• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Browser for Windows 3.11

K

kb2syd

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
Messages
1,856
Location
Wantage, NJ
OK, what's the "best" browser for WFW 3.11? I tried IE 5.01 and NS 4.07. I don't think I found a single site that rendered properly.

Any opinions?

Kelly
 
There is also Opera 3.62, but someone wrote it is horrible on Windows 3.11. YMMV, it may be worth checking out.

http://arc.opera.com/pub/opera/win/362/english/

Elsewhere the OffByOne web browser was mentioned, but it seems not available in a 16 bit version?

http://offbyone.com/offbyone/

Anyway, doesn't Windows for Workgroups run 32-bit code as well? I seem to remember it is different than the regular Windows 3.1 in this matter, or perhaps I've been dreaming. Would installing Win32s allow any newer browser (i.e. Firefoxes) to run?
 
Last edited:
I checked the list of compatible software for win32s. It didn't list netscape but I'll try it. IE 5.5 is listed as not working.

I do have win32s installed. Gotta have my freecell.
 
IE 5 works ok if the cpu can handle the load under Win 3.1 (I tried it on a 386 and it was too slow).

Netscape tends to just blow up when in use for some reason.
 
Years ago I used to use "Arachne" under dos, a few boxes to fill in, so not totally plug & play but it was good & it should work with 3.11, There was also the "Mosaic" browser, but I never got to use that. (perhaps I should have!).
 
I think the problem is that many web sites today have a CSS driven layout, DOM and JS, even Flash which certainly is a big problem on 16-bit Windows if the Flash Player is too outdated. What you would want is a modern browser which can handle all the CSS and other stuff, but compiled to run on Windows 3.x. Even with browsers you can compile yourself, I suppose it isn't quite that easy to get a working 16-bit binary.
 
carlsson nailed it. Its the java and flash thats the killer. Flash you can do without, any website that relies on it isn't worth going to anyway, but you're going to need at least CSS and java for a "normal" experience. The older browsers like Netscape 1.0, Cello, etc. won't do it.

nige the hippy's suggestion of Arachne is perhaps not so bad. I see it it still out there and has a following. I regularly use a minimal browser called DILLO. It only does text and pictures, but it also doesn't choke on anything. Apparently there is a version for Windows but it is said to be somewhat unstable. It still might be worth a try.
 
I'm sure there are tens of thousands of web developers out there who think "any user who is stuck with old Windows on a 486 isn't worth bothering about anyway". 8) Actually many may consider people stuck with MSIE 6.0 on Windows 98 out of their target group, but in that case at least there are some decent alternatives.

Occasionally I'm using the Links browser in text mode. It actually handles most sites just fine, I can even place bids on eBay although I'd hesitate to go through PayPal without a full-fledged, graphical browser. Actually the Vintage Computer Forum is one of few web sites I'd rather not surf with a text only browser. For some reason I find vBulletin based forums a bit too complex for text browsing. On the other hand phpBB based ones are very easy to traverse.
 
chuckcmagee said:
Dillo is great fun! In a masochistic kind of way :p
Click to expand...
Not to start an arument here :) but whats masochistic about it? I use it for browsing sites with heavy java script, like media sites. The reason I do this is so that I don't have to suffer! All I want to do is read the d*** story, and not have to wait for all kinds of "clever" (by half) coding to finish. It certainly makes my life easier. Yes Firefox can do that, just not very well in my experience.
 
nige the hippy said:
......There was also the "Mosaic" browser, but I never got to use that. (perhaps I should have!).
Click to expand...

Mosaic did not conform to what eventually became html 2, H1 reversed with H5 for example.

It's more than I would be willing to tackle, but I think the trick would be to write a CSS/html 4 addon to the browser of choice, like Netscape 3.
 
Ole Juul said:
carlsson nailed it. Its the java and flash thats the killer. Flash you can do without, any website that relies on it isn't worth going to anyway, but you're going to need at least CSS and java for a "normal" experience. The older browsers like Netscape 1.0, Cello, etc. won't do it.
Click to expand...

I've used the net on my Pentium 133 with Windows 98 SE and Internet Explorer (version 5? I can't remember), and sites that have a lot of animation (advertisements and such) are incredibly slow. I couldn't imagine trying it on a 486.
 
patscc said:
Just turn scripting off in your browser...
patscc
Click to expand...
Thanks, I haven't actually tried that but its worth a look.
Normally I have more than half a dozen windows open on several desktops and, as you know, if you change one, they all change. I like different settings for different kinds of sites. To solve that problem, I use 3 and ocationally 4 browsers at the same time. It just seems easier that way.

They are, by the way, Firefox, Dillo, and Epiphany, with the fourth sometimes being Konquoror. I rarely use a text browser these days, but when I do, it is Elinks.
 
I've been playing around with WfW 3.11 in VirtualBox for awhile now with very poor results. None of the browsers I've found can render most modern web pages even remotely correctly. You'll get lots of crashes too in my experience. This is basically regardless of whether the site uses flash, java, or anything else.
 
I'm not sure if there's a DOS/Win311 port of this, but Links2 does javascript, which is nice if you're stuck needing it for something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top