@Hades32,
The Opera version on the N800 (or rather OS2007 and older) is a mobile version, i.e. no integrated email etc. It would be much bigger and slower if it had (the memory footprint would probably be much bigger too).
As for the second question: Linux runs on many (a dozen at least) architectures, so just 'linux distro' won't be enough. The versions you're thinking of are for Intel x86-based CPUs (i.e. Pentiums and compatibles like AMD), while the Nokia internet tablets use an ARM CPU (very common on mobile devices because it uses way less battery power). So, those versions can't run at all on the N800/N810.

Sorry for the multi-reply.

> I tried the MicroB engine on the N800 browser (...) and found to be inferior

I'm not a browser performance expert but a quick answer is that it depends on what you look at. The Mozilla based browser will open properly many popular websites that Opera can't render totally (see all the rich AJAX family).

Think also that the Mozilla based browser released this summer was under development, explicitly imperfect to gather user feedback and bugs. I'm overall happy using the OS2008 browser. The fact of having an open source engine opens many perspectives in terms of development (including runtime, widgets, extensions...) that non-free alternatives can't offer in the same way.


> I don't get Nokia sometimes.

It's good to ask, then.

> They release the microb and RTcomm as open betas for us to do some free
> bug testing for them

It looks like someone forced you to download and test. If you perceive it like this, please don't feel exploited and refuse to use and report any feedback about software under development.

> but they do NOT release betas of any new firmwares?

Releasing one application under development (1-to-few packages with a simple relation of dependencies and a single owner) can't be compared to release a whole firmware under development (hundreds of packages, multiple owners, tc). In the way we work now, preparing such release would take a lot of resources.

We are considering the possibility of releasing the open source stack of the OS (aka maemo Linux) earlier to help developers integrating and testing their software earlier, and receive feedback & bugs from real users about the code under development. See http://desdeamericaconamor.org/blog/node/378 . Looks like simple to execute? Well, it's not.


> mostly I deal with things that can't be adequately tested in scratchbox.

Yes, we understand. This is one of the main reasons why we would push these early maemo images (NOT full firmware because including non-free software just complicate things from a licensing and operational point of view).

> *****s, the lot of them. You'd think a DEVELOPER would know Opera isn't open source.

Thanks for insulting me. Alright, what I meant is that Nokia is not partnering with Opera to bring their browser to Chinook/OS2008. btw I'm not a developer but I do know what is and what is not open source in the tablets OS.

You are correct. The quick answer is that it depends on what you look at. On N800, MicroB renders most pages better than Opera but MicroB engine has issues on some web pages where it loses touch scrolling completely or loads slower. Having a choice of engines is nice so you can choose the correct engine if you know which works on which website better.
I have come across many websites where MicroB engines loses touch scrolling and the two popular websites that I recommend for testing this are http://www.wsj.com and http://www.cnn.com.
The indirect feedback I have received so far is that it is not fixed in ITOS2008 yet is because it is a little complicated...

We can't expect the average end user doing anything like this. They expect one browser to work well with all websites. It makes sense that Nokia concentrates in the development of one browser for the tablets to achieve the optimal performance.

You are right on this. Hopefully, MicroB will keep getting better and better and any such issues will be resolved soon. In a device marketed as an "Internet tablet", it is most important for the browser to work well with the web sites.

Unfortunately, this hasn't changed for the N810. No touch scrolling on some pages, like WSJ. I did notice an oddity during rendering, though. Let's see if we can't get that corrected. On the whole, WSJ rendering is fine and quick on the N810, IMO. Then again, I don't have a N800 next to me right now for a comparison.

Disable Javascript and the WSJ and CNN will scroll fine. My bet is they are capturing click events, but I'll let someone else dig into that...

Moonshine, you are awesome!! I disabled JavaScript and now the scrolling works on www.wsj.com and www.cnn.com!!

Great catch!! I can live with JavaScript disabled for web surfing and only enable it when needed until this issue is resolved

Javascript creates a lot of trouble as used on some sites, even on desktops (some of the javascript is so Windows- or IE-oriented, or both, that it fails miserably on other platforms). And what Moonshine describes for WSJ and CNN is, I guess, typical web-designer-trying-to-be-too-smart-for-his-own-good. Or possibly that would apply to the web design "tool" they're using.

In any case, what I really was about to say was that Firefox has extensions.. one of them is per-site enabling of javascript. Now that we're going MicroB, maybe extensions wouldn't be out of the question a bit further up the road..

I turned on script debugger on my Windows PC and verified that CNN uses onMouseDown event. But I know that iPhone browser works fine on such sites because the web developers probably coded their site to handle that browser.

So my question is
How do I change user agent string for my N800/N810 browser (MicroB engine) to be same as iPhone browser to test this?

A lot more sites have probably been tested with iPhone browser and since it has touch scrolling, I am thinking that this might allow better touch-scrolling with MicroB.