r3dfox, modern Firefox based web browser for Windows 7!

[K4sum1]

On 4/7/2024 at 11:48 PM, K4sum1 said:

Wow that's nice. I would like to add a portable mode similar to Mypal68 so a shortcut isn't needed, but I guess that works pretty well too.

I did that a bit back, forgot to post back here.

10 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Does it still use Windows 10 APIs when available?

Not entirely sure what you mean by that. There is some delay loaded or disabled pre-10 stuff like the share menu or tablet mode for 10. All I did was undo what broke 7.

10 hours ago, UCyborg said:

In Aris-t2's CustomCSSforFx there's a comment about WIN10 fix for GLASS8 - not supported by Firefox 117+, I wonder if this applies to r3dfox.

What I did was make Aero work on 7 again, so it should work on r3dfox.

10 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Language packs, should the ones for Firefox just work on r3dfox?

It's not something I test, although I don't stray too far from stock. I think the custom settings options would probably break and about menu would be stock, but I guess working well enough.

Everything else mentioned should be like stock Firefox. I didn't change too much.

1 hour ago, Milkinis said:

I didn't download it from the r3dfox repo which doesn't store the 121 version anyway

https://github.com/Eclipse-Community/r3dfox/tree/release-121

Edited May 5 by K4sum1

[Mathwiz]

Interesting. I may have to go this route on Win 7. As much as I love @roytam1's Serpent, it looks increasingly like the end is near.

11 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Does it still use Windows 10 APIs when available?

My hunch (that's all it is) would be no. The author wouldn't expect anyone to run r3dfox on Win 10 since they could just run vanilla Mo.

Besides, why? The question reminds me a bit of @Jody Thornton's request for a 64-bit build of MailNews. Sure, it could be done - the program could check the Windows version and then make different OS calls based on the result - but what advantage would it bring?

[user57]

i looked it up from vista to xp it are more then 130 functions that are missing even for redfox

that dont include external dll´s such as d3d11.dll

[K4sum1]

Yeah, there are no plans for XP/Vista support.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, user57 said:

d3d11.dll

You don't have to worry about it, it's not used on older OS like XP. Vista needs a small update for 11, KB971512 and for Firefox - KB2117917, too.

Edited May 5 by D.Draker
KB2117917

[UCyborg]

@Mathwiz
AFAIK, Supermium is mostly done like this. The point is you get the binary optimized the best as possible for every OS it targets.

[Sampei.Nihira]

Check the connections with this:

about:networking

It is impossible to disable, after FF 99, from "about:config" CSP reports.

Test:

https://apps.armin.dev/ping-spotter/

P.S.

I personally changed this (but not only):

network.captive-portal-service.enabled - false

 

Edited May 6 by Sampei.Nihira

[Mathwiz]

18 hours ago, UCyborg said:

@Mathwiz
AFAIK, Supermium is mostly done like this. The point is you get the binary optimized the best as possible for every OS it targets.

Maybe so; but I don't see much point in running either Supermium (especially when you can have Ungoogled Chromium instead) or r3dfox on Win 10 or 11. The main reason these forks exist is so you can run them on older Windows versions!

I could sort of imagine doing this at the installer level - the installer picks Win 10-optimized dll's if you're installing on Win 10, Win 7-optimized dll's for Win 7, etc. The installer might be a bit bloated, but once you're done installing, you can delete it and not waste space on a bunch of code that's dead on all but one OS.

But you'd still need to give Win 10/11 users a reason to pick your browser over vanilla Cr/Mo.

14 hours ago, Sampei.Nihira said:

I personally changed this (but not only):

network.captive-portal-service.enabled - false

That's not as scary as it looks. It's intended for mobile devices (laptops, tablets, phones) that may need to connect to public WiFi services.

When you start the browser, it silently connects to a test page at Mozilla. If it gets what it expects, it knows it has Internet connectivity; otherwise, it knows it's on a "captive portal" that the user needs to sign on to before using, and presents the page it got - typically the WiFi service's sign-on page.

Obviously, if you don't need that functionality, you can and should disable it as @Sampei.Nihira did.

[K4sum1]

2 hours ago, Mathwiz said:

r3dfox on Win 10 or 11.

I haven't looked into it, but it might be better if you want the classic theme or Aero with modifications. I would need to set up my own 10 VMs with classic and Aero to test.

2 hours ago, Mathwiz said:

the installer picks Win 10-optimized dll's if you're installing on Win 10

If there is any difference it will not be measurable. I was going to do like AVX builds, but I found that made no measurable difference.

2 hours ago, Mathwiz said:

It's intended for mobile devices (laptops, tablets, phones) that may need to connect to public WiFi services.

I considered disabling it by default since privacy stuff recommends it, but I know those systems are always very finicky and I don't want to confuse the average user interacting with them even more so I just left it.

 

[Sampei.Nihira]

@K4sum1

 

You did well.
With 2 of my former college colleagues, we got external consulting for 2 Italian government ministries.
Our concusions will, of course, be paid monetary compensation and will be crucial to the implementation of the new server-level protocol standards.

I am required to conduct tests with 2 browsers and one of them is Firefox.

In my spare time I can do (or recommend) what I have written in this thread. 

P.S.

@K4sum1 could, however, modify these to default:

"network.IDN_show_punycode" set to true

"pdfjs.enableScripting" set to false

If any MSFN members would like to do a PunyCode test I have a POC:

https://www.xn--80ak6aa92e.com/

Edited May 7 by Sampei.Nihira

[K4sum1]

Whenever I get around to making 126.0, I'll set those.

[Sampei.Nihira]

@K4sum1

It is critical to have a browser set up better than the same browser used in an OS still supported by Microsoft.
And Microsoft Windows 7 is still widely used even in your country.

https://www.cvedetails.com/product/17153/Microsoft-Windows-7.html?vendor_id=26

So my best wishes for the development of your fork.

[Milkinis]

does anyone have a Firefox 2/3 -like visual theme for this browser ?

[K4sum1]

Closest thing would be Echelon but that's Firefox 4 and some styles are broken.

[Sampei.Nihira]

On 5/5/2024 at 12:45 PM, UCyborg said:

I think I'll be going back to Firefox for heavier sites or when I feel like having smoother browsing experience. Had some glitches with some combination of CSS tweaks (https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx) in the past, though I don't have them now. I had some fun with getting the few UserChrome scripts I use to work with Firefox 125, but nothing that wasn't pointed out the issue tracker (https://github.com/xiaoxiaoflood/firefox-scripts/issues).

I remember there were also some visual glitches with font rendering back on Firefox 110 or so, sort of redraw glitches or I don't know how to put it, might have to do with changed settings on about:config page, those that start with gfx.font_rendering, but those don't seem to do anything now. Any clues? That's for vanilla Firefox at least, those that change contrast or gamma. Pale Moon respects ClearType settings in Windows, so I have slightly thicker fonts there, which I prefer, but can live with default...guess if they don't work for me in the future anymore, I'll have to look into getting a new pair of eyes...he he he...or maybe Chrome Font Super Enhancer could be transplanted to Firefox (if there's isn't already any similar extension for Firefox), though that's just a hack while you could have it working properly natively.

Some questions about r3dfox:

• Does it still use Windows 10 APIs when available? I'm on Win10 or 11, gave up on legacy Windows a long time ago.
• In Aris-t2's CustomCSSforFx there's a comment about WIN10 fix for GLASS8 - not supported by Firefox 117+, I wonder if this applies to r3dfox.
• Language packs, should the ones for Firefox just work on r3dfox?

Don't know if it's just me, I have a hunch Firefox is slightly heavier on the GPU or CPU than eg. Edge, at least under certain circumstances when it's in the foreground, other windows' animations may be jerkier. There were complaints about laptops' battery life when using Firefox in the past, but hey, when you pin it up against Pale Moon where it's easy to encounter a website that makes one core work full time without any user interaction whatsoever...

Yes it is so Firefox is heavier than Edge.
But very few users are able to configure Edge well.
I use Firefox without any extension,not even uBlock Origin.
In this mode I can tolerate it.