Windows 98SE and Newer K-Meleon Browser v1.6 preBeta

[Monroe]

I posted a little about using the K-Meleon browser yesterday under another thread "Last Versions of Software for Windows 98SE". I decided to mention this browser here since some people, including myself, are having luck using Windows 98SE with the newer K-Meleon v1.6 preBeta browser. I will just repost what I wrote yesterday. All the links are there and maybe some will want to try this browser out, might meet all your needs since it is so easy to make it the way you want. They have an Extensions Manager for both NT and Windows 9x that makes it so easy to add Spell Checker and other plugins. The current version 1.5.4 is a very good browser and the newer one will probably be better and faster when completed ... as I mentioned yesterday, the newer version wasn't supposed to work with Win 98SE but with the newer KernelEx versions, that doesn't seem to be the case. It is still in development but it is looking good so far.

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Posted Yesterday, 11:16 AM

Why don't you give K-Meleon a shot. I went to this browser last Oct and haven't been sorry. It is said by many to be the fastest browser on the internet, not sure about that, but it's up there (Google: K-Meleon fastest browser). Good active friendly forum for help and you can customize K-Meleon to what you like ... the Klassic skin will make it look a little like IE6 ... or not ... there are several skins in the download and more that others have made. The current version is 1.54 ... they are working on a newer version 1.6 (BETA Stage) ... it works with the new Gekco engine v1.9 I think ... not suppose to work with Windows 98SE but with the new KernelEx (and help from the forum) I was able to get the new browser working with Win 98SE just over a week ago ... this is all good for us Win 98SE holdouts. Go into the General forum and you will see a question posted about getting Win 98SE to work with the new K-Meleon browser currently in development. Nothing wrong with the current version 1.5.4 ... super fast and look at all the plugins you can add ... it will take some time to read and get things figured out ... settings and all, but not too much time ... I got my v1.5.4 running perfect now and almost 100% with the new 1.6 Beta. I am very satisfied with this browser and the ability to make it exactly like I want it.

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

Forums ....

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/

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Edited October 29, 2010 by duffy98

[Fredledingue]

version 1.5.4 crashed on some specific pages. Very fast but when it crashes it crashes the whole computer and I had to restart. There is no way to kill the task with Ctr+Alt+Del.

I don't have KernelX installed.

If it works fine for you, great because it's indeed a very fast browser and has abetter interface than FF, IMO.

[Monroe]

Fredledingue ... don't give up yet. Why don't you go over to the K-Meleon forum and post the problems you are having with KM v1.5.4 ... you don't have to be a member there to post or you can join in less than 30 seconds. Anyway, I was using the old KernelEx Final 2 version with KM 1.5.4, however I don't think you need KernelEx with v1.5.4 but I'm not sure, you could ask that at the KM forum ... but to use the newer KM v1.6 preBeta with Windows 98SE you must have the latest KernelEx version installed. I think the v1.6 project is by someone from Spain, not 100% sure about that. Ask for help in the "General" forum ... you will probably get some ideas, they are very friendly there and try to help everyone. I was ready to give up on being able to use the new KM v1.6 with Win 98SE ... had one problem here, one problem there but one by one with the help of a person named siria, I got v1.6 working. I have both KM v1.5.4 and v1.6 on my notebook and everything is running OK ... 100%. Yes, I did have to get help for a few settings ... I like the Klassic skin folder (in the Skins folder)... it's in both KM versions ... it's close to the IE 6 look, if you like IE 6 ... and if you like lighthouses ... I asked for some help in finding a lighthouse throbber to put into K-Meleon. I think two weeks must have went by and finally a person named disrupted offered to make one (always there posting or helping with plugins), just post a picture of what I had in mind he posted ... I like the famous one at York, Maine. He had it done in no time and it looks great ... going around in the upper right corner where the KM dragon breathing fire or IE 6 revolving globe would be. That lighthouse is fantastic, only seconds to change in the Klassic folder ... with the KM Extensions Manager (for 9x) ... there are two for NT and 9x, you can add any plugin you want in seconds. I started using KM last Oct (2009) and never use IE 6 anymore ... I keep IE 6 on my notebooks and updated with MDGx's updates ... but only in case I might need it. I don't know if you really need KernelEx with KM v1.5.4 since they have a separate KM 9x download but there is no 9x download for v1.6, since Win 98SE wasn't supposed to work with the newer v1.6. ... that's where the new (latest) KernelEx comes in ... use XP Sp2 compatability and KM v1.6 runs on Win 98SE. The Spell Check plugin is great ... as I type this message, it checks every word. Anyway, take a few minutes and post the problems you are having at the KM General forum ... may just be some settings or something ... believe me, when I first started using KM there were several things I had to get help on ... mostly settings and now I have everything pretty well tweaked or set the way I want the browser to work. I was able to take the newer User Agents in the KM 1.6 version and replace the older User Agents in the KM 1.5.4 version. Didn't know how to do that a few months ago ... figured that one out on my own ... it's a learning process but you end up with a very fast browser set up the way "you" want it set up. I would say to work with KM v1.5.4 first, get familiar with it, get everything set up the way you want it and then maybe experiment with v1.6, if you want. Most of the settings are in Preferences but there are a few other things that you made need help with as you progress. HTH ...

... just wanted to add, I see you have a post about javascripts ... KM v1.5.4 sometimes does have a problem with javascripts at certain web sites but a little box will pop up asking to either "stop" or "continue" ... I think, I don't see it too often but KM v1.6 is supposed to handle javascripts much better. However, did you notice in KM 1.5.4 under the Tools tab (top toolbar) if you click on Privacy you turn off a whole bunch of stuff including javascripts ... there are 11 items there that can be turned off and on in a second.

K-Meleon Forum ...

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/

Edited October 29, 2010 by duffy98

[erpdude8]

uh hello duffy98.

K-meleon 1.6 has NOT yet reached its first beta yet.

official and latest KM 1.6 download I see here is alpha 4.

and where's the link to download the so-called KM 1.6 beta? heck, it's not even a beta.

[Monroe]

Yes, there is a desga2 preBeta but it is very hard to find, it isn't at the usual KM download page or wasn't in September when I was asking questions about KM v1.6 ... siria from the KM forum posted the link for me. The preBeta version is by a person from Spain (maybe) and seems to be his own project at this point, just not completely sure. I guess I left the "pre" off my other postings, I forgot it was preBeta but it does work with Windows 98SE very well for some people, including myself. My knowledge on all this is limited but more than I had a month ago. This version would be the newer version to use with more bug fixes and enhancements. K-Meleon v1.5.4 still works OK for a fast browser and should be stable.

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Posted by: Matt

Date: September 20, 2010 08:52PM

duffy, preBeta (alias cp4) is currently the latest release. It has preferences panel fixed and some nice new features.

Good luck with testing preBeta under win98.

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Re: 1.6a4 Preferences panel.

Posted by: desga2

Date: August 29, 2010 02:53AM

Download preBeta (alias cp4) {Mirror}

Please use a fresh installation, not update previous cp versions.

Changes since last cp3 uploaded:

+ Support full zoom and default zoom (zoom.defaultPercent)

Preferences (F2) -> Page Display, and replaced code in zoom.kmm

+ Others little fixes and minor implementations.

Dorian is working with this other features:

* @SHistory replaced to history() in menus, but not work, crash K-Meleon at startup.

Thanks for test and report.

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?2,109196,110032#msg-110032

Someone at the KM forum did post this after using the "pre" Beta ... he is a contributor to KM ...

Posted by: SoerenB

Date: August 30, 2010 10:31PM

Hi, all,

as far as I'm concerned, this could safely be called a beta1 and go to the sourceforge download pages now.

Cheers

SoerenB

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This post from siria got my interest to experiment with the newer KM version.

Posted by: siria

Date: September 17, 2010 01:58AM

Nice links danny

Must say I'm rather happy about the current development version:

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?2,109196,page=2

desga2

Download preBeta (alias cp4)

There are still some minor issues, but considering that gecko1.9 is not supposed to run on win98 at all, it's running already very, very nicely on mine. And those 'issues' seem to be rather related to the beta-state than to my good ol' trusty win98se system.

---------------------------

Hope this helps some ... sorry about the preBeta mixup.

... just to add this ... I am happy using KM v1.5.4 but I just wanted to see if the newer 1.6 version could work with Windows 98SE on my machine. I asked that question very early in 2010 at the KM forum and got a "no". It wasn't supposed to work with 9x at all. So I thought nothing more of it until September. Decided to ask the same question again but this time I still got a "no" but also a "maybe yes". Then a person named siria posted saying they were using the current desga2 cp4 preBeta version with Windows 98SE and KernelEx installed. So I just wanted to see where things might go for me. Everything seems to be working for now and I have both KM versions on one notebook to go back and forth with. One day when the 1.6 version is "final" then if all is still OK on my notebook, I will probably just use the one K-Meleon version.

If you do have KM v1.5.4 already set up and you are using the Klassic skin and are trying out KM v1.6 then you can just delete "toolbars.cfg" in the v1.6 Klassic skin folder and replace it with the "toolbars.cfg" from v1.5.4. Should look the same with all your settings from v1.5.4. That will save some time ... I'm sure any KM skin can be transferred that way ... I just happen to like the Klassic skin.

Edited October 29, 2010 by duffy98

[erpdude8]

sorry about the preBeta mixup.

understandable error, duffy98. it happens sometimes.

hopefully the creators of K-meleon 1.6 should be able to release Beta 1 soon, at least before the year 2010 ends.

good thing I can run latest KM 1.6 pre-beta on a 98se or ME OS w/ latest KernelEx installed, though I have to set the k-meleon.exe file on KernelEx's Compatibility tab to run in either Win2000 or WinXP SP2 compatibility mode for the KM 1.6 EXE program to work properly.

Edited October 29, 2010 by erpdude8

[Fredledingue]

I had been immediately impressed by the speed of K-M. And I liked the way I could configure it too.

I'v been using Maxthon for years and I could find a few of the same ideas there (including turning off stuffs like javascripts).

Finaly the javascript registry tweak solved the main problem I had with the internet, but of course I won't be against even more improvements.

The problem I had with K-M was one page succeeded in crashing my whole system. One page but the kind of page which I could find very often, on a daily basis, so I couldn't take the risk of continuing with that.

I tested several version back to 1.5.0 and also the 1.6a4.

All versions behaved the same, including 1.6a4, which suggests that the beta (or pre beta) may work on w98se indeed. The crash I encountered was linked to a page on the internet, not on the use of the browser interface or tools.

If you insist, I can reinstalll it and test it further to see if the bug is reproductible or if it was just a coincidence.

[Monroe]

erpude8 ... yes, KM v1.6 preBeta must have WinXP SP2 compatability ... that's what siria told me to do at the KM forum ...

siria post:

"My KM1.6 is set to XP-SP2. Remember that if moving the exe elsewhere, the compatibility is forgotten and must be set again..."

but if Win2000 also works then that's good to know. As I said before, I'm very happy so far with KM 1.5.4 and the KM 1.6 preBeta running on my machine. No problem about telling me about KM not being Beta ... I went back and corrected all my posts to add "pre". May have missed a few. In my mind it was Beta until you pointed that out.

Yes Fredledingue, that's what I like about configuring and setting up KM ... fairly easy. I did have to get help on a few things. Have you installed the KM Extentions Manager to add plugins. They have "doctored" or "changed" the flash dlls to work with downloading videos ... there are versions for 9x and NT. Also, one thing I missed was when you right click on a link you see "Copy Link URL" but I missed not being able to just copy the link name to use as a folder label, like you can in IE6. Someone at the forum asked about that and there was an easy fix for that ... I will put it here, in case you would also like that option.

You would go into Edit / Configuration / Menus ... then add:

!LinkCopy{

&Copy=ID_EDIT_COPY|ID_COPY_LINK_LOCATION

}

.... it was awhile before I learned about that ... one of the things I wasn't happy about that the KM browser didn't have until I found out how to add it.

Anyway, I'm sorry that KM is crashing with that one page or web site. Go over to the KM forum and post your problem ... explain everything and put the link there to that page ... I'm sure siria, disrupted, guenter or someone will try to help you and maybe get things figured out. They are like the people in this forum, always trying to help and solve any problems. I had a problem with a Windows 98SE dll ... I had downloaded a Swedish version of kernel32 but didn't know it ... hard to tell whether a dll is English or another language, if it's not labeled. ... disrupted came up with the reason for my problem since it happened to him when he downloaded a Spanish dll and didn't know it till he started seeing Spanish at places in his OS. Anyway, I'd give the KM forum a shot. Maybe that might be a problem that the KM people need to know about. I know a few people have posted problems with some sites but I didn't really follow it too much. All the sites I go to seem to work OK for now.

Don't give up ... you will learn more each week. I've been with KM since last Oct and impressed with everything so far. I would think KM v1.5.4 would be the one to work with since it is the last stable version out for Windows 98SE or 9x ... the KM 1.6 version is just something to "experiment" with and see how far you might actually go with Windows 98SE. I guess a lot depends on how someone has their Windows 98SE machine set up. I never added Revolutions Pack 9.6 to any of my notebooks but I have all of MDGx's updates on all my notebooks, KernelEx, The Proxomitron, ZoneAlarm 4.5.594 and other stuff ... but maybe others will have more software running or newer versions and may have a conflict with K-Meleon. Hard to say that what works on one machine will work exactly the same on another. I will say that KernelEx really is one great program for us 9x users ... sure helps using an older OS. I do intend to experiment with Revolutions Pack 9.6 one of these days to check it out.

Edited October 30, 2010 by duffy98

[Fredledingue]

I have posted my crash story on KM's forum:

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?3,111696

[cure]

KM is to be recommmended. I have been using for years and always update to the latest stable version whenever I reinstall my 98ME OS. The one downside is that the K-meleon website is something of a disaster, with badly outdated info, links, and extensions. Contemporary answers can of course be found in the forum, but it makes for a far from seemless experience.

[Monroe]

Fredledingue ... saw your post. I see there are a couple replies but no help since they are not having the same problem. I also tried both KM versions at Yahoo Finance and had no problems like you are experiencing. I'm always at Yahoo Finance and never had any problems there. Perhaps something will turn up or it may be something on your computer but the big question ... what? I sure hope you can get it all squared away.

Yes cure, others at the KM forum have commented about updating the web site homepage so maybe that's something for the future.

[Multibooter]

@duffy98 ... Thanks for posting the info about K-Meleon, it made me curious about K-Meleon and I tried it out http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/download.php K-Meleon v1.5.4 works fine on plain vanilla Win98SE and has the touch and feel of Firefox, but loads pages faster. I made this posting under K-Meleon and will definitely keep K-Meleon on my computer, it looks good.

[Monroe]

Multibooter ... your very welcome. As I mentioned earlier, I started using K-Meleon last Oct ... never saw much mentioned about it here in the forum so I thought no more about it till September (2010) when I was able to get the newer KM 1.6 working with Windows 98SE. I just thought I should make mention of it, in case some others might want to experiment with the newer 1.6 version or just try KM 1.5.4. It took me maybe 6 months to "fine tune" K-Meleon to my liking. As I also mentioned earlier, the only problem I have had with KM 1.5.4 (and it's very rare), at a few web sites a box dealing with JavaScript will pop up saying I think (haven't seen the box for awhile) scripts or page is loading slow and then you have to hit STOP or CONTINUE ... but all my pages mostly load very fast with KM v1.5.4 ... KM v1.6 is supposed to handle JavaScript much better and when I go to those same web pages (only 2 or 3 pages that I've run into) with KM 1.6 there is no box popping up. Of course a person can just turn JavaScript off in Tools / Privacy but with some web sites, I have to have JavaScript on.

I have never used Firefox but I have read at the KM forum that KM is similar to Firefox but faster. Many Firefox users have switched to K-Meleon ... some call it the "sister browser" of Firefox ... I guess many things are similar.

Now I missed this news from Oct 27th at the KM forum, just saw it a few minutes ago ... desga2, whose preBeta 1.6 version I talk about in this thread, has announced a Beta version is due out anytime.

From KM forum:

K-Meleon 1.6 Beta is coming.

Posted by: desga2

Date: October 27, 2010 02:53AM

Possibly I can release K-Meleon Beta very soon, this weekend or next week.

I'm trying to build the web default language preference panel:

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?1,110180

I will release K-Meleon 1.6 Beta when I finished this implementation.

Although you can't see us, we are working in the shadow.

Be patient my friends.

----------------------------------------

So that's a new development.

duffy98

Edited October 31, 2010 by duffy98

[Fredledingue]

Cure,

Yes it's amazing how many websites, not only the K-M website, are out of date while the informations there are supposed to be crucial.

Often the one in charge of the website is the least involved in the activity of the website eventhought he/she is a member in the project.

When there is a forum, you can make sure that the guy who created the forum and owns it NEVER takes part.

Duffy98,

AFAIK and form what I have read, K-M uses the same core, the same engine as FF (FireFox).

I was disapointed with FF by the lack of tools, possibilities and option out-of-the-pack. It's possible to turn it into an awesome browser but it takes time, knowledge and you need loads of plug-ins.

With K-M you get, well, I got, most of the things I needed when I opened it for the first time.

However K-M seems to use the same plug-ins as FF and FF plug-ins are quiet difficult to do.

Doing a plug-in in itself is easy as soon as you know javascript, but to create the right installation files is a nightmare.

It's extremely complicated, even if everyone seems to say that it's easy and simple.

I spent 4 hours reading tutorials and didn't succeed. I'v given up but if I use K-M on a regular basis, I'll have to learn how to do that.

On Maxthon it was quiet easy. There are a few plug-ins I did myself for Maxthon which I realy need in whatever browser I'll use.

About my problem, I find out that K-M freezes the whole machine when there are GIF's in the news opened from the Yahoo! Finance page. The main page which certainly contains GIF's causes no problem, yet any news page opened from it does crash totaly my PC.

Incredible. If they succeed in solvng that, they are the boss!

[Monroe]

Fredledingue ... I have been following your message at the KM forum ... there are a couple posts there since you were last there, one is asking you a question ... maybe you read them. Now as to adding plugins in KM ... it is very simple, as I mentioned in an earlier post. Download the KM Extensions Manager and in 2 seconds you can add a plugin. The program does it all ... of course you can add plugins manually which isn't too difficult but does take more than 2 or 3 seconds ... maybe 30 seconds. Well anyway, the KM Extension Manager for 9x will work in KM 1.5.4 or KM 1.6. Once you add the KM Extensions Manager, you will have a link under the Help tab to all the extensions (plugins) that you want. Couldn't be easier. HTH

KM Extension Page:

http://kmext.sourceforge.net/

... you should see the link to the KM Extensions Manager ... 9x and NT versions. I download the plugins I want and save them to a folder and then when I use the KM Ex Manager, I just point it to that folder and the plugin is added. When you install the Extension Manager you should then see a little green icon in the above KM toolbar ... it looks like a green puzzle piece to me. You will also see under Tools, at the very bottom, Extension Manager. Perhaps Firefox plugins are also this way, I don't know but the KM plugins are 7zip and the KM Ext Manager will unzip and install the plugin in a matter of seconds. I usually install my plugins offline with only one KM web page open. Don't know if plugins can or should be installed while a person is online. Seems to me offline would be better doing that.

Edited November 3, 2010 by duffy98