Netscape for OS/2 Tips

By Fred Gerlach - 2/4/1998

Most of these tips are aimed at making Netscape for OS/2 (referred to as NS/2 from here on) perform at optimal levels. When the first version of NS/2 was shipped in late 1996, many people initially complained about poor performance, and I was one of them. I was determined to find ways to make the browser perform in a manner similar to that of it's Windows counterpart. I have succeeded, in fact my NS/2 2.02 install was perhaps as much as 15% quicker in loading locally stored pages then Netscape 3.01 Gold running under NT 4. I have yet to run the same tests with the maintainance release of Navigator that was released on 6/27/97, though I suspect that the difference will be larger. (get a copy of the current NS/2 here) Some of these tips have come from discussions with participantson the undernet IRC channel #os/2. hr03.jpg - 4.62 K

Killing the "unkillable" Netscape for OS/2 session
This tip was brought to my attention by ptackbar the #os/2 channel on the undernet IRC network.

One of the most common netscape crashes for some people is known as the "black hole". This crash is characterized by a browser widow which does not respond to user commands, also, remnants of overlapping windows will be left behind when the app or folder has been closed. Variuous reasons may account for this problem, but most problems probably stem from poorly coded Java applets (The soon to be released JDK 1.1.x compliant NS/2 is far less succeptible to this issue than the previous versions). Most people deal with this problem by rebooting, but there is another way to managethis issue throught the old IBM program PMTree (version 3.0 is available on hobbes as pmtree30.zip). When Netscape "black holes", start up PMtree. From the 'window' pulldown, choose 'object', select the 'window' pulldown again, and select 'top child'. Now, press and hold 'ctrl-s' untill Netscape finally crashes.

This will not close all instances where netscape has frozen the input que (hardware incompatibility related issues still require a reboot), but for most people, this fix will work 80-90% of the time. Warning : this method is not officially recommended by IBM or Netscape, use at your own risk. Also, this method will probably not work for other OS/2 apps that crash in a similar manner. Be Careful! hr03.jpg - 4.62 K

Some further notes.... After following several threads in newsgroups, various discussion groups, and IRC channels, I am beginning to come to a conclusion that hardware configuration can play some role in the performance, reliability and stability of Netscape for OS/2. I have had no problems with NS/2 myself (In fact it is the most stable Netscape browser I have used to date), but some people seem to be having serious problems with it that can't be cured through performance tuning

In my own informal tally, I am coming to the conclusion that one primary issue may in fact be the processor that you choose to use. I have heard numerous reports of instability coming from people who use non- Intel x86 compatible processor chips. The majority of negative comments I hear come from users of Cyrix chips, mostly 6x86 users, but some 5x86 users have noticed problems as well. Problems are not limited to Cyrix chips though, since some reports are also coming in from users of AMD K5 and K6 CPUs (12/97 - I must note that since August instability reports from AMD users are far less than those of cyrix users). There have been many reports of software incompatibilities with these chips, especially from the cyrix chipset, so it is not inconceivable that that is part of what is going on. Keep in mind that I've seen plenty of reports from people with Intel chips, it's just that the vast majority of reports appear to be coming from users of the alternative choices. These alternative CPUs might be attractive from a cost perspective, but one must seriously look at whether they can risk the incompatibilities that these chips exhibit with a multitude of apps on various platforms

I'm very interested in this situation, and I'll see what else I can dig up on it. The CPU may not be the only reason for compatibility problems, but it is a prime candidate as a contributing factor. hr03.jpg - 4.62 K

Performance related tips
The default values that are given in the Options - Network Preferences dialogue are ridiculously low for most users. Here are some things that should be changed.

First, on the cache tab.

The Memory and Disk Cache settings are way too low, even for a system with only 8 megs of RAM (and there aren't many of those left these days). My settings are based on a system with 32 megabytes of RAM, so you should adjust the settings lower if you are running with less than that amount. You should also adjust the disk cache suggestion lower if you are running with limited storage space, but for most users, regardless of available storage, it is advisable to raise it from the default value. Memory Cache= 3000 KB Disk Cache= 15000 KB

Now, Let's have a look at the connections tab.

The default number of connections is WAY too low, most Webexplorer users are accustomed to using more connections then the initial settings in NS/2. I suggest using a minimum of eight connections regardless of your system resources, increase the number of connections as wanted, especially if you have a fast connection to the internet.

The default network buffer size is also too low. For users with between 8 and 16 megabytes of RAM, it should be at least 512 KB, and at LEAST 1024 KB for people with more RAM.

Despite the above modifications, NS/2's performance may drop over time. This usually happens after several weeks worth of usage. A similar performance drop happens on every other Netscape platform that I've used, so it's definitely not an "OS/2 problem" as I have seen some individuals claim on various usenet newsgroups. The only workaround is to delete two files. In the /netscape/ directory, delete the history file (netscape.hst), and in the /netscape/cache/ directory, delete the cache database file (fat.db). You might want to go ahead and delete all the files in your cache directory at this time since they were referenced in the fat.db, and will be reloaded anway. Deleting the cache using this method is NOT the same as using the "clear cache" option in Options - Network Preferences - Cache.

General Tips
Unfortunately, some sites are starting to mandate the use of netscape 3.x for viewing, by using javascript to determine the User_Agent of the browser. NS/2 by default returns 2.02e as a version number, and therefore, will be "blocked" from sites that descriminate based on the user agent. Anyone familiar with the netscape browsers though, can tell you that NS/2 2.02, is functionally closer to a 3.x level netscape then the original 2.02 releases. NS/2 is in fact a combination of the two... A 2.x interface, with a good amount of 3.x internal code. In fact, the proper code is still in place that can force NS/2 to display its user agent information as 3.0.

To enable the 3.0 user agent value, go to the properties of your NS/2 object and add "-3" to the parameters line. NS/2 will now display itself as a 3.x version of Netscape.

Netscape Appearance Customization
Have you ever stopped to think of how much space the directry buttons (What's New, What's Cool, etc) and the Navigation toolbar take up, wasting precious desktop space? Perhaps, you haven't, but I have :-). Wasted screen space one of my pet peeves with some programs (I lust *love* the huge pop-ups boxes and file transfer boxes in NS/2....NOT!). Anyway, from the Options pull-down, try getting rid of the directory buttons, you can also get rid of the navigation toolbar by deselecting the "Show Toolbar" option. Actually though, I find the toolbar very useful, it just uses up too much space, so I use another method to trim it down. From the general preferences, choose the appearance tap, and select the way you would prefer the toolbar to look. I personally prefer the icons, so I select that, the text onl option works just as well, and they both save a little bit of room on your desktop.

Netscape Maintenance Release Problems
One of the most commony reported problems so far is the corruption of bullet characters on bulleted lists. There are two very simple fixes to this problem. The easiest fix is to delete the /netscape/netscape.ini file, and reconfigure the browser the next time you stat it up. Another method is to go to the general preferences and lower the font sizes by one point. For me, the problem disappeared on its own after a second reboot, so I can't say which method is more effective. [Performance Tips] [General Tips] [Links to other NS/2 information] hr03.jpg - 4.62 K

RealAudio setup for Netscape Navigator for OS/2 2.02
This section is incomplete, and is based upon setting up RealAudio 3.0 beta shortly after NS/2 was initially released. I have not tried this with the maintainace release of NS/2, nor the release version of RA 3.0 since I rarely use RealAudio, but these steps should still work. If they don't, stop by the unofficial OS/2 plugins page (link is at the bottom of this document) to see what they have to say about getting RA running properly.

[realaudio] for instuctions, go to http://www.realaudio.com/tech_notes/faq/faqos2warp.html]

[exerpt from an IRC session] (ggerlach) first run the realaudio install program from win-os/2, don't bother installing the plugin. Go into Netscape to Options- General Preferences- Helpers- Create new type- mime type audio- subtype x-pn-realaudio- file extentions ra, ram- launch application RAPLAYER.EXE (include full path to the app) Go into the app settings, make sure it's set to run in enhanced compatibility mode, with the HW_TIMER=ON and audio adapter sharing REQUIRED. Dos-tcpip support must be installed.