If you are irritated by slow performance on JavaScript-intensive sites
and are antsy to get past that, Opera 10.5 beta offers a big speed improvement.
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/02/12/192205&mode=nocomment

Opera says it is 8 times faster than their current 10.1 release.
ElReg estimates that it is 7 times faster than 10.1.

Opera claims it to be the world's fastest browser.
It did beat Google Chrome[1] on the SunSpider test suite
but ran behind Chrome on the V8 suite.


[1] For some time now, Chrome has been the pace setter
--but it won't run under Win9x; Opera is supported under Win98.

Tip: Run a free scan for common Windows errors ad

re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 4:00 pm Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) It looks like Opera is gradually withdrawing support for 9x. http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/386/ It was bound to happen eventually. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 6:54 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Arminius wrote: |It looks like Opera is gradually withdrawing support for 9x. |http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/386/ Hmmm. :"Although Opera may run on older hardware and older versions of Windows :[...]you may be better off installing a legacy version of Opera" The masters of the velvet glove, those guys. To this point, Opera Software's stance has been **We'll examine your bug reports and see what we can do**. This was discussed here at least once before: cache of http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/1244139148 In their previous history, however, they haven't used NT-only APIs. ...but time does pass and things may change. A guy on the SeaMonkey newsgroup just asked WTF was going on when Win98 spit SM2 back at him. (The SeaMonkey 2.x team has never made any attempt to support Win9x.) Several people mentioned how Linux runs modern software just fine. I mentioned MEPIS antiX specifically for his ancient hardware. Someone else mentioned Linux Mint specifically (but didn't note the age of his box). Firefox just dropped support for OS X 10.4 (Tiger) which was shipped on units as recently as 3 years ago. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Monday, February 22, 2010 at 5:00 pm Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) Well well well! I recently installed Opera 10.01 and now the search links to individual titles on my local libraries online Spydus catalogue won't open properly. Everything worked fine under Opera 9.27. Seems to be a case of one step forward two steps back. Good thing I have IE6 as a backup browser. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Monday, February 22, 2010 at 10:34 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Arminius wrote: |I recently installed Opera 10.01 and now the search links to individual titles |on my local [library's][1] online Spydus catalogue won't open properly. | Bummer. Opera is known for writing clean code. You filed a bug report, of course. http://google.com/search?q=site:opera.com+bugs |Everything worked fine under Opera 9.27. | Did you run the page's URL thru the W3C Validator? http://validator.w3.org/ |Seems to be a case of one step forward two steps back. | Did it crap out on both 9x and NT? |Good thing I have IE6 as a backup browser. | Installed a modern core for that yet? http://google.com/search?q="Google.Chrome.Frame"+"Internet.Explorer"+WebKit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/1253992383 Sites have to be tweaked by the developer to get IE to switch over --or, via the Address Bar *you* can manually tell IE to swap rendering engines: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1382925&cid=29547985#29548721 (CF==Chrome Frame) [1] I assume you are talking about only 1 library and not several libraries that share the same catalog system. Either way, an apostrophe was missing. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 1:13 am Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) gewg wrote: |You filed a bug report, of course. |http://google.com/search?q=site:opera.com+bugs What for? The last time I filed a bug report with them about problems when using 4shared I never heard back nor was it fixed. When I filed a bug report with 4shared they got back to me but fixed nothing. There was someone else having the same trouble so it wasn't just my system. The other guy didn't want to bother the Opera people because he is "in love" with Opera like it was his girlfriend or something. |Did you run the page's URL thru the W3C Validator? http://validator.w3.org/ I just did that. 33 errors and 2 warnings on a page selected at random. |Did it crap out on both 9x and NT? NT. I use Windows 2000 on my internet box now. I only use 98SE for old games and my mp3 collection offline only. |Installed a modern core for that yet? |http://google.com/search?q="Google.Chrome.Frame"+"Internet.Explorer"+WebKit |http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/1253992383 Nope. Google Chrome Frame requires Vista or XP SP2 |[1] I assume you are talking about only 1 library |and not several libraries that share the same catalog system. |Either way, an apostrophe was missing. Five branches of the one library system. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 7:37 am Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) Opera 10.50 is now out of beta, build 3296. It's fast alright. The previously mentioned problem with 4shared appears to be gone. The library problem persists. It tends to occur when I try to open a page by right-clicking on a link and selecting "Open in New Tab". It doesn't happen when I right-click and select "Open in Background Tab". Can't wait for Opera 10.51 to fix the bugs in 10.50 and those leftover from earlier 10.xx [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 10:28 am Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Arminius wrote: |Opera 10.50 is now out of beta, build 3296. It's fast alright. | That's what you like to see with a newer release. Some vendors (not to name any names, of course) go the other direction. |The previously mentioned problem with 4shared appears to be gone. | 8-) |The library problem persists. | 8-( |It tends to occur when I try to open a page by right-clicking on a link |and selecting "Open in New Tab". |It doesn't happen when I right-click and select "Open in Background Tab". | I still think that a bug report is warranted. |Can't wait for Opera 10.51 to fix the bugs in 10.50 |and those leftover from earlier 10.xx | As a rule, those guys do a crackerjack job. It's important, however, to help them find what's broken. In the Fixing Bugs department, Opera is closer to the Open Source ethos than to the bad example set by you-know-who, so it's important (for FOSS or for Opera) to see yourself as part of the community rather than take the usual consumerist attitude of crossing your arms and scowling. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 5:16 pm Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) Oh man!!! Off with Opera 10.50! Back to Opera 10.10! Should have been called Opera 10.50 alpha 3, I wouldn't even call it a beta. Bugs: 1) Check marks and bullets don't appear in the drop down menus so I can't tell what options are enabled. 2) Get an error message when clicking on an URL on my hard drive unless Opera is already running. The 4shared thing really was fixed. Later I upgraded javascript from version 5.6 to version 5.7 and now 4shared works with Opera 10.10 (yay). There is an unofficial javascript upgrade available for win98 users here: http://www.mdgx.com/add.htm#MSE It may also help with some IE6 display problems. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 8:15 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Arminius wrote: |Should have been called Opera 10.50 alpha 3, I wouldn't even call it a beta. | Yeah, if you're going to use things that are still in flux, you need to be prepared for disappointments. |The 4shared thing really was fixed. | 2 steps forward; one step back. |Later I upgraded javascript from version 5.6 to version 5.7 | That's actually JScript, which is Micros~1's "interpretation" of JavaScript. |and now 4shared works with Opera 10.10 (yay). | This doesn't make sense to me. Opera has its own JavaScript engine. I was always under the impression that the JScript engine is for IE. |There is an unofficial javascriptJScript upgrade |available for win98 users here: |http://www.mdgx.com/add.htm#MSE | So, the latest iteration of Opera's (included) JavaScript engine (Carakan) is apparently buggy still, but I'm surprized you are having problems with the formally-released version of Opera and its included JavaScript engine. ...and, of course, *your* level of pleasure with the software will depend on *which* commands in the language get used when you surf. ...making bug reports from users vitally important. |It may also help with some IE6 display problems. | Again, to all: This is the worst version of the world's worst browser. Government agencies of France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA have advised against using it. Companies worldwide have stopped supporting it or are in the process of dropping support for it. Google dropped support for IE6 March 1, 2010. FREE alternatives include Firefox, SeaMonkey, K-Meleon, and Opera. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 9:11 pm Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) Yeah, ok. I thought Jscript was an abbreviation of javascript. I stand corrected. ||Should have been called Opera 10.50 alpha 3, I wouldn't even call it a beta. || |Yeah, if you're going to use things that are still in flux, |you need to be prepared for disappointments. Yes. Yet if you go to their website version 10.50 is what they are offering for download now. Better to wait for 10.51 in this case. ||and now 4shared works with Opera 10.10 (yay). || |This doesn't make sense to me. Opera has its own JavaScript engine. |I was always under the impression that the JScript engine is for IE. Doesn't make sense to me either. Nor did it make sense to the 4shared people. I only called it as I saw it. By the way, other Opera users had the same problem. With regard to Opera, here is what the 4shared support people wrote (typos included): "Thank you for the details and siorry for the inconveniences! Actually Opera browser works bad with java script in which 4shared is written. We can suggest you to use Opera 10. It should work fine. In any case, please rwach 4shared via more reliable browser." They ignored the fact I was already using Opera 10. I don't know if they actually know what they are talking about or if the individual felt she had to give some kind of response. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Opera 10.5 beta available (Smoking JavaScript performance) Friday, March 5, 2010 at 4:08 pm Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) Three days after releasing Opera 10.50 build 3296 as 10.50 final, Opera 10.50 is back into beta with build 3298 and this disclaimer. "WARNING: This is a development snapshot: it contains the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes and data loss situations. In fact, it may not work at all." [Reply or follow-up to this message] Opera 10.51 snapshot available Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 5:35 pm Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) Opera 10.51 build 3309 has been released. The problem of check marks and bullets not appearing in the drop down menus has been fixed. The other bugs have not. Getting there gradually. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows 98 Discussion Forum