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For people who enjoy testing. I would like to express my thanks for the work. Jumper, I know you've spent endless hours with the further development of KernelEX. I'm able to run Firefox 35 and even 52.9 and see almost the whole contents of the web on Windows Millennium again. Versions 24 up to 35.0.1 are still usable for some or maybe many websites. However, these versions are increasingly no longer up to today's requirements. There is a workaround to run higher versions up to 52.9 as well as RT's Serpent 55/52, NewMoon 28 and others - see below. ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases Firefox Portable: sourceforge.net - FirefoxPortable Improved version 31.8 for ME/98: Details: Download: Firefox 31.8esr portable Requirements: KernelEx: KernelEx.dll 4.5.2016.25, Kexbasen.dll 4.5.2016.25, Kexbases.dll 25, Core.ini 25h with Kexcom.dll 18, Sheet.dll 19, verify.exe 18 and VKrnlEx.vxd of 18 Set Firefox.exe, Xul.dll and furthermore for portables the FirefoxPortable.exe to Windows XP SP2 or higher. Otherwise you get an error "Couldn't load XPCOM". Explanation: Xul.dll is set to 2k in the Registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\KernelEx\AppSettings\Configs). This string entry *\XUL.DLL="NT2K" can be deleted to get the file in follower mode (default). Reboot required. 2k mode was set on Xul for older FF versions like 9.0.1. Don't choose Legacy WinXPSP2! Firefox will be very unstable. Recommended Hardware: Pentium 4 or newer processor that supports SSE2 512MB of RAM 200MB of hard drive space After version 48, SSE2 CPU extensions are going to be required on Windows. Extensions: Compatibility PlainOldFavorites 1.3.1 Firefox 3.0 - 56.* QuickJava 2.0.5 Firefox 20.0 - 36.* QuickJava 2.0.6 Firefox 33.0 - 36.* ClassicThemeRestorer 1.5.3 CTR Firefox 29.0 - 50.0 Newer Versions and Forks: Firefox 42.0 - 48.0.2 Additional requirements: SeaMonkey Thunderbird Cyberfox, GNU IceCat Light Browser NewMoon 27 Firefox 49 - 52.9, Mypal 28/29, Centaury and SeaMonkey 2.46 - 2.49.5 , IceDragon , NEW Serpent/NewMoon 28/IceApe... - Testers are welcome. Requirements: Extensions: Classic Add-ons Archive (Firefox 45 - 56). It is a very large collection of extensions and is almost indispensable. FF43 - 47 and 52 ESR: "xpinstall.signatures.required" => false to install unverified add-ons (already set in RT's builds). A workaround is required for versions 48: Override the Firefox Add-on Signing enforcement This is usually also necessary for higher versions, but not in every case. Firefox extensions on archive.org/WaybackMachine Firefox Legacy Collector Screenshot with add-ons Plain Old Favorites, Get Archive, Free Memory Button and Classic Add-ons Archive: Note: There is still no known workaround to run FF 36 - 41 (crash on start) and the corresponding forks with the exception IceCat 38. Versions 12 - 23 are freezing after some seconds and are useless in today's internet anyway. These are therefore no longer of priority interest. Limitations, issues, solutions, other settings and recommendations: Limitations: WebGL and Direct2D! Blocked for graphics card because of unresolved driver issues. Limited WebGL support with adequate graphics driver and graphics card: WebGL 1.0 based on OpenGL ES 2.0 and requires OpenGL 2.0 graphics driver support. 1. Nvidia Geforce 7 (full support OpenGL 2.0) or quite likely 6 (not testet) series cards 2. Drivers NV81.85 and higher 3. Settings: webgl.force-enabled => true and webgl.disable-angle => true Browser crashes or freezings are possible and are probably caused by graphics drivers infirmities. So turn it on only when necessary. WebGL-Renderer ANGLE: 1. It needs at least hardware providing DirectX VertexShader 2_0 and PixelShader 3.0 (vs_2_0 ps_3_0), i.e. DirectX10 or 9. (graphics cards Nvidia GF6xxx or 7xxx) 2.Setting: webgl.force-enabled => true It doesn't cause any crashes or freezings. It can be switched on permanently. Direct2D requires Direct3D 11 compositing. There is no workaround yet. Common issues: * It is becoming more and more common that some web pages no longer open. For this reason an user agent switcher addon like User-Agent Switcher 0.7.3.1 (Firefox 1.0 - 56*) is increasingly important. First certificates may also have expired. The cert file is nssckbi.dll (NSS Builtin Trusted Root CAs). Replace the file by a newer one of Firefox 52 or higher. * Sound/audio doesn't work with vxd sound drivers (see topic). Use a WDM driver. The support for vxd sound drivers has been removed with version 15. Issues all versions 24 - 52 and forks on ME/98SE: * Adding bookmarks doesn't work (also the popup - dialog window doesn't occur). Recently visited addresses aren't saved. Partial solutions: The History and the Bookmarks created on XP+ can be used on ME/98. Copy the file places.sqlite of your Firefox profile on XP+ into the profile folder of Firefox on ME/98. And there is the bookmark extension PlainOldFavorites. * Firefox crashes with Adobe Flash plug-in activated. Make sure that this plugin is disabled. If it is still needed, deactivate the plugin container: dom.ipc.plugins.enabled;false and dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs;-1. The boolean "dom.ipc.plugins.enabled" has been removed with version 43. * Own fonts of pages can be blurred or unreadable. Recommended: Uncheck "Allow pages to choose their own fonts". Tools > Options > Content > Advanced * The popups for installing addons, saving passwords and such have big black lines around them. * The button on the download popup "open containing folder" has no function. * Printing doesn't work. * Squares and boxes instead of icons: Install suitable fonts - Awesomefont (version 4.7 tested) for this Site and and see Workaround Possible setting (You can even see the "search magnifier" and the "Rate stars"): browser.display.use_document_fonts;1 gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled;false Note, older versions, like 4.7, have recently been removed from GitHub, but are available on archive.org or fontawesome.com/versions. * Last character of the URL in address bar is missing - The search bar can also be affected: Different solutions are possible. * Possible: Second process "Explorer" remains after close. Open the Taskmanager and close the lower (second) "Explorer" process. * Cookies may not be saved correctly and aren't recognised after browser restart. There is no workaround. * If you can't set Firefox as default browser: Start=>Run > ...\uninstall\helper /SetAsDefaultAppGlobal Install version: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe /SetAsDefaultAppGlobal Portable version e.g.: H:\Programme\Firefox\52.9.1\App\Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe /SetAsDefaultAppGlobal Note, that the used profile isn't the portable one initially. Usually "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles", if not changed. * NewTabPage doesn't work. You can set an url with an extension like ClassicThemeRestorer or others. FF49 - 52.9 and forks: * Sporadic letters that were slightly out of place. Open about:memory and press "Minimise memory usage". The addon FreeMemoryButton allows to minimise memory with one click only. Mypal 28/29 and NewMoon 27/28: * Input in address bar doesn't work on second browser start anymore and Search Engine List is empty. Problem solving: With the first run you can remove search engines you don't want from the Search Engine Manager list and then set the search.json file in the profile folder quickly to read only. After that add your favorite engines and set a Home Page. Restart FF and check the functionality. If the first attempt fails, delete "search.json" and "searchplugins", restore the original state (Restore Default Search Engines ...) and try it once more. If you despair, delete (or rename) search.json , create an empty text file, rename it to search.json and set it to read-only before you start the browser. Mypal 28/29: * Low GDI resources - Possible problems with programs starting/running at the same time. Open about:memory and press "Minimise memory usage". The addon FreeMemoryButton allows to minimise memory with one click only. * Sometimes I can't close Tabs after a while. Restart Mypal when it annoys. * Sometimes - Error in Xul (browser restart required) Spoiler - issues FF 24 - 51 on ME/98: All significant issues should be ascertained. Other settings: * FF 24 - 26, 24esr : "security.tls.version.max" should be set to 3 (TLS 1.2 enabled). TLS 1.2 is enabled since version 27 by default. * Youtube: FF33 - 35: Set "media.mediasource.enabled" to true. It's possible to enable "media.mediasource.enabled" on lower versions, but it's quite likely useless. FF42: Set "media.mediasource.webm.enabled" to true. It should run on FF43 and higher by default. In case the player doesn't run on FF43+, set "media.mediasource.webm.enabled" to true, too. Settings not needed, but interesting - matter of taste: * "browser.tabs.onTop" => false to move the Tabs toolbar below other toolbars (FF24/27). FF 29 and higher: You can move the browser tabs with the extension ClassicThemeRestorer. * "browser.search.showOneOffButtons" => false to restore Firefox's classic search where you could see the favicon for the current search engine (FF33 - 42). However, the new search should be a bit faster. * "browser.urlbar.trimURLs" set to false to see protocol / scheme in URL (http/https...) Recommendation for testing: Use portable versions or create different profiles for the installed. In the second case call the Profile Manager (Start > Run > ..../firefox.exe -P) or open "about:profiles" (Firefox 46+ only) and start the Profile Wizard. A note about my test environment: All my observations, tests, and findings were on real machines and not on a VM. All processors (Intel) meet SSE2 or higher and memory sizes are 2 and 3.5 GB RAM. The graphics cards are NV GF7800GT, NV GF7900GS and NV GF5900XT(AGP). And my OS is Windows Millennium. Recommended versions for use on ME/98: Update cert file nssckbi.dll by a newer one of Firefox 52.9 or higher For troubleshooting see issues KernelEx Core Updates only: Version 27.0.1 (Tab bar glitch easy to solve) or better Improved 31.8esr CPU Instruction Set SSE (Pentium 3 / AthlonXP) only systems: KernelEx Core Updates and some dll files required Version 45.9esr or 48.0.2 CPU Instruction Set SSE 2 and higher (Pentium 4 / Athlon64 and newer) systems: Note additional requirements Version 52.9

Firefox 14. Sound support when using the VxD driver was discontinued in one of the nightly builds between versions 14 and 15. Among all the nightly builds of version 14 that I checked, I came across both supporting sound, and where there is no sound anymore. In version 15, it is no longer completely (Although I did not thoroughly check the nightly assemblies 15 - there are too many of them).

I've done some tests with 5 different sound cards (physical and virtual) and there is always no sound when using VxD drivers, but sound always work with WDM drivers. Additionally, when I installed some firefox plugins that allowed me to control sound parameters from browser, they said, that no sound card is detected. So probably newer firefoxes do not recognize VxDs

I haven't specifically tested with vxd sound drivers yet. There is no help from my side for now. One small step - a tiny news concerning higher versions: I have Firefox 53.03 and IceWeasel 53.2 with Firefox en-US language pack running now. K-Meleon 76: I got with builds, around June and July, a considerable slowdown on some sites, almost a freeze, also msfn bord, after a short time. It seem to be fixed with KM76.4.6-Goanna-20220813.

Is there any workaround to still get working sound in Firefox 52.9 browser along with VxD sound card driver in Windows 9x/ME?

I've been using a USB sound card, the sound works fine. Just about anything that supports USB Audio Class 1.0 would work straight out of the box with no additional drivers, including modern USB sound cards (as long as they don't support audio quality better than 96KHz - this is the biggest difference between USB Audio Class 1.0 and 2.0). Haven't tried any period-appropriate soundcards.

I've not said it earlier, but when I changed sound card to Audigy 2 ZS I accidentially installed WDM drivers first, there were no sound in FF. It can mean, that there is a function that is available only on some WDM, and not on VxD. As you said, this function is more often available on Win ME, than on Win 98. CMI8738 isn't the only card on which sound in Firefox in Win 98 is working - I'm testing FF with KernelEx on VMware Player with Win 98SE and sound works. I'll do a comparision between my sound drivers and its installed components.

Greetings. I have a very similar problem. There is sound in Windows ME with the WDM driver, but if you install the VXD driver, the sound disappears. And in Windows 98 there is no sound at all, both with the VxD and with the WDM driver. At the same time, there is sound in the system itself in all cases. Sound is also available in older versions of Firefox (<14 and some early nightly alpha builds of 14). Starting from version 15, the sound is no longer available in all that I managed to try at the moment. I don’t know what to do with this problem, so far I see the option of installing a separate sound card with WDM drivers, especially for browsers, or looking for some purely software sound card emulator based on WDM drivers. And the fact that you have CMI8738 sound under Windows 98 SE, with installed WDM drivers is a very good sign (In terms of WinME is not required in this case). Because I have sound on SoundBlaster16 only in WinME and only with WDM drivers. This may mean that the WDM driver for CMI8738 has some key files that give sound to Windows 98 SE (not only in WinME, as in my case).

Hello, I have FF 52.9.0esr running on Win 98SE, but there is no sound. When I had a CMI8738 based card with WDM drivers installed, sound worked in FF. When I changed it to VxD, it stopped working. Also when I changed card to Audigy 2 ZS with VxD drivers sound refused to work. I've tried clearing cache, reinstalling flash and even reinstalling whole browser, but it didn't help. Have you some ideas where can be problem? Is it something with VxD drivers? I also changed graphics card from GF 2 MX400 to GF FX 5500 (using the same driver version - Forceware 77.72), and video stopped working. Interestingly, video works on MyPal 28.0, but it has some graphical glitches and is less stable than Firefox on my PC.

I managed to find out using VM's that there is indeed sound in the FirefoxPortableLegacy52_52.9.0 running in the original Windows ME environment. However, as it turned out later, under the same conditions, neither in the original nor in the updated unofficial SP3 "https://www.htasoft.com/u98sesp/" Windows 98 SE, there is no sound, as in the original clean Windows 98 FE (My main system). These are the kind of pies. Do you have the same thing?

No - https://msfn.org/board/search/?q=sound&quick=1&type=forums_topic&item=181424 I myself have no sound problems, but it happened on VM's. What kind of system do you have?

FirefoxPortableLegacy 52.9.0 works for everyone with sound? For example, if you open any YouTube video.

Thanks, I'm aware of Invidious, but the test on my older machine is still pending. On this here it works really fast. I don't see sound problems on my RM's. Creative SB PCI128 (Ensoniq ES1371/1373) Sound Cards

Yes, Youtube is very bloated. Javascript galore. I suggest using Invidious - an alternative, much more lightweight Youtube front-end. I was able to watch videos in 480p without stuttering on a weaker computer - a netbook with Intel Atom N270 and i945GME. Speaking of youtube, I wasn't able to get any sound from it on my Win98 VirtualBox VM, in SB16 or AC97 mode. And It's probably not a VirtualBox problem, because everything works fine on an XP VM.

I don't know because VMware has some sound issues. And I mean FF52 ESR.

Does the sound work though? Also, when you said Firefox 52, do you mean the normal version 52.0 or 52 ESR?