Otter Browser - Project to Recreate Classic Opera (12.x)

[Monroe]

The complete title of the Otter project is: Project aiming to recreate classic Opera (12.x) UI using Qt5.

 

I am not sure where I heard about this browser ... I saved a link in Dec or Jan and just started working with it today.

 

So far with XP, I like this browser so I am posting about it with links. If someone already posted about the Otter Browser then I'm repeating everything. I grabbed this link from somewhere, maybe another forum, just don't know at this point.

 

I just finished getting all the settings to my liking and have been using it for about an hour ... so far it's working very good with XP ... I do not know about Windows 98SE but I would think above XP should work. It's updated regularly but it's in development.

 

Current download is from 04 March 2015 ...

 

Otter Browser Website

 

http://otter-browser.org/

 

 

Download site

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/otter-browser/?source=typ_redirect

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/otter-browser/files/?source=navbar

 

I didn't install anything ... it's portable like K-Meleon ... I used the 2nd download link for the top version:

 

otter-browser-weekly61  2015-03-04 

 

*** I found this posting at the Otter Browser forum ... the poster also likes this browser and he goes into a little more detail about the browser.

 

 Wow! I'm so impressed...!

on: 2015-02-04, 19:47:45 (1423075665)

Thx so much for this effort! I accidentally stumbled with a better browser opinions-related webpage and someone mentioned Otter Browser was Opera "Inspired" :-) (I'm so pleased with old good Opera 12 that I'm still using it as my main browser, despite some shortcomings) so in a flash I was testing it.

 

My Gosh! It's so good! :-o Yes, there is much work ahead but I was in need of a browser capable of what Opera 12 can't do, namely:

 

- MEGA Downloads (Otter Browser can)

- Show Dynamic Web pages forms correctly and download (like gov't tax forms online and so on) (Otter Browser proved noteworthy where other wellknown browsers failed miserably)

- "Full" Facebook (Javascript was always worst Opera's enemy) (Again, Otter Browser can)

 

I'm sure there will be many more advantages (and bugs :-) that I will be discovering eventually but hitherto I'm really pleased.

 

Again, thank you so much!

--------

also this posting about what version of Windows should work ...

 

Which flavours of MS Windows are accepted? Can Otter for instance be installed on W XP?

 

1. The installer includes Qt. Without Qt it'd be significantly smaller.

 

2. It seems to work perfectly fine on XP. More detail can be found here.

 

http://doc.qt.io/QtSupportedPlatforms/index.html

 

Additional ... I seem to be having a problem with the Bookmarks ... they load OK but I can't get into the folders.

 

Also, another browser that I like and have been using since Jan is QupZilla ... seems to work OK with XP ... link below if interested. The bookmarks and everything seems to work just fine.

 

http://www.qupzilla.com/

 

 

Native look'n'feel

 

QupZilla is using native widgets style on major Linux Desktop Environments. It is also using icons from the active desktop icon theme. If you find native themes too boring or have some problems with it, you can always switch to other themes.

...

Edited March 8, 2015 by monroe

[GrofLuigi]

I have high hopes in Vivaldi as Opera's successor, but it's not ready yet.

GL

[Monroe]

I saw Vivaldi mentioned when I was reading about Otter ... I will follow that one also.

 

I did like the older Opera and want something that works good with XP into the future ... K-Meleon v1.8.24 works good most of the time and I really like QupZilla ... the last version from Jan 2015.

 

Otter still has work I guess ... all volunteers working on the project from what I read.

...

[vinifera]

people are missing the point of both

 

Vivaldi = another Chrome clone

Otter = QT based browser that uses ported Webkit engine (QTWebKit), but is not Chrome clone, thus works blazing fast and has small memory footprint

-

they both aim at bringing back old Opera features, but are miles away in difference under the hood

[Jody Thornton]

Darn; I was hoping they'd bring back Presto and the classic 8.x theme.

[jaclaz]

But it seems more like a philosophical standpoint than anything else.

 

I mean, good ol' Opera was (actually is, at least for me) blazing fast, very handy, etc., etc. AND used it's own Presto engine.

 

This newish Otter thingy seems like being (at this preliminary stage) as well blazing fast, very handy etc. etc. just like good ol' Opera BUT it uses QT and QTWebkit.

 

What is the problem?

As long in it's final version Otter will  behave similar to good ol' Opera in terms of speed, customization, disk occupation, memory footprint and *what not* I am not really interested to know what is under the hood.

 

More loosely if tomorrow a new browser comes out of nowhere involving the creation of - say - a VM on the fly,  running a Linux kernel which runs a QNX image which runs a browser, and the final result is similar to good ol* Opera in terms of speed, customization, disk occupation, memory footprint and *what not*, I would as well be not that much interested to know what is under the hood.

 

Or am I missing something?

 

jaclaz 

[vinifera]

they can't use Presto as it is closed source, NOBODY has it, and if somebody magically did, legally they couldn't use it

so they use ported WebKit onto QT, which is actually good thing if you want maximum web compatibility

 

the progress will be slower than Vivaldi's, coz vivaldi doesn't care of bug free and all they had to do is yank out the chromium code

and continue, while Otter - and any other QTwebkit based browser cannot do this, as these are separate projects

and porting webkit to QT is tedious

 

also theres no need for comparison, vivaldi = bloated unoptimized ... whatever you wanna call it

otter isn't

Edited March 14, 2015 by vinifera