Arctic Fox, a new web browser is available for Linux PPC

[xeno74]

Hi All,

Arctic Fox 27.9.15 has been released!

Arctic Fox is a fork of Pale Moon 27.9.4 that was released by Moonchild Productions. The goal is to add security updates and bug fixes to keep this browser updated for as long as possible for Intel OSX and PowerPC Linux based systems. Arctic Fox is not affiliated with Pale Moon. It based on an optimized layout engine (Goanna). Further information about Goanna: http://www.moonchildproductions.info/goanna.shtml

Requirements: PowerPC machine with at least a G3 CPU and Ubuntu 12.04.0 PowerPC or higher.

Change Log: github.com/wicknix/Arctic-Fox/wiki/Change-Log

Support: forums.macrumors.com

Downloads:

Download 27.9.15 32-bit PowerPC G4/G5 (Ubuntu16/Debian9) Linux: arcticfox-27.9.15.linux-powerpc.tar.bz2

Download 27.9.15 32-bit PowerPC G3 (no altivec) Linux: arcticfox-27.9.15.linux-powerpc-g3.tar.bz2

Download 27.9.15 32-bit PowerPC (no altivec - Ubuntu14/Debian8) Linux (contributed by xeno74): arcticfox-27.9.15.linux-non-altivec-powerpc.tar.bz2

Download 27.9.15 32-bit PowerPC (no altivec - Ubuntu12/Debian8) Linux (contributed by xeno74): arcticfox-27.9.15-ubuntu12.04-powerpc.tar.bz2 (Additionally you need the libatomic1 package. Download: libatomic-ubuntu12.04-powerpc.tar.bz2 - Please copy the file 'libatomic.so.1' to '/usr/lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/')

Download 27.9.15 64-bit PowerPC (Fedora/OpenSuse/Debian) Linux (contributed by xeno74): arcticfox-27.9.15.linux-powerpc64.tar.bz2

Screenshots:





Please test Arctic Fox.

Thanks,
Christian

[conaljardine]

Amazing! For the first time in years I can use Youtube and BBC iPlayer smoothly in the same browser on my G5 PowerMac, instead of juggling Firefox and Qupzilla.

Plus I also have a 32-bit intel Mac running OSX 10.6, which I have been looking (unsuccessfully) for a maintained browser for.

Now to test it on the old G3 iMac...

This is perfect!

Thanks for sharing!

[gsahli]

Working well on my G4 MDD w/ Ubuntu 16.04. Thanks!

[xeno74]

Hi All,

I was able to compile Arctic Fox 27.9.15 on Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS PowerPC today!

I had to add the GCC 4.8 and the libatomic1 via the repository 'ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test'. Additionally I had to compile Python 2.7 because Arctic Fox depends on Python 2.7. Now, Arctic Fox 27.9.15 works on a nine years old Linux system! I will test it and after that I will try to release it.



Cheers,
Christian

[xeno74]

Hi All,

I released a test version of Arctic Fox 27.9.15 for Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS PowerPC (Lucid Lynx) today. Maybe it works on Debian 6 (Squeeze) too.

Please note: It doesn't work on Ubuntu 10.04.0. You need Ubuntu 10.04.4. Unfortunately 'mach package' doesn't work on Ubuntu 10.04.4 so I had to create the package manually. That means, the package is much bigger than the default package. However, Arctic Fox 27.9.15 works fantastic on Ubuntu 10.04.4. The default old web browser Firefox can't access many websites anymore. Arctic Fox is faster and brings Ubuntu 10.04 back to the web.

Download: arcticfox-27.9.15-ubuntu10.04-powerpc.tar.bz2

Additionally you need the libatomic1 package.

Download: libatomic-ubuntu10.04-powerpc.tar.bz2

Please copy the file 'libatomic.so.1' to '/usr/lib/' with the following command:

sudo cp libatomic.so.1 /usr/lib/

Maybe you need Python 2.7 as well. I had to compile Python 2.7 because Arctic Fox depends on Python 2.7 but it wasn't difficult to compile it.

Compiling Python:

./configure --prefix=/usr

make

sudo make install

After that you can start Arctic Fox with:

./arcticfox

Screenshot of Arctic Fox 27.9.15 on my refurbished Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS (GCC 4.8.1, Python 2.7.3, kernel 5.0-rc6 etc):



Cheers,
Christian

[xeno74]

Hi All,

I was able to solve the problem with mach package last week.

Arctic Fox 27.9.15 works on Ubuntu 10.04.0 LTS PowerPC (Lucid Lynx) now! You don't need Ubuntu 10.04.4 as a requirement anymore!

I successfully tested it on the Ubuntu 10.04.0 Live DVD today.

You don't need to install Python 2.7 anymore but you need to install the GCC 4.8 and the libatomic1 via the repository 'ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test'.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8 g++-4.8

Download: arcticfox-27.9.15-2-ubuntu10.04-powerpc.tar.bz2

After that you can start Arctic Fox with:

./arcticfox

Screenshot of Arctic Fox 27.9.15 on the Ubuntu 10.04.0 Live DVD:



Cheers,
Christian

[xeno74]

Hi All,

There is an issue with WebP on PowerPC. Sometimes you get washed out images. Wart Hog Matt has a workaround for this issue.

I tested it today and it works!

1. about:config

2. I confirmed 'I promise to be careful!'
3. I searched for 'image.http.accept'
4. I double-clicked on 'image.http.accept'
5. I set the value of 'image.http.accept' to 'image/jxr,image/png,image/;q=0.8,/;q=0.5'
6. I reloaded the problematic website. It's very important to reload the website because if you don't do it, then it only opens the website from the cache.

I successfully tested it on the following Linux PPC distributions:

• Fienix PowerPC 32-bit (X1000)
• MATE PowerPC Remix/ubuntu MATE 17.04 32-bit (X1000)
• openSUSE Tumbleweed 20170924 PPC64 (X1000)
• ubuntu MATE 16.04.5 LTS PowerPC 32-bit (X1000 and X5000)
• Fedora 27 Server PPC64 (X5000)
• Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS PowerPC 32-bit (X1000 and X5000)
• Debian Sid PowerPC 32-bit (X1000)

Many thanks to Wart Hog Matt for this workaround!



Cheers,
Christian

[eastone]

It works really well on my G4 2x1.25Ghz and G5 2x2.3Ghz with Mate 16.04.6

[xeno74]

Hi All,

Arctic Fox 27.9.16 is available.

Download: arcticfox-27.9.16.linux-powerpc.tar.bz2

Source code: v27.9.16.tar.gz

ChangeLog: v27.9.16

I released the new Arctic Fox 27.9.16 for older Linux PPC distributions like Ubuntu 10.04 LTS or higher today.

Download: arcticfox-27.9.16-ubuntu10.04-powerpc.tar.bz2

For Ubuntu 10.04 - 12.04: You need to install the GCC 4.8 and the libatomic1 via the repository 'ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test'.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8 g++-4.8

Sometimes you need only the libatomic1 package.

Download: libatomic-ubuntu12.04-powerpc.tar.bz2

Please copy the file 'libatomic.so.1' to '/usr/lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/' with the following command:

sudo cp libatomic.so.1 /usr/lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/

Screenshots of the new Arctic Fox 27.9.16 on the Ubuntu 10.04 PowerPC live DVD and on the Lubuntu 12.04 PowerPC live DVD (PowerMac G3):



Compiling Arctic Fox 27.9.16 on Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS PowerPC (PowerMac G4):



Arctic Fox 27.9.16 on Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS PowerPC (AmigaOne X1000):



Please post some photos of your old PowerMac with a running Arctic Fox 27.9.16 on an old Ubuntu or Debian PPC32 distribution.

Thanks,
Christian

[xeno74]

Screenshot of Arctic Fox 27.9.16 on the Ubuntu 12.04.5 PowerPC Live DVD: