Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

Performance, hardware, software, general buying and gaming discussion..
Post Reply
Message
Author
Pan-optical
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:32 pm
Location: Berlin, Germany

Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#1 Post by Pan-optical » Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:01 pm

As we know the aging PIII does not have SSE2 instruction support which means that software compiled for these instructions does not run or crash unexpectedly. MY T23 1GB is the last machine affected by this, as the P4 in the T30 has SSE2.

This affects modern Firefox after v48(?) and modern Chrome which do not run or crash on a T23 and earlier.

Options? You could compile it yourself but that's beyond the scope of most users.

Only option I have so far is a homebrew-compiled version of Pale-moon, itself an offshoot of Firefox (Windows X86 32bit only)
https://www.romanstefko.com/pale-moon-sse/

Thinkpad4by3
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2670
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:25 am
Location: N. Bellmore, ny

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#2 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:20 pm

Why are you trying to use a P3 in 2018 to browse the web? Thats the first problem. Without SSE2, performance will be abysmal at best.
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

Pan-optical
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:32 pm
Location: Berlin, Germany

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#3 Post by Pan-optical » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:58 pm

Looking around I found these:

Last Firefox version is 45.9.0 ESR, last release April 2017: https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox ... esr/win32/

A homebrew FF derivative called New Moon from Feb 2018: http://matejhorvat.si/en/unfiled/pmxp/index.htm

There is also a lightweight QTWeb browser, which I did not test: http://www.qtweb.net/about.html

shawross
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 662
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 5:48 am
Location: Perth Australia

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#4 Post by shawross » Wed Feb 21, 2018 4:39 am

Pan-optical wrote:Why are you trying to use a P3 in 2018 to browse the web?
+1
Active --- Love the X series
X301 W 7/Mint | X201 540M L Mint | X220 2520 W7/Mint

Nostalgia
X61 T7500 / T41 T42 T43 / A31

Rogue daily driver - Samsung RV511 15.6 " Screen - W 7

Pan-optical
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:32 pm
Location: Berlin, Germany

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#5 Post by Pan-optical » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:19 am

What has the age of the laptop to do with the ability to navigate the web and download old drivers, retro-games, demos, shareware, old software etc? How else would you get this?

astroidea
Freshman Member
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:20 pm
Location: Walnut, CA

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#6 Post by astroidea » Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:49 pm

A P3 laptop is probably less powerful than a $20 smartphone on eBay. :mrgreen:

Thinkpad4by3
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2670
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:25 am
Location: N. Bellmore, ny

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#7 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:46 pm

Pan-optical wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:19 am
What has the age of the laptop to do with the ability to navigate the web and download old drivers, retro-games, demos, shareware, old software etc? How else would you get this?
VirtualPC 2007 and a modern PC.
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#8 Post by kfzhu1229 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:00 pm

I do have FireFox 48.0.2 and Windows 7 installed on my maxed out T23 and A30p. They work just fine, if you only open a few tabs, install adblocker and also keep the browser debloated, and max out RAM. Of course, if you expect them to run like a brand new Lamborghini instead of a functional Volkswagen, go for Windows 2000 or Linux.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

micrex22
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 442
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:22 am
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#9 Post by micrex22 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:08 pm

kfzhu1229 wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:00 pm
I do have FireFox 48.0.2 and Windows 7 installed on my maxed out T23 and A30p. They work just fine, if you only open a few tabs, install adblocker and also keep the browser debloated, and max out RAM. Of course, if you expect them to run like a brand new Lamborghini instead of a functional Volkswagen, go for Windows 2000 or Linux.
W2K is a huge security risk, I wouldn't run any old NT--unless you're not dealing with any sensitive data and don't care about privacy or security on it (which is fair).

jaspen-meyer
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 837
Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 11:21 pm
Location: Pardubice, Czech Republic
Contact:

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#10 Post by jaspen-meyer » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:01 am

Either use the dated version of Palemoon you linked to, or compile it yourself.
The alternatives I use are not full-featured: links2, dillo, lynx, etc.

Powerusers can zip around the internet on a T23 with 1gb of ram.
T420 i7 3612QM seabios; T420 i7 3630QM; T400 Q9100 seabios; T61 P9600; T60 libreboot; x62; x60s libreboot, led; x24 xiphmont led

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#11 Post by kfzhu1229 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:02 pm

micrex22 wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:08 pm
W2K is a huge security risk, I wouldn't run any old NT--unless you're not dealing with any sensitive data and don't care about privacy or security on it (which is fair).
True that. But honestly it doesn't interfere too much other than making yourself worried for many ppl. And yes I am the kind of person who cares about privacy or security the least, and I do have a device with strong password, VPN, and doesn't leave my home's doors if I ever need that. I for one won't even set a password to my laptop and smartphone if it doesn't have a fingerprint sensor - not even picture password, facial scanning or pattern.
At the same time, I do know there are ppl who are more sensitive to these kinds of things. And to those ppl, I think using a T6x for such purposes make so much more sense.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

ThinkTwinki
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 1:45 pm
Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#12 Post by ThinkTwinki » Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:38 pm

jaspen-meyer wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:01 am
Either use the dated version of Palemoon you linked to, or compile it yourself.
The alternatives I use are not full-featured: links2, dillo, lynx, etc.

Powerusers can zip around the internet on a T23 with 1gb of ram.
Give some love to W3M. It's got pictures!

OP:

I think the biggest issue you're gonna have is Javascript. The modern web is trying to reach an equilibrium where there's no "wasted resources." Javascript is pretty much the only reason (besides really bad browser implementations) that systems freeze once enough tabs are open. As long as you've disabled it (NoScript) or compiled without support for a Javascript engine, you should be fine with Chromium. I've found the each tab is a thread/process to be superior on UNIX derivatives, as long as there's no Javascript not letting threads sleep!

ThinkTwinki
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 1:45 pm
Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Re: Internet browser for T23 and older without SSE2 (Pentium III)

#13 Post by ThinkTwinki » Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:39 pm

ThinkTwinki wrote:
Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:38 pm
jaspen-meyer wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:01 am
Either use the dated version of Palemoon you linked to, or compile it yourself.
The alternatives I use are not full-featured: links2, dillo, lynx, etc.

Powerusers can zip around the internet on a T23 with 1gb of ram.
Give some love to W3M. It's got pictures!

OP:

I think the biggest issue you're gonna have is Javascript. The modern web is trying to reach an equilibrium where there's no "wasted resources." Javascript is pretty much the only reason (besides really bad browser implementations) that systems freeze once enough tabs are open. As long as you've disabled it (NoScript) or compiled without support for a Javascript engine, you should be fine with Chromium. I've found the "each tab is a thread/process" to be superior on UNIX derivatives, as long as there's no Javascript not letting threads sleep!

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Thinkpad - General HARDWARE/SOFTWARE questions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 47 guests