Baslinux mailing list

["Anthony J. Albert" <albert AT polaris.umpi.maine.edu>]

On 22 Jan 2004 at 14:26, Sindi Keesan wrote:
>I have Opera 7 and Firebird on the same 233MHz 32M RAM Win98 computer and 
>was going to install Firebird for Linux but I find it unacceptable.
>
>With 32M RAM Firebird takes 15-18 sec to load and 8 sec to unload.  Opera 
>takes 8 sec the first time but when you reload it is only 3 sec.  2 sec to 
>unload (at least in the half-screen form).
>
>Opera has local help, Firebird makes you go online.
>
>Firebird is 50% larger download.
>
>Opera lets you adjust 'styles' to text only, monochrome B/w or W/B easily.
>
>The big problem is that Firebird is all or nothing on loading images. Turn 
>off and you need to go back into Options to turn all the images on again.  
>Ctl-G (Ctl-I?) in Opera turns images for the whole page on and off, or use 
>the mouse to load individual images.  Much faster to browse that way with 
>a modem.
>
>IE had the same problem.  Firebird is some improvement as I could get rid 
>of all the toolbar icons. I installed it in a temporary directory and may 
>just delete it.  
>
>Does the linux Firebird differ significantly?

Firebird is a work-in-progress, by no means a completed product.  
There's a lot of things that it just can't do, because that feature 
hasn't been coded yet, and it is very definitely in beta testing.

It also is stated by the developers that it is intended a replacement 
for Mozilla; a lighter-weight browser than Mozilla, but still a browser 
targeted at an "up-to-date" desktop system - i.e., one not more than a 
few years old.

That said, I find that Firebird works quite well on my Win95 AMD233 
system with 64MB of RAM, and browsing through a 48Kbps modem link. (I 
never get 56Kbps at home, only 45-48Kbps.)

Don't know about the Linux version - haven't tried it.

Hope this helps,
Anthony Albert
===========================================================
Anthony J. Albert                     albert AT umpi.maine.edu
Systems and Software Support Specialist          Postmaster
Computer Services - University of Maine, Presque Isle
        "This is only temporary, unless it works."
                        --- Red Green