[N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Here is what I am working on lately - making a faster web browser for our N900s because MicroB is really outdated. I'm building Mozilla Firefox browser for Maemo 5 (a.k.a. Fennec)

Important:This fennec works ONLY under CSSU-Thumb- if you dont have it I strongly recommend you to install it!

First there are a few releases of the Mozilla browser:
Release : The most stable version of the browser
Beta : The name speaks for itself
Aurora : This is pre-beta release - (alpha release)
Central : The least stable version of the browser
Of course 'instability' is relative and everything is tested multiple times before it was uploaded.

Current versions of those releases
Release : 19
Beta : 20
Aurora : 21
Central : 22


Download links:

1. v17:QT
   Quote:

   Added 2013-03-19 00:07:01

   Rapidshare : https://rapidshare.com/files/9416860...17.0_armel.deb
   
2. v17:QT+pixman
   Quote:

   Added 2013-03-23 13:36:25

   Rapidshare : https://rapidshare.com/files/2950585...17.0_armel.deb

I recommend:v17:QT+pixman


Side notes

• In version 18 we have a serious scrolling problem and it's not suitable for everyday users. Right from that version(18) Mozilla introduced a new JIT engine
  Quote:

  Today we enabled IonMonkey, our newest JavaScript JIT, in Firefox 18. IonMonkey is a huge step forward for our JavaScript performance and our compiler architecture. But also, it’s been a highly focused, year-long project on behalf of the IonMonkey team, and we’re super excited to see it land.

  and I believe it is the problem causing that scroll bugs.
• Version 19 doesnt launch at all for Maemo......................
• Looks like because I'm building Fennec with thumb packages installation of non Thumb Fennec will still require CSSU-Thumb, so I cease building non Thumb Fennec-s
• To enable flash support open Fennec, type the following adress
  Quote:

  about:config

  find 'plugin.disable'
  Click on 'false'
• With some plugins installed Fennec startup is minimized for ~20 seconds, if you see that even after that delay Fennec hasnt started open /home/user/.mozilla/fennec/******.default/ and delete every file that starts with 'sessionstore'

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

Downloaded 17 non-thumb, couldn't install, dpkg said it depends on qt packges in thumb versions :(

edit: however, on my second n900 with cssu-thumb, installation went smooth (well, there was a problem with pre-removal script from old version of fennec installed there, but that's not related to this version of package), however i didn't test yet, will post later if anything breaks.

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

just curious, are you going to build anything with gstreamer support?

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

Thanks Tannago.

I installed fennec V17 yesterday. When I open it, it tries to open but it disappears. Reboot did not give a solution. I use KP51r1 & CSSU-Thumb.

Thanks in advance.

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

Y Feneec's UI is Not Faster as Opera?

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

The newer gcc & g++ require some cssu-thumb packages. That means that if I say the compiler to build for ARM, not for Thumb( just because of the fact it is build with Thumb packages) it will still require CSSU-Thumb....

That means that building for ARM with Thumb packages is useless I will build only Thumb versions from now on.

I'm still working on that because gstreamer has some problems under Maemo SDK, first it is an ancient version, second I have the source to upgrade but it it needs newer version of the ancient (too) glib2.20. The moment I find a newer glib(for X86! not for armel, I found for armel) I will build with gstreamer support

2 variants
First : With some plugins loaded( I tried adblock plus & Phony) Fennec takes 20 seconds to start.

If you haven't installed any plugins : Open /home/user/.mozilla/fennec/
delete everything in there, restart the phone and it must work.

Here goes the difference between Mozilla and Opera. Mozilla abandoned Fennec for N900 when it was version 7 now we have 18....Opera doesnt abandon it's browsers like that, improves them, adds new features and fixes. In one word right now I'm doing the job for Mozilla and I can pretty much only change compiler flags to improve the browser I dont know it's source...it's big.

I don't know about you but I like that Fennec- it's reliable and fast & the most important thing is flash support that is missing in opera

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

I get this for both links:

Download not available
Download permission denied by uploader. (0b67c2f5)

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

Could you publish source packages or/and exact procedure how you managed to build that (including build options - compiler switches, etc.)? I would love to try to build that for non-thumb.

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

!!!Newer build uploaded!!! With more fixes and 5-10% speed improvement. - look at the first post

!!!Since building for non-thumb with thumb libraries is pointless I will provide only CSSU-Thumb builds from now on

For you I created a Mediafire mirror - look at the first post

First you need to create a new Scratchbox environment with newer gcc/g++ : http://wiki.maemo.org/CSSU-thumb_too....7.2-linaro%29

!!! If you want to build for non-thumb you WILL want to skip the step with adding CSSU-Thumb repos. I havent tried it, so I dont guarantee anything

At some time you may see an error about libfakeroot, issue:
Then you must download sources, make mozconfig file( contains compiling instructions) and build. :D

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

That's exactly what I wanted to do - create new target in scratchbox or destroy my current thumb target ;) I was just curious if you passed some special configuration options or just used the default maemo config ;)

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

Just follow the instructions and you will have your new target completely set up. It's straight-forward process without the need of any mental activity. There are no special configuration options ;)

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

I know how to set up thumb target with linaro compilers, as I have it already set up for a few weeks ;) I was thinking only about special configuration options to Fennec browser compilation, but if there aren't any - great to hear ;) Did you use the "mozilla-esr17" branch for v17? (something like http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-esr17/ )?

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

Mozilla screwed everything, v18 has that awful scrolling and v19 can't be launched at all. Tried with the optimizing compiling options and the most simple compilation and still no success, looks like they completely abandoned Maemo. Big thanks to mozilla :/

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

i would target getting a decent 17 esr build script for now then. Stable with longer support for enterprise, get a decent script and updates can be pushed easier.

Then it will free time to investigate other versions. with 18/19 have you tried both gtk and qt interfaces?

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

I have the version installed that comes with CSSU thumb:
17.01a1-maemo-thumb0
How does your build differ from this one?
Will you upload yours to the CSSU.thumb repo?

freemangordon and qwazix are working on porting the Harmattan Fennec with Qt-UI to fremantle. Have you checked out their work?
That UI is supposed to be super fast!

If you'd like to make greater changes, surely you could get help from Mozilla people to find your way around the code?

I can't appreciate how a startup time of 20 secs is fast for you.
On my N900, it feels a good deal slower than MicroB (removed Adblock and AdFlashblock!), be it UI, startup or page load time. Also, it crashes a lot.
What I like about Fennec is it looks good, it has tabs, add-ons are being made for it by mozilla community, it syncs with desktop Firefox etc., the whole shabang that comes with Firefox.
Except all that is ruined by its persistant sssllllllloooooowwwwness...
:(

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds
 

Yes I have tried esr and both gtk and qt but still results are the same, mozilla has messed up the code...

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

I think it will be better if you join me and qwazix and help bringing embedLite to Fremantle. Check this http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=364 and decide ;)

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

subscribed!
i plan too try this out tomorrow. will let you know how i go. thx in advance

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

where can I find CSSU-Thumb to install please?

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Easy, http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=84829

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Even more optimized version of Fennec 17 I'm about to release in a few days. I'm still testing and applying various tweaks. Stay tuned!

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

it's smooth? near close to opera maybe? flash enabled ? some details? thank you for your work

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Yes it is smooth, but still there is always room for improvement. It's as smooth as Opera. Flash is working. Based on 'v17 release' branch. As I said before I will work on it until I run out of optimization options and my purpose is to make it replace MicroB~!

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

this would be a great refresh for n900 , awaiting your release to test it

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Mind to share what you're tweaking? That would be useful for embedLite too.

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

I would love to hear more details about whole compilation process step-by-step, as I tried to do non-thumb compilation and failed :(

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Cannot wait for this! Here's hoping for a complete replacement for MicroB for all web browsing! Thanks for doing this!

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

@tanago - if you manage to do that, I promise to buy you whatever sane quantity of beer you want when I pass via Burgas on my way south during the summer :)

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

CPU & Memory(RAM & Offline Cache) usage is awful on the N900 simply because mozilla(small 'm' on purpose ;) ) has optimized Fennec ONLY for Android. This is what makes Fennec slower when compared to MicroB - only in terms of page interactions-scrolling, loading, switching between tabs, etc.. ; scripts are already running smoothly( according to sunspider bench. 6000 ms. - my Fennec vs 21000 ms. - MicroB : 3.5 times faster!)

It will ALWAYS fail~! Simply because scratchbox's gcc is 4.2 and you need a lot newer to compile the new versions of Fennec (15+)
...So... the newer gcc is found in the thumb repositories and thus you can only build Fennec 15+ for CSSU Thumb ;)

All the N900 users are welcome! Im doing this for you :) I just feel bad that this phone doesnt have bright future...

That'd be nice :P

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

any news on this project?

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

still testing a few options, I will provide a download link probably on monday ;)

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

So, here's what I did until now!
Let's sum it up, READ EVERYTHING BEFORE POSTING

Things that are still unfixed first:
-As said I tried fixing CPU and memory leaks that Mozilla never tried to fix. Don't expect miracles.

-While the browser is loading a page it's best to not interact with it because CPU usage is 100% and browser responsiveness is very low. Once the page is loaded everything's good

-If you open a site that you have never opened there will be a few seconds when the browser is caching, at that time, browser responsiveness is very low. For example - I benchmarked loading time of "maemo.org" via "numion.com/stopwatch", first result - 24 secs, second - 11, third&fourth - 7 secs.

-Some keyboard keys like / & ' cant be input while typing in forms from the hardware keyboard (these can be input from virtual keyboard) but can in address bar. I cant figure out why..

-Still cant enable layers acceleration which will give a VERY BIG performance boost

Let's sum up the good things now
-Firefox Icon and label

-Improved greatly page rendering speed

-a LOT smoother page scrolling now

-decent flash support ( to enable flash support, disabled by default, open "about:config" search for plugin.disable and set to false) but take in mind that loading a page with flash content is significantly slower. And dont forget to update flash player, look at the respective thread in this forum

-30% page loading times; +20% more fps in flash and other content, if u want even more speed- overclock it!

Now I'm going to test a few settings in about:config to see if I will be able to achieve even more ;)

Download Link
http://rapidshare.com/files/94168600...17.0_armel.deb

P.S. Updated first post of the thread.

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Thanks a lot! And I mean a LOT.

I liked the Fennec logo more, though, to emphasize a personal preference.

Is the fennec.prerm problem that crashes out when uninstalling the program, the one some Fennec n900 packages had, gone now?

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Yes there is no problem when trying to uninstall it.

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

How optified is this build?? I only have 12 to 13MiB free in rootfs and I don't want this to finish filling it up :)

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

It will take up to 0 MB from your rootfs :D

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Just tried the new pixman libraries and all I can say is that everything is sooo much smoother. Here it is, try it by yourself
http://rapidshare.com/files/29505856...17.0_armel.deb

Also I would like to see ANY feedback on this, what is your opinion? Write a few words, I will greatly appreciate it!

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

the smoothness on the webpages is great but the one in menu is slow , very slow

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Hm, which version are you talking about? This new, with pixman, or the previous one? With the new one I don't see any slowness and even less in the menu.

NB! One thing I haven't mentioned anywhere is that there are 2 version of Fennec - with QT and GTK GUIs. QT is faster but is less adapted for Maemo and has some bugs with virtual keyboard support and buttons and text fields placement on some pages. Also GTK Fennec can be used in Portrait mode. I'm releasing only those QT builds but I have built many GTK ones too. I just built GTK with that pixman library, gonna test it and see how it is, then probably upload it.

P.S.: Edited the first post.
I forgot to mention that I took into account Raimu's request to stick to Fennec and not Firefox branding(Icon and labels)

P.S. 2: As I thought GTK build is again a crawling snail, absolute trash...

Re: [N900] Mozilla Fennec browser builds (only for CSSU Thumb)
 

Cripes, this thing does feel a good bit faster! Thank you so much. :)