.

I use mavericks little time only when I need specific software. If Legacy dies, I will try other solutions

 

[Tankerthebuberz]

Bump

 

[Khagan]

Hey all
So i've been alternating between Arcticfox, palemoon, chrome 116, firefox esr and Chromium legacy, and so far, the latter suits my needs well.
Basically I just want a browser for google office (docs sheets etc.) and youtube, and the mac I use it on is not my main, but I use it cuz of attachment
But i'm super paranoid about safety and security, and my question is, can I use chromium legacy as the only browser on my mac? Are there any vulnerabilities/threats I should know about? Can I safely sign into it and other websites with my accounts?
Any responses will be highly appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[Tankerthebuberz]

Bump

 

[Khagan]

@Tankerthebuberz
Thanks alot for clarifying! I really needed some solid advice to commit to this browser! Cheers!

 

[RK78]

Hey all
So i've been alternating between Arcticfox, palemoon, chrome 116, firefox esr and Chromium legacy, and so far, the latter suits my needs well.
Basically I just want a browser for google office (docs sheets etc.) and youtube, and the mac I use it on is not my main, but I use it cuz of attachment
But i'm super paranoid about safety and security, and my question is, can I use chromium legacy as the only browser on my mac? Are there any vulnerabilities/threats I should know about? Can I safely sign into it and other websites with my accounts?
Any responses will be highly appreciated, thanks in advance!

I wouldn't call myself super paranoid for safety, maybe one notch below at very paranoid for safety. Despite using uBO, Malwarebytes Browser Guard, NoScript, Little Snitch, Block Block, and a few others, and despite WFH's constant attention to vulnerabilities and threats, for which I am enormously grateful, but which can't be the equivalent of the security of a proper update, until such time as Chromium Legacy receives the latest patches (up now to 128...something, with Chrom Leg still at 124...) I have all but stopped using this browser. Would prefer Chromium, but have switched to Pale Moon (at least while on High Sierra) with as many comparable extensions as possible.