What browser to run on an old PII 233 MHz laptop?

[curaga]

re office suite:

The Siag suite is quite small, but it's fairly limited as well.

[lolouis]

re office suite:

The Siag suite is quite small, but it's fairly limited as well.

How's the Pathetic Writer (part of the Siag suite) - anybody has tried that one out? Perhaps as a standalone if that were possible... But if they named it "pathetic" there's probably a reason for it...LOL

[tinypoodle]

Here are 2 threads where "lightweight browsers" have been discussed already:

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=6300.0
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=6956.0

And here something to look out for if planning to run links in framebuffer graphics mode with microcore - which might be a choice for a box with 96MB RAM:

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=7314.0

[lolouis]

Excellent, thanks!!

The consensus seems to be links in graphics mode (extension by Jason W) plus perhaps elinks (and netrik?) on the side. I think they'll all do very well on a 233 MHz, 96 MB RAM machine (still waiting to resolve the last details with my TCL install, then I'll start downloading extensions  ).
On a side note, tinypoodle, you actually seem to be using TCL a lot, and on older hardware... What's your choice for word processor? That'll cover my basic needs: a functional browser and a word processor.

[tinypoodle]

First of all, I have never used TC on less than 256MB RAM or P III @ 700Mhz, so I could only make estimations about upper specs.
The answer to the question about my choice of word processor is most simple: "None."

The combo of those specs and "word processor" sounds most painful in my ears...  

[jerramy]

Ummm.... vi ?

(just kidding!  )

[Jason W]

Siag Office would be the office suite I would use, siag.tcz.  It is pretty light though it depends on what kind of word processing needs you have as to how useful it would be.  Abiword may be a little heavy for those specs.   

[lolouis]

Ummm.... vi ?

(just kidding!  )

Not necessarily kidding....it's already installed as a busybox applet and could be a viable alternative....

[lolouis]

Siag Office would be the office suite I would use, siag.tcz.  It is pretty light though it depends on what kind of word processing needs you have as to how useful it would be.  Abiword may be a little heavy for those specs.   

Well, I looked into it and the siag suite (from 2006) is not very appealing....it seems like very few have good things to say about it.... Of the four applications provided, I'd really need only PW.... The suite weighs in at 2.8 MB as an extension, which is rather pricey considering the low value it provides. All taken into account, I'm gravitating toward nano or even vi, using the busybox wc applet for word counting... I'd be writing articles on it, so I don't really need a full blown word processor as long as I have a word counter (wc). Bluefish is also very tempting as it appears to be easy on hardware resources and provides the conversion of the writings into html format, which is a plus for me.

[tinypoodle]

If vi or nano are sufficient for your needs, you could as well use e3 which has a vi and a pico mode - amongst others - and uses roughly 22x less of memory than busybox vi  

[Jason W]

Oops, just saw that Curaga already mentioned Siag office. 

Anyway, the only way one will know what apps suit their taste and fits within their available machine specs is to try things out and see.

[tinypoodle]

And concurrently monitor sytem resources usage (e.g. with htop) might be a good idea.

[lolouis]

If vi or nano are sufficient for your needs, you could as well use e3 which has a vi and a pico mode - amongst others - and uses roughly 22x less of memory than busybox vi  

These are all certainly not ideal, just compromises when dealing with limited resources, expecially ram, and one is forced to make do. One other way to look at it would be to look for alternative ways to run TCL (other than in ram). Then the hardware will be able to handle more demanding software.

[lolouis]

Oops, just saw that Curaga already mentioned Siag office. 

Anyway, the only way one will know what apps suit their taste and fits within their available machine specs is to try things out and see.

Ultimately, yes. Nano, vi and similar console ones I'm very familiar with already and will run as a breeze on my system, but not take advantage of Xwindows. Abiword I love, but it's kind of a behemoth for this combo of OS and hardware. Was hoping to discover something useful in between.... When my "high security TCL" is ready to go, I'll perhaps give PW a try, and definitely bluefish....

[tinypoodle]

I have used e3 exclusively as a text editor on TC for a long time, it does the job I need. Lately I use geany with most features disabled, just for the tabs (and the auto saving of session) and the ease of toggling full screen - having more than a dozen of aterms open with docs in e3 bacame a bit messy, and always being reluctant to close any which may later be needed.

I doubt your conclusion.
Data residing in tmpfs can be swapped out whenever a need arises, so it is not really taking up RAM at the expense of apps which require it.