3 ms·

Firefox ported to HaikuOS, before it's ported to Windows XP. :-) (If you need a modern browser on XP, in the meantime try the Chrome port: https://win32subsys

Firefox ported to HaikuOS, before it's ported to Windows XP. :-) (If you need a modern browser on XP, in the meantime try the Chrome port: https://win32subsystem.live/supermium/ https://win32subsystem.live/supermium/ )

desdenova 2y ago
Firefox worked on XP when it wasn't dead yet. There's no reason to port newer versions to a system that's no longer maintained.
aflag 2y ago
Why are you using windows xp?
- mouse_ 2y ago
  Not him but I list my own personal motivations here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40528117 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40528117
  - aflag 2y ago
    Why not Linux and play diablo 2 with wine? Last time I tried it worked great.
- actionfromafar 2y ago
  It amuses me.
  - aflag 2y ago
    Nostalgia is a powerful thing :) I have that for Windows 95 and 98. During the XP era I was mostly using Linux, though I did use xp for gaming every now and then.
tonyhart7 2y ago
"before it's ported to Windows XP" what does this even mean???, I remember using firefox on windows xp back then, the reason they stop make a release version for windows xp because its too old and people already move on to newer windows 7 (microsoft already stop supporting it)
- mouse_ 2y ago
  You can run an up to date port of Chrome on XP, 2000 soon as well. They're also finishing up hardware acceleration support for the d3d9 backend. https://github.com/win32ss/supermium https://github.com/win32ss/supermium
- actionfromafar 2y ago
  Are you telling me Windows XP is out of support? When did this happen?! :-D But to answer your question seriously. Is a river today the same it was before? Is Firefox today the same it was when XP roamed the Earth with the dinosaurs? The answer is, no, and yes, some of it. So it's a cheeky way to point out that someone managed to get Firefox running on a presumably very different OS HaikuOS, before getting it to run on Windows XP, which arguably must be pretty similar to say, Windows 10, when it comes to Win32 APIs. (But of course, also Windows 10 is a slightly different river to the Windows XP creek.)
  - Borg3 2y ago
    Its not that easy. Win32 API is not static, in evolves. While yes, it can provide great backward compat, new stuff is introduced ever new OS release (or Win10 update), so its pretty much easy to destroy portability to older version. To keep portability, you must target lowest API version you want, and keep it using like this.
hexagonwin 2y ago
there's mypal68 and latest runs with ocapi (though it's way too hacky tbh)
- anthk 2y ago
  And Retrozilla with the MSFN hacks to state TLS 1.3 at about:config Altough with Gopher and gopher://magical.fish (and invidious instances plus Gopher services to search in Youtube and such) most of the web modulo complex logged sites can be avoided if the user wants to read some news without bogging down its machine. Even http://portal.mozz.us http://portal.mozz.us works well against Gemini services such as gemini://gemi.dev to read Ars Technica, The Register, most newspapers... El Reg: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/view%3Fhttps%253A//theregister.co.uk https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/vi... Ars: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/feed%3Fhttp%253A%252F%252Ffeeds.arstechnica.com%252Farstechnica%252Findex%252F https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/fe... Wired: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/links%3Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.wired.com%252F https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/li... BBC: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/links%3Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.bbc.com%252Fnews https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/li... No videos, but you can read the articles and see the images. Pretty cool for a Pentium 2 for instance. Anyway, Synchro.net with some NNTP client against FIDO/Dove and the actual Usenet will give and XP user far better talks on retro and current news. Also, old IRC clients can connect to http://bitlbee.org http://bitlbee.org against public servers and use current protocols such as Discord and modern IRC (TLS) and Jabber, among others.
StressedDev 2y ago
Windows XP machines should not be connected to a network because they no longer receive security patches. They will get hacked if they are connected to a network (and please remember that not every piece of malware is obvious, some malware is stealthy, and just steal information from the hacked machine). Also, you connect a machine which can be hacked, you are not just hurting yourself. That machine can be used for a lot of malicious purposes including DDOS attacks, sending SPAM, allowing attackers to hide their true location, etc.
- anthk 2y ago
  If you disable all the networking and RPC service crap it can be pretty secure with Retrozilla for Gopher, Supermium+UBlock Origin and a hosts file.

desdenova 2y ago

Firefox worked on XP when it wasn't dead yet. There's no reason to port newer versions to a system that's no longer maintained.

aflag 2y ago

Why are you using windows xp?

mouse_ 2y ago
Not him but I list my own personal motivations here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40528117 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40528117
- aflag 2y ago
  Why not Linux and play diablo 2 with wine? Last time I tried it worked great.
actionfromafar 2y ago
It amuses me.
- aflag 2y ago
  Nostalgia is a powerful thing :) I have that for Windows 95 and 98. During the XP era I was mostly using Linux, though I did use xp for gaming every now and then.

tonyhart7 2y ago

"before it's ported to Windows XP" what does this even mean???, I remember using firefox on windows xp back then, the reason they stop make a release version for windows xp because its too old and people already move on to newer windows 7 (microsoft already stop supporting it)

mouse_ 2y ago
You can run an up to date port of Chrome on XP, 2000 soon as well. They're also finishing up hardware acceleration support for the d3d9 backend. https://github.com/win32ss/supermium https://github.com/win32ss/supermium
actionfromafar 2y ago
Are you telling me Windows XP is out of support? When did this happen?! :-D But to answer your question seriously. Is a river today the same it was before? Is Firefox today the same it was when XP roamed the Earth with the dinosaurs? The answer is, no, and yes, some of it. So it's a cheeky way to point out that someone managed to get Firefox running on a presumably very different OS HaikuOS, before getting it to run on Windows XP, which arguably must be pretty similar to say, Windows 10, when it comes to Win32 APIs. (But of course, also Windows 10 is a slightly different river to the Windows XP creek.)
- Borg3 2y ago
  Its not that easy. Win32 API is not static, in evolves. While yes, it can provide great backward compat, new stuff is introduced ever new OS release (or Win10 update), so its pretty much easy to destroy portability to older version. To keep portability, you must target lowest API version you want, and keep it using like this.

hexagonwin 2y ago

there's mypal68 and latest runs with ocapi (though it's way too hacky tbh)

anthk 2y ago
And Retrozilla with the MSFN hacks to state TLS 1.3 at about:config Altough with Gopher and gopher://magical.fish (and invidious instances plus Gopher services to search in Youtube and such) most of the web modulo complex logged sites can be avoided if the user wants to read some news without bogging down its machine. Even http://portal.mozz.us http://portal.mozz.us works well against Gemini services such as gemini://gemi.dev to read Ars Technica, The Register, most newspapers... El Reg: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/view%3Fhttps%253A//theregister.co.uk https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/vi... Ars: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/feed%3Fhttp%253A%252F%252Ffeeds.arstechnica.com%252Farstechnica%252Findex%252F https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/fe... Wired: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/links%3Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.wired.com%252F https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/li... BBC: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/links%3Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.bbc.com%252Fnews https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemi.dev/cgi-bin/waffle.cgi/li... No videos, but you can read the articles and see the images. Pretty cool for a Pentium 2 for instance. Anyway, Synchro.net with some NNTP client against FIDO/Dove and the actual Usenet will give and XP user far better talks on retro and current news. Also, old IRC clients can connect to http://bitlbee.org http://bitlbee.org against public servers and use current protocols such as Discord and modern IRC (TLS) and Jabber, among others.

StressedDev 2y ago

Windows XP machines should not be connected to a network because they no longer receive security patches. They will get hacked if they are connected to a network (and please remember that not every piece of malware is obvious, some malware is stealthy, and just steal information from the hacked machine). Also, you connect a machine which can be hacked, you are not just hurting yourself. That machine can be used for a lot of malicious purposes including DDOS attacks, sending SPAM, allowing attackers to hide their true location, etc.

anthk 2y ago
If you disable all the networking and RPC service crap it can be pretty secure with Retrozilla for Gopher, Supermium+UBlock Origin and a hosts file.