My new favourite browser

[dmitrygr]

So you all know I spent a LOT of time making netfront work on new devices, making the screen resize, and all else since it was the best browser on Palm. This is no longer true. With a few patches to the java runtime Opera mini now is the best

i will be releasing the patches soon, i expect

[goonie]

Dmitry, thanks for all you do to make Palm better. It's very appreciated.

Opera mini definitely has promise, and it's starting to edge out Blazer in my book. I just wish there was a way to do things like cut and paste URLs from the clipboard. That isn't where your patching efforts lie, is it?

[Bla8]

Good thing I kept those JVM files after Palm removed the link for it. :D Or are those Patches going to work standalone without needing the JVM first? Thanks anyway, Dmitry!

[icefireicefire]

Sounds good.
No, great.
No, amazing.
No, unbelievable.
No, it sounds like Dmitry :-)

But i like Picsel more than NetFront...but you did that too!

BTW does this patch include full screen on Zodiac?

[Dekaritae]

Which version of the runtime have you patched for?

[danceman]

Dmitry, thanks for all you do to make Palm better. It's very appreciated.

Opera mini definitely has promise, and it's starting to edge out Blazer in my book. I just wish there was a way to do things like cut and paste URLs from the clipboard. That isn't where your patching efforts lie, is it?

You can cut and past in Opera Mini, when you have textbox just turn on the keyboard and press the menu key and voila, copy,cut and past. Have a Treo so I do this with keys.

[danceman]

I use Opera Mini everyday, and what I notice that makes it unstable is:

-The files it leaves behide when you exit Opera MIni. When I install Opera Mini i always give it a first run, do the install, run some pages to be in history, this way I save with zlauncher do card a working version with the whole java files. This way I don't have java installed, its installed when I run Opera Mini. Every other java junk file after that I have to delete it by hand. Its about 2 files per use. If Dmitrygr has a auto delete feature would be great.

-Another thing I feel is unstable is if you use a 5-nav key, the stylist is much safer

-the text boxes on the start page is very unstable, but with the beta 4.1, the address no longer is a textbox so its perfect but the google box still is. I have to use the address box to go to google then I search, this way there is no prob. I also use my bookmarks on the phonefavs.com site so I didn't have to insert address my hand

-To make the browser also usable I also use fontsmooth with the Tahoma 8pt font which makes it almost like the desktop.

-In the IBM pref Java configurations, I can only put it at 1mb because 4mb images are load much more but I most be running out of memory and crashes much more. I have to keep at 1mb and great.

-When the page is loading, we have to wait till it loads all the way because if you start trying to see the page it starts to get unstable but not all the time.

This said, like I said before I use it everyday and post here and other forums with Opera Mini. I do get a occasional crash but it is pretty stable using this guids. By the way I also use acessorizer and use some DAs, like calender, treoalarm, todos, etc... so i don't have to get out of Opera Mini. Oh and keep in mine that I use a Treo 650.

[MikeB]

@danceman: Nice set of tips for making OM more stable.

@dmitry: Can't wait for the patches you have. Right now, OM is a love/hate type of app. It holds great promise, but the stability makes it frustrating.

[OLD_HATCH]

SOunds great. Ive been using the latest beta and it has been the most stable so far.


Dmitrygr...What exactly are you planning with these patches?

Sounds great thoough as Blazer purely sucks as far as slowness, and rendering full size pages.

[Pgr]

I recently tried Opera Mini 4.1 and my first impressions are:

1- I got battery drain on my T|X after using it, only solved by removing it (and the Java files) from the CleanStart profile - not a problem, since it still runs fine anyway.

2- I felt the Font size was too big. I can see more of the web page in Blazer... however simple this is, it's a critical problem to me, I just got tired of so much zooming and dragging the page around in order to read anything. Are there any freeware small-font solutions to this?

3- That top and bottom toolbars are bad design. I mean, they look pretty, but they take up screen space (more noticeably in landscape mode) and I do not want to lose screen space when web-browsing from my PDA. One toolbar would be more than enough for the functionality it provides, and a full-screen solution would be even better if they could come up with a clever way to deliver it...

[gmfer]

Wow dmitrygr as always your apps and tweaks are awesome, looking forward the release...

[lclark2074]

what problems are you tring to fix?

[thierry2064]

2- I felt the Font size was too big. I can see more of the web page in Blazer... however simple this is, it's a critical problem to me, I just got tired of so much zooming and dragging the page around in order to read anything. Are there any freeware small-font solutions to this?


Fontsmoother works well with Opera Mini, it is no freeware but a very nice hack. In opera Mini I use the tiny Sony font from Netfront, collected with frontcollector.

[_Em]

Wow... Om has come a long way! I think between Picsel Browser and Om, I can do anything I want now. Hey, I could even remove Blazer, NetFront, WebPro, Universe and Xiino :D

Now I just need to dig into it to figure out how to change things like the window colour ;)

[lclark2074]

Wow... Om has come a long way! I think between Picsel Browser and Om, I can do anything I want now. Hey, I could even remove Blazer, NetFront, WebPro, Universe and Xiino :D

Now I just need to dig into it to figure out how to change things like the window colour ;)
not evething: I whoud like to log on with my T5 to MLB.com and lission to ballgame?

[shatarys]

It is fantastic! I hope this patch will work for Sony Clie...

[2XS]

maybe the patches include adding "small fonts" to the font size settings? :o

[_Em]

Web browsers don't let you listen to audio... audio plugins do. Try Kinoma or Pocket Tunes. You can pretty much forget about anything that requires a plugin on a Palm browser (including flash, shockwave, activex, realplayer, quicktime, wmv, etc). If the webmaster has written the site properly, any data requiring a plugin will also be able to be sent off to a helper application for handling. Unfortunately, most web sites aren't written properly.

Regarding small fonts: FontSmoother and FontHackV should do the trick for you -- they I use FS and it works great with Opera :)

[ammar766]

SICK! I hope one of the paches is for my clie nx70 and it be sweat if it worked in graffiti down, cuz i just bought a wifi router!

[OLD_HATCH]

Any hints on what the tweaks are? I'm anxiously waiting for some more info on this :)

[TheUltimate]

Could you update us on the status of your hacks? or what the additions you plan for opera? Give of some kind of details..Thanks in advance

[dmitrygr]

as always asking for updates form me just angers me and slows me down


date of release: "whenever i feel like it, really (and have time)"
certainty of release: "whatever random percentage i can come up with"
hacks included: "whichever of mine i deem share-worthy and polished-up enough"

[goonie]

You can cut and past in Opera Mini, when you have textbox just turn on the keyboard and press the menu key and voila, copy,cut and past. Have a Treo so I do this with keys.

Danceman, I don't have a Treo, and I don't have this capability. I have a TX, and cutting and pasting are not available, though I do now see that when entering text in a text box it offers a limited "menu" of with choices of "clear" or "previous addresses."

I thought I had figured out how to do this-- invoke PasteDA with a hard key. That doesn't even work for me.

[JavaJiveJump]

...
date of release: "whenever i feel like it, really (and have time)"
certainty of release: "whatever random percentage i can come up with"
hacks included: "whichever of mine i deem share-worthy and polished-up enough"
Will be looking forward to it when the time arrives. :)

[danceman]

Danceman, I don't have a Treo, and I don't have this capability. I have a TX, and cutting and pasting are not available, though I do now see that when entering text in a text box it offers a limited "menu" of with choices of "clear" or "previous addresses."

I thought I had figured out how to do this-- invoke PasteDA with a hard key. That doesn't even work for me.

What I do on a Treo is turn the screen keyboard on and here the menu options has copy/past. Since my Palm iiix there has been a screen keyboard so the Tungstun TX has to have one. Turning it on (you have to see the keyboard on the screen) is where the copy and past is with the menu key or menu option on a TX.


Sometime ago I had found a Opera mini 2 hacked by a Russian that put some new features into Opera and it had the copy/past builded into the java app.

But with the method on top it works, its just a bit hidden.

I use Opera Mini everyday. Its works well with me. I also use Blazer with SharkLinks and Googles googlizer (or squeezer sometimes) to surf to some heavy sites that Opera Mini gives a out of memory. And mostly sites that I want to go fast or seach fast with Moxy (Palm version of Google search).

[lee555]

There seems to be no way to launch the onscreen keyboard using a TX when in opera's "text entry page", but there is a workaround.

Here's how I do it on my TX, I use hilauncher to create a new shortcut to the onscreen keyboard, it's under special, then ABC keyboard.

So whenever I'm in Opera's "text entry page", I just press and hold the designated hardbutton, and hilauncher pops up, tapping on the keyboard shortcut will bring up the onscreen keyboard, enabling copy/paste in the menu!

[goonie]

I must be missing something here. I CAN launch the on-screen keyboard on my TX while in the "text entry" page (I assume you all mean the "Enter Address" page), but the choices on the menu are the same as I noted above-- "Clear" and "Previous Addresses" only, no "cut" and no "paste." And if I do try to copy something to the clipboard ahead of time and invoke a "paste" using PasteDA as described earlier, nothing happens.

[wozofoz]

I have not used Opera but has anyone tried LClipDA (www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/lclipda.shtml) to see if It will Copy/Paste in Text Boxes?

NOTE: Using Blazer, LClipDA will not copy text off the page, only from Text Box

All the best, woz of oz

[lee555]

I must be missing something here. I CAN launch the on-screen keyboard on my TX while in the "text entry" page (I assume you all mean the "Enter Address" page), but the choices on the menu are the same as I noted above-- "Clear" and "Previous Addresses" only, no "cut" and no "paste." And if I do try to copy something to the clipboard ahead of time and invoke a "paste" using PasteDA as described earlier, nothing happens.

The copy paste function will only appear if the onscreen keyboard is launched, and the only way I could do that is use hi-launcher to launch the onscreen keyboard. Hope that helps.

Btw, The onscreen keyboard is different from the graffitti keyboard, try going to memopad, tap on menu, under edit, tap on keyboard, you will see another keyboard pop up above your graffitti keyboard, this is what you need to pop up in Opera to enable the copy paste commands.

[bluefishCFC]

On my Treo 650, I need to press Alt on the hard keyboard to launch the soft keyboard. Then I have access to the copy paste functions.

I have also found that other copy, paste commands work well once the keyboard is on the screen. I use TeikeiDA, and pToolSet scripts and shortcut5 to paste text into boxes in Mini opera 4. (and 4.1 beta)

Andy

[icefireicefire]

the Keyboard is a standard edit control, while the Java (opera) one isn't. I think that IBM implemented a thing that Java Edit boxes could call the standard soft-keyboard, which has a standard edit menu. So call up the keyboard, copy/paste, and press ok.

[palmgeek5394]

The main reason I don't (after this I might) care much for OM is that it is extremely unstable on my T5. I can't run it without it crapping out. So I use Universe. :rolleyes:

[dmitrygr]

just increase java memory and thread stack size

[icefireicefire]

@Dmitry: Nice Sig update.

@PalmGeek: You might need UDMH?

[danceman]

just increase java memory and thread stack size

On my Treo 650 if I put java memory more than 1Mb its less stable but I do see more imagens when I zoom with more Memory.

[JavaJiveJump]

Dmitry, why has NetFront dropped to second place? What do you like about Opera so much?

[Taron]

One question from me. Would it be possilbe to make your new optimized JVM work on the Zodiac? Because afaik the whole Zodiac community uses a very old version of the JVM which doesn't work very fast with opera mini and isn't very stable to.

[ZodiacDuo]

I use Mini-KB, and It works well with OM. In any text field, I launch mini-kb and it allows me access to the command bar (da's, copy,cut,paste).
The main stability problem that i've encountered is that OM or Java doesn't release the network properly, so it tends to crash on exit. But I agree, OM is a good browser, if the jvm was more stable and supported more devices, it would be great.

-Duo

[mrpropre]

One question from me. Would it be possilbe to make your new optimized JVM work on the Zodiac? Because afaik the whole Zodiac community uses a very old version of the JVM which doesn't work very fast with opera mini and isn't very stable to.

Yes: the last version of JVM is not zodiac compatible at all...wich mean that we are stuck with opera mini 4.0 :(

[_Em]

I use ThumbBoardDA as my keyboard in OM; works well.

[JavaJiveJump]

_EM,

Just downloaded just thumboardda.prc. I use DALauncher to evoke it, but my LD got reset. :(

Any suggestions? Better DA launcher?

EDIT = After the initial reset everything is working!! Very nice! I just did a new memo with this keyboard. I'll have to read up and see how much I can configure and create macros. Still would like DA Launcher suggestion and maybe something to slide the statbar out of the way. The StatBar DA stopped working when I started to use SkinUI for some reason. Thanks.

[MikeB]

Since Dmitry's latest announcement, does this mean that this project is dead too?

[danceman]

_EM,

Just downloaded just thumboardda.prc. I use DALauncher to evoke it, but my LD got reset. :(

Any suggestions? Better DA launcher?

EDIT = After the initial reset everything is working!! Very nice! I just did a new memo with this keyboard. I'll have to read up and see how much I can configure and create macros. Still would like DA Launcher suggestion and maybe something to slide the statbar out of the way. The StatBar DA stopped working when I started to use SkinUI for some reason. Thanks.

I use zlauncher launch anywhere feature, works great for me.

[JavaJiveJump]

Thnx for the tip! :)

[lclark2074]

Since Dmitry's latest announcement, does this mean that this project is dead too?

Dmitry's is still posting on progress on the so he is still working on it so just be payshint.

[Taron]

Since one month passed now since the latest anouncement i just want to ask about the progression of this project.
Any news about this dmitry or are you too busy with the SDHC-Driver (I'd completely understand this)

[drwho]

Is this project going to happen or is it dead? Still desperate for a decent browser. I would be willing to pay if I could have a stable Opera :)

[OLD_HATCH]

Yeah I was silently wwaiting also.

Dmitry if its available I'll take a fixed java to work with opera.

[DimaRoo]

Dmitry, please don't leave us.

[mysource]

A way to copy and Paste on Palm TX is to use the program Hi-Launcher and have as one menu entry the Keyboard.
So once you are in the opera you can call the software keyboard through Hi-Launcher.

[malbo]

There seems to be no way to launch the onscreen keyboard using a TX when in opera's "text entry page", but there is a workaround.

Here's how I do it on my TX, I use hilauncher to create a new shortcut to the onscreen keyboard, it's under special, then ABC keyboard.

So whenever I'm in Opera's "text entry page", I just press and hold the designated hardbutton, and hilauncher pops up, tapping on the keyboard shortcut will bring up the onscreen keyboard, enabling copy/paste in the menu!

Thank you! This works beautifully. Clean and simple.