Blag

There are only a few browsers even worthy of consideration at the moment – due to lack of support, infrequent updates, security holes, performance issues etc, I’ve decided to ignore all other browsers except for the main five. Legacy browsers (e.g. Firefox 2.0, IE7, Safari 3, Netscape were excluded), and the latest versions and betas available at time of testing were used.The versions I tested were:

• Google Chrome 2.0.172.33
• Google Chrome Beta 3.0.193.0
• Opera 9.64
• Opera 10 Beta Build 1631
• Safari 4.0.2
• Firefox 3.0.11
• Firefox 3.5
• Internet Explorer 8

Aside:  FYI, I’ve long since lost all traces of browser loyalty – they’ve already wasted enough of my time and sanity for me to even bother blowing the X browser horn.

I don’t really believe in browser benchmarks – the only real way to test browsers out is to use them for a few days and monitor their performance and system resource usage.  The SunSpider and V8 “industry standard” benchmarks are utter crap – every tech blog, journal and media portal seem to toss their figures around willy nilly, yet fail to realise that both benchmarks are BIASED and UNFAIR when used to compare competing browsers. They were designed to test performance of different builds, updates, improvements and so on, not the performance of a completely different competitors product. SunSpider was developed by WebKit (the basis of Safari) as an internal benchmark, as was V8 for Google Chrome. The only “un-biased” benchmark currently available is ACID 3, but even that doesn’t really simulate real world usage.

So, I gathered 301 different websites – each laced with images, Javascript, Java applets, Flash, Shockwave, Silverlight, pop-ups and AJAX and loaded them in each browser to check for memory leaks, abnormal CPU usage and disk I/O. I then tried using each browser with 30 tabs open for a day or two each, to see how they performed over time. As a test of each browsers tagging, history and bookmark searching capabilities, I also imported my 8MB bookmarks.html (where possible).

Each browser was setup to a “usable” state – i.e. pop-up and adblocking enabled if available, dangerous javascript options disabled. All other options were left at default, as settings shouldn’t need tweaking out of the box for a browser to be usable.

Test system specs were:

• Overclocked  Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4ghz @ 2.95Ghz
• 4GB 4-4-4-12 DDR2
• 3x 250GB WD2500KS SATA Hard Disks in a RAID0 Array (used as system disk)
• Nvidia GeForce 7600GT
• Windows XP Professional SP3 32-Bit with latest patches as of 13/7/09 applied
• Norton Internet Security 2008 16.5

So by no means a slouch. Keep in mind the average PC will NOT be anywhere near as powerful.

More to come in following posts…

Time for yet another page – bloatware.

(links on the top RHS)

Or click here if your really freakin lazy.

As defined by wiktionary:

Noun

bloatware

1. (computing) Software that is overpacked with features (a result of feature creep) and therefore slow or unwieldy; software that occupies an excessive amount of memory or has a very large file size.

Name and shame list for the worst software applications developed (open-source, freeware and commercial) ever to be processed in this digital world and viable alternatives.

Woo! Replacement for my crappy Netcomm NB5Plus4 (see this post) finally arrived – the Billion 7401VGP R3

As it turns out, I bought a 7401VGP-M but actually got a free upgrade to a 2009 model (7401VGP R3), which isn’t even in the stores yet, let alone listed on the manufacturers website. Doing a Google or Whirlpool search brings up nothing – that’s how new it is. Perhaps Internode got a very advanced shipment of them.

According to the helpdesk dude, its got exactly the same features, but with a faster CPU, more ram, and newer OS which should make it more stable and increase its routing capabilities.

As side bonus, it has WiFi built in – 802.11g 54mbps admittedly, but now I have 2 wireless networks in my house. How useful…

But boy, is it an improvement.

4 wired PCs + 1 wireless laptop, all streaming data continuously, and one of the PCs running 14 active torrents and it still hasn’t crashed after 4 days now. Web interface is as responsive as ever, and includes everything AND the kitchen sink too Ambient temperature has no effect whatsoever on it, and wireless range is damn good. Not a single dropout so far either, and it syncs relatively high, considering the crappy phone line I have. The included extras were good too – 2m Cat5 cable (what, is E more expensive now?), RJ11-RJ11 6P4C telephone cable, 12v 1A power adaptor (switchmode, so no clunky hot transformer), obligatory quick start guide, warranty card, utility CD-ROM, and a very nice (and expensive) C10 Communications ADSL2+ filter/splitter  Those things cost a LOT when purchased retail…

The only downside really is that it takes a while to boot up before its usable (~1-2 minutes). However, it does sync and authenticate in <8 seconds which is a HUGE improvement on the NB5Plu4′s 2-3 minutes (important if your internet drops out frequently).

So myes, I am a happy chappy.

If only Billion would list the model on their website, so I could download a newer firmware.

Edit: Seems like more people are getting their hand on the 7401VGP R3 now. Posts are slowly starting to crop up on whirlpool about them – mainly Internode customers though.

Edit2: Seeing as I’ve been getting a lot of hits from Whirlpool users, for all you those who have ended up here looking for the firmware updates, or help with Bit Torrent and/or NAT, try sending a Whim to Quentin (Rep for Billion/Minitar). His profile is at: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-user.cfm?id=87096

Related: Internode/Billion 7401VGP R3 (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=242), Netcomm NB5Plus4 (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=79)

The Netcomm NB5Plus4 ADSL2+ Modem Router. The perfect example of German engineering and precision.

Whoops, did I say German engineering and precision.? I meant cost cutting and poor design.

The modem/router is useless. It constantly crashes, and I have to reboot it up to several times a day. Symptoms include:

1. Forgetting what DNS is, whenever you run bittorrent, or any other program which opens many network connections simultaneously. The only way to access websites is by entering in the IP address directly
2. Refusing to route any data whatsoever when the ambient temperature exceeds 25*C
3. Overheating and locking up whenever the throughput is higher than ~ 1mbps, or when you stream multimedia or download large files
4. Internal web server/user interface not responding to commands after the modem has been left on for more than ~ 7 days
5. Throughput slowly decreasing over time to the point where the LAN connection is dropped, especially noticeable when transferring large files between PCs
6. Freezing, and refusing to do anything when there are more than 5 clients connected at a time
7. Randomly disconnecting computers

Rather than rant and rave unproductively, I shall point out its flaws… before melting a hole through the f!@% thing with thermite.

There are two problems with the router – insufficient RAM, and poor enclosure design, leading to overheating.

Whenever you open multiple network connections (e.g. Bit torrent, which may open hundreds at a time), the router chipset, or CPU, in this case the Texas Instrument AR7 chip can not handle the load, and in combination with the limited ram available, simply crashes or drops connections. Think of it as like running Windows Vista on a Pentium 200mhz with 8MB of RAM. It would have cost Netcomm all of… 40c more to upgrade the RAM and cache size, but they decided to reduce costs and make an inferior product.

Also, the enclosure which Netcomm designed for housing the circuitry is unsuitable, as it provides inadequate ventilation. Like conventional PCs, the router also crashes when overheated. It looks as though Netcomm has gone for style over functionality, though to be honest, it looks like rubbish anyway.

While upgrading the RAM and cache is not possible without extensive effort, a simple hackjob fix would be to either remove the top of the enclosure, or to fit the chipset with a heat sink and drill additional ventilation holes in the case.

*NB: I think Oz Techeducate (www.oztecheducate.org) (the site providing free blog hosting for me) was run using a NB5Plus4 router several months ago, when they had server issues and had to resort to a backup link. Explains why the backup was frequently offline too… crappy router :@

Seeing as I’ve been getting a lot of hits from Whirlpool users, for all you those who have ended up here looking for the firmware updates, or help with Bit Torrent and/or NAT, try sending a Whim to Quentin (Rep for Billion/Minitar). His profile is at: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-user.cfm?id=87096

Related: Billion 7401VGP R3 (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=155), More (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=242)