Mozilla Applications Optimised for Mac PPC, PowerPC optimized builds of Camino, Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey.Camino, MozzilaZine Forums, you may be able to find newer optimized builds here.Camino, Pimp My Camino, 1.6.7 for G3/G4, 1.6.6 for Intel, and 2.0b2 for Intel and Leopard.Firefox,, 3.1b3 preview through the latest nightly builds for G3, G4, G5, and Intel. ![]() I keep icons for the latest beta of each in my dock, along with Safari, which I rarely use, and Opera, which I like more every time I use it. There are a few sites that work with Firefox but not Camino, so it’s helpful to have both at hand. ![]() I recommend trying Camino if you’re an OS X user. Of the two, I am more comfortable with Camino and generally prefer the way it works where it is different from Firefox (the only exception: Firefox can store multiple logins and passwords for a site Camino will only store one). I have used both as my primary browser, and I use both daily. Subjectively I can say that both are very responsive on my dual 1 GHz Power Mac G4. ![]() In terms of performance, I can’t find any benchmarks comparing Camino 2.x vs. These third-party additions to Firefox may make things less stable and the use of any plugins will slow down Firefox launches, as it checks to see if each and every add-on is up to date. The biggest functional difference between Firefox and Camino is that Firefox supports plugins, which can extend its capabilities in myriad ways. Users should be aware that Camino builds have a different numbering system than Firefox, so while Firefox is currently at version 3.5 beta, Camino is version 2.0 beta 3. It looks more like a Mac app because it uses Cocoa and is fully OS X native. Ĭamino is a version of Firefox optimized for Mac OS X. All of these versions have the same functionality and program design, although there are some differences in appearance on different platforms. Camino or Firefox?įirefox is a cross-platform browser that’s readily available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. He also notes that redraws were “not visible” when returning to an unchanged page and that switching between tabs was “instantaneous”. One user reports that the G4 optimized build of Firefox launched and opened pages about one second faster on his G4 PowerBook. I have looked for in-depth benchmarks comparing optimized versions with the full version, but I haven’t found any. G5 builds should be aware of both multiple processors and multiple cores – the Power Mac G5 Quad has both. Further, G3 optimized builds don’t have to worry about multiple CPUs, but G4 builds should be multiprocessor aware. ![]() The optimized build results in a program that is smaller, faster loading, and perhaps a bit faster.įor instance, a build for G3 Macs can leave out any code that uses the AltiVec “velocity engine” found only in G4 and G5 CPUs, while builds for those CPUs can leave out any code designed to be used when the AltiVec unit isn’t present. By using different compiler settings, the code can be optimized for a specific processor family, which leaves out the extra code necessary to support both PowerPC and Intel architectures. In the case of OS X Macs, those families are G3, G5, Intel (sometimes with separate Core Duo and Core 2 Duo builds), and two flavors of G4 (the PowerPC 74 families – see Which Build Do I Choose? for help choosing the right build for your G4 Mac, and if you’ve got an upgrade CPU, make sure you use the version optimized for the upgrade CPU).īecause these programs are open source, anyone can download the code, compile it as they see fit, and make it available. Where the normal build of these programs runs on all compatible Macs regardless of processor – from a 1997 Beige Power Mac G3 through the latest quad-core Intel Core 2 and Xeon CPUs – an optimized build is tweaked to run best on one family of processors. Anyone can easily find Universal Binary builds of Firefox and Camino that will simply install and run on their Mac, so why would you want to scrounge around for an optimized build? What Is It?
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