Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?

Discussion of third-party/unofficial Firefox/Thunderbird/SeaMonkey builds.
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jharris1993
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Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?

Post by jharris1993 »

Possibly dumb question:

I have a (ahem!) "fairly old" iBook G3 with 640-some-odd megs of memory currently running Tiger 10.4.n

Unfortunately, this version is so ancient that I cannot even browse the web. Though I am trying to update it to something more recent - a Long Term Suppoet version of Ubuntu for the PPC - this is turning oout to be a non-trivial undertaking - which may not succeed.

Questions:
1. Is it even possible to build a relatively recent version of Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?
2. If it IS possible, can it be done on the 10.4.n Tiger install?
3. If it IS possible, but would be an unholy pain on the iBook, can I build for the PPC on another platform - say Linux Mint on a PC?

Thanks for your patience!

Jim "JR"

p.s. If it is possible, and by some strange twist of fate, I do actually get (what appears to be) a working build, Is there a way to share it with you? (i.e. uploading a binary or some "standard" Mac packaging scheme?)

p.p.s. As you may have already guessed, 99.9999999. . . .9999999. . . .99999% of my experience is with the Intel platforms, primarily on Windows with a smattering of Linux. Any help navigating the wilds of the Mac universe would be gratefullly appreciated.

Translation: Don't assume I know my way around the Mac world's paradigm, simply because I hae one of the beasties.
Last edited by DanRaisch on November 22nd, 2018, 7:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Split from original location as that thread died 7 years ago.
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ElTxolo
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Re: Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?

Post by ElTxolo »

jharris1993 wrote:.... I have a (ahem!) "fairly old" iBook G3 with 640-some-odd megs of memory currently running Tiger 10.4.n
  • Image Please, check out this page:
  • TenFourFox: A fork of Mozilla Firefox for the Power Macintosh and Mac OS X Tiger PowerPC


    ... TenFourFox uses modified Firefox source code, rewritten to remain compatible with Mac OS X v10.4 and the Power Macintosh.
    It also contains specific optimizations and special features for PowerPC processors. For this reason, it is not exactly the same as Firefox.
    However, it is intended to be as compatible with it as possible, including most add-ons and most standard features.




    Cheers !! 8-)
How to Ask Questions The Smart Way - How to Report Bugs Effectively ;)
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240109 SeaMonkey/2.53.18.1
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240324 SeaMonkey/2.53.19 :lildevil:

~
jharris1993
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Re: Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?

Post by jharris1993 »

Thanks! I've already downloaded that and was going to give it a try.
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ElTxolo
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Re: Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?

Post by ElTxolo »

jharris1993 wrote:Thanks! I've already downloaded that and was going to give it a try.
  • You're welcome!! :wink:
How to Ask Questions The Smart Way - How to Report Bugs Effectively ;)
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240109 SeaMonkey/2.53.18.1
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240324 SeaMonkey/2.53.19 :lildevil:

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Brummelchen
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Re: Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?

Post by Brummelchen »

i dont get it why other people run others into big trouble by purpose with ancient software which contains so many vulnerabilities, in special when current OS is also so ancient. and dont take the responsibility for this... i miss the disclaimer for it.

i dont know much about macOS but i really know that any fork of firefox 45 ist dead before someone has touched it. in fact its dead, it ran out of compatibility, it ran out of extensions, its naked, its vulnerable.
jharris1993
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Re: Firefox for the G3 PPC platform?

Post by jharris1993 »

Brummelchen wrote:i dont get it why other people run others into big trouble by purpose with ancient software which contains so many vulnerabilities, in special when current OS is also so ancient. and dont take the responsibility for this... i miss the disclaimer for it.

i dont know much about macOS but i really know that any fork of firefox 45 ist dead before someone has touched it. in fact its dead, it ran out of compatibility, it ran out of extensions, its naked, its vulnerable.
Brummelchen,

Anyone smart enough to ask for, and use, the advice given on these fora, has enough brains to know that anything and everything you do is "at your own risk". If I try someone's suggestion and it fails - even if it fails miserably - I have no one to blame but myself. Nobody was holding a gun to my head when I tried it. More important than that is if I don't know enough about what I am doing to do it safely, than I should be smart enough to ask for help.

Of course, I can, (and should), reply and report my bad experience so that the original person who suggested the idea can know that either he mis-typed something or that it doesn't work now.

IMHO, (In My Humble Opinion), all of this legalese nonsense about "disclaimers" comes from the fact that people don't want to take responsibility for their own actions anymore.

Jim "JR"
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