Dooble Web Browser for OS/2 =========================== Dooble is a cross-platform, free and open-source web browser based on the Qt Toolkit and its Qt WebEngine library that brings Google Chromium web browser to Qt applications. Dooble is an alternative to Otter Browser which is also based on Qt WebEngine. This README file covers the specifics of the version of Dooble for the OS/2 operating system. Please check the original Dooble documentation (accessible from its Help menu) to get general help on the Dooble application usage. NOTE THAT THIS IS A PREVIEW VERSION OF DOOBLE FOR OS/2. PLEASE INSTALL IT ON A TEST SYSTEM TO GIVE IT A TRY. THE LIST OF KNOWN LIMITATIONS IS PROVIDED AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT. System Requirements ------------------- * A Pentium 4 CPU is really the minimum. Some tests have shown that a system with at least 2 CPU cores is preferred. * 3 GB of system memory is recommended. Dooble is known to work on systems with less memory but it may seriously affect its stability. * When it comes to the supported operating system, it is strongly recommended that you use ArcaOS version 5 or above. Please make sure that you have at least the following versions of the following components in your ArcaOS installation (go to your ArcaOS order by visiting www.arcanoae.com and logging in to check for updates): - OS/2 kernel version 14.203 - ACPI version 3.23.16 - Latest UNIAUD If you are running an older version of OS/2 such as eComStation or OS/2 Warp, installing this browser can crash your system because the Qt WebEngine DLL is the biggest DLL ever distributed for OS/2 (almost 100 megabytes without debug symbols). This DLL needs to be loaded into high memory. Only OS/2 kernel version 14.202 and higher supports proper loading and unloading of DLLs from high memory. Older OS/2 versions such as MCP 1/2 and eComStation come with kernel versions that contain a bug that will crash your system when DLLs are unloaded from high memory. Installing Dooble ----------------- Installation of the browser can only be done in the RPM/YUM environment. The easiest way is to use the graphical front-end for RPM/YUM called Arca Noae Package Manager (ANPM). In ArcaOS the ANPM program is installed by default and can be found in the following folder on your desktop: Computer -> System Setup -> Arca Noae Package Manager. If you do not have ANPM installed or its version is too old, please download and install it from here: https://www.arcanoae.com/resources/downloadables/arca-noae-package-manager/ Step-by-step installation instructions: 1. Launch ANPM. 2. Update all packages on your system via Manage -> Yum Tools -> Update all. 3. Restart your system after updating is finished. 4. Launch ANPM again. 5. Select "All matching packages" in the drop down box and go to "Available" list. 6. Scroll to "dooble" package, select and install it. Alternatively, if you prefer the command line, you may do the following: 1. Run `yum update` and answer 'Y' to all queries. 2. Reboot. 3. Run `yum install dooble`. Note that with all the updates you need to install and Dooble browser itself you may need to download a few hundred megabytes. Please also read the following sections carefully to learn about Dooble usage specifics on the OS/2 platform. Updating Dooble --------------- If you have a previous version of Dooble installed, it is strongly recommended to reset all Dooble settings and remove all your saved data by deleting the following folder: %HOME%\.dooble Note that if you have some sensitive Dooble data you do not want to lose, please back it up before deleting (or export, when possible). If you only want to delete Dooble settings and leave your cache, cookies and the rest of saved user data intact, then it is enough to just delete this file: %HOME%\.dooble\dooble_settings.db Single-process and multi-process Chromium modes ----------------------------------------------- The Chromium engine used by Qt WebEngine and Doodle can operate in two modes: multi-process and single-process, with the former being normally the default one. In multi-process mode, there is a separate process per each web page (in a tab or window), plus a separate process for the browser GUI itself. This approach allows to distribute system resources more efficiently and also isolates web pages from each other which improves both security and performance. For example, if some web page contains faulty code that makes the browser engine hang or crash, all other pages will be left intact. On the contrary, in single-process mode, there is only one process that serves both the browser GUI and all the web pages. Besides security issues mentioned above, this also exposes a number of limits such as less tabs that can be opened at the same time. Due to a number of known issues in the OS/2 port of Chromium multi-process mode is not stable enough for regular use. Early testing shows that Dooble operates better in single-process mode so this mode is used by Dooble by default on OS/2. If you, however, want to test multi-process mode (which may give better results depending on your hardware), you may uncheck the respective checkbox on the Dooble Settings tab available via the Edit -> Settings menu entry. Select the Web settings page on the left, scroll down to the WebEngine group and look for a "--single-process" setting in the table - this is the setting responsible for single-process mode. Note that you must restart Dooble each time you change this (or any other setting in this table) in order for it to take effect. Known Limitations ----------------- - Audio in youtube.com videos may only play for a few seconds and then go silent. This depends on a combination of the hardware installed in your computer. Contacts -------- If you want to report a bug report, please visit the Dooble for OS/2 project page at https://github.com/bitwiseworks/dooble-os2. Credits ------- Dooble is Copyright (c) 2008 - present, Alexis Megas. Dooble for OS/2 (including OS/2 versions of Qt Toolkit version 5 and Chromium web browser) is kindly brought to you by bww bitwise works GmbH (Dmitriy Kuminov, Silvan Scherrer, Herwig Bauernfeind, https://www.bitwiseworks.com). Thanks to Elbert Pol for building and testing both Dooble and Qt at earlier stages of development. Thanks to Gregg Young for providing an initial RPM package and OS/2 icon for Dooble. Thanks to Roderick Klein from OS/2 Voice (http://os2voice.org) for providing ongoing fundraising support.