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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Best Browser for Vampire?

E Penguin

Posts 46
30 Sep 2017 20:13


Hi,
I read that NetSurf M68k had been compiled with special features for the vampire but I can't get it to run. It seems as though there are different versions with the same version number? Which do I want?

Or, is there a better browser option? I'm using ibrowse at the moment but it's rather dated.


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
01 Oct 2017 11:23


Daniel Lakey wrote:

Hi,
  I read that NetSurf M68k had been compiled with special features for the vampire but I can't get it to run. It seems as though there are different versions with the same version number? Which do I want?
 
  Or, is there a better browser option? I'm using ibrowse at the moment but it's rather dated.

Latest noFPU NetSurf from Aminet. Only other option with a bit more advancement is AROS 68k with its OWB. I know not of 080 optimized NetSurf.



Renee Cousins
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 142
02 Oct 2017 00:53


I really don't like that it REQUIRES 32-bit screen modes. That's lame. And fullscreen is totally broken.  EDIT -- Okay, seems it works great in 16-bit mode, it's just 24-bit, it doesn't like. It still has an odd bug when manually entering the URL, but this is like 75% Chrome. The JavaScript is **SLUGGISH**, but other than that, it renders pages more-or-less correctly, which is like a BILLION times better than IBrowse or AWeb.  As an aside, half the performance problem is probably because of GCC. Not exactly the best compiler out there, especially for the 68K. I'm also annoyed with their custom antialiased mouse pointers. Give me back my pixels!! LOL


Thomas Blatt

Posts 200
02 Oct 2017 10:20


Netsurf 68k from Arti is the best browser at moment for Vampire2 Amiga


Martin Soerensen

Posts 232
02 Oct 2017 10:28


Does the regular Netsurf run with FEMU? Or is it unstable and/or too slow?


Thomas Blatt

Posts 200
02 Oct 2017 10:38


I use only Netsurf from Arti.I don't know it.


Rob M

Posts 60
02 Oct 2017 17:17


Vojin Vidanovic wrote:

Daniel Lakey wrote:

  Hi,
  I read that NetSurf M68k had been compiled with special features for the vampire but I can't get it to run. It seems as though there are different versions with the same version number? Which do I want?
 
  Or, is there a better browser option? I'm using ibrowse at the moment but it's rather dated.
 

 
  Latest noFPU NetSurf from Aminet. Only other option with a bit more advancement is AROS 68k with its OWB. I know not of 080 optimized NetSurf.
 

Does NetSurf 68k use datatypes to decode images?  Datatypes that use AMMX instructions could give a good speed up in page loading times. 


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
02 Oct 2017 17:50


Rob M wrote:

  Does NetSurf 68k use datatypes to decode images?  Datatypes that use AMMX instructions could give a good speed up in page loading times. 

To best of my knowledge, I believe not. But I believe Ibrowse and AWeb do (not sure about VoyagerNG).

However, I agree Vamp optimized datatypes would be nice.
I believe Warp Datatypes used to be best for images
EXTERNAL LINK


Renee Cousins
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 142
02 Oct 2017 21:21


It's also one heck of a memory-hog, but that's probably a function of a) it's odd antialiasing scheme (looks like it's just over-sampling the whole page) and b) the whole CSS compositing.

It would be nice if we could turn off antialiasing (I have enough res that it doesn't matter) and used standard datatypes so we can use AMMX optimized JPEG/MPEG decoders when they become available.


Wawa T

Posts 695
02 Oct 2017 21:35


artis netsurf has usually an extra version with at least fonts antialias off.
 
  though admittedly it is already a version hell i cannot stand, not only there is another reaction based port, there is ttf/non ttf, fpu/non fpu, rtg/aga-fulscreen separate binaries, sigh..
 
  having that all working with datatypes, someone would have to release appropriate library stubs for usage with current gccs. the basic sdl ports, that are available, are statically linking all depencies into the binary inclusive math gfx decoding, sound and network stuff, and therefore they become so big. thats actually against amiga philosophy even though might gain some speed admittedly.
 
  now, aros owb supports datatypes, as far as i remember, and even must be used with them on 68k, since it crashes otherwise. that said i have not tested it in a while, same as netsurf.


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
02 Oct 2017 23:16


Renee Cousins wrote:

It's also one heck of a memory-hog, but that's probably a function of a) it's odd antialiasing scheme (looks like it's just over-sampling the whole page) and b) the whole CSS compositing.

I believe people compared Netsurf takes 11MB ram on start and OWB 40-60Mb (surely Netsurf is not en par with OWB yet). Every program can be optimised further for sure, but what is a memory hog depends :-)



Thierry Atheist

Posts 644
04 Oct 2017 08:21


Renee Cousins wrote:
It would be nice if we could turn off antialiasing (I have enough res that it doesn't matter) and used standard datatypes so we can use AMMX optimized JPEG/MPEG decoders when they become available.

Hi Renee,

I looked up to see if a FPU helps with (de)compressing JPEGs.

Turns out that it's MMX (and DSPs) that would be useful for that purpose.

I found this, EXTERNAL LINK and was wondering if it's helpful or not?


Renee Cousins
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 142
05 Oct 2017 04:43


Thierry Atheist wrote:

Hi Renee,
 
  I looked up to see if a FPU helps with (de)compressing JPEGs.
 
  Turns out that it's MMX (and DSPs) that would be useful for that purpose.
 
  I found this, EXTERNAL LINK and was wondering if it's helpful or not?
Makes sense -- the DCT needs FPU and/or SSE but the colour space conversion will be greatly aided by integer MMC. If flawless image quality isn't essential, then a fixed-point approximation of the DCT is more than sufficient. For browsing, I doubt most people would notice the difference -- in Photoshop, yeah. Both the new JPEG library and Netsurf split the decoding of JPEGs between the JPEG.library and the render.library, both of which currently have versions up to and including the 68080. Making a fast AMMX version of the renderer seems pretty straight forward. This would be the best place to start, IMHO (includes source):

EXTERNAL LINK


Thierry Atheist

Posts 644
05 Oct 2017 07:04


from GitHub.com website wrote:
On such systems, libjpeg-turbo is generally 2-6x as fast as libjpeg, all else being equal. On other types of systems, libjpeg-turbo can still outperform libjpeg by a significant amount, by virtue of its highly-optimized Huffman coding routines. In many cases, the performance of libjpeg-turbo rivals that of proprietary high-speed JPEG codecs.

Hi Renee,

I highlighted what appears to be very useful for us IF it can be ported.

I don't know enough about the subject, but that looks good!!


Artur Jarosik
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 94
07 Oct 2017 17:40


There are only 2 versions RTG and AGA, both no fpu.
  Truetype fonts can be switched off on the fly in Prefs since year and a half now.
 
  Libjpeg already uses libturbojpeg code.
  Libpng has got disabled crc checking which is 2 times faster than before.
 
  All changes can  be read here EXTERNAL LINK 
  Auto update fetaure eases updating.
 
 
 


Elko 3000

Posts 12
02 Apr 2018 10:41


Hi to all, the netsurf from Arti have a poor Performance on my vamp. But have all what i need to Surf.I use Vamp 2.8 X11 and i an Amiga newbee. Have anyone a hint for me, what can i do. Loading a Page Takes 2 min.(heise.de). Exist an alternative for browsing with Java script anderen CSS Features.


Roger Andre Lassen

Posts 150
02 Apr 2018 10:50


Netsurf as a new version out for Vampire / AMMX. Try that one.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
02 Apr 2018 12:27


Alexander Diamond wrote:

Hi to all, the netsurf from Arti have a poor Performance on my vamp. But have all what i need to Surf.I use Vamp 2.8 X11 and i an Amiga newbee. Have anyone a hint for me, what can i do. Loading a Page Takes 2 min.(heise.de). Exist an alternative for browsing with Java script anderen CSS Features.

Arti`s AmiSoft page is the source for "our new port", not the generic ones at Aminet or official Netsurf/AmigaOS. Those do work, but seems to imagine beast over Vampire to be fast.

EXTERNAL LINK 
Direct download Netsurf 3.7 AMMX by Arti
EXTERNAL LINK


Elko 3000

Posts 12
02 Apr 2018 12:28


the Vampire AMMX version is very slow too on my vamp. I use xsurf100 as ethernet device and latest coffin. When i use ibrowse is the time to load the page ok, so i can see that the problem isnt the bandwith.
I can see the browser hangs on fetching the most time.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
02 Apr 2018 12:53


Alexander Diamond wrote:

  the Vampire AMMX version is very slow too on my vamp. I use xsurf100 as ethernet device and latest coffin. When i use ibrowse is the time to load the page ok, so i can see that the problem isnt the bandwith.
  I can see the browser hangs on fetching the most time.
 

 
  Must be something between Zorro ethernet, AmigaOS (Coffin) and TCP/IP software and then the Vamp. Netsurf isnt that slow in same terms with those who use SDNet and non Zorro solutions. Trying just any other AmigaOS and same netsurf and xsurf would tell us is it Coffin related. Trying Genesi/Miami etc. could also eliminate that possibility.

posts 20