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| Author | Testing old Internet Explorer versions (Read 18282 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkonskij
Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023 
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on: May 26, 2024, 09:33
So, after we've discussed the Netscape memory leak dilemma, I have decided to give older Internet Explorer version (< IE4) a try. The goal would be to identify a version that is: - able to render images (which MacLynx isn't) - able to handle form elements, e.g. search on the Mac Garden (MacLynx isn't) - fast even on lowly 68030 Macs (like Netscape 2.0.2) - (optional) supports Gopher and/or Plugins Has somebody else been giving IE 1 - 3 a try before? |
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #1 on: May 26, 2024, 09:40
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I gave IE 3.0.1 a try today. Testing machine is my Mac IIci, sporting a 68030 @ 40 Mhz DayStar PowerCache and 16 MB RAM. I first disabled Java / ActiveX / CSS in IE's preferences, all of them are just rudimentarily implemented and crash prone. I upped the RAM from the standard 4 MB to 8 MB in the Get Info window before starting up to give it more room "to breath". I liked: - Auto-import from Netscape's bookmarks & preferences - The UI is much nicer than Netscape's (arguably a subjective verdict) - Renders basic 3.2 HTML pages with their images fine - Search on Macintosh Garden works fine - Basic Gopher support is there I disliked: - It's so sloooow. - Has trouble with cookies/sessions, i.e. couldn't log in here - Crashy. Had two Type 1 crashes while using it and visiting various pages. Overall I'm not very impressed with IE 3.0.1. It's just slow compared to Netscape 2.0.2, performance is almost as iCab is on my poor 68030, but then iCab is capable of doing so much more. I guess I better check out even older IE versions. Please share your experiences if you've got some or feel free to join in the test ride 
Last Edit: May 26, 2024, 09:43 by Bolkonskij
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Neal_SE30
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256 MB  Posts: 401 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #2 on: May 27, 2024, 14:00
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I was using IE4, as above with disabled extensions. You do need ram though, 8 mb may not be enough. In the system tray ie4 takes up 6mb of ram on its own, plus os and you’re at 8mb. I have 128mb in my SE/30 although that’s overkill in an os7 machine but 32Mb is probably perfect for a web based classic Mac from experience. It is still very slow though on my 10base card. 33kbps is realistic throughput. Something like 15-20 seconds to load a page and still some errors. I found IE4 more compatible with modern pages than ie3 Neal
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snes1423
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256 MB Posts: 458 A Man born of Mechina
Reply #3 on: May 27, 2024, 18:00
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on my 520 i have 7.1.1 and 12mb of ram even netscape 2.0 seems slow... on my 1400 i have 48mb of ram (16mb built in 32mb upgrade) and good luck opening photoshop 5.5 AND IE 5.0.2 without virtual memory
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #4 on: May 28, 2024, 08:14
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Quote from: Neal_SE30 It is still very slow though on my 10base card. 33kbps is realistic throughput. Something like 15-20 seconds to load a page and still some errors. Indeed. IE is slow and had a reputation as a memory hog already 25+ years ago. I'm just merely looking for the "sweet spot" in IE versions, which offers the above features but is still reasonably fast. I'm going to look into IE 2.x next.
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lauland
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512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #5 on: May 28, 2024, 16:41
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I'm guessing the Netscape member issue is from the versions labeled "Netscape", ie not Mozilla, but versions 2-4.x, from that codebase with that interface? And you're not trying Mozilla because you want something very small.
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Neal_SE30
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256 MB Posts: 401 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #6 on: May 28, 2024, 20:17
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I’ve not tried gopher yet as i haven’t got my network card in at the moment until i fix my av board. I have ordered a decent soldering iron and av board cap kit so hopefully not long to go. Anyway I digress. I used ie3 and found ie4 better on my se/30. GUI was simpler on the tiny se/30 screen on internet explorer too compared to other browsers I tried. It’s the one I prefer but it is still slow. Any machine sub 100mhz struggles with the internet, especially the internet today with all these additional scripts etc… that they can’t quite handle. My 6200 at 75mhz & 16 mb was even slower than my se/30. What network card are you using? I had to tweak my router to packet switching as it wouldn’t work well on my fibre broadband. Plus as mentioned the old network cards are really slow so maybe it’s your network configuration that is at partial fault? Maybe
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MTT
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256 MB Posts: 394 SSW7 Oldtimer
Reply #7 on: May 30, 2024, 09:13
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Quote from: lauland: "And you're not trying Mozilla because you want something very small."More a case of Mozilla not being able to run in System 7 anything  The PPC only Mozilla 1.x for Mac required Mac OS 8.6 or thereabouts.
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #8 on: May 30, 2024, 10:38
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I've tested IE 2.1 on the IIci, the 68k version that can be obtained from the Macintosh Garden. The application itself is faster compared to IE3 - the rendering is too, but not much. I've had trouble getting on some retro pages, it would either not load them or very slowly. Difficult to say why, it appears larger images (such as on System 7 Today) pose a problem. Pages like retrosearch.org work fine though. Gopher works fine too, as does search on the Mac Garden. (S7T forum doesn't work at all) Not really impressed with this one either. I think I'll try 4.x next. Has the original Internet Explorer ever been released for the Mac or was 2.x the first? Quick search on the Garden didn't come up with everything. For the sake of completeness, I'd give it a try as well (if it exists)
Last Edit: May 31, 2024, 10:23 by Bolkonskij
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #9 on: May 30, 2024, 13:28
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Internet Explorer V2 was the first version that was released for Macintosh. V2 was also released for UNIX (I would like to see that version) and was also the first release for Windows CE. It was based on Spyglass' modifications to NCSA's Mosaic.
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