Loose ends

Based on some emails I have gotten recently I realized that I had left a couple crucial pieces of info out of all my Linux content to date. The google search bots tell me what info people are lacking also and the main two things are right clicking with a single button mouse and finding/installing software in Lubuntu. Although I have hinted at ways to install software in past articles I have never gone into great detail. The right and middle click on a single button mouse is one of the biggest questions of late and the lack of info has left some thinking they need a 3rd party mouse. You don't.



Right and middle clicking

The default methods in Lubuntu are quite simple. F12 = right click and F11 = middle click. Simply hold the arrow over what you want to right or middle click and press the appropriate key.

As Mac users though many of us have spent years or even decades using the control key to right click things so it would certainly help the transition to make it work this way for Linux also.

There is a daemon named "mouseemu" which is a button emulator for single button mice. This is not part of Lubuntu by default so you need to download and install it which will also warm you up for the second part of this post. F11 and F12 are set to emulate clicks by default but you need mouseemu to edit/change this. If you're happy with F11 and 12 then there is no need to use this.

To download and install it open Synaptic found within System Tools in the LXDE menu. Enter your password then click on search any type "mouseemu" followed by return. Double click it to mark for install and then click the Apply button at the top.

After installation open the file manager and navigate to /etc/default. Once there click the tools menu and select "open current folder as root" followed by your password. Once you have root access simply double click mouseemu to open for editing.

To make right click activate with the control key simply remove the "#" at the beginning (not the one in the middle) of the following line:

#RIGHT_CLICK=”-right 29 272″ # Left Ctrl + click

To make middle click activate with the apple/command key remove the "#" at the beginning of the following line:

#MID_CLICK=”-middle 125 272″ # Left Apple Key (LEFTMETA) + click

I personally don't use middle click much so I only change the right click function myself. It's all about preference.  I use the freed up F12 as my Kupfer launch key.

To activate these modifications save the changes first and then fire up the LXTerminal and type the following command to restart mouseemu:

sudo /etc/init.d/mouseemu restart

Not only can you click things the way you want now but you also have an idea on how to work with config files if this is your first time.



Synaptic: The Swiss Army Knife


I have hinted about the greatness of Synaptic in the past but have never gone into many specifics about why it's better and how it works. In my experiences it's the most capable and reliable package manager on Linux period. On PowerPC Linux especially it's the most versatile and powerful GUI for updating, downloading, installing and fixing software. It's all you need for all those needs.

Finding and installing software

This is a basic process that you have possibly already done above in the clicking config edit but that was an easy one because there will typically only be one result for mouseemu. When you search for something like LibreOffice for example there are many results for every type of related file or app. In this situation it is best to look for the one with both a Ubuntu logo and simply the name and description of it like this. It certainly doesn't need the Ubuntu logo next to it to work but these tend to be the most optimized apps and such.

Once you find what you want double click it to mark for install which also automatically selects any other directly associated item that is part of the package needed. You can search for several things in a row and mark each for installation as you go. When you have found everything you were after click apply to install everything you marked.

Other great ways to search are with the architecture option which will be sure to show you nothing but PowerPC supported software. The Sections button helps you find things by category for those that know the need they have but not what names to search for.


Updating

This is very easy. Launch Synaptic and click the status button. Simply by selecting the "Installed (upgradable)" like this you can see all available updates for the kernel, apps or whatever someone has updated.

To install the updates just click "Mark all Upgrades" followed by "Apply". Wait for the updates to install. Very simple. Any and all updates work best this way.


Fixing failed installs, updates or broken dependencies

As great and reliable as Synaptic is it does mess up on rare occasions. If an install fails early you can normally just restart again by clicking apply once more. If it fails mid way or later then you will either need to fix broken dependencies or clear the install and do it over.

To check for a broken dependency click the "Custom Filters" button followed by selecting the broken filter.  If you do have a broken dependency in the list then you just need to right click it and selct "Mark for reinstallation".  If there is nothing there then you need to do the install again but first it needs to be sudo cleaned and updated back to normal in the terminal.

To clear out the gunk fire up the LXTerminal and enter the following commands:

sudo apt-get clean

After your pass type:

sudo apt-get update

After that you can launch Synaptic and do it again. I have never seen it fail twice in a row.

In closing

This is all you really need to know to get these things accomplished. The more you get used to it the more things flow with ease. Hopefully this helps all the people this post was written for. If you need more detail on something or get stuck please leave a comment and explain.

Linux content and your ideas

I am currently working on plans for a few of my own ideas for upcoming Linux content but would also like to hear some of the reader ideas.  Like the OS X content and your ideas post last month I am always open to content ideas the readers would like covered.

What Linux related things do you guys need the most help with?  What type of content would you like more of? 

This will also be a good way to gauge what the new to Linux people are having the most issues with.  There also needs to be content for the more advanced users so I want to hear about ideas for those as well.  It's not that I have any problems with thinking up new things to write but rather that I also want to write content the regular readers want to see.

Let the ideas flow.

Luakit

Luakit is a very lightweight Webkit based browser for Linux and BSD. I was told about this a while ago by dr. dave who is a regular reader here and who's comments are always very helpful and interesting. Thanks again, Dave.

Description of it from the Luakit site:

"Luakit is a highly configurable, browser framework based on the Webkit web content engine and the GTK+ toolkit. It is very fast, extensible by Lua and licensed under the GNU GPL v3 license. It is primarily targeted at power users, developers and any people with too much time on their hands who want to have fine-grained control over their web browsers behaviour and interface."

For the last couple weeks I have been playing with it on Lubuntu 12.04 and am extremely impressed by the speed and simplicity of it.  There is virtually no overhead at all.  My G4 500 MHz Stormtrooper runs it at a clip that would satisfy even the most impatient of people.  With 4 tabs open right now it is using 37 MB RAM.  It launches in approx. 1.5 sec on an old PATA HD and most sites load in 2-5 sec.  This blog for example loads in about 2 sec. 


The basics

To load a page run: luakit url

Control + T loads a new tab

The rest is all up to you via config files.  Here is a list of the config files available for editing:

• rc.lua -- is the main config file which dictates which and in what order different parts of the browser are loaded.
• binds.lua -- defines every action the browser takes when you press a button or combination of buttons (even mouse buttons, direction key, etc) and the browser commands (I.e. :quit, :restart, :open, :lua , etc).
• theme.lua -- change fonts and colours used by the interface widgets.
• window.lua -- is responsible for building the luakit browser window and defining several helper methods (I.e. w:new_tab(uri), w:close_tab(), w:close_win(), etc).
• webview.lua -- is a wrapper around the webview widget object and is responsible for watching webview signals (I.e. "key-press", "load-status", "resource-request-starting", etc). This file also provides several window methods which operate on the current webview tab (I.e. w:reload(), w:eval_js("code here.."), w:back(), w:forward()).
• modes.lua -- manages the modal aspect of the browser and the actions that occur when switching modes.
• globals.lua -- change global options like scroll/zoom step, default window size, useragent, search engines, etc.

Who should use it

For those that prefer pointing and clicking everything they do this may not be the one for you.  People that don't like using run commands to load pages will certainly be turned off. 

For those that are comfortable computing like this or at least want to learn to be this is an extremely flexible screamer of a browser.  The performance is blinding fast for the 500 MHz hardware it's running on.  A faster system could only do better.


Links:
Luakit Site - Screenshot

PowerPC gaming on Mac OS

If you’re like me then you prefer the games from the PowerPC era.  Not simply because they were coded for the architecture but rather that this was the best era in Mac and PC gaming in my opinion.  The reason I feel this way is that the games from this era are more raw and simple with a lot less fluff.  Many modern games focus mainly on graphic realism and lack the quality experience that older ones had.

Another great thing about older games is that you don’t need a video card that costs several hundred dollars to play them.  A 32 MB card is often fine for most of them.  For greats like Oni from the late 90’s you can get high frame rates on 8 MB vid controllers.  The games in the later part of the PowerPC era (03-06) are the ones that tend to benefit from the 64 MB and up cards.  These two examples cover the extreme ends of the video hardware needed for PowerPC gaming.

In my experiences I would say that the CPU plays a more important role in Mac gaming compared to the wintel world.  I say that because in my direct experiences with many games it’s the CPU that makes the most difference. An example of this was some testing I did a couple years back.  I tested a Sawtooth with a G4 1.0 GHz 7455 and Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB vs. another Sawtooth with a G4 1.8 GHz 7448 and a Radeon 7500 32 MB.  The 1.8 GHz system beat the snot out of the 1.0 GHz in every single way.  Although the 9800 in the slower system is a far better GPU the difference is negated by a CPU that is clocked 80% faster.  Obviously the 9800 is better suited for the 1.8 GHz which is where it lives now but those tests were to prove a point at the time.  This was all during a debate where others had claimed that the GPU was far more important for Mac gaming.

It makes sense to break up games by system requirements so people can try the ones within the ability of the hardware they have.  Although these games are all harder to find these days they are pretty much all still available if you look hard enough in the right places.  I will list all the options I can think of but will really only comment on the ones I have direct experience with.  I didn’t really start gaming on Macs until a good year or more into the G3 era around early 98.  Because of this I cannot really comment on the earliest games for the 601-604 CPU’s.

Most of these have reviews on Inside Mac Games dot com.  The ones that do will contain a link to the review in the title.  Inside Mac Games is the number one most trusted source for me and many Mac gamers.  The site is particularly good for older game info.

Group 1: G3 - G4 350-700 MHz – Rage 128 or higher

Although the selection is limited in this low end of the scale the titles available are quality games. 

Quake I, II and III

I and II are a mixed bag of good and bad but III is one of my favourite games ever on the Mac.  Quake I has the worst graphics but many tend to prefer it to II.  Quake II looks much better but the gaming experience is declined quite a bit.  The maps in it are quite redundant and it simply isn’t the greatest experience.

Quake III took everything up a few notches.  The graphics and game play are stellar compared to the previous two.  I started playing this in 1999 when I bought the Stormtrooper new.  The stock configuration was a G3 350 MHz with a Rage 128 16 MB and it played III like a champ.  ID software did an amazing job optimizing it for the G3 systems and later the G4.  I play the G4 optimized OS X version on my 1.8 GHz with Radeon 9800.  I get well over 200 FPS at 1920 and over 300 FPS @ 1280.  Needless to say there is never even a hint of lag.  It also plays great on the modern revision of my Stormtrooper with a G4 500 and Radeon 7000 PCI.

The truly great thing about all 3 versions of this game is that they are all built for both classic OS and X.  III plays even better on X in my experiences.

Oni

This is one of the final pure Bungie games before Microsoft bought them.  The game play is outstanding and can be quite challenging in later levels.  The official requirements are a G3 300 MHz and an 8 MB vid card.  I have seen it play fine on a beige minitower G3 233 MHz with Rage 128 16 MB.

When you consider that this game was released in 1999 and has such low requirements the graphics are quite amazing.  I play it at 1920 and quality set to highest on my 1.8 GHz G4 and it looks fantastic for it’s age.

It’s a third person shooter much like Tomb Raider but is a far better game IMO.  The hand-to-hand fighting is so fun in this game that I almost never use the gun.  I only shoot when facing one of the enemies which is only shooting and not approaching to fight.  The gun selection leaves a lot to be desired so that is certainly part of my hand-to-hand preference.  To be fair though the gun selection is the only area the game lacks quality in my opinion.

Like Quake there are Classic and X options for Oni.  The X option is very elegant in that all you have to do is attach the X app to the original Classic game content folder.

Abuse

This classic side scroller has been a favourite since 99.  I bought it along with the B&W Stormtrooper in Aug. 99 via the Bungie Classic pack which included 6 games.  I only remember that one of the others was Marathon because I only ever played Abuse on a regular basis.  I tried Marathon a couple times and gave it away along with all the others besides Abuse.

As far as I know there was never an X version made so this is Classic only.  I played it on 8.6 and all the 9 versions without issue.  There is a version for PowerPC Linux which I installed a while ago and will play more when I have a chance.

Shogo

Shogo is another first person shooter like Quake.  The maps and weapon selection are superior in Shogo IMO.  Some of the maps are so big that it’s hard to imagine until you see it yourself.  I have not played this since about 2004 because my disc became damaged and I never attempted getting another.

Just thinking of this game as I write this makes me want to get it again.  From 2003-2004 a few friends and I played this over LAN together at least once a week.  It’s a perfect game for LAN and online play because the more that play on a level the more fun it is.

I have never heard of a OS X version so if you can find a copy it would be for 8.5-9 on Classic.  

Spider-Man 2

Although this game is clearly designed for a younger teen it is still quite fun to play at times.  The graphics look decent if you have a good enough card.  It does list needing a 32MB vid card but I have played it on a 16 MB Rage 128 with everything turned down.  The CPU requirement is a G3 700 MHz.  I have never played it on a G3 but have on G4’s as slow as 400 MHz with decent results. 

If you have an older child or teen or just really like Spider-Man then this game is worth looking into.

Other options for this hardware group:

Marathon (all versions)

Carmageddon

Deer Hunter

Sim City (I & II)

Tomb Raider (I, II and III)

Myth (I & II)

Star Wars - Jedi Academy

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 

Ghost Recon
Rainbow Six
Deus Ex

Group 2: G4 800 MHz-1.0 GHz – Dual G4 450-533 MHz – Radeon 7500/Geforce 2 32 MB or higher

This is the smallest of the groups in terms of selection because only Halo really fits into this.  Most other Mac games are either a good deal below or above Halo in system requirements.  Games like Battlefield 1942 and Command and Conquer generals technically fit within this hardware requirement but they play like crap.

The good news is that all the games from group 1 will play even better on this hardware.

Halo: Combat Evolved (1.5)

This would be the featured game within this hardware spectrum.  If you like first person and have never played this game then you’re really missing out.  The requirements are a G4 800 MHz and a 32MB vid card.  It’s OS X only and although it will play on Radeon 7500 and lower I recommend an 8500 or higher.

Quality game and quality graphics so you really can’t go wrong.  The game play can get rather intense at times and the maps are quite good.  I tend to prefer the mostly outdoor maps as the building based ones are a bit redundant. 


Other options for this hardware:

Monopoly

Lord of the Rings

Group 3: G4 1.2 GHz+ - Dual G4 800 MHz+ - G5 - Radeon 8500/Geforce 4 Ti or higher

It’s easy to understand why this group is where Mac PowerPC gaming is the best because of both selection and graphics.

One thing I need to mention about GPU’s is that the numbering systems that ATI and Nvidia used with some cards make no sense.  A layperson would assume a Radeon 9000 or 9200 was better than an 8500 but that is not the case at all.  Both the 9000 and 9200 are based on an underpowered 8500 chip.  The rest of the Radeon are numbered in a way that represent the power delivered.

With the Nvidia cards found in Macs there is some confusion with the Geforce 3 and 4.  A Geforce 3 will trump a standard 4 (aka MX) but a 4 Ti will beat a 3.  The Geforce 4 MX is only very slightly above the 2 in performance.

Command & Conquer Generals and Zero Hour

These last few years I have played this game more than any other by far.  Before it I was never into RTS games but this one made me addicted.  It was released in 2004 followed by the Zero Hour expansion pack in 2005.

Once you get bored of playing the built in levels you can enjoy endless possibilities by playing skirmishes.  The online play is very good but it has to be PowerPC vs. PowerPC or Intel vs. Intel.  Aspyr and EA wrote a 1.04 patch that added universal architectures because before that it was PowerPC only.  Even with the universal patch you can’t play Intel users with your PowerPC.  On Gameranger people generally title the games by architecture for this reason.

The requirements say a G4 1.0 GHz but it isn’t smooth until you get up to 1.2 GHz in my experience.  Even with a Radeon 9800.  I have had good results with it on the dual 867 MHz MDD I used to own with a Radeon 9600.  It played well enough on the dual 867 that it would also be fine on a dual 800.

I play it these days on the 1.8 GHz with 9800 @ 1024 on medium quality.  The reason it’s set a bit low is that it makes the larger maps much smoother and I prefer those.  Map speed is crucial on an RTS game.

Battlefield 1942

This is easily my 2nd favourite game.  It offers about the best selection of expansion packs and mods of any game from this era.  The deluxe edition was released for Mac in 2004 after about two years as Windows only.

The requirements are listed as a G4 867 and 32 MB vid card but this is unrealistic in my experiences.  You can get by fine with a Radeon 7500 but for true performance without everything set the lowest a 1.2GHz or higher will be better. 

I have the Road to Rome expansion and the Desert Combat mod.  It's easy to waste hours in this game driving around the desert in an Abrams tank looking for things to kill.  The standard WWII levels are great but the desert mod gives it much more modern and powerful weapons. 

The game has something to suit everyone.  You can drive a tank, APC, fly a plane/jet/helicopter, missile truck, steer and shoot a battleship, use anti-aircraft guns or just run around with a gun shooting people.

Quake 4

I need to note off the top that this needs a G4 1.6 GHz+ so it's above the 1.2GHz low end of the group.  My experience with it is minimal but it did play well enough on my 1.8 with 9800.  I had all the quality turned down though and ran it at 1024.  A dual or quad G5 would be better for this game.

True Crime: The Streets of LA

This is kind of like Grand Theft Auto for good guys because you play a cop rather than a thug.  I was given the store copy by a friend in 2006 and have only played it a few times.  It could certainly be a good one for those that like to drive and race cars in their games. 

Call of Duty I and II

I have the first one and hardly ever play it but not because of a lack of interest.  Once I have more time for gaming I will play it more.  The first version requires an 867 MHz but like others above it realistically needs more.  The 2nd needs a G5 1.8GHz or higher.  The first version at least has some expansions packs etc.

Stubbs the Zombie

If you like games that will make you laugh and let you do silly crap then this is the one for you. I have played it a few times and found it reasonably enjoyable. This one would appeal more to the 8-15 age bracket.


Others:

Let me know and I will list them.

Closing comments

As with everything I write I tend to only base it on things I have experience with.  If you feel other games are worthy of mention then leave a comment and I will add it to the post to help spread the word.  Explain what you like about it and what specs/settings it plays well with.  My life is so insanley busy that my mind is always jumbling many things so I am sure I have left out obvious ones like Unreal Tournament.  I have no experience with it or what hardware it plays best on so if someone wants to chime in on that it would be great.  I'm looking for games I have not mentioned or added insight to those that I have.

Posts like this especially are meant to have reader contributions to spread the word to me and others.  We all play and know about different games so lets work together in making this an ongoing thing for games.  If you take the time to post something worthy in comments I promise that I will add it. 

I went into writing this thinking it would be maybe 1000-1500 words but it has ended up being almost 3000.  I guess you don't realize how much you have to say about something until you start writing it down.  To stress the reader contribution end of it again I had about twice what I expected to write from just my experiences. 

There are a lot of factors involved in gaming so it will be great to watch this grow.

Linux traffic

The Linux based traffic here has increased a large amount. It has finally took the place of Windows as the 2nd most used OS by the visitors here with OS X being 1st of course.

Back in August and September the Linux traffic here was maybe 15-18% of the total and it is now 30%+ every single day. I average about 240-300 unique visits a day with page loads hitting 400-500 so it's good to see that many people are using it and interested in reading about PowerPC Linux. This is very encouraging indeed especially when you consider many are using Macs and they have decided to take the plunge.

People are obviously realizing that to embrace Linux you don't have to abandon Mac OS 10.5 or older but rather give each OS it's own role or at least discover what they could be while they learn. That is how anything moves forward. When people adopt something into their tech life they often like a comfort level right from the start which scares most away from Linux.

Another encouraging thing is that about 70% of the google search bot hits here are PowerPC Linux related by people often using either Mac OS or Windows. This tells me that even those that have not took the plunge yet are interested. Very encouraging.

I will continue to write helpful content to help smooth the transition. As always I encourage reader ideas for content so that I can share my insight while also writing some specific content that people request.

OS X PowerPC browser assessment

I meant to write this well over a month ago but it never happened somehow. Thanks to a regular commenter here named 'dr.dave' I was reminded of this when I asked for OS X content ideas a few days ago. My interest is not only to write what I have to say but also to write about subjects that the readers are interested in. Browsers are easily the most utilized internet tool in the world so this is a worthy topic.

Since most browsers are based on core technologies like Mozilla or Webkit and such it would be best to categorize them like this. My logic behind this is that even a layperson on the internet often has a preference. I myself tend to always gravitate to Mozilla based browsers like Camino, SeaMonkey and AuroraFox.

To truly evaluate a group of anything you need to be objective so my Mozilla preference is out the window for this post. I will look at each in an overall type manner by combining an evaluation of the features and technologies at hand. Although the browser selection on PowerPC is more limited in 2012 there is still a small but loyal developer base working hard. People like Cameron Kaiser, RPMozley and a few others are working hard and have been for a long time. Dr. Kaiser alone is directly responsible for TenFourFox and Classilla.

On to the browsers. If you know of a good one that I don’t mention or has just started development please let me know and I will add it. The point is to cover all options whether we consider them all good or not. I would only leave out the ones that have possible security concerns. Other than Safari I will only be covering browsers that are still developed. Safari is the exception because it's built in. There are a few like Sunrise, Stainless and Shiira that some may feel are worthy of mention but they are all no longer developed. An undeveloped browser is a security risk because there is no one battling to keep the code healthy and safe.



Mozilla options


TenFourFox (10.4/10.5):

This is Cameron Kaiser’s main project and the one everyone knows best usually. It supports both 10.4 and 10.5 which makes it more portable. I would call it the most capable and bug free Mozilla option for OS X PowerPC.

It’s not quite so efficient on 10.5 but AuroraFox addresses most of those issues. The bug free aspect of it is particularly beneficial with extensions. I have yet to find one that doesn’t work perfectly. The same cannot be said for Aurora or SeaMonkey. This is the best modern Mozilla option by far for Tiger users

Download


AuroraFox (10.5):

This is the Aurora based sibling of TenFourFox. It borrows from both the TenFourFox code and the official FireFox’s Leopard optimizations to create a better experience for 10.5 users. As I mention above TFF is a little more compatible with all the add-ons I have used but Aurora performs a good deal better on 10.5.

Download


SeaMonkey (10.5):

SM is a very strong contender without a doubt. It’s far more CPU and RAM efficient than the above two but really lacks true extension compatibility. Other than adblock plus none of my extensions from Aurora work.

The thing some may really like is that it’s a very complete internet usage tool with a built in mail client, composer and address book. I have never attempted using the mail client so I cannot speak for how good it is. If you don’t use a lot of extensions anyway and just want a lightweight but modern Mozilla then this is the perfect browser for you.

Download


Camino (10.4/10.5):

I have used Camino as my main browser since about 2001. It has great built in features like adblocking, flash blocking, limiting animated images to only play once (big help with CPU use) and is the all round most efficient browser on the Mac. Period.

The downside to Camino is that it uses older Mozilla tech to keep it’s efficiency. It’s based on FireFox 3.6 and there are some sites it won’t work too well with. Media Fire and Mac Update are the two main ones I can think of that it doesn’t play nice with. Another knock against it is that with the pre 4.0 version it’s based on there is no HTML5 support.

Although Camino’s technology is a bit dated it’s still a perfect browser for standard sites that are not full of a bunch of fluff code. I use Camino, SeaMonkey and Aurora in combination for all my Mozilla needs. Each has it’s own strengths so they compliment each other well. I highly recommend the CPU optimized versions which include G3, G4, G4+ and G5.

Download


Classilla (8.6/9) (up to 10.4 via Classic):

I have no direct experience with this at all but my faith in Dr. Kaiser is strong enough to still recommend it. I also know a few people who praise it and I trust their opinion.

This project is proof that with the right developer and motivation anything is possible. Not only does it bring modern secure browsing to the pre-X users but it also helps performance by using mostly mobile versions of sites. This is also great if you like that retro Netscape look from the 90’s.

Download



Webkit options


Safari 4 (10.4) 5 (10.5):

When you consider that Safari 4 supports HTML5 and is 4+ years old it’s quite impressive. Version 5 added extension capability in a somewhat similar fashion to FireFox. In terms of Apple Safari it is stuck at 5.06 forever on PowerPC now since development stopped leading up to 5.1.


Leopard Webkit:

This is my personal choice when it comes to Webkit on OS X. It’s built on the open source of slightly more modern Webkit tech but based around Safari 5.06. In my experiences it’s about 20% faster than the Apple version and uses a good deal less CPU during idle moments.

The development team has been experimenting with options like replacing the standard Safari with this with an install option. I have not tried this myself because I prefer to keep both around for comparison testing.

Download



TenFourKit (10.4):

Other than running this once on my Stormtrooper I have no experience with it but have heard good things from people I trust. It's based on Webkit and apparently also includes some TenFourFox code from what I understand. It's creation fills the Safari 5 gap on 10.4.

The real advantage to open source code like Webkit or Mozilla is that anyone with the will and ability can get the code and make their own version to suit whatever computing environment they choose. Webkit has even made it’s way into the Linux and BSD world now.

Download


Roccat (10.5):

This is another option I have little experience with but it is very fast and I have heard good things about it. From what I understand it’s geared to using social networking sites but it works fine all round. I am very very impressed with the sheer speed of it and how lightweight it is. I am running it with 5 tabs open as I write this and it’s only using 53 MB RAM.

It's really f@#$ing fast. You have to try it and see for yourself.

Download



Others


Omniweb (10.4/10.5):

Omni is a very unique and customizable browser. The biggest standout feature is page specific preferences. I have been using it on and off for a good 3-4 years and love it. It has OS X optimizations like OpenGL and Quartz built in along with some of the Safari engine.

If you want to browse the web in a more customized to your every whim type of way then this is the one for you. Keep in mind that this requires a lot of effort in setup to tune it so that every site performs the way you prefer.

I recently discovered that Omniweb doesn't render this blog properly.  Not sure why yet but I will look into it. 

Download



Closing comments

This will be a growing dynamic post, which I will add to as things come up or people point out currently developed projects not covered here. Please feel free to also let me know of important details I may not have mentioned about some of the options covered.

Considering it’s now about 6.5 years since Apple made a PowerPC system the selection is pretty damn good. Variety is the spice of technology. We don’t have a Chrome option but I could care less to be honest. I use Chrome now and then on my girlfriend’s MacBook if she already has it open but I often choose to open FireFox instead. We really are not missing out on much and it’s all thanks to these great developers that still care enough about this amazing architecture.

For the last time

I keep getting emails from people asking about ways to crack CorePlayer for OS X.  On top of this my blog gets at least 20 hits a day from google search bots of people looking for cracks or serials.  I have explained all this before but apparently it needs to be explained again in a clearer manner.

All the people asking this question clearly don't fundamentally understand how code works yet they seem to think that there must be some way to crack it.  There isn't.  Get over it.  How can someone who doesn't understand the technology in question assume to know anything about what the possibilities are?  Even if there was a way to crack it (which again there isn't) I would not involve myself in illegal actions like this.  Just because they no longer sell it doesn't mean it would be legal to use if it was indeed crackable.  It's their property whether they exist as an organization or not.  For the time being at least they are choosing to let the code die with them and thats their right whether people like it or not.

The true brick wall is the system serial lock each copy has.  This is something that is embedded in the code uniquely in each copy and the code is closed.  It is not possible to change a logic board serial either.  When it was still for sale you had to give your Mac serial number when you bought it.  After this they create a copy locked to that serial and then compile it.  The code is not open source.  All the buyer gets is the executables. 

For the last time...  you cannot alter code which is closed.  Legality aside, it isn't even technically possible.  This issue (on this blog at least) is now dead and I will ignore any future emails or comments about this.