Development Radar
603 issues open (28 assigned) and 970 blown away

A MorphOS native version of our experimental Flash plugin (version 1.14) for IBrowse 2.4 is now available for free download. Thanks to Harry Sintonen for porting the plugin to MorphOS. The previous release notes for the 68k and OS4 builds apply to the MorphOS build too.

An experimental Flash plugin (version 1.14) for IBrowse 2.4 is now available for free download. This plugin is based on the GPLFlash source code, and we have found GPLFlash to be relatively unstable. Therefore, after installing this plugin, please be aware that some flash files may cause this plugin (and therefore IBrowse too) to crash! Also, do not expect this plugin to be fully compatible with the latest Adobe Flash plugins, since it uses old code.

This plugin was mainly used to debug IBrowse 2.4's PluginAPI during development, and as such we won't be updating it often. Instead we will be encouraging and helping authors of dedicated Amiga flash players to develop their own flash plugins for IBrowse. This process will hopefully begin shortly, once we have put together an SDK.

LUND, Sweden, 22nd December 2006 - Stefan Burstrom and the IBrowse Team are pleased to announce the immediate release of the much anticipated update to IBrowse 2.3.

IBrowse 2.4 brings web browsing on AmigaOS to a new level - below is a very brief summary of the changes since version 2.3:

• New integrated Search Bar, allowing you to easily perform searches of your favourite sites. Search engines can be added manually or automatically via the Mycroft project site
• The Status Bar has been overhauled to optionally provide the status of IBrowse graphically. Due to requiring less space than text, this has allowed us to show additional statuses such as when Javascript is being processed
• Plugin API system for embedded objects based on the v4 NPAPI (Netscape Plugin API) to allow for easier porting of NS compatible plugins, this is used to allow IBrowse to display embedded objects (such as flash animations) within the browser when a suitable plugin is available.
• Support for AmiSSLv3 has been added to IBrowse 2.4, allowing the use of the most up to date SSL implementation available for AmigaOS
• Context sensitive mouse pointers have been added, providing different mouse pointers in different areas of IBrowse
• Background tab loading has finally been added to the Browser Tabs. Links can be opened in new browsers which remain inactive, allowing you to continue browsing the original page uninterrupted
• The spoofing engine has been totally re-written for 2.4, and provides a range of pre-defined spoofing options
• The JavaScript engine has been improved yet further providing support for more event handlers, and improved DOM support, along with some significant speed increases in certain areas. It now supports the complete JavaScript 1.6 extension, as found in Firefox 2.0, along with the majority of JavaScript 1.5 and the revision 3 of the ECMAScript (ECMA-262) specification
• HTTP compressed content support has been added, which includes both gzip and deflate algorithms
• On websites which ask for a username and password in a HTML based form, IBrowse can now (optionally) save these details for future visits
• Web Advert Control Language (WACL) is a feature of IBrowse based on a proposal by Stefan Stuntz for a user configurable, flexible scripting language to control the display of adverts on webpages
• Improved general stability and memory leaks plugged
• Hundreds of other minor and major bug fixes + improvements, and increased tolerance of broken sites for better compatibility

IBrowse 2.4 is available from IOSPIRIT - to purchase, please visit amiga.iospirit.de (registered users of IBrowse 2.x can upgrade for free, and there is a special upgrade price available to registered IBrowse 1.x users).

(Note to news editors: this press release is also available in text format for use on your own sites)

IBrowse 2.4 has now reached release candidate stage, and it is now in the final stages of testing, in anticipation for a release within the next few weeks. As most of you now know, we don't do release dates, but as promised we are letting you all know when we know a release is close - yes, "RSN" really does apply this time. Merry Christmas!

As many of you will have read, IBrowse 2.4 was demo'd at several shows around the globe today. Obviously we realise not everyone can get to these shows, and there were also a couple of shows happening which we didn't know about until it was too late, so we have provided a summary of the news.

On 23rd July 2005, IBrowse 2.4 will be making its public debut at three shows around the globe. The demo will consist of:

* current IBrowse 2.4 beta, 68k build
* current JavaScript library beta, PPC OS4 build
* current Flash plugin beta, 68k build

and will show the new features that will be available in IBrowse 2.4. The shows that will be demo'ing are:

AmiGBG in Sweden, by David Burstroem
AmiWest in USA, by Richard Drummond
Fyanica in Hungary, by Stephen Fellner

Please note this is NOT the launch of IBrowse 2.4, which will hopefully be later this year.

IBrowse 2.3 is now available for purchase from the IOSPIRIT Amiga shop again. Sorry for the inconvenience caused by the unavailability the past few months.

Regards, The IBrowse Development Team

AmiTCP/Genesis (and Roadshow) users are no doubt familiar with the infamous SSL connect errors that IBrowse reports on some sites, specifying a detailed error description of "error:00000000:lib(0):func(0):reason(0)". After further investigation we have found the cause to be a bug in the BSD code inside the AmiTCP kernel. A patch to fix this bug in AmiTCP itself is now available.

As you may have noticed IOSPIRIT has undergone a lot of internal restructuring measures. As a result, IBrowse is currently not available for purchase from the IOSPIRIT site. Once this matter has been resolved, we'll let you know here, as soon as it becomes available again.

Testing under OS4 revealed a long standing bug in the IBrowse 2.3 preferences custom class, which manifested itself as a crash as soon as the preferences were launched. After a short testing period, we are pleased to announce the availability of the new bugfixed custom class.

We recommend that all users of IBrowse 2.3 install the new custom class, even if you do not have the crash under OS4-Pre, or even use OS4, as the bug is still present and a potential problem.

At IOSPIRIT a CD-version of IBrowse 2.3 and IBrowse 2.3 Update is now also available. The CD contains the browser itself, the new documentation (in English) and other goodies. Instead of a keyfile, each CD ships with a certificate, that can be exchanged against a keyfile in the customer's iospirit.de account.

Dave Fisher has finished his work on completely updated and expanded documentation for IBrowse, which supercedes the old printed manual and IBrowse 2 addendum. The new documentation breaks down into 25 chapters, that, from the installation over the usage of the program, tips and tricks to basic knowledge covers everything worth knowing about IBrowse and the internet.

The documentation is available for online viewing and may also be downloaded for offline viewing.

For those that don't already know, IOSPIRIT are now offering a support mailing list for those who wish/prefer to use the german language, seeing as the existing lists are english-only.

LUND, Sweden, 29th January 2003 - Stefan Burstroem and the IBrowse Team are pleased to announce the immediate release of the eagerly awaited update to IBrowse 2.2, and to unveil IOSPIRIT as the new worldwide distributor.

IBrowse 2.3 brings web browsing on AmigaOS to a new level - below is a brief summary of the changes since version 2.2:

• Heavily enhanced JavaScript support, based on JavaScript 1.5 and revision 3 of the ECMAScript specification, allowing access to sites which was not possible before
• Secure connection support is now available via AmiSSL v2, which can be configured extensively in the IBrowse preferences. Importing and exporting of certificates is now also supported.
• Greatly improved general stability and memory leaks plugged
• Improved GUI, including enhanced browser tab functionality (such as drag'n'drop, keyboard support)
• Issues with the ARexx interface have been fixed and new commands added
• Hundreds of other minor and major bug fixes + improvements, and increased tolerance of broken sites for better compatibility

IBrowse 2.3 is available from IOSPIRIT - to purchase, please visit http://www.iospirit.de/ (registered users of IBrowse 2.x can upgrade for free, and there is a special upgrade price available to registered IBrowse 1.x users).

(Note to news editors: this press release is also available in text format for use on your own sites)

Hello all of you! I thought I should break the silence just now before christmas. This fall has been an interesting one with lots of things going on. I originally planned the IB2.3 release about 1.5 months ago and decided to bring in some people from the mailing list to help us hard test the release candidate. Unfortunately (?) some of them took their job far too serious and told me that, no, you cannot release IBrowse in the state it was back then. Hm, back to the code again. Now 150 reported (and fixed) issues later I hope they are more pleased. We are currently about to begin testing of the very final release candidate and if everything goes as expected (and this time I am alot more confident ;) you will see an updated IBrowse around New Years Eve. In the meantime, you can check out the summary of the history. Have a great Christmas everybody!

- Stefan Burström

We have now set up a mailing list which is purely for announcements and significent IBrowse news, and is a read-only list. Anyone may join this new list, and if you prefer not to subscribe to the existing discussion/support list (due to high traffic, etc) then this should be a good alternative.

Congratulations to David Burström, co-developer of IBrowse, for coming 17th in the Nordic Championship programming contest today. David, along with his co-programmer Christopher Olsson, was ranked 2nd out of 17 teams in the Southern Sweden results, and 17th out of 153 teams in the Scandinavian results. Well done to you both, from the IBrowse Development Team.

The AmigaOS4 fair in Gothenburg featured amongst other things a demonstration of a pre-release version of IBrowse 2.3 and an impromptu presentation by Stefan Burström. After the demonstration, people were invited to ask questions about IBrowse and the plans for the future. To read more about the fair, visit www.amigbg.com.

A list of frequently asked questions has been compiled, based on messages sent to the mailing list (mostly regarding IBrowse 2.3). Be sure to read the FAQs before repeating a question on the mailing list :-)

As many of you will know, IBrowse has been without a proper home on the web for a while, until now. Obviously, this website is a bit minimal at the moment, but we are planning to address this situation soon. We are currently busy preparing IBrowse 2.3 (68K) for release - as yet we have no indication of a firm release date, but good progress is being made and we are doing our best to get IBrowse 2.3 ready for release a.s.a.p. In the meantime, for those of you who are not already aware of it, you are invited to join the discussion/support mailing list.

- the IBrowse Team