Introducing Aquafox: A New Hope (TenFourFox fork)

[thewireless]

@Dronecatcher I saw your comment on Reddit. Since I do not have an account (I will probably have to create one in the future), I’m asking here on MacRumors. I read that you benchmarked Aquafox running your own personalized prefs.js file. Could you share your findings here? What changes did you make? I’d like to know in order to further optimize Aquafox.

Following your comment, I also benchmarked Aquafox and InterWebPPC with the AnTuTu HTML5 Test, both with a clean default profile. I found that InterWebPPC tends to hang during the Crypto test, which reduces its score to half that of Aquafox. This could, of course, be isolated to my setup, so I can't make a direct comparison myself.

 

[slideuphi]

Quick question, anyone heard of Aquafox 1.0.2 for use with Snow Leopard? Thanks in advance

 

[thewireless]

Quick question, anyone heard of Aquafox 1.0.2 for use with Snow Leopard? Thanks in advance

Unless you possess the ability to time travel, that release does not exist. The current version is 1.0.0, which should be compatible with Snow Leopard PPC.

 

[slideuphi]

Unless you possess the ability to time travel, that release does not exist. The current version is 1.0.0, which should be compatible with Snow Leopard PPC.

Thanks for that, chat gpt insisted that 1.0.2 does exist with snow leopard in mind, who knows why. I'm running snow leopard on a 2011 imac 2.7 intel core i5 and aquafox 1.0 has problems with yahoo and aol mail not allowing me to include attachments to outgoing mail. aquafox is also very slow on my machine (8GB ram)

 

[featherwhisker]

hi, i noticed that compared to IceWeaselPPC that AquaFox won't render fonts on Github correctly outside of the README file and that each browser is faster with some things and worse at others

is there a way for you to combine the strengths of both browsers?

 

[Dronecatcher]

@Dronecatcher I saw your comment on Reddit. Since I do not have an account (I will probably have to create one in the future), I’m asking here on MacRumors. I read that you benchmarked Aquafox running your own personalized prefs.js file. Could you share your findings here? What changes did you make? I’d like to know in order to further optimize Aquafox.

Following your comment, I also benchmarked Aquafox and InterWebPPC with the AnTuTu HTML5 Test, both with a clean default profile. I found that InterWebPPC tends to hang during the Crypto test, which reduces its score to half that of Aquafox. This could, of course, be isolated to my setup, so I can't make a direct comparison myself.

I've really lost track of the individual changes in the prefs file - this has been going on such a long time!
I've attached it so you can compare.
PS - Join Reddit with caution - people on there only tend to like answers/advice sprinkled in fairy dust - real world findings don't tend to go down well.

 

[wicknix]

aquafox is also very slow on my machine

That's because you are running a PowerPC application via Rosetta's emulation layer. You should really be using the Intel versions of Arctic Fox or InterWeb for Snow Leopard instead. You can find them here.

 

[Hughmac]

I've really lost track of the individual changes in the prefs file - this has been going on such a long time!
I've attached it so you can compare.
PS - Join Reddit with caution - people on there only tend to like answers/advice sprinkled in fairy dust - real world findings don't tend to go down well.

@Dronecatcher your prefs file has made a difference to my Aquafox performance - thanks very much

Cheers

Hugh

 

[slideuphi]

That's because you are running a PowerPC application via Rosetta's emulation layer. You should really be using the Intel versions of Arctic Fox or InterWeb for Snow Leopard instead. You can find them here.

Thanks for that. Do I need the 32 bit build or the 64?

 

[thewireless]

QT or VLC plugin would be great to watch at least YT in the browser. Is the support completely removed from the source?

It might be possible to enable plugin support again, but it has been well over 10 years since the decision to disable it was made. I really don't think it's right to reverse that decision. The QuickTime Enabler add-on still works on HTTP websites, such as a self-hosted Invidious or yt2009 instance, and the MP4 Enabler (new version coming soon™) still functions as well. If you really need plugins, you will have to use a different browser.

Thanks for that, chat gpt insisted that 1.0.2 does exist with snow leopard in mind, who knows why. I'm running snow leopard on a 2011 imac 2.7 intel core i5 and aquafox 1.0 has problems with yahoo and aol mail not allowing me to include attachments to outgoing mail. aquafox is also very slow on my machine (8GB ram)

ChatGPT is not a reliable source of information; it might be hallucinating. I would also like to inform you that Aquafox is only available for PowerPC computers. As @wicknix pointed out, you are most likely running it through Rosetta, which is probably the cause of the slowness you are experiencing.

hi, i noticed that compared to IceWeaselPPC that AquaFox won't render fonts on Github correctly outside of the README file and that each browser is faster with some things and worse at others

is there a way for you to combine the strengths of both browsers?

IceWeaselPPC is, as far as I know, an optimized and rebranded version of TenFourFox FPR13. Both Aquafox and IceWeaselPPC are based on TenFourFox, but Aquafox is based on a much newer version. The difference in speed could be attributed to their configurations or to the fact that older versions tend to be less bloated (Aquafox G5 has a 50% larger file size than IceWeaselPPC!).

I downloaded IceWeaselPPC from here: link (I assume this is the one you're talking about) and witnessed the font rendering myself, which is not only absent in Aquafox but also in TenFourFox FPR13, the very version IceWeaselPPC is based on. @wicknix, I would love to know what kind of magic you've put into IceWeaselPPC and InterWebPPC!

 

[featherwhisker]

IceWeaselPPC is, as far as I know, an optimized and rebranded version of TenFourFox FPR13. Both Aquafox and IceWeaselPPC are based on TenFourFox, but Aquafox is based on a much newer version. The difference in speed could be attributed to their configurations or to the fact that older versions tend to be less bloated (Aquafox G5 has a 50% larger file size than IceWeaselPPC!).

IceWeaselPPC doesn't seem *faster* overall persay, its just the actual browser UI freezes less (though actual pages seem to be the same speed)

 

[wicknix]

witnessed the font rendering myself, which is not only absent in Aquafox but also in TenFourFox FPR13, the very version IceWeaselPPC is based on. @wicknix, I would love to know what kind of magic you've put into IceWeaselPPC and InterWebPPC!

Whoa. Umm... that was like 5 years ago. I really don't remember. I didn't think i changed much, but maybe i did. If my brain kicks back in and i recall anything i will let you know! ;-)