Up until about a week ago, I was using Netscape 4.75 on my various Macs (TiBook, G4 PowerMac, iMac DV Special Edition, etc.) all of which run Mac OS 9.2 or thereabouts.
Then eBay made a change that killed Netscape for good. I don't know what it was specifically, but the browser crashes after loading any eBay page.
Okay, I understand it was an obsolete browser. But it was fast, at least for me.
Now I'm stuck with IE for the Mac, which is the most poorly-engineered piece of steaming excrement I have ever seen. It has a memory leak the size of the Grand Canyon. (Meaning, you start it up and it works fine, but it gets slower and slower and s l o w e r as the minutes wear on.)
I even downloaded Opera, which mostly seems quick enough but doesn't display eBay pages properly.
Any suggestions? Having to kill IE every hour or so and reboot the machine is a real drag.
Thanks.
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"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
I've been grappling with the same problem - Mac OS9.2.2 on a G3 - but I use IE 5.1.7 which is very stable provided you allocate it enough memory. Also a good idea to disable javascript and java unless you need them for a particular website.
If you want to stay with Netscape then download Netscape 7.0.x.
Your only other option is Safari under OS X as Opera is still a work in progress (which doesn't always correctly display or interpret pages).
Let me know if you have any Mac questions (same goes for others hereabouts)...
Any particular reason why you're not running OSX? All your machines should be able to run it (possible exception might be the iMac DV... depending on how much RAM you've got in it). You'd have a wider choice of browsers if you went with OSX. Most notably would be Apple's own Safari browser. I've been pretty pleased with it... with the exception of some small Java-based and Cookie issues. Best thing about Safari is its speed (super-quick) and tabbed windows.
Or...with OSX you could download Netscape version 7.1.... That way you might be a little more comfortable (since you're already used to Netscape). Although... there are a lot of changes from the 4.76 version!
Another good resource site is www.versiontracker.com. You could go there and search through various different browsers. (for both the OSX and OS8/9 versions)
Ultimately, though, you're really going to want to switch to OSX. If you have apps that will still only run in OS9... you can keep Classic installed and chances are they'll run just fine. Hope that helps. Good luck!
posted on March 25, 2004 02:14:37 PM new
eauctionmgmt: The PowerMac G4 is dual boot: OS 9.2/OS 10.2 (I know, it's an old version of X). I'm trying 10.2 now cautiously and finding that IE is better behaved, but darn it if that stupid DOCK doesn't just drive me nuts! I hate that thing, even when it's made as small as possible and kept hidden. That (and the unavailability of drivers) was why to date we have not made the switch.
Already I am finding today that I apparently cannot use 10.2 with my Dymo LabelWriters EL40, EL60 and Turbo. That's a deal killer right there unless we can get that resolved.
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"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 25, 2004 02:16:40 PM new
agitprop: I'll have to check the IE for Mac version; I downloaded it a week ago from Microsoft so it should be recent. I have 100 mb memory allocated to it. Should I allocate more? The system has 2 gb; memory was cheap for that puppy. (For once.)
Thanks.
--
"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 25, 2004 02:18:41 PM new
I should mention: I really need to be running 4 to 8 browser windows simultaneously. Netscape supported this just fine. IE is having a real problem with more than 2.
--
"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 25, 2004 02:21:50 PM new
Sorry... posted my last response before I saw yours! As for your OSX issues...
Here's what I do with the Dock. I position mine on the LEFT hand side of the screen (an option available in the System Preferences). This way the icons are out of the way when your scrolling on pages (whether the scroll bar is on the right or bottom). You may have to get used to it... but after you do you'll probably like the Dock. (It sure beats cluttered desktops!)
As for your Dymo label writers... visit the Dymo website at:
posted on March 25, 2004 02:24:24 PM new
Fluffy... if you want to have 4-8 windows open simultaneously... you'll love Safari's tabbed browsing (also available in Netscape). You can open ONE window... and then have MULTIPLE tabs for the one window. To switch back and forth between sites, you just click on the tabs (rather than searching for the right window). It's a great feature! (or if you prefer seperate windows, you might want to think of upgrading the OS to 10.3... which will give you the capabilities of Expose... a feature that shrinks all your windows, and lets you pick the right one quickly.)
posted on March 25, 2004 02:37:10 PM new
eauctionmgmt: Thanks, I've already been to the Dymo site. They have the label software but NOT the hardware driver. Grrrrrr. They have the driver for Windows, of course.
I suppose the idea here is to force me to buy their new LabelWriters. Ain't happening.
I suppose my aversion to the Dock is just me shying away in horror at something so pointlessly yet prominently displayed. I watched Steve Jobs' presentation of the X rollout and it was all "see how cool this looks", not "this is going to help you do your job better".
Apple claims to support small business but they really don't.
The very first review for Netscape 7.0.2 on VersionTracker says it is incompatible with eBay and PayPal.
"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 25, 2004 02:58:26 PM new
Whoops, my bad. Turns out I need a later than 10.2 to use the newest Dymo software, which does include drivers.
I'm off to see the Wizard...
--
"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 25, 2004 03:21:11 PM new
Fluffy - I would definately reccomend using Safari - EAG is oh so right about the tabs. I often have 5 or six things going at once and the tabs make life ridiculously easy. You will probably still have to restart the program every couple hours from drain but you won't have to reboot the computer - the force quit is the best!
As far as the dock - I moved mine over to the side rather than the botton and keep it hidden andit ended my hatred of it forever. It's actually a nice convenient way to open other needed programs and with it hanging out on the far left it only pops out when I want it to, not when I am trying to scroll and such like it did when on the bottom.
BTW - how did you ever use netscape anyway - that program hated me from day one!
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by Fenix03 on Mar 25, 2004 03:21 PM ]
I can feel your pain! I always used Netscape, knew it, it liked it, wanted to have as little to do with the evil empire (Microsoft) as possible. I am running OS X.2.8 on a G4 with a ton of memory. Suddenly a few months ago moving from one page to another on eBay would blow away the browser. It would just go poof without even the courtesy of an error message. I installed IE and for a while it worked fine then it began to behave really wiggy. I would open a page and the window would be blank but I discovered by accident that if I clicked in the window and did a drag select down the page the contents would suddenly appear. I like to run multiple windows and most of the time the IE runs fine but then it will freeze or do the invisible mode until I close and open it again.
Safari may be our only alternative if Microsoft really does dump Mac development for IE so maybe we should face the music and try to love it. If IE gets really weird I do change to Safari but have not yet made it my default browser.
If I find a site I can't deal with at all I move to my Virtual PC (which I always have open to Yahoo Instant Message with my sister) and open IE in Windows.
Hope you can find a satisfactory solution.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on March 25, 2004 03:48:35 PM new
Breakdown & get a REAL computer -- a PC! With a REAL GOOD WONDERFUL operating system = Windows by Microsoft!!!
posted on March 25, 2004 04:10:48 PM new
Tom - you have to be joking. Windows is the most instable in unsecured platform on the market today. Do you think it is an accident that foreign governments by the dozens have begun phasing windows out of their internal systems? It may work for you and if it is does that is fine but it is probably best not to exaggerate it's abilities, especially when it's weaknesses are exploitable by 14 year old boys in third world nations.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on March 25, 2004 05:24:42 PM newSafari may be our only alternative if Microsoft really does dump Mac development for IE so maybe we should face the music and try to love it.
This makes a lot of sense.
Safari is the plan. I'm off to Fry's later on to pick up 10.3.
I'll keep iMac DVSE at 9.2 and run the Firewire scanner off that machine. Processor speed doesn't matter when you're scanning.
You guys have been a tremendous help. I'm grateful beyond words.
--
"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 27, 2004 12:33:44 AM new
Fluffy, I have been using OS 8 - 10.2 at work on all the MACs. (Various models etc) I started having the similar problems with Netscape 4.79. I played around with netscape and the machines that could handle a higher version of netscape for the last few weeks. OS 8.0 can't take much higher. They use Netscape alot at work due to it's built in features. Netscape 6.1 is working pretty well on the MACs with 9.2 and 10. No hang ups, no errors etc. I did encounter a problem installing it but figured out a fix. It's about a 3 step process. If you get stuck, let me know. I have all the tools (software etc) and am not that far away.
posted on March 27, 2004 08:15:16 AM new
Thanks, Paloma.
I installed 10.3.3 on the PowerMac G4 yesterday. It's still dual boot, so I have OS 9 to fall back on.
So far I have been impressed with the quickness of IE in 10.3.3. Seems completely compatible with eBay. I have not yet tried Safari, but that tabbing feature sounds like a real plus.
--
"The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: `If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.'" -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 27, 2004 08:38:55 AM new
I did hear of some problems using IE with 10.3 but all in all, it is a pretty smooth OS. Let me know if you experience any problems.
posted on April 15, 2004 06:25:04 PM new
OK, always willing to help the brotherhood/sisterhood of Hackintosh
Dymo LabelWriters EL40, EL60 and Turbo
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15545
for 10.0 and later
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8634
“I should mention: I really need to be running 4 to 8 browser windows simultaneously. Netscape supported this just fine. IE is having a real problem with more than 2.”
Safari without a doubt,
One of my machines is a G4 w/dual 17” monitors
I’ll have 8-12 pages open (hide some in the dock till ya need’em like Paypal”
at a time along with Photoshop CS, Appleworks 6, Nikon Viewer6, iTunes and Preview. ALL AT THE SAME TIME, Try that on your PeeCee.....
Keep in mind that OS X has the ability to swap around memory usage now
with none of those deadly “memory leaks”.
PS. my wallstreet does well on 10.2.8 and 3-5 windows as well.
posted on April 15, 2004 09:32:57 PM new
Fluffy, looks like you've got all the help you need here, and you've done the right thing switching to Panther (X.3.3)
The absolutely unqualified beauty of OSX is you ability to kiss MicroSloth and it's crappy, bloated, buggy, restrictive programs goodbye FOREVER. I still keep a copy of Internet Exploder around, because once in a blue moon you'll run across a site you want to look at whose moron webmaster has "optimized" (read, CRIPPLED) it to work only with IE, but I for one haven't used it in months. It stinks. Period. It always will. Popups! please...Imagine the poor chumps who have to install a program just to block them!... Welcome to Unix, you're gonna love it.
Just my 2 cents worth, not that I have an opinion one way or the other....no, really.
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posted on April 15, 2004 10:01:55 PM new
Right you are profe51
I’ll tell ya I was resistant to go to X up until X.2.8 about 6 months ago.
just didn't want to let go of the security of only 50 some viruses for the Mac
vs hundreds or thousands for PeeCees.
And I’ve seen people go about cracking a Unix box. “from a distance, of course : ) “
And the results weren't pretty.
However the fact that X has made it this far without may threats has really impressed me.
(Could it be the true code writers still use Macs and the script kiddies use PeeCees?)
well who am I to speculate?
What I do know is this,
Fluffy, it is good to see someone, who has the following that i’ve seen you do on the boards, using and promoting the Mac.
Maybe some of the masses will follow your advice in this area as well.
Remember:
I’d rather work with a Mac,
Than work on a PC..........
profe51:
Is it too much to assume that country boy would happen to be an old style, southern democrat?
posted on April 15, 2004 10:13:11 PM new
Prof - is it the "optimizing" that causes the occasional java hell site? I have sites that I have built for others that use java scripts to mock flash as well as basic button work etc that run beUautifully on Safari but every so often I run into a site that just bogs me with unloadable java scripts. Is this a design glitch or something within Safari that should inspire me to upgrade?
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on Apr 15, 2004 10:28 PM ]
posted on April 15, 2004 11:39:28 PM new
Netscape never did well on my computer, so I use Safari, Opera and IE (older version - ol Billster cut the IE supply, but my baby sister is a 30-something retired out of MS, so I can't begrudge the man.)
I don't know how terribly helpful this is, but Safari has the best flexibility opening larger databases.
Don't know what it is, but it could be because it's native, who knows, I have my geek limits, that's for sure.
Some browsers just can't do it, IE will sometimes spin on auto pilot and forget what it's doing when I go look at web stats, or it will just vaporlock when I have a big ebay search. Safari, well, it motors along, multiple windows open, I mean something like Ebay, Vendio and Ultimate Dressage all open at once, and woikin'!
Opera I used to vet my html, since I still love doing it in my BBedit.
You could look into Mozilla, there are a bunch o' browsers, I suppose. IE is almost as bad as the unmentionable ms email product. Now THAT'S as steamer even my horse couldn't compete with after a few flakes of hay!
;D
J
~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~
All the monkeys aren't in the zoo,
Every day you meet quite a few,
So you see it's all up to you.
You can be better than you are,
You could be swingin' on a star
posted on April 16, 2004 06:13:04 AM new
I don't know what it is fenix, but it seems like java is usually the culprit. For a long time I had to use IE on my bank's page, but with recent Safari upgrades all's well there now...I think I'm just about done with exploder alltogether...
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