End of 32bit linux chromium?

[xenial]

I have a fairly old laptop and have used puppy for years.Firefox browser was giving me performance issues and memory problems so i have decided to install and use vanilla chromium and it runs well with no sign of any of the issues i had with firefox.
Version 90.0.4430.72 (Official Build) Built on Ubuntu , running on (32-bit) is the version i am using and upon research it seems any further updates for my browser seem unlikely.

my question is..how long will this version of chromium last until the crap hits the fan and stops working.?..few more months or possibly a year.?

[bigpup]

Really depends on the web sites you go to and what they want the browser to be able to do.

Answer is, no one really knows what that will be in the future.

[bigpup]

I have a fairly old laptop

Well, support for 64 bit has been in computers for at least 10 years or more.

All Linux software is slowly moving to only being offered in 64bit.

May be time to really look at computer specs and see if a 64bit Puppy version, can work in it.
The processor (CPU) is what determines support for 64bit.
Look up what processor it has and the specs for it, will tell you if it is 64bit capable.

[peebee]

32 bit chromium builds are still being published by a number of developers.. e.g.
Snap
AlienBob
Arch32

[bigpup]

There are some newer versions here:
viewtopic.php?p=2328#p2328

What Puppy version you running?

[xenial]

I have used xenialpup32 for a couple of years.

[peebee]

I have used xenialpup32 for a couple of years.

That is now rather an old pup!
You would be better served for browsers if you could upgrade to at least bionic beaver and preferably focal fossa - either 32 or 64 bit depending on your cpu

[xenial]

@peebee.
Thank you for your response.
This pup runs quite well and chromium runs as smooth as silk on here,i am a bit weary of upgrading in case it all goes to pot,

[mikewalsh]

@peebee.
Thank you for your response.
This pup runs quite well and chromium runs as smooth as silk on here,i am a bit weary of upgrading in case it all goes to pot,

In which case, do a new frugal install of either Bionic or Fossa to a USB stick, and run the new version from there.....at least, until you get used to it. Or if you have sufficient space, add it to your HDD (that's assuming Xenialpup32 is installed as a frugal, yes?)

I think I'm probably correct in saying that, even if Xenialpup32 has been installed in 'full' mode, there's nothing stopping you from running a second Puppy in 'frugal' mode alongside it. That's the beauty of frugals; they're completely self-contained, and hence can occupy the same partition if required.

In either case, there's no need to touch your Xenial install in any way. I'm running it on here, alongside 32-bit Slacko 5.7.1 (from Sailor Enceladus) and at least 4 64-bit Puppies. They all play very nicely together.

A modern 64-bit Puppy will give you access to a whole heap of Chromium-based 'clones'.....including Chrome itself (or Ungoogled Chromium, if that appeals to you).

What readout does PupSysInfo give you for the CPU? Tab "Mainboard"->CPU?

Mike.

[xenial]

hello mike and a big thank you for your incredible response.
This is the output as requested.

capture19465.png (76.2 KiB) Viewed 2173 times

[mikewalsh]

@xenial :-

Yup. 64-bit.....as I thought:-

https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/I ... 0252M.html

Early Core 2 Duo, but still quite capable. SSE2s/SSE3s/SSSE3s. It'll run a modern 64-bit Pup with no problems. Little bit slow - only 1.6 GHz - but dual-core will help out here somewhat.

Either Bionicpup64 OR Fossapup64 should run OK there. How much RAM have you got?

Mike.

[xenial]

Hi mike.
64bit?..that just knocked me for six,lol

Memory might be an issue as i have a measly 2gb.
My xenial32 is a frugal install as this is how i always install puppy .
So to be clear mike,if i install a 64bit version of puppy then a 64bit browser could be viable on my system?.if so then im stunned and perhaps silly me should of done some more research on the subject.

Big thanks to you mike very much appreciated.

[mikewalsh]

@xenial :-

Oh, yes. She'll run a 64-bit Puppy, and that will give you access to, well; let me see......

- Chrome
- Chromium
- Ungoogled Chromium
- Iron
- Opera
- Slimjet
- Vivaldi

.....plus all the various 'zilla-based spins/re-builds, too. Finding a browser won't be a problem. Plus, I've also started building a number of other items of software in 64-bit 'portable' format (if you're interested). Then of course there's all the other 64-bit software available on the Forum, plus AppImages & stuff like that.....

You'll be spoilt for choice..!

Mike.

[xenial]

Mike,
You sir are an absolute star.
I am embarrassed by my stupidity here.

Good thing you are around mike to keep dummies like me in tow lol.

yes i have managed to dig up a 2tb flashdrive i had kicking about and will certainly try one of the 64bit flavours of puppy.

I cannot thank you enough.

[mikewalsh]

@xenial :-

No worries, mate. Let us know how you get on. Any problems, probably best to post in the appropriate sub-forum of the 'Mainline Distributions' section, at the top of the index page.

Mike.

[bigpup]

2GB of memory is not that bad.

Just do not try to run too many programs at the same time.

One program running, shut it down, start a different program.
RAM usage will be no problem with 2GB.

A swap partition or file, on the internal drive, would also help with possibility of running low on RAM.

I have a laptop with 2GB of RAM.
No problem, as long as I follow the above ideas.

Good example of RAM hog.
A browser with a lot of tabs open, is a RAM user.
Always think, what is really needed, right now?
Do you really need 10, 15, 30 different tabs open?

[xenial]

Got the fossapup64 installed on to my flashdrive and it booted into and ran well..no obvious issues from what i can see.
I notice a program called qbat..can this be disbled.?
other than that it seems to run just fine.
thanks for the help.

[mikewalsh]

@xenial :-

Got the fossapup64 installed on to my flashdrive and it booted into and ran well..no obvious issues from what i can see.
I notice a program called qbat..can this be disbled.?
other than that it seems to run just fine.
thanks for the help.

If you want to stick with the 'portable browser' concept, and like the Chromium-based ones, just have a scan through this sub-forum. I've given all of the above-mentioned 'clones' the 'treatment', and they're scattered around the first couple of pages or so.

Qbat; I would imagine it can be disabled in /root/Startup. Either there, or in /root/.config/autostart (this is becoming the 'standard' location for autostarting in mainstream distros)..... Let's have a look-see; no, it's in /root/Startup in Fossapup. Just rt-clk->Properties->uncheck the 'Exec' tickboxes down the bottom->Refresh->Close. All done. That'll disable it from auto-starting if you don't want it.

Mike.

[xenial]

Thank you mike.
Seeing as my browser horizon just got that tad wider i now have to choose and decide upon a browser.
I see palemoon comes pre-installed but i am not 100% keen on it as it experiences some niggles with some sites and the team behind it are somewhat abrasive in their behavior.

I don't have a battery in this laptop and im assuming qbat is related to that so yea it will be disabled.Just got to familiarise myself with fossa but looks good and runs like good puppies do consistently.

[bigpup]

Use Pale Moon internal update to update to latest version.
Run Pale Moon->help->Check for update
That should fix any web site issues.

Fossapup64 9.5 has some updates.
Run Quickpet->Info->Fossapup updates to install them.
Reboot and save so new changes are now being used.

[xenial]

Thanks bigpup.
yes i updated palemoon and performed all the usual updates etc.

[JASpup]

Can anyone attest to Chromium installs & .sfs running in Mainline puppies ootb?

I made a Chromium 65 .sfs for Tahr that also runs in Xenial, but since Xenial & newer puppies support newer Chromium I've been unsuccessfully trying to run them.

One example:

Code: Select all

[1] 4332
# /usr/bin/chromium: line 27:  4333 Illegal instruction     run-as-spot /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrome $switches --disk-cache-size=10000000 --media-cache-size=10000000 --allow-outdated-plugins "$@"
chown: /root/spot/Downloads/*: No such file or directory
EXIT="Exit on mouse-over"

This is Chromium 90 installed from the 32 Xenial PPM with just two dependencies. Peebee's .sfs don't work for me either.

I have a more recent running 64 version in a PUPSAVE and those two are it.

[xenial]

I have chromium 92 running on scpup32 and it runs like clockwork,

[JASpup]

I have chromium 92 running on scpup32 and it runs like clockwork,

32 sounds hopeful. Does it also run in Xenial?

I'll tell you, I used to wrestle so bad with Slacko6 that I became averse to Slackware, though I like aspects that do not have anything to do with compatibility & 'leanness'.

I feel like I should be able to get a newer Chromium going, but I'm not sure how, ideally .sfs or standalone.

[xenial]

I have Version 93.0.4577.63 of chromium running on focalpup32 and it runs as smooth as silk..i found firefox was quite high in cpu usage in some areas,

[wiak]

I have Version 93.0.4577.63 of chromium running on focalpup32 and it runs as smooth as silk..i found firefox was quite high in cpu usage in some areas,

I have had similar experiences with 64bit versions on my systems - I traditionally mostly used Firefox but some too-high CPU usage reports made me replace it with Chromium (I'm using Arch repo Chromium) and all good with that. Pity really though - I'd like to see FIrefox fixing that (if more general problem than just on my particular computers).

[JASpup]

I have Version 93.0.4577.63 of chromium running on focalpup32 and it runs as smooth as silk..i found firefox was quite high in cpu usage in some areas,

Care to share how you're running it?

Is it loading for you from the PPM? .sfs? Forum package? I posted earlier here: Chromium from the PPM won't run 32 Xenial for me, where if so I would just be using it.

I haven't hit a obsolescence wall yet with Xenial.

I have hit one in reverse: I booted Hirsute which wouldn't run the last 32 Opera, small inconvenience.
.
.
.
Browser performance is sketchy & inconsistent, most visible on resource-constrained systems. An old browser will actually be slower than a new one for compatibilities, but a new one can tax a slower system, so there's no go-to rule. I went on and on about it here a while back. Most seem to figure something out that works for them.

[xenial]

Hi jaspup

it is the sfs chromium which i got from within focalpup in the internet section.Seems to run ok and has no issues im aware of.
Firefox for some reason is running at high cpu nearly constantly but chromium behaves a lot better.

[Clif McIrvin]

Just found and read this thread.
Sounds like I may be SOL unless I upgrade my hardware: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
I'm running both Iron and Palemoon Portables on tahrpup 6.0.6
Iron: Version 85.0.4350.0 (Developer Build) (32-bit)
PaleMoon Version 28.17.0 (32-bit)

Some websites run on one, some on the other and some on neither.

Code: Select all

▶—— CPU ——◀

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Socket Designation: Microprocessor
Manufacturer: Intel
Voltage: 1.1 V
External Clock: 533 MHz
Max Speed: 3600 MHz
Current Speed of Core 0:2799 MHz

Frequency governor   : performance
Freq. scaling driver : p4-clockmod

▶—— /proc/cpuinfo ——◀

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 15
model		: 4
model name	: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
stepping	: 1
microcode	: 0x9
cpu MHz		: 2799.930
cache size	: 1024 KB
...
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc pebs bts pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl cid xtpr
bogomips	: 5585.56
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 128
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

[amethyst]

Just found and read this thread.
Sounds like I may be SOL unless I upgrade my hardware: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
I'm running both Iron and Palemoon Portables on tahrpup 6.0.6
Iron: Version 85.0.4350.0 (Developer Build) (32-bit)
PaleMoon Version 28.17.0 (32-bit)

Some websites run on one, some on the other and some on neither.

Code: Select all

▶—— CPU ——◀

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Socket Designation: Microprocessor
Manufacturer: Intel
Voltage: 1.1 V
External Clock: 533 MHz
Max Speed: 3600 MHz
Current Speed of Core 0:2799 MHz

Frequency governor   : performance
Freq. scaling driver : p4-clockmod

▶—— /proc/cpuinfo ——◀

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 15
model		: 4
model name	: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
stepping	: 1
microcode	: 0x9
cpu MHz		: 2799.930
cache size	: 1024 KB
...
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc pebs bts pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl cid xtpr
bogomips	: 5585.56
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 128
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

Try Bionic 32, you will be able to run new browsers.