Experimental build of Dillo browser with new features

[snoring_cat]

Hi all,

Note: Pet link added since SFS files don't override pre-installed Dillo settings

I've been coding some features into Dillo, that might make it into the official build. If anyone is using Fossa64, please download this version, and send me feedback of what you think (PM might be a more feasible method). The download SFS link as well as a useful video is at the end of this post.

dillo_speeddial.jpg (48.6 KiB) Viewed 2338 times

I have seen the need for a super lightweight browser many times, especially on this forum. Dillo gives even the oldest computer lightning fast browsing...well, depending on the links that you go to.

The problem I think people could have with Dillo is that it is a paradigm shift in the way you surf the net, not using Javascript, possibly finding alternative sites. To help out finding such lightweight sites, I have added bookmarks and a speeddial with sites that should be usable with Dillo. If anyone has any links that I should include with the default bookmarks/speedial, please send them to me.

Also, I have added a feature to play back media, such as videos. You might have to change your /root/.dillo/dillorc file "media_player=" line if you are not using mpv. The attached video link at the bottom of this post shows how to use this feature, as well as others.

dillo_media_player.png (364.79 KiB) Viewed 2338 times

Features

• More toolbar buttons

• Updated pre-defined hotkeys

• Updated Help and About

• Speeddial

• Bookmarks

• More search engines

• Media Playback

• Oversized images will scale down to the browser's width

• Other bug fixes

Links
Releases
Useful Video

Installation

• Preferably move your original Dillo configuration files, since this new version has extra shortkeys, bookmarks, etc. To move your original, try something like the following:

Code: Select all

mv ~/.dillo ~/.dillo_bak

• Install one of the Dillo release packages above. You should probably use a PET package. Using one of the SFS files is discouraged, since Puppy Linux will prioritize Dillo that is pre-installed already on your system (I don't know a good universal cursive font to put in this parameter)

• If you don't see Headers using cursive font on the Speeddial page, please update the following line in your ~/.dillo/dillorc file to a different font on yout system

Code: Select all

font_cursive="Euphoria Script"

[ally]

hiya cat

have downloaded and installed the sfs with load-on-the-fly but it does not seem to overwrite the 3.05 build when launched (fossapup64)

[snoring_cat]

Hy ally,

You are correct. Thanks for noticing that. I made a new menu entry, but didn't rename dillo to dilloNG under /usr/bin/. I'll repackage and upload shortly.

[snoring_cat]

Note: If you do install this version of Dillo at the beginning of this thread, please check out the links. Try out the concept of browsing to sites without Javascript.

Here is a litle more background on this project. I have been using Puppy Linux for easily over a decade and have installed it on many a person's old computer. Those people as well as people on forums and IRC have had problems browsing in general on systems with 1GB of RAM or less. My personal experience on 2 EEE PCs is that even Palemoon and Seamonkey were just too slow or lock up, especially with multiple tabs open. And one can never really run videos in a browser, without skipping/jitter/lockup on those systems.

So I took a look at Links, Lynx, Elinks, Dillo, etc. Dillo won out in my competition. Dillo as well as the "hyperlight webpage" communities focus on eliminating bloat, ads, tracking, etc. My concept version of Dillo, that is posted in this thread, is turning out to be quite powerful in it's niche. So I thought I'd share my findings and the app. Here are some of my goals

• Be able to access the top visited websites (or find a good alternative)

• Offload video to a dedicated app for faster playback

• Run many tabs without issue

• Be able to use Dillo with Tor and onion links. Onion sites usually are already lightweight and not require Javascript

• Be a go-to browser for 3rd world users that have very slow internet connections and computers

Lightweight and Javascript-less in the real world
But why focus on no Javascript? Please refer to this link for some benefits. Here is an example of a user disabling his browser's Javascript for a week. Where do you use javascript-less apps today?

• BarryK's blog is lightweight

• Claw-mail doesn't use Javascript

• Wikipedia, Duck Duck Go, Google, etc. already have lightweight modes

Regarding speed on slow systems/connections, please watch between 3:58 and 4:58 in the following video

[snoring_cat]

link updated. Thanks ally!

[amethyst]

These are nice features you are trying to add (especially the multimedia enhancements) but quite frankly, Dillo is rather useless to use as a day to day browser. Last time I tried it, I got about a zillion popups for certificates and other issues. I somehow got it to work with gmail after a struggle from what I can remember. Are you able to access https sites? I've been using Opera Mini (need JRE and an emulator) for over 10 years and it has been great for me for general browsing. Can't play media though.

[OscarTalks]

Hello snoring_cat
Is the source available? If so, people would be able to compile it for other (and earlier) Puppies?

[snoring_cat]

Hi Amethyst,

Yes, Dillo shouldn't be expected to do things that Firefox, Chrome, etc. do. It does have a specific niche, and does fulfill a legitimate need. I did compile this version with HTTPS, and haven't had any problems with accessing secure sites. I get almost no certificate popup messages.

OscarTalks, I have source code in GIT, and am cleaning it up before I publicize it and send patches to dillo.org. I am going to make more releases as well. For which OS/Puppy version do you have a preference for?

[OscarTalks]

snoring_cat, my everyday Pups are personal remasters of Dpup Wheezy and Dpup Stretch, but I don't expect you to compile anything for me. I will wait until the source is available from you or from the dillo website.

[JASpup]

If anyone has any links that I should include with the default bookmarks/speedial, please send them to me.

http://lite.cnn.com/
https://text.npr.org/

[keniv]

@snoring_cat
Hi, I have tried Dillo before but always found it a pain in the bum to use. I installed your .pet version in Fossapup64. When I opened it the speed dial page I saw was different from the one shown in your first post which showed a YouTube box with the youtube logo. Mine shows a You Tube - Kavin box with a different logo. I clicked on this and got I https://invidious.kavin.rocks/feed/popular. What is this? I tried to search for a youtube channel using the url which did not work. The wikipedia, 68k news and weather buttons that I also tried seemed to work. Is there a speed dial button for youtube or not? Perhaps I'm missing something here.

Regards,

Ken.

[snoring_cat]

Hi keniv,

You are correct, what you were seeing is different from my uploaded video. This thread's first post was updated with installation instructions that might help make Dillo look more like what is in the video. I say more like because I updated the Dillo code some more. In fact, the URL download link was updated to my online repository's releases, so that one can get recent builds, without waiting for me to upload them to an online file sharing site. If possible, please re-download and install a new release.

Dillo cannot be a full fledged replacement for browsers such as Firefox and Chrome. It's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be small, fast, lightweight and secure (without Javascript). It also is used to allow adding a browser into other applications, such as Claws-Mail. The updated Speeddial and bookmarks showcase websites that work with Dillo. Note how Dillo uses Teddit instead of Reddit, and Alterslash instead of Slashdot. I'm working on finding other sites that play nice with Dillo, as well as updating Dillo to work with sites that currently don't.

Youtube does not work with browsers that have Javascript disabled. Invideous websites (of which Kavin is a part of) creates an interface to Youtube that

• Allows you to access Youtube videos without Javascript

• Prevents Youtube from tracking

Currently, you cannot watch videos directly in Dillo. You will have to use the Right-click video playing method showcased in the video link on the first post of this thread. Actually, I like the benefits of not having video playback in the browser, the ability to download videos, etc. But I diverge.

Thanks for evaluating this version of Dillo. If you find links that work well in Dillo, please let me know. Now I'm off to build a 32bit BionicPup version to test/release on a very under-powered EEEPC.

[JASpup]

My builtin browser this distro is Light which won't play videos.

If we can search Youtube in Dillo to watch videos in the default media player, that is a compelling feature.

Heck, with Firefox's current audio problems, it might be better.

[keniv]

@snoring_cat
From you "Releases" link in the fist post I downloaded dillo-3.1_fossa64.pet. I removed dilloNG_3.1.0.pet. When I attempted to install dillo-3.1_fossa64.pet a pop up box appeared as shown in the attached image. I guess this has to be corrected for the .pet to install in Fossapup64.

Regards,

Ken.

[snoring_cat]

Grrrr. I will update and rerun my automated build code. For now, please just change the filename to what it asks you to have the filename called. keniv, in your case, please rename the file to dillo-3.1.pet. That should get things going.

OK, I'm going to pass out. It's been a long day.

[JASpup]

weather buttons that I also tried seemed to work.

hi ken, do you recall where the weather link goes?

[snoring_cat]

I guess I didn't pass out.

keniv, releases have been updated. Please redownload and test.
JASpup, the weather link goes to https://wttr.in/.

[JASpup]

JASpup, the weather link goes to https://wttr.in/.

I just compared to https://darksky.net.

2 degrees F discrepancy -- close.

What time of the day are Morning, Evening, & Night?

I would report highs/lows and both F/C.

[snoring_cat]

What time of the day are Morning, Evening, & Night?

I would report highs/lows and both F/C. [/size]

I am not the developer, but did look at the GitHub repository for this project. There are options that can be used, such as humidity and moon phase. The following URI will show weather at the Eiffel Tower in metric units

Code: Select all

wttr.in/~Eiffel+Tower?m

The default wttr.in shows highs and lows (please note the value in parenthesis). I haven't yet figured out what times Morning, Evening and Night correlate to.

JASpup, did you manage to get Dillo downloaded and installed?

Here are some other outputs possible using this site.

[JASpup]

This moment here Wttr agrees with Yahoo Weather.

Wttr looks like raw ASCII text, maybe for Lynx?

If I were to make a site I'd use a similar data source, but semi-graphical with a larger font and no suns.

I do see some parenthesis, but not as lows. Clear highs/lows for every day are needed.

Maybe the details should be in links. There is a challenge: the more features and data we wish to include, the more we need full-featured bloat browsing. I like HTML browsing because the basics are usually good enough.

We can use a big font without Javascript?

Dillo is in Fossa and I have used it elsewhere, but I have not tried your customization yet.

I crashed Light 48 yesterday for the first time in memory and it was disappointing.

[snoring_cat]

Wttr looks like raw ASCII text, maybe for Lynx?

Maybe the details should be in links. There is a challenge: the more features and data we wish to include, the more we need full-featured bloat browsing. I like HTML browsing because the basics are usually good enough.

We can use a big font without Javascript?

I crashed Light 48 yesterday for the first time in memory and it was disappointing.

At Wttr's website you can see various output, including some with images instead of text. Changing the output of https://wttr.in is not something I can do. However, the source code can be downloaded, and a tailored website can be made on a different domain. However, that is outside of the scope of what I am working on with Dillo. Just know that your wttr.in recommendations are definitely possible with their "API". The wttr.in link is in Dillo because it is light weight, not requiring setup, especially for giving each user local weather information.

What are your computer specs where you crashed Light 48? Do you know what the cause was?

[JASpup]

At Wttr's website you can see various output, including some with images instead of text. Changing the output of https://wttr.in is not something I can do. However, the source code can be downloaded, and a tailored website can be made on a different domain. However, that is outside of the scope of what I am working on with Dillo. Just know that your wttr.in recommendations are definitely possible with their "API". The wttr.in link is in Dillo because it is light weight, not requiring setup, especially for giving each user local weather information.

What are your computer specs where you crashed Light 48? Do you know what the cause was?

It was probably one of the newer +D 32-bit with a XFCE ydrv, Hirsute. I am not 100% positive.

I am really a X-Tahr or Xenial JWM 32 user. The only difference on 64 is an XFCE puplet for Xenial.

I only boot other distros for testing and special features.

In my experience +D are commonly incompatible with older browsers. I can't run the Opera or Vivaldi version of Chromium 58 due to an old version of HarfBuzz[???]. New drops the old.

Why does all this matter?

I guess any browser that gets builtin to Puppy is something to contend with -- how useful is it?

Light 48 is so common (roughly 20mb .sfs) I consider it the 'basic' browser when Dillo is not installed.

What makes sense to me is working constraints vs. pushing the limits, because system developers are always going to create enhancements anyway.

The value of Dillo and wttr.in is very fast information universally available (meaning lowest hardware requirements).

If you try to make it do fancy things, you are pushing the technical constraints and competing with mainstream innovation instead of removing artificial constraints.

The exception would be in poor countries where newer hardware is not easily available.

I do not write programs, but I am interested in what is possible, reasonable, and useful.

I will keep using wttr.in if it is accurate, but only for the top square with current weather. That is what is useful.

I get kicked off of Twitter for being too political, but I might contact the creator there for suggestions when I get back on.

[torm]

Hi.

As html-reader Dillo is ok in general.
Where it comes to FLTK user interface - locale support and accessibility
( like font size ) can become a problem. Nevermind..

pixmaps.h has the icons shown on screenshot, colortheme in README file.
Would suspect ui.cc doesn't use those inactive icons from pixmaps.h - instead it
desaturate-s and color_average-s ( in make_toolbar ) active icons for some reason.

Good luck!

[freya]

Hiya,

Here are some search urls for dillo.
Surprisingly the AOL search works really well with dillo and was one of the best I found!

Hope this helps.

search_url="Frog Find http://www.frogfind.com/?kp=-1&q=%s"
search_url="AOL Search http://search.aol.co.uk/search?query=%s&ei=UTF-8&nojs=1"
search_url="dd DuckDuckGo (https) https://duckduckgo.com/lite/?kp=-1&q=%s"
search_url="Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=%s&go=Go"
search_url="Startpage (https) https://www.startpage.com/do/search?query=%s"
search_url="AtoZ Lyrics https://search.azlyrics.com/search.php?q=%s"
search_url="Google http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%s"
search_url="Fuck Off Google https://search.fuckoffgoogle.net/search ... dillo&q=%s"
search_url="RFC Search https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/search ... edrafts=on"
search_url= "Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search ... rch=Search"
search_url= "Bible Scan https://biblescan.com/search.php?q=%s"
search_url= "Box Office Mojo https://www.boxofficemojo.com/search/?q=%s"

[freya]

Hackaday used to work well in dillo too and I suspect it still may.

https://hackaday.com/

[freya]

Having a hard time with Dillo at the moment which is annoying as it has always been my fave web browser going waaaaaaay back.

The new 3.05 version doesn't seem to work as well as 3.02 which I used to be able to use on a LOT of websites.
It might be the way it's configured tho?
I've tried to compile it myself and found that the source downloads aren't working very well at the moment so I can only get the latest source and not stuff from further back,
The trouble is I'm not getting the latest source to compile.
I have the open ssl library which it recognises but then fails when it looks for an initialise in the library.
I can still compile dillo but obviously without ssl it's like it doesn't function at all!

What are other peoples experiences with compiling it.
Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me?

I was more than happy to put up with some funky rendering in exchange for the fast speed and having plenty of tabs and getting things done.

[freya]

Hi Amethyst,

Yes, Dillo shouldn't be expected to do things that Firefox, Chrome, etc. do. It does have a specific niche, and does fulfill a legitimate need. I did compile this version with HTTPS, and haven't had any problems with accessing secure sites. I get almost no certificate popup messages.

OscarTalks, I have source code in GIT, and am cleaning it up before I publicize it and send patches to dillo.org. I am going to make more releases as well. For which OS/Puppy version do you have a preference for?

Would love to have a link to this source code so that I can try it out.
I'm assuming it compiles fine?
Could be just what I need!