Antix 17 beta problem with firefox

terrybull · posted: 2017-07-06 20:59

I have a really old Panasonic cf-28 toughbook Pent 3 and about 500mb available ram. I have installed beta 17. Installed without a hitch and looks great. Seemed like the perfect distro for this modest hardware, quick and played a mp4 full screen pretty well. However there is an issue for me and its a biggy. I cannot get a browser to work (apart from Dilo which I'm using now.) Firefox just crashes, wont even start just come up with message its crashed. QupZilla does start but crashes constantly. Any ideas please. Note my Linux skill is basic and thats really very basic.
Thanks

posted: 2017-07-06 21:10

With 500MB RAM, any modern browser will struggle to open, That is 'progress' for you.
You might have better luck with Netsurf or possible seamonkey (both in packageinstaller). YMMV

terrybull · posted: 2017-07-06 21:48

Firefox opens fine in Debian, slitaz and even the latest Lubuntu albeit a bit slow so I don't think that is the issue. Even Midori on antix 17 opens and immediately closes.

anticapitalista · posted: 2017-07-06 22:16

Open the app in a terminal, maybe it will give some message

figosdev · posted: 2017-07-06 23:40

the minimum processor requirements for firefox are moving lately. what browser version and what cpu is in the cf-28? isnt that less than a p4?

Shay · posted: 2017-07-07 01:47

Pentium® III Processor-M 1GHz CPU

Firefox Recommended Hardware

Pentium 4 or newer processor that supports SSE2

terrybull · posted: 2017-07-07 05:47

I can open Firefox in other distros. Could I use an older Firefox. How would I do this. Also midori crashes and surely this is well within the minimum specs of this machine.
Mine is a pent 3 @ 800mhz

figosdev · posted: 2017-07-07 05:59

the easiest way to use an older firefox is to download the tar.bz2 and unzip it using tar -xvf.

then create a link from the browser to /usr/bin/firefox. or something like that, which varies from distro to distro (that should work, anyway.)

note that using an older version from a security standpoint really isnt great. but i understand the concept of why you might try it.

fatmac · posted: 2017-07-07 08:52

You may get FF to work if you give it some swap to play with.
(I find I need 2GB ram for FF these days.)

cyrilus31 · posted: 2017-07-07 12:14

My conf

Code: Select all

$ inxi -F
System:    Host: cyril Kernel: 3.16.0-4-686-pae i686 (32 bit) Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3
           Distro: MX-16 i386 Migrated
Machine:   Device: portable System: Dell product: Inspiron 5100
           Mobo: Dell model: 09U808 BIOS: Dell v: A32 date: 10/18/2004
Battery    BAT0: charge: 31.2 Wh 100.8% condition: 31.0/64.5 Wh (48%)
CPU:       Single core Intel Pentium 4 (-UP-) cache: 512 KB speed: 2392 MHz (max)
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV200/M7 [Mobility Radeon 7500]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI R100 (RV200 4C57) x86/MMX/SSE2 DRI2 GLX Version: 1.3
Audio:     Card Intel 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller
           driver: snd_intel8x0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.16.0-4-686-pae
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom BCM4401 100Base-T
           IF: N/A state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
           Card-2: Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
           driver: b43-pci-bridge
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 00:11:50:3a:6c:08
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (8.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: SAMSUNG_HM160HC size: 160.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 47G used: 13G (28%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda4
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 160 Uptime: 9 min Memory: 415.4/1007.5MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.21

It's MX not antiX but I will test when I can. Firefox works, slowly but is still functional.

Anyway from Firefox 52 on, you can't use with a non SSE2 processor. And for security reason you should not use a previous version. You can try another browser instead.

figosdev · posted: 2017-07-07 12:37

ive found the new firefox to be unacceptably slow even on a machine with multiple cores running icewm, so im using pale moon.

im seriously considering ditching firefox for good. its too bad about the processor requirements though. for a machine too old to run an up to date browser, perhaps just use a livecd with no hd or a regular setup with no networking.

anticapitalista · posted: 2017-07-07 12:46

The firefox-esr version shipped on stretch (and antiX) is the worst I have ever used in terms of RAM using and sluggishness. Lets hope upstream Debian fixes it. The one in jessie (before they upgraded to 52 version) worked reasonably well on old boxes.