Whats the best browser to run OS in?

michael_leslie

Hi

I am using an old Dell (1525) laptop to explore OS at home. I first tried running it on Chrome in Windows Vista, it wasn't the greatest experience I had quite a few WebGL errors. I have since installed Ubutu and I am running OS on Chromium which is a lot better. I think this is down to Intel releasing a better opengl driver for Linux than Windows.

My HP z600 workstation at work runs OS beautifully and I have a sub 200Kb internet connection there!

Has anyone got any tips on improving performance? Is there any opinion on which is the best browser?

Thanks,

Michael

stevehess

Hi Mike, @mike317537‌
let's try a couple of things. First be sure you are running a recent version of Chrome (v30+) or Firefox; getting the latest version of either is best. Then, visit http://get.webgl.org/ which will check if your browser/system supports WebGL.

Lastly, you may have a graphic card without full WebGL capabilities.... try the steps above to get started.

jon_hirschtick

I use Chrome. At some point we should provide clearer guidance on optimizing your setup.

michael_leslie

Thanks Both,

I haven't had much time to play at home but I've got it running a decent level now.

I have assumed that as OS uses WebGL the OpenGL driver was important hence the move to Linux as Intel for some reason have released a driver for Linux with better OpenGL support. My laptop has an intel integrated gma x3100 graphics card.

I am a real Linux amateur but I have one performance tip from my recent learning and that is to turn off compiz as it uses OpenGL resources - http://drjava.org/compiz/

Does anyone know if more RAM will actually help? I'm already running off a small SSD, again i don't know if this actually helps.

Michael

lougallo

RAM can definitely help. Especially with a number of tabs open. In my experience the 4GB limit was key for chromebooks to be functional with a good number of tabs. Now that many of the browsers are going 64bit, we should see more addressing capable. In most cases RAM only helps, especially when you are running multiple resources on the machine.

guy_taylor

Here an interesting youtube vid for best browser i know onshape is webgl based and firefox comes out well ahead in that department. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RLuPHl04Sc skip to 1:47 to see webgl results.